Part 2

The perianth is funnel-form, with six spreading orange limbs and six long stamens with large brown anthers. The blossoms appear in July and August, each remaining open for but a single day; this habit makes them very popular for vase flowers as the number of buds on each stalk insures fresh flowers every day for a week or more. The leaves are long and linear, similar to those of the Cat-tail, appearing from a fleshy perennial rootstalk at the base of the tall flower scape.

In the absence of any odor, the beautiful flower cup serves to attract the bees that are necessary for the setting of its seed.

LILIES Genus (_Lilium_)

All the members of this genus are among our most beautiful flowers. In our range it includes eight species, of which seven are natives. The two species of Red Lily can readily be recognized because their perianth, or flower funnel, always opens upward.

Wood Lily; Wild Orange-red Lily (_Lilium philadelphicum_) has a leafy stem 1 to 3 feet high, at its summit bearing one to four erect (not pendulous) flowers; the divisions of the perianth are deep orange-red, lightening in color at the stem-like bases and profusely spotted with dark brown; the outside of the perianth is dull whitish green. The leaves are lanceolate, sharply pointed at each end and whorled about the stem in groups of from three to seven. Its name is rather misleading for, while it is sometimes found in woods, it will be found blooming most profusely in sandy or brush-covered land. Blooms in July and August in sandy soil from N. E. to Mich. and southward.

Turk’s-cap Lily (_Lilium superbum_) is a most beautiful plant, prolific in bloom almost beyond belief, sometimes containing from thirty to forty brilliant orange flowers. The bright sepals are always reflexed, sometimes so much so that they remind one of a coiled spring. One has but to touch the large pendent anthers to get a practical demonstration of how the pollen is attached to the body of a bee and carried to another flower, there to be deposited on the sticky stigma of the mature style. Naturally a species so prolific of flower and so capable of being cross-fertilized by foreign agency is in little danger of having its numbers lessened.

The flowers, nodding at the top of a stem ranging from 2 to 7 feet in height, have a six-parted perianth, orange-red, thickly spotted with purplish brown. The lanceolate leaves are crowded along the upper stem and whorled about its lower portion. Blooms abundantly in rich soil, during July and August, from N. B. to Minn. and southward.

Field, Wild, Meadow, Yellow or Canada Lily (_Lilium canadense_) is one of the most abundant of the genus. Imagine a rich meadow, surrounded by deep green woods and covered with thousands of these lilies, their heads hanging and nodding invitingly and seeming fairly to tinkle in the bright sunlight. On the whole, this flower may be regarded as more graceful in form than is the Turk’s-cap, but it cannot compare with the latter flower for beauty of coloring. The regular whorled leaves and graceful bending peduncles supporting the hanging “bells” make a conventional design that often appeals to the artistic eye.

The flowers are in terminal clusters of one to twelve blossoms, nodding on long peduncles from the summit of tall leafy stems. The leaves are lanceolate, arranged about the stem at intervals in whorls of three to eight. Flowers during June and July in moist meadows from Quebec to Minn. and southward to Ga. and Mo.

(A) Dog-tooth Violet; Yellow Adder’s Tongue (_Erythronium americanum_). These flowers are familiar and welcome ones to all who wander beside woodland brooks in the spring. The name “Violet” is of course a misnomer. It is often locally known as the “Trout Lily” or the “Fawn Lily,” both of which names are far more appropriate than those given it generally.

The single 6-parted flower grows at the top of a scape from 5 to 10 in. high. Two elliptical-lanceolate leaves clasp the scape at its base, near the scaly bulb; they are pale green, mottled with purple and white. This species blooms in April and May in moist woods or swamps, from N. B. to Minn. and southward.

(B) Clintonia (_Clintonia borealis_) is a beautiful species, its leaves resembling those of the Lily-of-the-Valley. The three to six pendulous, bell-shaped flowers are cream-colored within and greenish outside. Three large, oblong, pointed leaves clasp the flower scape at its base. The plant is about 6 to 16 in. high; it flowers during June in damp woods from Labrador to Man. and southward.

