There are a good many kinds of Pedicularis, usually with finely-cut
leaves and spikes of queerly-shaped flowers, usually yellow, sometimes
red or white; the corolla conspicuously two-lipped, the upper lip
hood-like, long and narrow, the lower lip three-lobed; the stamens
four, two of them short, in the upper lip; the capsule flattened or
compressed, beaked, splitting open, and containing many seeds. These
plants are supposed to cause lice in sheep that feed on them, so they
have the ugly name of Lousewort, both in English and Latin.
[Sidenote: =Indian Warrior=
_Pediculàris densiflòra_
=Crimson
Spring
Cal., Oreg.=]
A robust and very decorative plant, with rich coloring. The stout,
purplish stems are slightly hairy, from nine inches to nearly two
feet tall, and spring from a graceful cluster of large leaves, which
are crisp in texture and smooth or slightly downy, rich green and
often tinged with bronze. The flowers are an inch or more long, with
purplish, hairy calyxes and crimson corollas, and form a very handsome
though rather coarse-looking cluster, mixed with purplish bracts,
and finely shaded in color, from the carmine buds at the top to the
wine-color of the faded flowers at the base. This grows on wooded
hillsides and in deep shade. The flowers are sometimes white.
[Sidenote: =Duck-bill=
_Pediculàris ornithorhýncha_
=Pink
Summer
Wash., Oreg.=]
This is an odd-looking plant, about six inches tall, with a stout,
purplish stem, woolly at the top, springing from a pretty cluster of
smooth, bright green leaves. The flowers are about three-quarters of
an inch long, with purplish, woolly calyxes and bright pink corollas,
which are veined and tipped with deeper color, with purplish bracts.
They are very eccentric in shape and the upper lip has a ludicrous
resemblance to the head of a duck. This grows in the mountains.
[Illustration: Duck-bill--P. ornithorhynca.