_Flowers._—Golden-yellow. _Calyx._—Of five to nine petal-like sepals.
_Corolla._—None. _Stamens._—Numerous. _Pistils._—Five to ten, almost
without styles.
Hark, hark! the lark at Heaven’s gate sings,
And Phœbus ’gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs,
On chaliced flowers that lies:
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes;
With everything that pretty is—
My lady sweet, arise!
Arise, arise.—_Cymbeline._
We claim—and not without authority—that these “winking Mary-buds” are
identical with the gay marsh marigolds which border our springs and
gladden our wet meadows every April. There are those who assert that the
poet had in mind the garden marigold—_Calendula_—but surely no
cultivated flower could harmonize with the spirit of the song as do
these gleaming swamp blossoms. We will yield to the garden if necessary—
The marigold that goes to bed with the sun
And with him rises weeping—
of the “Winter’s Tale,” but insist on retaining for that larger,
lovelier garden in which we all feel a certain sense of possession—even
if we are not taxed on real estate in any part of the country—the
“golden eyes” of the Mary-buds, and we feel strengthened in our position
by the statement in Mr. Robinson’s “Wild Garden” that the marsh marigold
is so abundant along certain English rivers as to cause the ground to
look as though paved with gold at those seasons when they overflow their
banks.
These flowers are peddled about our streets every spring under the name
of cowslips—a title to which they have no claim, and which is the result
of that reckless fashion of christening unrecognized flowers which is so
prevalent, and which is responsible for so much confusion about their
English names.
The derivation of marigold is somewhat obscure. In the “Grete Herball”
of the sixteenth century the flower is spoken of as _Mary Gowles_, and
by the early English poets as _gold_ simply. As the first part of the
word might be derived from the Anglo-Saxon _mere_—a marsh, it seems
possible that the entire name may signify _marsh-gold_, which would be
an appropriate and poetic title for this shining flower of the marshes.
SPICE-BUSH. BENJAMIN-BUSH. FEVER-BUSH.
_Lindera Benzoin._ Laurel Family.
An aromatic shrub from six to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._—Oblong,
pale underneath. _Flowers._—Appearing before the leaves in March or
April, honey-yellow, borne in clusters which are composed of smaller
clusters, surrounded by an involucre of four early falling scales.
_Fruit._—Red, berry-like, somewhat pear-shaped.
These are among the very earliest blossoms to be found in the moist
woods of spring. During the Revolution the powdered berries were used as
a substitute for allspice; while at the time of the Rebellion the leaves
served as a substitute for tea.
YELLOW ADDER’S TONGUE. DOG’S TOOTH VIOLET.
_Erythronium Americanum._ Lily Family.
_Scape._—Six to nine inches high, one-flowered. _Leaves._—Two,
oblong-lance-shaped, pale green mottled with purple and white.
_Flower._—Rather large, pale yellow marked with purple, nodding.
_Perianth._—Of six recurved or spreading sepals. _Stamens._—Six.
_Pistil._—One.
The white blossoms of the shad-bush gleam from the thicket, and the
sheltered hill-side is already starred with the blood-root and anemone
when we go to seek the yellow adder’s tongue. We direct our steps toward
one of those hollows in the wood which is watered by such a clear
gurgling brook as must appeal to every country-loving heart; and there
where the pale April sunlight filters through the leafless branches, nod
myriads of these lilies, each one guarded by a pair of mottled, erect,
sentinel-like leaves.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXV
MARSH MARIGOLD.—_C. palustris._
]
The two English names of this plant are unsatisfactory and
inappropriate. If the marking of its leaves resembles the skin of an
adder why name it after its tongue? And there is equally little reason
for calling a lily a violet. Mr. Burroughs has suggested two pretty and
significant names. “Fawn lily,” he thinks, would be appropriate, because
a fawn is also mottled, and because the two leaves stand up with the
alert, startled look of a fawn’s ears. The speckled foliage and perhaps
its flowering season are indicated in the title “trout-lily,” which has
a spring-like flavor not without charm. It is said that the early
settlers of Pennsylvania named the flower “yellow snowdrop,” in memory
of their own “harbinger-of-spring.”
The white adder’s tongue, _E. albidum_, is a species which is usually
found somewhat westward.
CELANDINE.
_Chelidonium majus._ Poppy Family.
_Stem._—Brittle, with saffron-colored, acrid juice. _Leaves._—Compound
or divided, toothed or cut. _Flowers._—Yellow, clustered.
_Calyx._—Of two sepals falling early. _Corolla._—Of four petals.