Wild Spikenard (_Smilacina racemosa_) is quite an imposing plant, with its long, curving, zigzag stem, its many light-green, deeply ribbed leaves and its feathery terminal flower clusters.

The white flowers are tiny but perfect, with a 6-parted perianth, six slender stamens, and a short, thick style. The stem is rather angular and attains a length of from 1 to 3 feet; alternating along it are the large, oval, sharply pointed leaves, with parallel ribs and wavy edge. The perennial rootstalk is thick and fleshy. Spikenard is quite abundant in moist rich, uncleared ground, flowering in May and June, from Me. to Minn. southward.

False Solomon’s Seal (_Smilacina stellata_) bears some resemblance to the last species, but the flowers are much larger and few in number, usually only six or eight terminating the zigzag stem. The leaves are broader at the bases and slightly clasp the stem, whereas those of the last species have very short stems. It grows commonly, but not as much so as the last, on moist banks and in meadows, from Me. to Minn. and southward.

(A) Canada Mayflower; False Lily-of-the-Valley (_Maianthemum canadense_) is a very abundant woodland plant, growing in colonies, thousands of them sometimes carpeting pine woods with their dark-green glossy leaves. The two, or three broad, ovate-lanceolate, shiny green leaves are rather heart-shaped at the base, seated on the stem or very nearly so. The flower perianth has four divisions. After the flowering season both of these plants have berries; at first a creamy white, spotted with brown, and later turning to a dull ruby-red.

(B) Three-leaved False Solomon’s Seal (_Smilacina trifolia_), the smallest member of the genus Smilacina is found rather commonly in bogs and wet woods. The stem, straight and slender, from 2 to 6 in. high, usually has three leaves, shining green, oblong-pointed, and sheathing at the base, arranged at regular intervals along it. The flowers are white, few in number, on short peduncles in an open raceme and have six petals. It is found from Labrador to Manitoba and southward to N. J. and Mo., flowering during May and June.

Purple Twisted-stalk (_Streptopus roseus_) has, as would be judged from its name, a very angular or twisted stem. At each angle or joint appears an ovate-lanceolate, cordately ribbed, shining green leaf, seated on the stem. From the axils of the terminal leaves appear small flowers on slender, thread-like peduncles; these flowers are sometimes single or, again, in pairs; they have a bell-shaped base and the perianth is divided into six lanceolate, spreading dull purple sepals. The stem, which is rather sparingly bristly hairy, reaches heights of 1 to 2½ feet. This rosy species blooms in May and June in cold moist woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.

Common Twisted-stalk (_Streptopus amplexifolius_) is similar but has greenish-white flowers, the six sepals of which are very strongly reflexed. The plant is somewhat larger, the smooth stem being from 2 to 3 feet in length. It is found throughout northern United States and the southern half of Canada.

Solomon’s Seal (_Polygonatum biflorum_) has small greenish, bell-shaped flowers about one half inch in length, hanging in pairs on slender peduncles from the axils of the leaves. The stem is 1 to 2 feet in height. The oblong-lanceolate leaves alternate along, and are partly seated on, the stem; deep green above and glaucous or whitish below. Very common in woods from N. B. to Ont. and southward, flowering from April to June.

These plants receive their name from the thick, fleshy, and knotted rootstalks. They are perennials, each year throwing up new stalks; after flowering these wither away and leave pronounced scars on the roots. These scars suggested the name of Solomon’s Seal and the number of them probably accurately denotes the ages of the plants. Both the large and the small species grow in the same localities. They can readily be distinguished by comparison, for commutatum is always larger in all its parts; while it may be but a foot and a half tall it will be stouter and have comparatively larger flowers than its relative. Often it assumes truly gigantic size and may tower above a tall man’s head.

(A) Common Green Brier (_Smilax rotundifolia_) is a woody climbing vine with scattered sharp prickles; it climbs by means of pairs of tendrils from the axils of the leaves. Leaves alternating along the stem; round-ovate, sharply pointed at the tip and somewhat heart-shaped at the base. Flowers, few on slender peduncles from the angles of the leaves; perianth bell-shaped, with six short, spreading lobes, pale greenish in color. Common in moist thickets from N. S. to Minn. and southward, flowering in May and June.

