Trilliums derive their generic name from the fact that all their parts
are arranged in threes; three leaves, three petals, three sepals, and a
three-parted stigma. The common name of Wake Robin was probably early
given because these flowers appear at an early date. As a matter of fact
they do not bloom until weeks after the robins have returned to the
Northern States. All the purple trilliums have an unpleasant odor
resembling that of putrid meat; as they are largely dependent for
fertilization upon certain carrion flies, it is very probable that their
peculiar color is for the purpose of an added lure for these insects.
Purple Trillium; Birthroot; Ill-scented Wake Robin (_Trillium erectum_)
has three purplish-brown petals and three sepals; six stamens exceeding
in length the stout spreading stigma. Flower solitary, rising on a short
pedicel above the whorl of broad, ovate, pointed, and short petioled
leaves. This trillium ranges in height from 6 to 15 inches. It flowers in
April and May, in rich woods from Quebec to Ont. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Large-flowered Trillium (_Trillium grandiflorum_) is the largest of
the genus in all respects and is one of the best known and most common
species. It can be looked for in any damp, rich woods during May or June.
Usually they grow in colonies and it is an exception when one finds a
single plant without others being in sight. The stem of this species is
from 10 to 18 inches in height; the waxy-white petals are from 1½ to 2
in. in length; as they grow older the color changes to a delicate pink
and they curve gracefully backward.
The flower is on a short pedicel above the whorl of broad, ovate-pointed,
and short petioled leaves. Found from Vt. to Minn. and southward to N. C.
and Mo.
(B) Nodding Trillium (_T. Cernuum_) is quite similar to, but smaller
than, the last species. Its blossom is either white or pink and is on a
curved pedicel that often bends so as to place the flower beneath the
whorl of leaves; the edges of the petals are quite wavy. This demure,
bashful little trillium is found from Newfoundland and Man. south to Pa.
and Mich.
[Illustration: ]
Painted Trillium (_Trillium undulatum_) has sharply pointed, wavy-edged,
waxy-white petals with crimson V-shaped marks at the bases. The ovate
leaves are sharply pointed and petioled. It is a common species from
Quebec to Ontario and southward.
The Painted Trillium is usually regarded as the most beautiful of the
genus. Certainly it is the most abundant. It is more gregarious than
others, and we often find large beds of them with their dainty,
waxy-white, wavy-edged flowers swaying above the deep green background
formed by their broad, whorled leaves. They grow most profusely along the
banks of woodland brooks and in cool, moist glens. You will find them
most abundant during the latter part of May soon after the wood thrush,
that frequents the same locality, makes his appearance from the South.
They are always associated in my mind with these birds and with water
thrushes that I have often watched as they daintily threaded their way
among the numerous plant stalks, entirely concealed above by the numerous
leaves, and visible only by placing the head close to the ground.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Star-of-Bethlehem (_Ornithogalum umbellatum_) (European).
The scape, rising from a coated bulb, is from 6 to 12 in. high; at the
top is a loose, terminal cluster of from four to eight blossoms. The
perianth is divided into six waxy-white sepals, rather greenish on the
outside, and with three to seven green nerves; six stamens and a
three-sided stigma. The leaves are long, linear, and channeled. Found as
an escape, from Me. to Va.
AMARYLLIS FAMILY
(_Amaryllidaceæ_)
A family of bulbous and scape-bearing herbs with flat, grass-like leaves
and regular six-parted flowers.
(B) Atamasco Lily (_Zephyranthes atamasco_) is an exceedingly beautiful
species with pure, waxy-white flowers, only one to a plant, erect at the
summit of a scape from 6 to 12 in. high. Perianth funnel-form, with six
spreading lobes, a short pistil, and six stamens with large yellow
anthers. Leaves long, linear, and channeled. Quite common in moist places
or swamps, from Del. to Fla., flowering from April to July.
[Illustration: ]
Yellow Star Grass (_Hypoxis hirsuta_) is the most widely distributed of
any of the members of the Amaryllis family. It is very appropriately
named. From April until July and more sparingly until September we may
see these bright shining golden stars peering at us from a background of
green grass. So closely do the leaves of this little plant correspond to
the grass leaves, among which they grow, that sharp scrutiny is required
to distinguish them. The blossoms are visited by several of the smaller
bees for pollen; some of this is often unwittingly carried to the sticky
stigma of the next flower visited and cross-fertilization effected.
The flowers are in a loose umbel at the top of a scape from 3 to 8 in. in
height; perianth widespread and divided into six shining, golden-yellow
sepals, paler and slightly greenish on the outside; the six stamens
tipped with large, golden-orange anthers. The slender, narrow, grass-like
leaves come from a small bulb together with the flower scape. This
species is common from Me. to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf of
Mexico.