_Stamens._—Sixteen to twenty-four. _Pistil._—One, with a two-lobed
stigma. _Pod._—Slender, linear.
The name of celandine must always suggest the poet who never seemed to
weary of writing in its honor:
Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies,
Let them live upon their praises;
Long as there’s a sun that sets,
Primroses will have their glory;
Long as there are violets,
They will have a place in story;
There’s a flower that shall be mine,
’Tis the little celandine.
And when certain yellow flowers which frequent the village roadside are
pointed out to us as those of the celandine, we feel a sense of
disappointment that the favorite theme of Wordsworth should arouse
within us so little enthusiasm. So perhaps we are rather relieved than
otherwise to realize that the botanical name of this plant signifies
_greater_ celandine; for we remember that the poet never failed to
specify the _small_ celandine as the object of his praise. The small
celandine is _Ranunculus ficaria_, one of the Crowfoot family, and is
only found in this country as an escape from gardens.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXVI
YELLOW ADDER’S TONGUE.—_E. Americanum._
]
Gray tells us that the generic name, _Chelidonium_, from the ancient
Greek for swallow, was given “because its flowers appear with the
swallows;” but if we turn to Gerarde we read that the title was not
bestowed “because it first springeth at the coming in of the swallowes,
or dieth when they go away, for as we have saide, it may be founde all
the yeare; but because some holde opinion, that with this herbe the dams
restore sight to their young ones, when their eies be put out.”
CELANDINE POPPY.
_Stylophorum diphyllum._ Poppy Family.
_Stem._—Low, two-leaved. _Stem-leaves._—Opposite, deeply incised.
_Root-leaves._—Incised or divided. _Flowers._—Deep yellow, large, one
or more at the summit of the stem. _Calyx._—Of two hairy sepals.
_Corolla._—Of four petals. _Stamens._—Many. _Pistil._—One, with a two
to four-lobed stigma.
In April or May, somewhat south and westward, the woods are brightened,
and occasionally the hill-sides are painted yellow, by this handsome
flower. In both flower and foliage the plant suggests the celandine.
DOWNY YELLOW VIOLET.
_Viola pubescens._ Violet Family.
_Stems._—Leafy above, erect. _Leaves._—Broadly heart-shaped, toothed.
_Flowers._—Yellow, veined with purple, otherwise much like those of
the common blue violet.
When beechen buds begin to swell,
And woods the blue-bird’s warble know,
The yellow violet’s modest bell
Peeps from the last year’s leaves below,
sings Bryant, in his charming, but not strictly accurate poem, for the
chances are that the “beechen buds” have almost burst into foliage, and
that the “bluebird’s warble” has been heard for some time when these
pretty flowers begin to dot the woods.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXVII
DOWNY YELLOW VIOLET.—_V. pubescens._
]
The lines which run:
Yet slight thy form, and low thy seat,
And earthward bent thy gentle eye,
Unapt the passing view to meet,
When loftier flowers are flaunting nigh,
would seem to apply more correctly to the round-leaved, _V.
rotundifolia_, than to the downy violet, for although its large, flat
shining leaves are somewhat conspicuous, its flowers are borne singly on
a low scape, which would be less apt to attract notice than the tall,
leafy flowering stems of the other.
COMMON CINQUEFOIL. FIVE FINGER.
_Potentilla Canadensis._ Rose Family.
_Stem._—Slender, prostrate, or sometimes erect. _Leaves._—Divided
really into three leaflets, but apparently into five by the parting of
the lateral leaflets. _Flowers._—Yellow, growing singly from the axils
of the leaves. _Calyx._—Deeply five-cleft, with bracts between each
tooth, thus appearing ten-cleft. _Corolla._—Of five rounded petals.
_Stamens._—Many. _Pistils._—Many in a head.
From spring to nearly midsummer the roads are bordered and the fields
carpeted with the bright flowers of the common cinquefoil. The passer-by
unconsciously betrays his recognition of some of the prominent features
of the Rose family by often assuming that the plant is a yellow-flowered
wild strawberry. Both of the English names refer to the pretty foliage,
cinquefoil being derived from the French _cinque feuilles_. The generic
name, _Potentilla_, has reference to the powerful medicinal properties
formerly attributed to the genus.
SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL. FIVE FINGER.
_Potentilla fruticosa._ Rose Family.
_Stem._—Erect, shrubby, one to four feet high. _Leaves._—Divided into
five to seven narrow leaflets. _Flowers._—Yellow, resembling those of
the common cinquefoil.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXVIII
SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL.—_P. fruticosa._
]
Of all the cinquefoils perhaps this one most truly merits the title five
finger. Certainly its slender leaflets are much more finger-like than
those of the common cinquefoil. It is not a common plant in most
localities, but is very abundant among the Berkshire Hills.
