CHARACTERISTIC FLOWERS OF CONCORD, 77 



exceptionally favorable circumstances, but in April 

 you are sure of them. In fact, April is so much the 

 month of the Mayflower that I always wondered why 

 its name was bestowed, because by Mayday the flowers 

 are over-ripe. The Mayflower seems to grow every- 

 where in the woods about town, and, notwithstanding 

 the carelessness of people in pulling up its trailing 

 stems, which should always be cut, never torn, its 

 abundance is not appreciably diminished. Certain 

 localities in Bow, as in former years the Plains, are 

 noted for the size and pinkness of its blossoms. The 

 hepatica or liverwort, whose delicate lavender or blu- 

 ish flowers would be found shivering in their furry 

 coats, if they did not grow close to the ground, is much 

 less common than the arbutus, but it may be found 

 sporadically in various localities like the West Con- 

 cord woods and the Sewall's Falls region. 



Other characteristic flowers of April are the blood- 

 root, whose evanescent whiteness stars the grass at 

 Paradise, and the dog-tooth violet, whose delicate yel- 

 low bells droop under the Bluffs and by many another 

 spring marsh. Whoever sees the beautiful, mottled 

 leaves of the latter must appreciate John Burroughs' 

 suggestion that it should be called the fawn lily. The 

 Erythronium bears no relation to the violet, either in 



