Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-05-30
A FLORAL CALENDAR.
Some Interesting Facts About Flowers
in this Neighborhood.
Written for THE AMERICANA

Written for THE AMERICAN.
| saw q suggestion in some magazine
this spring that it is an interesting thing
to keep floral calendar, by making note
of the date on which you find any flower
for the first time. Next year you will
know just when and where to look for it,
and it will be of interest to compare the
different seasons in this way.
For several years ] have been in the
habit OF dating the discovery of a flower
which was before unknown to me, so that
have the means of making few COM
PARSONS.
Every one knows that this season is re-
markably early. Already have list of
twenty-five flowers, which is quite re-
markable when we consider that some
years it is almost impossible to find any
for Memorial day.
By April q the trailing arbutus was
abundant. On May 4, we found the blue
and white hepaticas or liverworts, which
are so fresh and dainty, coming before
their leaves. This flower is quite gener-
ally found in sunny pastures. The same
dav we found the wood anemone which
is commonly, but wrongly, called the
snow drop. The little houstonia, which
reioices in a number of common names
| out OF all proportion to its size,
though perhaps comparing well with
| the abundance of the flowers, was found
! at the same time. Some of the names by
which this delicate little flower is known
are bluet, innocents, sky-bloom and
| quaker ladies; all of them as dainty as
| the flower itself.
| A few ambitious dandelions were also
in full blossom, upon sunny bank, on
this same 4th Of May.
| A few days later | had the purple
| trilium or wake-robin, which is not
purple at all, according to our ideas of
color, but deep garnet. am interested
| to find that the first time | ever saw the
flower was June 2, 1892. That would
make it much earlier this year. The
| purple trillium is not abundant in this
vicinity. 1t grows on the Branch pond
road beyond the wooden mill, and also in
the woods on the Surry road a mile and
half away at least. The white varieties,
which come later, are more commonly
| found here.
On May found the dog-tooth violet,
which is very rare. ! know of but one
| place in town where it grows, and that is
long distance up the shore road. 1t is
most incomprehensibl that this flower
should have been called violet 1t is
dropping yellow lily; the leaves are like
those of the lily-ofthe-v valley and are
beautifully spotted with white.
In the same vicinity | found the colts
| foot, flower which somewhat resembles
dandelion, but comes before its leaves,
as so many of our early flowers do. The
first strawb berry blossom | found at the
same time.
On May S | saw the blossom of the
hobble- bush, which grows in the woods
near Branch pond, a large, pure white
flower which looks strikingly like the
hydrangea.
On the 10th | had the flowers of gold
thread, and on the 11th found the early
saxfrage growing and poisoning wher-
ever it could get a bit of hold on the
mountain rock | also found violets,
the large blue and the small, sweet, white
violet.
On the 18th | had the fringed polygala
the flowers were sent to me; | have
never seen them growing. They are a
bright, purplish pink and grow in the
grass only a few inches high; they are
very suggestive of orchids III form. An
interesting thing about this plant is the
fact that another inconspicuous, fertile
flower is borne upon underground stems.
On the 18th the first blueberry blossoms
We're seen.
On the 18th list of half a dozen was
added to those already found the most
interesting of them are the following:
Geum, small and rather inconspicuous
member of the rose family; the flower is
a very pale pink, and the leaves resemble
the black berry leaf enough to allow a cas-
nal observer to mistake it for a running
black berry; oakesia, a delicate, creamy
lily; the plant resembles solomon seal
and bellWort, but has only one flower and
hat is dropping under the leaves.
The fly honeysuckIe has several inter
esting features to commend II to our at
tention. In the first place it is rare; !
have never found but one bush of it,
and that seems to have been brought
in gravel which was used to build the
railroad The flowers are pale yellow,
bel-shaped, and grow two upon one
berry; the berry itself is blue when ripe.
It is interesting to notice hoW many
OF the spring flowers are white and yell
low; it seems as if nature reserved her
more brilliant colors for the dark days OF
autumn. NJ. a. CLARK.
May 20, 1895