SILVERY CINQUEFOIL.
_Potentilla argentea._ Rose Family.
_Stems._—Ascending, branched at the summit, white, woolly.
_Leaves._—Divided into five wedge-oblong, deeply incised leaflets,
which are green above, white with silvery wool, beneath.
The silvery cinquefoil has rather large yellow flowers which are found
in dry fields throughout the summer as far south as New Jersey.
GOLDEN RAGWORT. SQUAW-WEED.
_Senecio aureus._ Composite Family (p. 13).
_Stem._—One to three feet high. _Root-leaves._—Rounded, the
larger ones mostly heart-shaped, toothed, and long-stalked.
_Stem-leaves._—The lower lyre-shaped, the upper lance-shaped,
incised, set close to the stem. _Flower-heads._—Yellow,
clustered, composed of both ray and disk-flowers.
A child would perhaps liken the flower of the golden ragwort to a yellow
daisy. Stain yellow the white rays of the daisy, diminish the size of
the whole head somewhat, and you have a pretty good likeness of the
ragwort. There need be little difficulty in the identification of this
plant—although there are several marked varieties—for its flowers are
abundant in the early year, at which season but few members of the
Composite family are abroad.
The generic name is from _senex_—an old man—alluding to the silky down
of the seeds, which is supposed to suggest the silvery hairs of age.
Closely allied to the golden ragwort is the common groundsel, _S.
vulgaris_, which is given as food to caged birds. The flower-heads of
this species are without rays.
——— ———
_Clintonia borealis._ Lily Family.
_Scape._—Five to eight inches high, sheathed at its base by the
stalks of two to four large, oblong, conspicuous leaves.
_Flowers._—Greenish-yellow, rather large, rarely solitary.
_Perianth._—Of six sepals. _Stamens._—Six, protruding.
_Pistil._—One, protruding. _Fruit._—A blue berry.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXXIX
_Clintonia borealis._
]
When rambling through the cool, moist woods our attention is often
attracted by patches of great dark, shining, leaves; and if it be late
in the year we long to know the flower of which this rich foliage is the
setting. To satisfy our curiosity we must return the following May or
June, when we shall probably find that a slender scape rises from its
midst bearing at its summit several bell-shaped flowers, which, without
either high color or fragrance, are peculiarly charming. It is hard to
understand why this beautiful plant has received no English name. As to
its generic title we cannot but sympathize with Thoreau. “Gray should
not have named it from the Governor of New York,” he complains; “what is
he to the lovers of flowers in Massachusetts? If named after a man, it
must be a man of flowers.... Name your canals and railroads after
Clinton, if you please, but his name is not associated with flowers.”
_C. umbellata_ is a more Southern species, with smaller white flowers,
which are speckled with green or purplish dots.
YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPER. WHIP-POOR-WILL’S SHOE.
_Cypripedium pubescens._ Orchis Family (p. 17).
_Stem._—About two feet high, downy, leafy to the top, one to
three-flowered. _Leaves._—Alternate, broadly oval, many-nerved and
plaited. _Flowers._—Large, yellow. _Perianth._—Two of the three
brownish, elongated sepals united into one under the lip; the lateral
petals linear, wavy-twisted, brownish; the pale yellow lip an inflated
pouch. _Stamens._—Two, the short filaments of each bearing a
two-celled anther. _Stigma._—Broad, obscurely three-lobed, moist and
roughish.
The yellow lady’s slipper usually blossoms in May or June, a few days
later than its pink sister, _C. acaule._ Regarding its favorite haunts,
Mr. Baldwin[3] says: “Its preference is for maples, beeches, and
particularly butternuts, and for sloping or hilly ground, and I always
look with glad suspicion at a knoll covered with ferns, cohoshes, and
trilliums, expecting to see a clump of this plant among them. Its
sentinel-like habit of choosing ‘sightly places’ leads it to venture
well up on mountain sides.”
The long, wavy, brownish petals give the flower an alert, startled look
when surprised in its lonely hiding-places.
[Illustration:
PLATE XL
SMALLER YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPER.—_C. parviflorum._
]
_C. parviflorum_, the small yellow lady’s slipper, differs from _C.
pubescens_ in the superior richness of its color as well as in its size.
It also has the charm of fragrance.
EARLY MEADOW PARSNIP.
_Zizia aurea._ Parsley Family (p. 15).
One to three feet high. _Leaves._—Twice or thrice-compound, leaflets
oblong to lance-shaped, toothed. _Flowers._—Yellow, small, in compound
umbels.
