LIVER-LEAF.
(SHARP LOBED HEPATICA.)
_Hepatica acutiloba._
“Lodged in sunny clefts,
Where the cold breeze comes not, blooms alone
The little Wind-flower, whose just opened eye
Is blue, as the spring heaven it gazes at.”
BRYANT.
THE American poet, Bryant, has many happy allusions to the Hepatica
under the name of “WIND-FLOWER;” the more common name among our Canadian
settlers is “SNOW-FLOWER,” it being the first blossom that appears
directly after the melting off of the winter snows.
In the forest—in open grassy old woods, on banks and upturned roots of
trees, this sweet flower gladdens the eye with its cheerful starry
blossoms; every child knows it and fills its hands and bosom with its
flowers, pink, blue, deep azure and pure white. What the daisy is to
England, the Snow-flower or Liver-leaf is to Canada. It lingers long
within the forest shade, coyly retreating within its sheltering glades
from the open glare of the sun: though for a time it will not refuse to
bloom within the garden borders, when transplanted early in spring, and
doubtless if properly supplied with black mould from the woods and
partially sheltered by shrubs it would continue to grow and flourish
with us constantly.
We have two sorts, _H. acutiloba_, and _H. triloba_. A large variety has
been found on Long Island in Rice Lake; the leaves of which are _five
lobed_; the lobes much rounded, the leaf stalks stout, densely silky,
the flowers large, of a deep purple blue. This handsome plant throve
under careful cultivation and proved highly ornamental.
The small round closely folded buds of the Hepatica appear before the
white silky leaves unfold themselves, though many of the old leaves of
the former year remain persistent through the winter. The buds rise from
the centre of a silken bed of soft sheaths and young leaves, as if
nature kindly provided for the warmth and protection of these early
flowers with parental care.
Later in the season, the young leaves expand just before the flowers
drop off. The white flowered is the most common among our Hepaticas, but
varieties may be seen of many hues: waxen-pink, pale blue and azure blue
with intermediate shades and tints.
The Hepatica belongs to the Nat. Ord. Ranunculaceæ, the crow-foot
family, but possesses none of the acrid and poisonous qualities of the
Ranunculus proper, being used in medicine, as a mild tonic, by the
American herb doctors in fevers and disorders of the liver.
It is very probable that its healing virtues in complaints of the liver
gave rise to its common name in old times; some assign the name to the
form of the lobed leaf.
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BELLWORT.
(WOOD DAFFODIL.)
_Uvularia perfoliata._
“Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
Thee haste away so soon,
As yet the early rising sun
Has not attained his noon.
Stay, stay!—
Until the hasting day
Has run,
But to the evening song;
When having prayed together we
Will go with you along.”
HERRICK.
THIS slender drooping flower of early spring is known by the name of
BELLWORT, from its pendent lily-like bells; and by some it is better
known as the _Wood Daffodil_, to which its yellow blossoms bear some
remote resemblance.
The flowers of the Bellwort are of a pale greenish-yellow; the divisions
of the petal-like sepals are six, deeply divided, pointed and slightly
twisted or waved, drooping from slender thready pedicels terminating the
branches; the stem of the plant is divided into two portions, one of
which is barren of flowers. The leaves are of a pale green, smooth, and
in the largest species perfoliate, clasping the stem.
The root (or rhizome) is white, fleshy and tuberous. The Bellwort is
common in rich shady woods and grassy thickets, and on moist alluvial
soil on the banks of streams, where it attains to the height of 18 or 20
inches. It is an elegant, but not very showy flower—remarkable more for
its graceful pendent straw-coloured or pale yellow blossoms, than for
its brilliancy. It belongs to a sub-order of the Lily Tribe. There are
three species in Canada—the large Bellwort—_Uvularia grandiflora_ and
_U. perfoliata_—we also possess the third, enumerated by Dr. Gray, _U.
sessilifolia_.
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