[Illustration: ]
IRIS FAMILY
(_Iridaceæ_)
This family is composed of perennial herbs growing in moist places and
having long linear or sword-shaped leaves and large showy flowers. Iris
is named from the Greek meaning, rainbow, and it certainly is no misnomer
as applied to the Blue Flag or Iris which is the most common of the
genus. The perpetuation of this species in healthy condition is insured
by the formation of the flower, which is such that self-pollenization is
practically impossible. The stamens are directly under the strap-like
divisions of the style and the stigma is on the upper surface at the
rolled-up tip. Bees are the most frequent visitors.
Larger Blue Flag; Blue Iris; Fleur-de-Lis (_Iris versicolor_). Flower
solitary, from a green spathe at the end of a long peduncle; sepals,
neither bearded nor crested, but broad, violet, and handsomely veined;
petals erect, flat, and spatulate. Leaves sword-shaped, glaucous-green,
folded into flat clusters at the base. Very common from Newfoundland to
Manitoba and southward, flowering from May to July.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Blue-eyed Grass (_Sisyrinchium angustifolium_), as one would suspect
from the name, has grass-like leaves and flowers that make one think of
bright little blue eyes as they peep out of the meadow grass in which you
will find them.
The Blue-eyed Grasses have recently been separated into thirteen species,
differing chiefly in the comparative lengths of the flower spathes, or
the lengths of the leaves as compared to the flower stem. The six
divisions of the flower are regular, violet, with a yellow or white
star-shaped centre; each sepal is blunt, with a thorn-like tip. Common
from N. B. to B. C. and southward.
(B) Crested Dwarf Iris (_Iris cristata_). Flowers usually solitary, very
delicate in form, and of a light violet color; the sepals have a central
crested rib of a bright orange color; the smaller petals are also
crested. The tube is long and thread-like. Leaves lanceolate, about 5 to
7 in. long; those forming the spathe are ovate-lanceolate. This
attractive little Iris is found on rich wooded hillsides and along
streams, from Md. and Ind. southward, flowering in April and May.
[Illustration: ]
ORCHIS FAMILY
(_Orchidaceæ_)
This is a large family composed of herbaceous perennials with tuberoid
roots or corms. The perianth is composed of six divisions, the three
outer being sepals (two of which are often united) and the three inner
ones petals, the lower one of which, termed the lip, differs in form from
the others.
Yellow Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium parviflorum_) has usually one, but
sometimes three, flowers at the summit of a leafy stem 7 to 20 in. high.
The inflated lip is bright yellow, slipper-shaped, and with a rounded
orifice open near the base. The two lateral petals are brownish;
exceedingly twisted. The broad, bright-green leaves are very prominently
ribbed lengthwise, pointed and alternately sheathing the stem. This is
one of the northerly species, being found along the northern border of
the United States and southern Canada. It grows in colonies and flowers
from May to July, in rich woods or bogs.
[Illustration: ]
Showy Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium hirsutum_) is a magnificent orchid,
usually regarded as the most beautiful of the genus. It is of imposing
dimensions and has large, fragrant flowers.
The inflated lip is large and balloon-like, about 2 in. in length; white,
with crimson-magenta blotches and streaks on the front edge; the sepals
are round-ovate and the petals oblong, both pointed and both
greenish-white in color. The leafy stem, that bears at its summit the
solitary blossom, is from 1 to 2 feet in height. Found locally from
Newfoundland to Minn. and southward to Ga. and Mo., flowering in rich
woods during June and July.
Small White Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium candidum_). The flower of this
species is of the same size and shape as that of the yellow variety, but
the lip is pure white outside and striped with purple inside at the base;
the two lateral sepals and the two petals are ovate-lanceolate, greenish,
spotted with brown. It is a single-flowered species with numerous leaves.
It is found in swamps from N. Y. to Minn. southward.
[Illustration: ]
Pink Lady’s Slipper; Moccasin Flower (_Cypripedium acaule_) has solitary
flowers surmounting a scape from 8 to 12 in. high; lip large, drooping
pink, with a slit in front, instead of a circular opening as in the
others. It frequents dry woods and may be found from southern Canada
southward.
