WATER LILY FAMILY 4 Yellow Water Lily: Nymphaea polysepala] Pasque Flower Pulsatilla hirsutissima Plate 3, fig. 5 The Pasque Flower is one of the earliest spring blossoms, as is indicated by the name which is from the French for Easter. The word “Pulsatilla” means wind flower and indicates its relationship to the anemones. The color of the flower ranges from whitish through pale blue or pink to purple. By the end of spring, the flowers have all developed into beautiful feathery clusters of fruits, very like those of the Clematis. The plants are 6-15 in. high and densely covered with fuzzy white hairs. They occur abundantly on plains and foothills and in mountain meadows at 4000-10000 ft. The Pasque Flower is the state flower of South Dakota and is sometimes cultivated in gardens. WATER LILY FAMILY Yellow Water Lily Nymphaea polysepala Plate 3, fig. 4 Water lilies are not lilies at all but are very like buttercups in the structure of the flower. The famous Lotus Flower of the Nile is a water lily. The flowers of the Rocky Mountain species are yellow, tinged with red. They may be found from May to August, floating on the surface of lakes and slow streams up to 11000 ft. The seeds from the large mucilaginous pods are used as food by the Indians of the Northwest. They are dried and roasted, after which they taste very much like popcorn, or they may be ground into meal and made into porridge or bread. Nymphaea means “water nymph” and refers to the home of the plant. [Illustration: Plate 5 VIOLET FAMILY 1 Yellow Violet: Viola biflora 2 Prairie Violet: Viola pedatifida CAPER FAMILY 3 Rocky Mountain Bee Plant: Cleome serrulata MUSTARD FAMILY 4 Wall Flower: Erysimum asperum 5 Golden Whitlow: Draba aurea 7 Bladder pod: Physaria didymocarpa BLEEDING HEART FAMILY 6 Golden Smoke: Capnoides aureum] VIOLET FAMILY Yellow Violet Viola biflora Plate 5, fig. 1 The plants of the Yellow Violet are low and the deep-green leaves often form carpet-like masses along the moist edges of brook-banks at 7000-11000 ft. The flowers are small and yellow with red-brown stripes, the lower petal hanging down in the form of a lip. They bloom from spring to early summer. Prairie Violet Viola pedatifida Plate 5, fig. 2