Nat. Ord. Ranunculaceæ.
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.
HE 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.