YELLOW CLINTONIA

(Clintonia borealis) Lily-of-the-valley family



Flowers - Straw color or greenish yellow, less than 1 in. long, 3

to 6 nodding on slender pedicels from the summit of a leafless

scape 6 to 15 in. tall. Perianth of 6 spreading divisions, the 6

stamens attached; style, 3-lobed. Leaves: Dark, glossy, large,

oval to oblong, 2 to 5 (usually 3), sheathing at the base. Fruit.

Oval blue berries on upright pedicels.

Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich, cool woods and thickets.

Flowering Season - May-June.

Distribution - From the Carolinas and Wisconsin far northward.



To name canals, bridges, city thoroughfares, booming factory

towns after DeWitt Clinton seems to many appropriate enough; but

why a shy little woodland flower? As fitly might a wee white

violet carry down the name of Theodore Roosevelt to posterity!

"Gray should not have named the flower from the Governor of New

York," complains Thoreau. "What is he to the lovers of flowers in

Massachusetts? If named after a man, it must be a man of

flowers." So completely has Clinton, the practical man of

affairs, obliterated Clinton, the naturalist, from the popular

mind, that, were it not for this plant keeping his memory green,

we should be in danger of forgetting the weary, overworked

governor, fleeing from care to the woods and fields; pursuing in

the open air the study which above all others delighted and

refreshed him; revealing in every leisure moment a too-often

forgotten side of his many-sided greatness.