(B) Lily-of-the-Valley (_Convallaria majalis_). As a garden flower, this species is probably familiar to nearly everyone. While, as a native, it is only found in some of the southeastern mountain ranges, it is sometimes found in the North as an escape from cultivation. It is a delicately beautiful species, very rich in fragrance and very hardy. The bell-shaped, white flowers grow in a one-sided raceme at the top of a scape, the base of which is sheathed by the two large, broad, oblong-pointed, parallel-veined leaves. It flowers in May and June in the mountains from Va. to S. C.

Indian Cucumber-root (_Medeola virginiana_) is a common woodland plant, but the flowers are so inconspicuous that they are often overlooked; in fact they are often nodding below the upper leaves so as to be invisible. The stem is tall and slender, ranging from 1 to 3 feet in height; it rises from a thick horizontal rootstalk, having a taste similar to that of the cucumber. A whorl of from five to nine ovate-lanceolate, pointed leaves is located midway on the stem; at the top, three smaller but similarly shaped leaves radiate. Above these, or it may be below, because of the curving pedicels, are three flowers. They are pale greenish-yellow; the three sepals and three petals composing the perianth are very much reflexed or curled; they have six stamens each, and one style dividing into three purplish-brown, recurved stigmas.

It is said that the Indians formerly used the roots for food; at the present time they are used for various medicinal preparations. Cucumber-root is found from N. B. to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf, flowering in rich woods during May and June.

Genus (_Trillium_)

Trilliums derive their generic name from the fact that all their parts are arranged in threes; three leaves, three petals, three sepals, and a three-parted stigma. The common name of Wake Robin was probably early given because these flowers appear at an early date. As a matter of fact they do not bloom until weeks after the robins have returned to the Northern States. All the purple trilliums have an unpleasant odor resembling that of putrid meat; as they are largely dependent for fertilization upon certain carrion flies, it is very probable that their peculiar color is for the purpose of an added lure for these insects.

Purple Trillium; Birthroot; Ill-scented Wake Robin (_Trillium erectum_) has three purplish-brown petals and three sepals; six stamens exceeding in length the stout spreading stigma. Flower solitary, rising on a short pedicel above the whorl of broad, ovate, pointed, and short petioled leaves. This trillium ranges in height from 6 to 15 inches. It flowers in April and May, in rich woods from Quebec to Ont. and southward.

(A) Large-flowered Trillium (_Trillium grandiflorum_) is the largest of the genus in all respects and is one of the best known and most common species. It can be looked for in any damp, rich woods during May or June. Usually they grow in colonies and it is an exception when one finds a single plant without others being in sight. The stem of this species is from 10 to 18 inches in height; the waxy-white petals are from 1½ to 2 in. in length; as they grow older the color changes to a delicate pink and they curve gracefully backward.

The flower is on a short pedicel above the whorl of broad, ovate-pointed, and short petioled leaves. Found from Vt. to Minn. and southward to N. C. and Mo.

(B) Nodding Trillium (_T. Cernuum_) is quite similar to, but smaller than, the last species. Its blossom is either white or pink and is on a curved pedicel that often bends so as to place the flower beneath the whorl of leaves; the edges of the petals are quite wavy. This demure, bashful little trillium is found from Newfoundland and Man. south to Pa. and Mich.

Painted Trillium (_Trillium undulatum_) has sharply pointed, wavy-edged, waxy-white petals with crimson V-shaped marks at the bases. The ovate leaves are sharply pointed and petioled. It is a common species from Quebec to Ontario and southward.

The Painted Trillium is usually regarded as the most beautiful of the genus. Certainly it is the most abundant. It is more gregarious than others, and we often find large beds of them with their dainty, waxy-white, wavy-edged flowers swaying above the deep green background formed by their broad, whorled leaves. They grow most profusely along the banks of woodland brooks and in cool, moist glens. You will find them most abundant during the latter part of May soon after the wood thrush, that frequents the same locality, makes his appearance from the South. They are always associated in my mind with these birds and with water thrushes that I have often watched as they daintily threaded their way among the numerous plant stalks, entirely concealed above by the numerous leaves, and visible only by placing the head close to the ground.

