White and Greenish 



Creeping Dalibarda 



{Dalibarda repens) Rose family 



Flowers — White, solitary, or 2 at end of a scape 2 to 5 in. high. 

 Calyx deeply, unevenly 5 or 6 parted, the larger divisions 

 toothed ; 5 petals falling early ; numerous stamens ; 5 to 10 

 carpels forming as many dry drupelets within the persistent 

 calyx. Stem: Creeping, slender, no prickles. Leaves: Long 

 petioled, in tufts from the runner, almost round, heart-shaped 

 at base, crenate-edged, both sides hairy. 



Preferred Haln tat — Woods and wooded hillsides. 



Flowerifig Season — ^June — September. 



Distribution — Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, and westward to the 

 Mississippi. 



This delicate blossom, which one might mistake for a white 

 violet among a low tuft of violet-like leaves, shows its rose 

 kinship by its rule of five and its numerous stamens. Like the 

 violet again, however, it bears curious little economical flowers 

 near the ground — flowers which never open, and so save pollen. 

 These, requiring no insects to fertilize them, waste no energy in 

 putting forth petals to advertise for visitors. Nevertheless, to save 

 the species from degeneracy from close inbreeding, this little plant 

 needs must display a few showy blossoms to insure cross-fertilized 

 seed ; for the offspring of such defeats the offspring of self-fertilized 

 plants in the struggle for existence. 



Virginia Strawberry 



{Fragaria yirginiana) Rose family 



Flowers — White, loosely clustered at summit of an erect hairy 

 scape usually shorter than the leaves. Calyx persistent in 

 fruit, deeply 5-cleft, with 5 bracts between the divisions ; 

 5 petals ; stamens and pistils numerous, the latter inserted 

 on a cushion-like receptacle becoming fleshy in fruit. Stami- 

 nate and pistillate flowers, from separate roots. Stem : Run- 

 ning, and forming new plants. Leaves: Tufted from the 

 root, on hairy petioles 2 to 6 in. tall, compounded of } 

 broadly oval, saw-edged leaflets. Fntit : An ovoid, glisten- 

 ing red berry, the minute achenes imbedded in pits on its 

 surface. Ripe, June— July. (Latin, fragum— fragrant fruit, 

 the strawberry.) 



Preferred Habitat— \)ry fields, banks, roadsides, woodlands. 



Flowering Season — April — June. 



202 



