34 WILD FLOWER FAMILIES 
quently find it by the low margins of streams or 
on the banks of ponds, as well as on hillsides 
where springs yield sufficient moisture. In damp, 
open woods the plant is often abundant. Yet it 
is by no means always to be found in the situations 
that seem favorable to its growth. 
The blossoms of the Liver-leaf yield pollen 
in abundance and apparently they also have a little 
nectar for the bees and flies that visit them. They 
are adapted to a wide range of such visitors: in 
Illinois eleven species of bees and seven species 
of flies were seen alighting upon the blossoms of 
the Sharp-lobed Liver-leaf. Cross-pollination is 
brought about by these insects, but if none of them 
happen to go to the flower self-pollination takes 
place. 
Two American species of Hepatica are now 
recognized by leading botanists: the one in which 
the lobes of the leaves are rounded is called the 
Round-lobed Liver-leaf; the one in which the 
lobes of the leaves are pointed is called the Sharp- 
lobed Liver-leaf. In both of these species the 
sepals look like petals, none of the latter being 
present. One might very easily mistake the three 
sessile leaves or bracts, which are borne on the 
stalk below the flowers, for the sepals. 
MarsH Maricotp. If you would be reminded 
of that field of Daffodils immortalized by Words- 
worth in his famous poem, you should see a spring 
