AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
151 
NEW-ENGLAND SPRING FLOWERS. 
Putnam’s Magazine for May is, as usual, 
filled with, good things. Besides the editorial 
notes, it contains some fifteen well-written arti¬ 
cles. Our attention was particularly attracted 
to one of these, entitled “ New-England Spring 
Flowers,” which gives an interesting description 
of several wild flowering trees and plants. We 
present the following extracts as a specimen. 
One of the first intimations of vernal life to 
the city folks, comes in the welcome form of 
the May Flower. They are sent as choice 
presents from country friends, and they are sold 
in considerable quantities in the stores. Fathers 
carry home a sprig of the first growth of spring 
to their children, and the sweetest gift of the 
season from the lover to his mistress is a nose¬ 
gay of their delicate, fragrant blossoms.* 
Many other flowers of superior beauty and 
richer fragrance may be found among the count¬ 
less forms of the ripe season, but none are more 
prized than this humble little plant; for it comes 
when there are no others to vie with its sweet¬ 
ness, when we are longing for the bright summer. 
Who does not welcome the lovely courier that 
she sends before her ! 
It belongs to the Natural Order Ericaceae. 
There is a large and strongly-marked family 
of plants, blossoming very early in the year, 
with whose peculiar mode of inflorescence few 
beside botanists are familiar. They who are. 
tempted forth into the woods by the young 
April sun, may very likely notice the long, 
worm-like tassels which hang from the bare 
branches of certain bushes and trees. Some 
are yellow, some brown, and some green, and 
they hang drooping from the tree-*, swaying in 
the wind that sweeps through their leafless 
boughs. These are the amentaceous plants; 
thus named because the tassels are termed 
aments by botanists. They comprise a large 
portion of the forests over the whole northern 
country. The alders, birches, bayberries, horn¬ 
beams, poplars, willows, hazels and oaks are all 
members of this extensive race. Some few are 
low and bushy, but the greater number is com¬ 
posed of fine, large, graceful trees. 
Before the leaves are expanded, and, in some 
instances, before they have even thrown off the 
shelly covering which has protected them 
through the winter, these tassels, formed during 
the preceding summer and remaining through 
the winter, begin to elongate rapidly. The 
male or sterile flowers are very similar through¬ 
out them all. They are composed of a central 
Stem upon which are arranged, generally in an 
imbricated manner, a great number of little 
scales. These are either entirely naked, as in 
the alder, or covered with long, silken hairs, as 
in the willow. At first, the aments are rigid 
and inflexible, but a week of warm weather will 
cause them to lengthen. Then may be seen, 
peeping from under each scale, a cluster ' of 
Stamens springing often from second thinner 
scales, and protected from the cold by the stout 
shield of the outer one. When thus expanded, 
the ament is loose and flexible, obeying the 
slightest impulse of the wind. At this time 
the anthers give out their pollen and some spe¬ 
cies present a most beautiful appearance. 
Although the different genera differ widely in 
their female or fertile aments, the sterile ones 
so closely resemble each other as to be easily 
confounded by an unpractised eye. The alders, 
birches, hazels and hornbeams are thus closely 
allied. But the fertile flowers and the fruit are 
wholly unlike, and as on account of these differ¬ 
ences they are placed in distinct orders, we will 
* Emerson refers very pleasantly to its name, in his ad¬ 
mirable work on the Woody Plants of Massachusetts. He 
says: ‘ Often from beneath the edge of a snow-bank are 
seen rising the fragrant, pearly, white or rose colored, 
crowded flowers of this earliest harbinger of spring. It 
abounds in the edges of woods about Plymouth, as else¬ 
where, and must have been the first flower to salute the 
storm-beaten crew of the May-flower, on the conclusion of 
their first terrible winter. Their d scendants have thence 
piously derived its name, although its bloom is often passed 
b »fore the coming in of the month of May. 
briefly recount the peculiarities of each. An 
extended notice of their minute botanical differ¬ 
ences will be quite needless here, as these dif 
ferences are such as will interest the professed 
botanical student alone, Their varied uses, 
might furnish a subject for volumes. Those who 
desire a close acquaintance with this vast race 
of stately plants, will obtain the best of assist¬ 
ance from Emerson’s Report, previously men¬ 
tioned, and the “North American Sylva" of 
Michaux. 
