In early April the firm tip of the curled-up leaf of the blood-root pushes through the earth and brown leaves, bearing within its carefully shielded burden—the young erect flower-bud. When the perils of the way are passed and a safe height is reached this pale, deeply lobed leaf resigns its precious charge and gradually unfolds itself; meanwhile the bud slowly swells into a blossom.
Surely no flower of all the year can vie with this in spotless beauty. Its very transitoriness enhances its charm. The snowy petals fall from about their golden centre before one has had time to grow satiated with their perfection. Unless the rocky hill-sides and wood-borders are jealously watched it may escape us altogether. One or two warm sunny days will hasten it to maturity, and a few more hours of wind and storm shatter its loveliness.
Care should be taken in picking the flower—if it must be picked—as the red liquid which oozes blood-like from the wounded stem makes a lasting stain. This crimson juice was prized by the Indians for decorating their faces and tomahawks.
Shad-bush. June-berry. Service-berry.
Amelanchier oblongifolia. Rose Family.
A tall shrub or small tree found in low ground. Leaves.—Oblong, acutely pointed, finely toothed, mostly rounded at base. Flowers.—White, growing in racemes. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—Of five rather long petals. Stamens.—Numerous, short. Pistils.—With five styles. Fruit.—Round, red, berry-like, sweet and edible, ripening in June.
PLATE I
BLOOD-ROOT.—S. Canadensis.
Down in the boggy meadow in early March we can almost fancy that from beneath the solemn purple cowls of the skunk-cabbage brotherhood comes the joyful chorus—
For lo, the winter is past!—
but we chilly mortals still find the wind so frosty and the woods so unpromising that we return shivering to the fireside and refuse to take up the glad strain till the feathery clusters of the shad-bush droop from the pasture thicket. Then only are we ready to admit that