(A) Star-of-Bethlehem (_Ornithogalum umbellatum_) (European).

The scape, rising from a coated bulb, is from 6 to 12 in. high; at the top is a loose, terminal cluster of from four to eight blossoms. The perianth is divided into six waxy-white sepals, rather greenish on the outside, and with three to seven green nerves; six stamens and a three-sided stigma. The leaves are long, linear, and channeled. Found as an escape, from Me. to Va.

AMARYLLIS FAMILY (_Amaryllidaceæ_)

A family of bulbous and scape-bearing herbs with flat, grass-like leaves and regular six-parted flowers.

(B) Atamasco Lily (_Zephyranthes atamasco_) is an exceedingly beautiful species with pure, waxy-white flowers, only one to a plant, erect at the summit of a scape from 6 to 12 in. high. Perianth funnel-form, with six spreading lobes, a short pistil, and six stamens with large yellow anthers. Leaves long, linear, and channeled. Quite common in moist places or swamps, from Del. to Fla., flowering from April to July.

Yellow Star Grass (_Hypoxis hirsuta_) is the most widely distributed of any of the members of the Amaryllis family. It is very appropriately named. From April until July and more sparingly until September we may see these bright shining golden stars peering at us from a background of green grass. So closely do the leaves of this little plant correspond to the grass leaves, among which they grow, that sharp scrutiny is required to distinguish them. The blossoms are visited by several of the smaller bees for pollen; some of this is often unwittingly carried to the sticky stigma of the next flower visited and cross-fertilization effected.

The flowers are in a loose umbel at the top of a scape from 3 to 8 in. in height; perianth widespread and divided into six shining, golden-yellow sepals, paler and slightly greenish on the outside; the six stamens tipped with large, golden-orange anthers. The slender, narrow, grass-like leaves come from a small bulb together with the flower scape. This species is common from Me. to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.

IRIS FAMILY (_Iridaceæ_)

This family is composed of perennial herbs growing in moist places and having long linear or sword-shaped leaves and large showy flowers. Iris is named from the Greek meaning, rainbow, and it certainly is no misnomer as applied to the Blue Flag or Iris which is the most common of the genus. The perpetuation of this species in healthy condition is insured by the formation of the flower, which is such that self-pollenization is practically impossible. The stamens are directly under the strap-like divisions of the style and the stigma is on the upper surface at the rolled-up tip. Bees are the most frequent visitors.

Larger Blue Flag; Blue Iris; Fleur-de-Lis (_Iris versicolor_). Flower solitary, from a green spathe at the end of a long peduncle; sepals, neither bearded nor crested, but broad, violet, and handsomely veined; petals erect, flat, and spatulate. Leaves sword-shaped, glaucous-green, folded into flat clusters at the base. Very common from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward, flowering from May to July.

(A) Blue-eyed Grass (_Sisyrinchium angustifolium_), as one would suspect from the name, has grass-like leaves and flowers that make one think of bright little blue eyes as they peep out of the meadow grass in which you will find them.

The Blue-eyed Grasses have recently been separated into thirteen species, differing chiefly in the comparative lengths of the flower spathes, or the lengths of the leaves as compared to the flower stem. The six divisions of the flower are regular, violet, with a yellow or white star-shaped centre; each sepal is blunt, with a thorn-like tip. Common from N. B. to B. C. and southward.

(B) Crested Dwarf Iris (_Iris cristata_). Flowers usually solitary, very delicate in form, and of a light violet color; the sepals have a central crested rib of a bright orange color; the smaller petals are also crested. The tube is long and thread-like. Leaves lanceolate, about 5 to 7 in. long; those forming the spathe are ovate-lanceolate. This attractive little Iris is found on rich wooded hillsides and along streams, from Md. and Ind. southward, flowering in April and May.