Although this is the most common of the Lady’s Slippers, it is no less
beautiful than the others. The flower of the present species is a very
ingenious contrivance; it is fertilized by the common bumblebee. The only
entrance is through the fissure in the front; it requires considerable
pressure to force his burly frame through, but at length he succeeds and
the aperture closes behind him. After eating his fill he takes the
easiest way out, toward the base where he can see two spots of light. As
he forces his way through the narrow passage he comes in contact with a
sticky stigma, armed with incurving hairs which remove any pollen he may
have on his back; as he continues his struggle out he reaches an anther
blocking the passage and waiting to clap its load of pollen on his back.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Green Wood Orchis (_Habenaria clavellata_) has from three to sixteen
inconspicuous greenish flowers in a loose spike at the top of a stem from
6 to 18 in. high; lip oblong and with three teeth; spur long, slender,
and curved upward and to one side. One or two oblong-lanceolate leaves
with obtuse tips clasp the stem near the base while several small bracts
alternate along it. Grows in bogs from Newfoundland to Minn. and
southward.
(B) Green-fringed Orchis (_Habenaria flava_) is a common green orchis
(formerly _virescens_). The lower leaves are oblong-lanceolate, while the
upper ones are linear, diminishing in size and passing into the flower
bracts. The flower lip is square-ended and toothed; spur slender and
about the length of the flower. In the whole U. S. and southern Canada we
may find this species growing in bogs.
Habenaria bracteata is similar to _flava_, but the flower bracts are
large, being from two to four times the length of the flowers. N. S. to
Alaska and south through the U. S.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Yellow-fringed Orchis (_Habenaria ciliaris_) is an attractive and
rather common orchis with a tall leafy stem from 12 to 24 in. high. The
spike is very closely set with flowers having rounded petals, fringed
lips, and slender spurs about an inch in length. The leaves are
lanceolate, gradually diminishing in size as they approach the spike and
passing into the flower bracts. Found from Me. to Mich. and southward.
(B) Hooker’s Orchis (_H. Hookeri_) has a leafless scape from 6 to 12 in.
high, at the base of which are two broad, oval, shining, deep-green
leaves. The ten to twenty flowers are yellowish-green; lip lanceolate and
sharply pointed, less than half an inch long; slender spur about one inch
long. Flowers during June and July in woods from Me. to Minn. and south
to N.C.
Round-leaved Orchis (_H. orbiculata_) is similar to Hookeri; the lip is
oblong, obtuse, and about the same length as the spur. The two basal
leaves are almost round. It is common in rich woods from Labrador to
Alaska and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Ragged-fringed Orchis (_Habenaria lacera_) does not attract our
attention because of its beauty, for its flowers are rather inconspicuous
in color. They are, however, remarkable for the peculiarly cut and
slashed lip, it being divided apparently with no regard for method or
symmetry. The greenish-white flowers are in a dense many-flowered raceme
at the summit of a leafy stem from 10 to 20 inches high. The leaves are
oblong-lanceolate, diminishing in size to the flower bracts as they reach
the raceme. This species is not uncommon in swamps from Newfoundland to
Minn. and southward.
(B) White-fringed Orchis (_H. blephariglottis_) has a densely flowered
raceme or spike similar to that of the yellow-fringed species, but the
flowers are pure white; the lip is not divided but is copiously fringed;
lateral sepals rounded, upper ones elliptical and concave; spur nearly an
inch long. Leaves lanceolate and gradually diminishing in size as they
alternate to the top of the stem. In July and August you may find this
species flowering throughout the United States.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Large Purple-fringed Orchis (_Habenaria fimbriata_) is the largest
and perhaps the most beautiful of the genus. The pale purple flowers are
nearly twice as large as those of the last species; the lip is more
deeply fringed. The densely flowered spike is about two inches in
diameter and often is twelve inches long. The leafy stem attains heights
of from 1 to 5 feet. It is a magnificent plant, the sight of which is
well worth the inconveniences necessary to visit its haunts. It grows in
swamps throughout the U. S. and southern Canada.
(B) Small Purple-fringed Orchis (_H. psycodes_) has pale purplish flowers
in a dense cylindrical spike terminating in a leafy stem, about 1 or 1½
feet tall. The spreading flower-tip is 3-parted and fringed; sepals
rounded, petals spatulate and slightly toothed. The leaves are lanceolate
and, like those of the fringed orchids, grow smaller as they approach the
top of the stem. Flowers in July and August in wet meadows or swamps,
from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Calopogon; Grass Pink (_Calopogon pulchellus_) is an exquisite orchid
with a loose raceme of four to twelve delicate pink flowers at the top of
a scrape ranging from 6 to 15 in. long. The flowers are apparently upside
down as the lip is at the top; it is narrow at the base but broadens into
a broad hooked tip, crested on the underside. A single grass-like leaf
sheathes the flower scape near its base, as it rises from the solid bulb.
It grows in deep swamps and bogs, from Newfoundland to Minn. and south to
the Gulf, flowering in June and July.
