The American Botanist 



VOL. XIX JOLIET, Ihh., AUGUST, 1913 No. 3 



nearer to the river' s tremdt/ny eci^e 

 Tj/iere ^rew broad //ag^ flowers, purpie pran/ct with white, 

 jfnd starry riverbuds amony the sedye, 



ytnd /ioatiny water liiies, broad and bright, 

 Tl^hich tit the oak that overhung the hedye 

 With moonlit beams of their own liyht; 

 J^nd bullrushes and reeds of such deep yreen 

 <y(s soothed the dazzled ej/e with somber sheen, 



—Shelley. 



THE SURPRISE LILY 



By S. I. Anthon. 



A STRANGER coming in sight of our western sagebrush 

 -^^^ plains is at once startled and dismayed by the dreary ex- 

 panse of the dull-colored dusty sagebrush which, gnarled and 

 twisted by its ceaseless conflict with the elements, looks as 

 though it were as old as the universe. But on closer ac- 

 quaintance one learns to like the sagebrush and to go through 

 it with an exhilarating feeling that any new botanical dis- 

 covery is possible in that enchanted region. For the dreary 

 waste conceals myriads of beautiful and interesting flowers, 

 flowers altogether different from those of other regions and 

 so dainty that it seems impossible that they could come from 

 so unpromising a soil. Among these are the nodding mission- 

 bells (Frifellaria pudica), the rock-violet (F. trine ri'ata) , 

 the sage-pink {Plilox loiigifoUa) , and the gay crimson and 

 orange cacti. But perhaps the most interesting of all is the 



