Ranunculus Family (Ranunculaceæ)
(A) Water Plantain (Ranunculus laxicaulis) is a rather common marsh-inhabiting Buttercup, with five to seven narrow yellow petals. The stem is stout but rather weak and angled, at each joint sending out a clasping lanceolate, almost toothless leaf. The flowers, which are about ¾ in. broad, are on long peduncles terminating the branching stem that rises from 1 to 2½ feet. It is found in bogs, ditches, and muddy places from Me. to Minn. and south to the Gulf.
(B) Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) is the very common marsh herb usually, but erroneously, called “Cowslip.” Its leaves are very commonly used and marketed for food. The flowers are perfect, have no petals but from five to nine (usually the former) golden-yellow, shining sepals, and numerous brighter stamens. The stems are hollow and furrowed. The leaves are round, kidney-shaped, usually with scalloped edges. Marsh Marigold is abundant in swamps or wet meadows from Newfoundland to Alaska and southward through the United States, flowering in April and May.
(A) Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens) is, as per its name, a creeping plant. The stem is prostrate, creeping along the ground and striking new roots from the junctions of the leaf and flower stems with the main one. The flowers are large and broad-petalled, both the petals and stamens being a deep shining golden yellow. This species is indigenous in the West, but probably introduced from Europe in the East, where it is found chiefly near the coast, in ditches or along the edges of marshes.
(B) Common Buttercup; Crowfoot (R. acris) (European). Even though we have quantities of native Buttercups, it is this handsome foreigner that is the most abundant; this is the species that is found in fields everywhere, the one that delights the little folks and figures in many of their childish games.
The leaves and stem of the Crowfoots are very acrid, but not poisonous; on this account they are shunned by cattle and horses. This accounts in part for their abundance in most fields and pastures.
(A) Tall Meadow Rue (Thalictrum polygamum) is one of the characteristic plants of swamps and edges of streams. Should its neighboring plants be three or four feet high, we find the plume-like flowers of this species triumphantly waving above them on stems of five, six, or even seven feet tall.
The stalk is rather stout and grooved, pale-green, stained with maroon. The long-stemmed leaves are many times compounded into small, lobed leaflets of a pale, dull, blue-green color. The flowers are in feathery clusters; each individual flower having numerous white filaments, no petals, but usually four or five early-falling sepals.
From June to September we may find the mist-like flowers of Meadow Rue in swamps, from Labrador to Manitoba and south through the United States.
(B) Pasque Flower (Anemone patens) has a solitary erect flower with five to seven purplish sepals. Leaves divided and cut into narrow, acute lobes. Both stem and leaves covered with silky hairs. This species is found on prairies from Wis. and Montana southward.
(A) Wood Anemone; Wind Flower (Anemone quinquefolia). The stem is slender and from 4 to 8 in. high. Three leaves radiate from a point about two thirds up; each on a long stem and divided into three to five, toothed, ovate leaflets, The solitary flower rises on a slender peduncle from the junction of these three leaves with the stem proper. It has four to seven sepals, most often five; white inside and purplish white on their outer surface. The flower has an expanse of slightly less than one inch, but is rarely seen fully expanded. The Wind Flower is common in woods or thickets from Nova Scotia to the Rockies and southward.
(B) Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) has four to nine sepals (usually six), numerous orange-tipped stamens and a broad stigma. There are several flowers on exceedingly slender peduncles, rising from the whorl of leaves. The latter are on slender stems, have heart-shaped bases and three-lobed ends; rather small, pale-green above and with a whitish bloom below. It is found in the same localities and the same range as the last species, with which it associates.
(A) Purple Virgin’s Bower (Clematis verticillaris) is probably the most rare species of Clematis. It grows in rocky, hilly, or mountainous woods, most abundantly in northern portions of its range, which is from Quebec to Hudson Bay and south locally to Del. and Pa. It is a climbing woody vine, supporting itself by the bending or clasping of the leaf stalks. The flowers grow singly, on long stems from the axils of the leaves or from the end of the vine. They are large and handsome, the four thin, purple, pointed, translucent sepals spreading from two to four inches when fully expanded. The leaves are divided into three leaflets, ovate, pointed, with a heart-shaped base.
(B) Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana) is a beautiful, graceful, climbing, twining vine found throughout our range. The small greenish-white flowers, with four or five petals, grow in clusters from the leaf axils; staminate and pistillate ones are on separate plants. In fall, the beautiful silky plumes of the seed pods gives this species the name of “Old Man’s Beard.”
(A) Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is one of our typical, early woodland plants, graceful in form and beautiful in flower. It grows in rocky woodland throughout our range, flowering from April to June.
The stem is very slender, wiry, and graceful, quite branching, and attaining heights of one to two feet. The flowers are heavy, which causes them to nod from their slender, thread-like peduncles. A quantity of nectar is secreted in the base of each red spur, serving to attract butterflies, moths, and often the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, for those birds are very partial to red colors.
