Among the most satisfactory flowers for the beginner starting a wild flower garden, are the common blue, white and yellow violets. They prefer a partially shaded situation, spread rapidly and will in a few years furnish an abundant supply of flowers for the garden and home decoration. Among other flowers that may with care be obtained for the home garden are the following: The Jack-in-the-pulpit, lrisucina triphyllum, also called Indian Turnip, is found in moist woods and thickets from Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Louisiana, Kansas and Ontario. In North Carolina it reaches an altitude of five thousand feet.
This odd plant has a hooded funnel-like body, which is not the flower, and a conspicuous, dark, fleshy, club-like body, giving a fancied resemblance to a pulpit orator. The upper part of the club-like body is sterile and the numerous small flowers are at the base. The staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers are usually borne on different plants. The plant has a bulbous base and if the leaves are pulled up with the flower the plant will not grow again, as the leaves are necessary to aid in storing up a new supply of starchy food material in the bulb.
Like most of the other members of the Arum family the root is very acrid, due to innumerable microscopic needle-like crystals of oxalate of lime, called raphides. Three or four other closely related species are found mostly in the southern states. To children this is always one of the most attractive flowers, and to all Jack has a message, "Enjoy us, do not destroy us." The Bird's-foot Violet, Viola pedata, is found in dry fields and open woods from Massachusetts to Minnesota, south to Florida and Louisiana. The upper petals are dark violet and the lower lilac-purple, while a variety has the flowers entirely lilac-purple. It prefers acid soil and does not take kindly to cultivation unless this condition is successfully maintained. Its deeply cut birdfoot-like leaf character is quite different from most of the other violets and it does not have the small, hidden flowers at the base of the plant. On this account it is rather rare and much in need of protection.
The Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris, also called Cowslip, is found in swamps and wet meadows from Newfoundland to South Carolina, west to Saskatchewan, and Nebraska. The flowers are one to one and one-half inches in diameter and most attractive for water gardens, but are rare in most localities and should be protected.
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