_Clintonia borealis_
_Flowers--_Straw color or greenish yellow, less than 1 in. long, 3 to 6
_nodding_ on slender pedicels from the summit of a leafless scape 6 to
15 in. tall. Perianth of 6 spreading divisions, the 6 stamens attached;
style, 3-lobed. _Leaves:_ Dark, glossy, large, oval to oblong, 2 to 5
(usually 3), sheathing at the base. _Fruit:_ Oval blue berries on
_upright_ pedicels.
_Preferred Habitat_--Moist, rich, cool woods and thickets.
_Flowering Season_--May-June.
_Distribution-_--From the Carolinas and Wisconsin far northward.
To name canals, bridges, city thoroughfares, booming factory towns after
De Witt Clinton seems to many appropriate enough; but why a shy little
woodland flower? As fitly might a wee white violet carry down the name
of Theodore Roosevelt to posterity! “Gray should not have named the
flower from the Governor of New York,” complains Thoreau. “What is he to
the lovers of flowers in Massachusetts? If named after a man, it must be
a man of flowers.” So completely has Clinton, the practical man of
affairs, obliterated Clinton, the naturalist, from the popular mind,
that, were it not for this plant keeping his memory green, we should be
in danger of forgetting the weary, overworked governor, fleeing from
care to the woods and fields; pursuing in the open air the study which
above all others delighted and refreshed him; revealing in every leisure
moment a too-often forgotten side of his many-sided greatness.