This is one of the earliest members of the Parsley family to appear. Its
golden flower-clusters brighten the damp meadows and the borders of
streams in May or June and closely resemble the meadow parsnip,
_Thaspium aureum_, of which this species was formerly considered a
variety, of the later year.
The tall, stout, common wild parsnip, _Pastinaca sativa_, is another
yellow representative of this family in which white flowers prevail, the
three plants here mentioned being the only yellow species commonly
encountered. The common parsnip may be identified by its grooved stem
and simply compound leaves. Its roots have been utilized for food at
least since the reign of Tiberius, for Pliny tells us that that Emperor
brought them to Rome from the banks of the Rhine, where they were
successfully cultivated.
GOLDEN CLUB.
_Orontium aquaticum._ Arum Family.
_Scape._—Slender, elongated. _Leaves._—Long-stalked, oblong, floating.
_Flowers._—Small, yellow, crowded over the narrow spike or spadix.
When we go to the bogs in May to hunt for the purple flower of the
pitcher-plant we are likely to chance upon the well-named golden club.
This curious-looking club-shaped object, which is found along the
borders of ponds, indicates its relationship to the jack-in-the-pulpit,
and still more to the calla lily, but unlike them its tiny flowers are
shielded by no protecting spathe.
Kalm tells us in his “Travels,” “that the Indians called the plant
_Taw-Kee_, and used its dried seeds as food.”
SPEARWORT.
_Ranunculus ambigens._ Crowfoot Family.
_Stems._—One to two feet high. _Leaves._—Oblong or lance-shaped,
mostly toothed, contracted into a half-clasping leaf-stalk.
_Flowers._—Bright yellow, solitary or clustered. _Calyx._—Of
five sepals. _Corolla._—Of five to seven oblong petals.
_Stamens._—Indefinite in number, occasionally few. _Pistils._—Numerous
in a head.
Many weeks after the marsh marigolds have passed away, just such marshy
places as they affected are brightly flecked with gold. Wondering,
perhaps, if they can be flowering for the second time in the season, we
wade recklessly into the bog to rescue, not the marsh marigold, but its
near relation, the spearwort, which is still more closely related to the
buttercup, as a little comparison of the two flowers will show. This
plant is especially common at the North.
INDIAN CUCUMBER-ROOT.
_Medeola Virginica._ Lily Family.
_Root._—Tuberous, shaped somewhat like a cucumber, with a suggestion
of its flavor. _Stem._—Slender, from one to three feet high, at first
clothed with wool. _Leaves._—In two whorls on the flowering plants,
the lower of five to nine oblong, pointed leaves set close to the
stem, the upper usually of three or four much smaller ones.
_Flowers._—Greenish-yellow, small, clustered, recurved, set close to
the upper leaves. _Perianth._—Of three sepals and three petals, oblong
and alike. _Stamens._—Six, reddish-brown. _Pistil._—With three
stigmas, long, recurved, and reddish-brown. _Fruit._—A purple berry.
One is more apt to pause in September to note the brilliant foliage and
purple berries of this little plant than to gather the drooping
inconspicuous blossoms for his bunch of wood-flowers in June. The
generic name is after the sorceress Medea, on account of its supposed
medicinal virtues, of which, however, there seems to be no record.
The tuberous rootstock has the flavor, and something the shape, of the
cucumber, and was probably used as food by the Indians. It would not be
an uninteresting study to discover which of our common wild plants are
able to afford pleasant and nutritious food; in such a pursuit many of
the otherwise unattractive popular names would prove suggestive.
COMMON BLADDERWORT.
_Utricularia vulgaris._ Bladderwort Family.
_Stems._—Immersed, one to three feet long. _Leaves._—Many-parted,
hair-like, bearing numerous bladders. _Scape._—Six to twelve inches
long. _Flowers._—Yellow, five to twelve on each scape.
_Calyx._—Two-lipped. _Corolla._—Two-lipped, spurred at the base.
_Stamens._—Two. _Pistil._—One.
This curious water-plant may or may not have roots; in either case it is
not fastened to the ground, but is floated by means of the many bladders
which are borne on its finely dissected leaves. It is commonly found in
ponds and slow streams, flowering throughout the summer. Thoreau calls
it “a dirty-conditioned flower, like a sluttish woman with a gaudy
yellow bonnet.”
The horned bladderwort, _U. cornuta_, roots in the peat-bogs and sandy
swamps. Its large yellow helmet-shaped flowers are very fragrant, less
than half a dozen being borne on each scape.