(B) Goldthread (Coptis trifolia) is a small woodland plant receiving its name from the slender, thread-like, golden-yellow roots. These roots are characteristic and readily identify the species. The leaves are evergreen, deeply shining green in color, 3-parted and notched, on long petioles from the root. The white flower has five or six early-falling sepals; it is usually solitary on a scape from 3 to 6 in. high. Common in rich woods throughout U. S. and Canada.
(A) Monkshood; Aconite (Aconitum uncinatum) is an attractive wild flower with a slender, rather weak stem often supporting itself against other species. The flowers are quite large and handsome. The five sepals are very unequal in size and shape; the upper one large and hood-like, concealing two small petals within it. The leaves are firm, three- to five-lobed and notched, on slender petioles. In rich, moist woods from Pa. southward, flowering from June to September.
(B) Hepatica; Liverwort (Hepatica triloba). If we except the Skunk Cabbage, the beautiful Hepatica is the first of our flowers to appear. Its stems are thickly covered with fuzzy hairs; the three-lobed, smooth-edged leaves are rather thick and coarse, lasting through the winter but turning a ruddy color, while the new ones, that appear with the buds, are light-green and radiate above the older prostrate ones. A single blossom appears at the end of each long fuzzy scape; it is about one inch broad, and has five to ten pale-purple or lilac sepals.
Hepaticas bloom from March to May in open woods from N. S. to Manitoba and southward.
Mandrake; May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum) belongs to the Barberry Family (Berberidaceæ), a small family of shrubs or herbs, divided into five genera of but one or two species each. The present species is quite common in rich woods, or in shady moist ground, from western N. E. to Minn. and southward flowering in May. The bare stalk rises to heights of 10 to 12 inches, then branches into two long-stemmed, light-green, large, spreading leaves; the latter are five- to nine-parted, lobed, notched, and unevenly balanced. From the forked joint of the leaves hangs a solitary white flower on a short, slender, curving peduncle, this is very delicate, nearly two inches across, and of six petals and twice as many stamens.
The fruit is large and lemon-shaped, yellow in color, ripening in July. It is the fruit that gives it the name of May Apple. While the leaves and stem are poisonous, the fruit is not, but has a peculiar, acid, sickish flavor.
(A) Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Closely following on the heels of our handsome Hepatica we find the delicate flowered Bloodroot unfurling its leaves and expanding its flowers in rich, rocky, open woodland. The flowers are very delicate; the petals stay but two or three days anyway, and a breath of wind may blow them off sooner.
After the flower is gone, the leaf develops rapidly and becomes very large and imposing, with many divisions and lobes. The root is reddish and is filled with a bloodlike juice, as is also the stem. Bloodroot is common from N. S. to Minn. and southward. It flowers in April and May.
(B) Prickly Poppy (Argemone mexicana) is a handsome Mexican plant found in the southwestern portions of the United States. It has a prickly stem from one to two feet high. The stemless leaves have sharp lobes, also armed with prickles. The flower is bright yellow, has four petals, and numerous orange-tipped stamens. The flowers give no nectar but plenty of pollen to the bees that visit them.
Celandine (Chelidonium majus) (European) is abundant almost everywhere in the eastern half of our country.
The stem is quite stout and very branching; at the end of each branch is a loose cluster of buds on slender pedicels. These open one or two at a time, so that the plant keeps in bloom for a long time; in fact, the flowering season extends from early in May to the end of September. The flowers are half an inch or more broad, with four golden-yellow petals, a slender, pointed green pistil, and numerous yellow stamens. The seed-pod is long and slender.
The thin, soft leaves are very handsomely divided into three-to seven-lobed leaflets. Both stem and leaves have a bright yellow, very acrid juice, that stains everything it comes in contact with. Celandine is often known in Europe as “Swallow-wort” as it is supposed to commence flowering with the coming of the swallows and to cease with their departure. Its generic name also originated in this belief.
(A) Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra Cucullaria). This peculiarly flowered herb belongs to the Fumitory family, a family of delicate, smooth plants with watery juices and compound, dissected leaves.
The flower stalk, proceeding from the root, attains heights of from 5 to 9 inches and bears a loose raceme of four to eight white, inverted flowers; the four petals are united in pairs, two of them forming a large double-spurred sac, and the other two very small petals forming a protection for the stigma. The double sac is white, stained with yellow. The leaves are on long petioles from the rootstalk; they are pale sage-green in color, 3-parted and finely slashed. Dutchman’s Breeches may be found blooming in April and May in rich, hilly woods from N.S. to Minn. and south to N.C. and Mo.
(B) Squirrel Corn (D. canadensis) is similar, but the white, sac-like petals are stained with purple, the spurs are shorter and rounder, and the flower is slightly fragrant. The roots have little tuberous appendages resembling grains of corn. This species is found in the same range as the last.