Red and Indefinites 



hellebore's, after a dry winter diet. Sometimes tiny insects are 

 found drowned in tiie wells of rain water that accumulate at the 

 base of the grooved leafstalks. 



Red, Wood, Flame, or Philadelphia Lily 



{Liliiim Philadelphiciim) Lily family 



Flowers — Erect, tawny or red-tinted outside; vermilion, or some- 

 times reddish orange, and spotted with madder brown within ; 

 I to s. on separate peduncles, borne at the summit. Perianth of 

 6 distinct, spreading, spatulate segments, each narrowed into a 

 claw, and with a nectar groove at its base; 6 stamens ; i style, 

 the club-shaped stigma 3-lobed. Stem ; i to 3 ft. tall, from a Bulb 

 composed of narrow, jointed, tleshy scales. Leaves: In whorls 

 of 3's to 8's, lance-shaped, seated at intervals on the stem. 



Preferred Habitat — Dry woods, sandy soil, borders, and thickets. 



Flowering Season — J u n e — ^J uly . 



Distribution — Northern border of United States, westward to On- 

 tario, south to the Carolinas and West Virginia. 



Erect, as if conscious of its striking beauty, this vivid lily lifts 

 a chalice that suggests a trap for catching sunbeams from fiery 

 old Sol. Defiant of his scorching rays in its dry habitat, it neither 

 nods nor droops even during prolonged drought ; and yet many 

 people confuse it with the gracefully pendent, swaying bells of 

 the yellow Canada lily, which will grow in a swamp rather 

 than forego moisture. Li, the Celtic for white, from which the 

 family derived its name, makes this bright-hued fiower blush to 

 own it. Seedsmen, who export quantities of our superb native 

 lilies to Europe, supply bulbs so cheap that no one should wait 

 four years for fiowers from seed, or go without their splendor in 

 our over-conventional gardens. Why this early lily is radiantly 

 colored and speckled is told on p. 278. 



The Western Red Lily (/.. umbellatum), that takes the place 

 of the Philadelphia species from Ohio, Minnesota, and the North- 

 west Territory, southward to Missouri, Arkansas, and Colorado, 

 lifts similar but smaller red, orange, or yellow flowers on a more 

 slender stem, two feet high or less, set with narrow, linear, alter- 

 nate leaves, or perhaps the upper ones in whorls. It blooms in 

 June or July, in dry soil, preferably in open, sandy situations. 



Large Coral-root 



{Corallorhiia mttltiflora) Orchid family 



Flowers — Dull brownish purple, about /4 in. high; 10 to 30 borne 

 in a raceme 2 to 8 in. long. Petals about the length of sepals, 



371 