YELLOW POND-LILY. SPATTER DOCK.
_Nuphar advena._ Water-lily Family.
_Leaves._—Floating or erect, roundish to oblong, with a deep cleft at
their base. _Flowers._—Yellow, sometimes purplish, large, somewhat
globular. _Calyx._—Of five or six sepals or more, yellow or green
without. _Corolla._—Of numerous small, thick, fleshy petals which are
shorter than the stamens and resemble them. _Stamens._—Very numerous.
_Pistil._—One, with a disk-like, many-rayed stigma.
Bordering the slow streams and stagnant ponds from May till August may
be seen the yellow pond-lilies. These flowers lack the delicate beauty
and fragrance of the white water-lilies; having, indeed, either from
their odor, or appearance, or the form of their fruit, won for
themselves in England the unpoetic title of “brandy-bottle.” Owing to
their love of mud they have also been called “frog-lilies.” The Indians
used their roots for food.
[Illustration:
PLATE XLI
INDIAN CUCUMBER-ROOT.—_M. Virginiana._
]
WINTER-CRESS, YELLOW ROCKET. HERB OF ST. BARBARA.
_Barbarea vulgaris._ Mustard Family (p. 17).
_Stem._—Smooth. _Leaves._—The lower lyre-shaped; the upper ovate,
toothed or deeply incised at their base. _Flowers._—Yellow, growing in
racemes. _Pod._—Linear, erect or slightly spreading.
As early as May we find the bright flowers of the winter-cress along the
roadside. This is probably the first of the yellow mustards to appear.
BLACK MUSTARD.
_Brassica nigra._ Mustard Family (p. 17).
Often several feet high. _Stem._—Branching. _Leaves._—The lower with a
large terminal lobe and a few small lateral ones. _Flowers._—Yellow,
rather small, growing in a raceme. _Pods._—Smooth, erect, appressed,
about half an inch long.
Many are familiar with the appearance of this plant who are ignorant of
its name. The pale yellow flowers spring from the waste places along the
roadside and border the dry fields throughout the summer. The tall
spreading branches recall the biblical description: “It groweth up, and
becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so
that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”
This plant is extensively cultivated in Europe, its ground seeds forming
the well-known condiment. The ancients used it for medicinal purposes.
It has come across the water to us, and is a troublesome weed in many
parts of the country.
WILD RADISH.
_Raphanus Raphanistrum._ Mustard Family (p. 17).
One to three feet high. _Leaves._—Rough, lyre-shaped.
_Flowers._—Yellow, veiny, turning white or purplish; larger than those
of the black mustard, otherwise resembling them. _Pod._—Often
necklace-form by constriction between the seeds.
This plant is a troublesome weed in many of our fields. It is the stock
from which the garden radish has been raised.
[Illustration:
PLATE XLII
WINTER-CRESS.—_B. vulgaris._
]
CYNTHIA. DWARF DANDELION.
_Krigia Virginica._ Composite Family (p. 13).
_Stems._—Several, becoming branched, leafy. _Leaves._—Earlier ones
roundish; the latter narrower and often cleft. _Flower-heads._—Yellow,
composed entirely of strap-shaped flowers.
In some parts of the country these flowers are among the earliest to
appear. They are found in New England, as well as south and westward.
The flowers of _K. amplexicaulis_ appear later, and their range is a
little farther south. Near Philadelphia great masses of the
orange-colored blossoms and pale green stems and foliage line the
railway embankments in June.
RATTLESNAKE-WEED.
_Hieracium venosum._ Composite Family (p. 13).
_Stem or Scape._—One or two feet high, naked or with a single leaf,
smooth, slender, forking above. _Leaves._—From the root, oblong, often
making a sort of flat rosette, usually conspicuously veined with
purple. _Flower-heads._—Yellow, composed entirely of strap-shaped
flowers.
The loosely clustered yellow flower-heads of the rattlesnake-weed
somewhat resemble small dandelions. They abound in the pine-woods and
dry, waste places of early summer. The purple-veined leaves, whose
curious markings give to the plant its common name, grow close to the
ground and are supposed to be efficacious in rattlesnake bites. Here
again crops out the old “doctrine of signatures,” for undoubtedly this
virtue has been attributed to the species solely on account of the
fancied resemblance between its leaves and the markings of the
rattlesnake.
_H. scabrum_ is another common species, which may be distinguished from
the rattlesnake-weed by its stout, leafy stem and unveined leaves.
DANDELION.
_Taraxacum officinale._ Composite Family (p. 13).
[Illustration:
PLATE XLIII
RATTLESNAKE-WEED.—_H. venosum._
]