The alders and the birches are put together 
in one order, called Betulace,®. The principal 
difference between them is that the birches lose 
their catkins entirely at the end of the season, 
while the alders continue to bear them through 
the winter. * * * * * 
One of the earliest and prettiest of the vernal 
flowers is the May Weed or Early Saxifrage 
[Saxifrage Vtrginiemis, Mx ) As soon as the 
snow melts from the low hill-tops, and the frost 
has set free the thin soil beneath, it begins to 
show signs of activity. Close to the ground, in 
the midst of the starved grass, its little rosettes 
of downy leaves are found in great abundance. 
They are an inch long, of an oval form, cut into 
rounded teeth above, and tapering at the base 
into broad stalks half as long as the blade. In 
the centtr of this little circlet lie the clustering 
flower bud-;, insignificant at first, but soon ris¬ 
ing from their leafy bed. They are borne upon 
the summit of a naked pubescent stalk, whi- h 
grows with great rapidity to a height of from 
six to twelve inches. This stalk gives forth, 
branches as it rises, each one accompanied by a 
narrow, thread-like downy leaf, until the plant 
takes a paniculate form, sometimes thin and 
loose, and oftener close and crowded The 
flowers are small but pretty, arranged in clus¬ 
ters on the ends of the branches. The calyx is 
cut into five oval lobes, which are sometimes 
tinged with purple, and stand somewhat erect. 
The woite, oblong, spreading petals are twice tin- 
length of the calyx lobes, and alternate with 
them. The stamens are ten in number, and 
the two styles ripen into a pair of diverging 
pods, united at the base, inc'osing many seeds. 
Tois species wiih one other later ( Pennsyl - 
wmw)are o iron'y tastera r,-; re-en-arivesof a 
va*t genus, many species of which belong to 
the north and north western part of this conti¬ 
nent, and which is extensively diffused over 
Europe. The delicate blossoms of many small 
species adorn the mountain-tops with their sim¬ 
ple elegance as high up as vegetation is found 
Mr. Oaks found one small species, the S. rivu- 
laris, on the top of Mt. Washington ; but it is 
very rare. Others are cultivated in our gardens 
for their beauty. They belong to and typify 
the order Saxifragace^e. 
The summer rambles of our city children be¬ 
gin with the flowering of the May Weed, and 
groups of sturdy little fellows, to whom the 
riches of green-houses and gardens are denied, 
may be seen returning from their holiday strolls 
with handfuls of its drooping blossoms. 
Another of the equally common and beauti¬ 
ful flowers is the Wind Flower or Wood Ane¬ 
mone (< anemone nemorosa , L ) It grows in pro¬ 
fusion by the roadsides and in the open woods, 
spangling the ground with its pure starry blos¬ 
soms in early spring. No one is better known 
or better beloved by the young botanists who 
go “a Maying;” and should “winter, lingering, 
chill the lap of May,” it is not sure to be found 
at that season. 
The underground stem is long and worm-like, 
giving forth scattered rootlets, and sending up¬ 
wards from its apex a smooth, slender stem, 
four or five inches long. From its summit 
spring forth, in a circle, three or five compound 
leaves which diverge horizontally and equally 
around the stem. They are on stalks nearly 
half an inch long, and are composed of three 
smooth, wedge-shaped leafets, which are cut 
into large teeth, and are sometimes three-lobcd 
at the apex. From the center of these leaves 
rises a single flower on a naked downy pedun¬ 
cle, more than an inch long. The bud droops 
gi acefully before opening, but gradually rises in 
bloom, expanding its snow-white leaveR, from 
four to eight in number, in a star-like form. 
