[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Western Anemone=
_Anemòne occidentàlis_
=White
Spring
Northwest=]
These beautiful mountain flowers bloom in early spring, sometimes
poking their pretty faces right through a hole melted in a snow-bank,
and the brave little things are quite thickly covered with silky wool
all over, as if to keep themselves warm. The flowers, which often bloom
before the leaves expand, are about two inches across, with five to
eight, cream-white sepals, tinged with blue and hairy on the outside,
and are much less delicate looking than most Anemones. The stout stems
are very woolly, from six to eighteen inches tall, and the leaves are
beautiful, cut into numerous, very fine divisions, exceedingly feathery
and pretty. The akenes have long, feathery tails and form very large,
silky, fluffy heads, which are very handsome and conspicuous.
There are a good many kinds of Caltha, succulent marsh plants, of
temperate and arctic regions; the leaves undivided, mostly from the
base and more or less heart-shaped; the flowers with large, petal-like
sepals and no petals. This is the Latin name of the Marigold.
[Sidenote: =White Marsh Marigold=
_Cáltha leptosépala_
=White
Summer
Northwest=]
A pretty little mountain, marsh plant with a smooth, stout, purplish
stem from four to eight inches tall, and smooth, light-green leaves,
often veined with purple on the under side. The flowers are an inch and
a quarter across, with eight or ten, cream-white sepals, tinged with
blue on the outside, and pretty golden centers of numerous stamens.
This blooms at the edge of the retreating snow and reaches an altitude
of twelve thousand feet. _C. palústris_, the Yellow Marsh Marigold,
found in the Northwest and common in the East, has beautiful yellow
flowers, resembling large Buttercups.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Western Anemone--Anemone occidentalis.