412 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



stamens lying flat against the petals. The pod is i-celled, with 

 numerous seeds. The blossom, resembling an evening primrose, 

 is solitary on the stem. Later in the season — August and Sep- 

 tember — much smaller flowers cluster in the axils of the leaves 

 up and down the stem, with or without petals, with 3 to 10 stamens 

 and very small, roundish, few-seeded pods, giving the plant an 

 entirely different appearance. 



The plant gets its name from the curious ice-crystals which 

 form on the stem near the root in November on frosty mornings. 



Mr. Gibson says of this frost -flower {Sharp Eyes): "It is a 

 flower of ice-crystal of purest white, which shoots from the stem, 

 bursting the bark asunder, and fashioned into all sorts of whim- 

 sical, feathery curls and flanges and ridges. It (the crystal) is 

 often quite small, but sometimes attains three inches in height, 

 and an inch or more in width. It is said to be a crystallization 

 of the sap of the plant, but the size of the crystal is often out of 

 all proportion to the possible amount of sap within the stem, and 

 suggests the possibility that the stem may draw extra moisture 

 from the soil for this especial occasion." ' 



Maine to Minnesota and southward. 



3 



H. corymbbsum is a species peculiar to the New Jersey bar- 

 rens. It differs in its manner of flowering, bearing its larger 

 blossoms on long, slender stalks, and all the flowers in a clus- 

 ter at the summit. 



4. Bird-foot Violet 



V)ola pedata. — Family, Violet. Color, pale or deep blue, 

 with yellow centre. Leaves, much cut, with narrow divisions. 

 Time, May. 



Sepals, 5, eared. Petals, 5, one of them spurred. Two of the 

 stamens have appendages which penetrate the spur cavity. 

 Flower, i inch across. One of the stemless violets, scapes 

 and leaves springing from an upright rootstock. 



The blossom is perhaps the largest and- prettiest of the wild 