These leaves or sepals, for the flower is only a 
petaloid calyx, are of an ovate form, delicately 
veined, and frequently of a purple color on the 
exterior, which makes the young bud extremely 
pretty. The stamens are numerous, surround¬ 
ing a cluster of fifteen or twenty pistils. The 
seed-vessels are of an oblong form, tipped with 
a hooked beak. 
There is a delicacy and a purity in this little 
flower, which commends it to the affections of 
every body. Its common occurrence has never 
purchased for it that contempt which is often 
given to natural beauties that have become fa¬ 
miliar. Its simplicity and unobtrusiveness 
make friends of every one. It derives its name, 
both scientific and popular, from an ancient and 
idle notion that it only blossoms while the wind 
is blowing. It belongs to the order Renuncu- 
lace^e, and to a large genus of plants which 
has given to florists some of the choicest orna¬ 
ments of their gardens. Many of the foreign 
species are richly colored. Later in the year, 
three other native species flower with us: the 
Cylindrical Virginia,na, and Pennsylvaaica. 
The last is found only towards the West. 
These are all less beautiful than the one we 
have described, and mm h larger. 
The first tree which unfolds a perfect blos¬ 
som is the Red Maple, or as it. is sometimes 
called in different localities the Swamp, White, 
and Scarlet Maple (Acer wbrnm, L) It is 
one of the most common trees in the country, 
ornamenting the swamps a<.d low woo Is at all 
si asons of the year. The scaly bads, which 
stud the branches in profusion, swell wiih the 
first warmth of spring. A few days of uninter¬ 
rupted mi!dn> ss in April will cause them to ex¬ 
pand. Each bud discloses four or five small red 
flowers which spring on short pedicels forn <be 
same point. The calyx and corol'a are similarly 
colored, though the petals are of a more deli¬ 
cate texture. The number of divisions is not 
alwav s the same, ranging from four to six. The 
siamens are equal in number to the calyx loWes, 
and s ! a> d before them. Thev are two or three 
times as long as the flower, giving a bristly ap¬ 
pearance to the clu firs. The flowers are not 
all perfect, in fact, not commonly so. Some 
have stamens only, seme pistils only, and sel¬ 
dom both. S' ‘me trees bear only the staminate, 
some the pistillate flowers, and others both of 
them. They are termed polygamous in botani¬ 
cal language. The fertile flowers have two long 
downy styles which curve outwards. When 
the stamens are present also, they are shorter 
than in sterile flowers. 
Both kinds of flowers are of a beautiful scar¬ 
let hue, and as they spring in great numbers 
around the bare branches, they give to the 
whole tree a brilliant coloring. None of the 
forest trees present so fine a view as the red ma¬ 
ple at this period. It blooms long before any 
vendure has appeared, and rears its flaming 
head over the sleeping life around, so bright 
and beautiful as to distinguish it at a great dis¬ 
tance. But not in bloom only is it remarkable 
for its elegance. When the flowers have fallen 
away, the peduncles begin to elongate rapidly, 
bearing on their apex the swelling germs, 
crowned with the outcurving stigmas. At first 
they are of an inversed triangular form; but 
as they grow larger two wings are developed at 
the outer angles which grow very rapidly, di¬ 
verging as they increase, until they attain a 
curved, spatulate form, thickened at the outer 
edge, which gives rise to forking veins that 
curve inwards. They bear considerable resem¬ 
blance to the wings of some insects. At this 
time the tree presents again a most beautiful 
appearance. The keys or samaras, as they are 
termed, hang pendent on peduncles which grow 
from an inch and a half to two inches, clothing 
the tree with a rich crimson tasseling, even 
more ornamental than its early bloom. The 
seed vessels themselves are small and com¬ 
pressed, growing in pairs, and bearing the wings 
on their outer edge. They contain one seed each. 
(To be continued.) 