ORCHIS FAMILY (_Orchidaceæ_)

This is a large family composed of herbaceous perennials with tuberoid roots or corms. The perianth is composed of six divisions, the three outer being sepals (two of which are often united) and the three inner ones petals, the lower one of which, termed the lip, differs in form from the others.

Yellow Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium parviflorum_) has usually one, but sometimes three, flowers at the summit of a leafy stem 7 to 20 in. high. The inflated lip is bright yellow, slipper-shaped, and with a rounded orifice open near the base. The two lateral petals are brownish; exceedingly twisted. The broad, bright-green leaves are very prominently ribbed lengthwise, pointed and alternately sheathing the stem. This is one of the northerly species, being found along the northern border of the United States and southern Canada. It grows in colonies and flowers from May to July, in rich woods or bogs.

Showy Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium hirsutum_) is a magnificent orchid, usually regarded as the most beautiful of the genus. It is of imposing dimensions and has large, fragrant flowers.

The inflated lip is large and balloon-like, about 2 in. in length; white, with crimson-magenta blotches and streaks on the front edge; the sepals are round-ovate and the petals oblong, both pointed and both greenish-white in color. The leafy stem, that bears at its summit the solitary blossom, is from 1 to 2 feet in height. Found locally from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward to Ga. and Mo., flowering in rich woods during June and July.

Small White Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium candidum_). The flower of this species is of the same size and shape as that of the yellow variety, but the lip is pure white outside and striped with purple inside at the base; the two lateral sepals and the two petals are ovate-lanceolate, greenish, spotted with brown. It is a single-flowered species with numerous leaves. It is found in swamps from N. Y. to Minn. southward.

Pink Lady’s Slipper; Moccasin Flower (_Cypripedium acaule_) has solitary flowers surmounting a scape from 8 to 12 in. high; lip large, drooping pink, with a slit in front, instead of a circular opening as in the others. It frequents dry woods and may be found from southern Canada southward.

Although this is the most common of the Lady’s Slippers, it is no less beautiful than the others. The flower of the present species is a very ingenious contrivance; it is fertilized by the common bumblebee. The only entrance is through the fissure in the front; it requires considerable pressure to force his burly frame through, but at length he succeeds and the aperture closes behind him. After eating his fill he takes the easiest way out, toward the base where he can see two spots of light. As he forces his way through the narrow passage he comes in contact with a sticky stigma, armed with incurving hairs which remove any pollen he may have on his back; as he continues his struggle out he reaches an anther blocking the passage and waiting to clap its load of pollen on his back.

(A) Green Wood Orchis (_Habenaria clavellata_) has from three to sixteen inconspicuous greenish flowers in a loose spike at the top of a stem from 6 to 18 in. high; lip oblong and with three teeth; spur long, slender, and curved upward and to one side. One or two oblong-lanceolate leaves with obtuse tips clasp the stem near the base while several small bracts alternate along it. Grows in bogs from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward.

(B) Green-fringed Orchis (_Habenaria flava_) is a common green orchis (formerly _virescens_). The lower leaves are oblong-lanceolate, while the upper ones are linear, diminishing in size and passing into the flower bracts. The flower lip is square-ended and toothed; spur slender and about the length of the flower. In the whole U. S. and southern Canada we may find this species growing in bogs.

Habenaria bracteata is similar to _flava_, but the flower bracts are large, being from two to four times the length of the flowers. N. S. to Alaska and south through the U. S.

(A) Yellow-fringed Orchis (_Habenaria ciliaris_) is an attractive and rather common orchis with a tall leafy stem from 12 to 24 in. high. The spike is very closely set with flowers having rounded petals, fringed lips, and slender spurs about an inch in length. The leaves are lanceolate, gradually diminishing in size as they approach the spike and passing into the flower bracts. Found from Me. to Mich. and southward.

(B) Hooker’s Orchis (_H. Hookeri_) has a leafless scape from 6 to 12 in. high, at the base of which are two broad, oval, shining, deep-green leaves. The ten to twenty flowers are yellowish-green; lip lanceolate and sharply pointed, less than half an inch long; slender spur about one inch long. Flowers during June and July in woods from Me. to Minn. and south to N.C.