MARCH AND APRIL. 



13 



crimson is a blue-red, and this color will not apply in 

 any respect to blood-root. If a bit of the stem of a 

 leaf is squeezed, it will 

 exude an orange-col- 

 ored juice, which stains 

 everything it comes in 

 contact with. The 

 blood-root leaf grows 

 circling about the ris- 

 ing flower stem, and 

 does not attain its full 

 size of about five inches 

 across until the flower 

 is quite gone. Alas! 

 it goes quickly enough. 

 This is the reason why 

 some of our most beau- 

 tiful wild flowers are 

 not cultivated by the 

 florists ; it does not pay 

 to spend much time 

 over such ephemeral 

 lives. The blood-root 

 is like a butterfly; it 

 comes and goes in a day, like the poppy, to which 

 it is related. The blossom is as lovely and white 

 as a lily, and has a golden center. 



Blood-root. 



