
82 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 
the summer grass in the moist meadows, impress us with the 
idea that they have come out to show us that all the grass 
could bloom as beautifully, if it had the mind to do so; and 
that if we were good, as it is said to the children, we might 
some day find our fields covered with their sparkling little 
faces. They dislike being picked, and after they have been 
severed from their stem, shrivel almost immediately. 
YELLOW-ADDER’S TONGUE. DOG’S-TOOTH VIOLET. 
(Plate XXXVIZ) 
Erythrontum Americanum. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Lily. Pale yellow, tinged  Scentless. Throughout the east. March-May. 
with purple. 
Flowers: terminal; solitary; nodding. eréanth: of six, slender, recurved 
divisions, streaked with, and the underside of, purple. Stamens: six. Pistil: 
one; style, club-sshaped. Leaves: two only; oblong; pointed; spotted with 
dark purple and white. Stem: rising from a corm. 
The names of this beautiful flower are rather confusing, and 
bring to the mind objects of entirely different aspect from 
that of the one to which they relate. “ Dog’s-tooth,” we are 
told, refers to a supposed resemblance of the roots of the plant 
to the canine teeth of a dog; but this would not help the wan- 
derer by the woodland brook to any great extent, as the roots 
are commonly hidden. Why the name of violet was ever at- 
tached to it, is rather a mystery; and in any case must have 
been from a purely imaginative idea. If one of its names 
must be used, it were better to choose yellow-adder’s tongue, 
which at least gives a clue to its colour; and the marking of 
its leaves is not dissimilar to an adder’s skin. But how much 
prettier and more appropriate are the names of fawn lily, or 
trout lily, which have been suggested by Mr. Burroughs. At 
night the flower gently closes. 
£. dlbidum, the white species, is similar in appearance. It 
bears a bluish-white flower and the leaves are not nearly so 
spotted, It is commonly found farther west than Pennsylvania, 

