PLATE XXXVI




White Twistkd-Stalk
(Streptopus amplexifolius)



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PLATE XXXVII




Spikknard

(Smiiacina ftf(h(a)

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MOUNTAIN FLOWERS II9

This Twisted-stalk is a large plant with many clasping,
pointed leaves growing all the way up on both sides of its long
branching stems, with one solitary leaf at the apex. These
leaves are handsome, green and glossy on the top, with strongly
marked veins, and are covered with a whitish bloom on the
under side. Looking at the plant from above it appears to
bear no flowers at all, but turn over its stems and you will
find beneath each leaf one or two tiny greenish-white bells,
hanging on sharply bent thread-like stalks that spring from
the axils of the leaves ; these flowers in time turn into bright
red oval berries.
The name Twisted-stalk is derived from its abruptly bent
flower stems.
For S. roseuSy S. brevipes^ and S, ciinnpes see the Pink to
Red Section.
SPIKENARD

Smilacina stellata. Lily Family

Stems: stout, erect, or somewhat zigzag. Leaves: lanceolate, sessile,
somewhat clasping, acute, acuminate at the apex, rather concave. Flowers :
raceme sessile or short-peduncled, several-flowered. Fruit: bright red
berry dotted with purple.
Large colonies of this pretty Spikenard, which to ordinary

eyes looks like a wild Lily-of-the-Valley, grow near the banks

of mountain streams and in the moist meadows. It is a lovely

plant that grows up very stiff and straight out of the ground,

and has stout stems which are leafy all the way from the base

to the slender flower racemes. These racemes are composed of

from five to fifteen little starry blossoms, each one having a

white six-parted perianth. The leaves are of a whitish-green

hue.
