How to Know the Wild Flowers

The book that taught America botany by color: find your flower under White, Yellow, Pink or Blue, and read its name, its haunts and its folklore — the first field guide organized the way people actually look.

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Gold Thread

Coptis trifolia. Crowfoot Family.

Scape.--Slender; three to five inches high. Leaves.--Evergreen; shining; divided into three leaflets. Flowers.--White; solitary. Calyx.--Of five to seven petal-like sepals which fall early. Corolla.--Of five to seven club-shaped petals. Stamens.--Fifteen to twenty-five. Pistils.--Three to seven. Root.--Of long, bright yellow fibres.

This decorative little plant abundantly carpets the northern bogs and extends southward over the mountains. Its delicate flowers appear in May, but its shining, evergreen leaves are noticeable throughout the year. The bright yellow thread-like roots give it its common name.

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