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BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
LEAFLETS 
Series 1 Brooklyn, N. Y., April 30, 1913 Number 4 
SOME PLANTS FLOWERING EARLY IN MAY 
The unusually mild winter and early spring: have been the 
means of hurrying the appearance of many spring flowering 
plants. 
In the native wild flower garden, along the top of the west 
border mound, one of the rarest of American native herbs is the 
golden seal ( Hydrastis ca?iadensis ) . As in the case of the ginseng, 
the plant has been widely exploited as a financially productive 
medicinal plant. But, unlike the properties of the ginseng, the 
hydrastine which is extracted from the yellow rootstock is cer- 
tainly medicinally valuable. Its single, whitish-green flower is 
not showy, and the economic possibilities of the plant account 
for its wide cultivation. It requires shade and woodland soil. 
Near it on the path, and bearing white flowers, is the tooth- 
wort ( Denlaria diphylla), one of the few native plants of the 
mustard family that grows in the woods. Belonging to the 
saxifrage family are two herbs that are usually covered with 
flowers at this time, the false miterwort ( Tiarella cordifolia ) , and 
the bishop’s cap ( Mitella diphylla) both of our rich woodlands, 
and both more common northward than elsewhere. Either of 
them makes an attractive plant for naturalizing under trees and 
among rocks. 