(B) Arethusa; Indian Pink (_Arethusa bulbosa_) has a solitary
magenta-pink blossom topping its slender scape that rises from 5 to 10
in. in height. The petals and sepals are similar in shape and in their
proper positions at the top of the flower; the lip rises, then abruptly
turns downward, broadens and is adorned with three to five yellow and
white crests; margin of lip wavy and sometimes spotted with crimson. From
Newfoundland to Minn. and south to Pa. and Mo., Arethusa has been found
blooming in swamps during May and June.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Pogonia; Snake-mouth (_Pogonia ophioglossoides_). Snake-mouth is
delicate, pure pink in color, and slightly fragrant. Its pollen is not in
stemmed masses but is showered on the back of a visiting insect as he
backs out of the flower. The stem is from 8 to 13 inches high, bearing at
its top a single flower; sepals and petals are similar in shape; the lip
is spatulate, prominently crested with yellow and white, and toothed and
lacerated. About midway of the flower stem is a single oval leaf and just
below the flower is a smaller bract-like one. Pogonia grows in swamps
from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, flowering
during June and July.
(B) Nodding Pogonia (_P. trianthophora_) has a leafy stem from 2 to 8
inches high. From two to eight small oval leaves alternately clasp the
stem; the flowers, which number from one to six, appear singly from the
axils of the upper leaves, nodding on slender peduncles; they are small,
magenta-pink, and with ovate, three-lobed lips. It is locally distributed
from Me. to Wisc. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Whorled Pogonia (_Pogonia verticillata_) has a single flower on a
long stem, 8 to 12 in. high; the sepals are greenish-yellow, long,
linear, with the edges rolled or folded together; the petals are
oblong-lanceolate and purple; the lip is also purple, wedge-shaped,
three-lobed and with a hairy crest, down the middle. Five lanceolate and
stemless leaves are in a whorl about the stem just below the flower. It
is a peculiar, inconspicuous plant found locally in moist woods from Me.
to Wisc. and southward.
(B) Showy Orchis (_Orchis spectabilis_) is a charming early-blooming
orchid found in flower from April to June in moist woods, often under
hemlock trees. Two broad, ovate, deeply ribbed, beautiful leaves sheath
the flower scape at its base. The four to twelve flowers are loosely
racemed at the top of the scape which is from 5 to 10 in. high. The
magenta-pink petals and sepals are united to form a hood; the lip,
curving abruptly downward, is broadly ovate and white; each flower has a
short spur and is bracted. This species is found throughout the U.S.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Rattlesnake Plantain (_Epipactis pubescens_) is a common orchid
having beautiful leaves, radiating from the fleshy, creeping rootstalk.
The scape is 6 to 15 in. high and carries at its top densely flowered
sepals and petals united to form a hood. It is found in the whole of the
U. S., flowering in July and August.
(B) Ladies Tresses (_Spiranthes cernua_) is so named because of the
braided arrangement of its flowers. The leaves are few, grass-like,
sheathing the scape near its base. The scape is 6 to 15 in. high, has
several small bracts, and ends in a 2- or 3-ranked spiral raceme of white
or creamy flowers; petals and upper sepal joined, lateral sepals
lanceolate; lip ovate-oblong with a rough tip. Common in moist fields or
woods from Me. to Minn. and southward.
Slender Ladies Tresses (_S. gracilis_) is slender, has its flowers in a
single-ranked 1-sided or slightly twisted raceme; lip green, with a white
wrinkled margin. Leaves small, ovate basal. Found in dry ground from N.
S. to Manitoba and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Heart-leaved Twayblade (_Listera cordata_) belongs to a genus
containing five species.
Like most of the orchids, they are largely or wholly dependent upon
insect aid for fertilization. The weight or shock of an alighting insect
on the broad lip causes a small gland within the flower to rupture and
cover the pollen, just below, with a sticky fluid that causes it to
adhere to the head or body of the insect and thus be transferred to the
next flower.
The stem of this species is from 3 to 10 in. high. At the top is a
few-flowered raceme; the sepals and petals are similar and spreading; the
lip is drooping, longer, two-cleft and madder-purple in color. This
species flowers during June and July in swampy woods from N. J. to Colo.
and northward to the Arctic coast.
(B) Twayblade (_Liparis lilifolia_) although having the same common name,
is of a different genus. It is a more attractive plant, having two broad
basal leaves and larger flowers with a broad ovate lip. It grows in
woodland from Me. to Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
BIRTHWORT FAMILY
(_Aristolochiaceæ_)
A small family of low herbs or twining vines, with but two genera and few
species.
Wild Ginger (_Asarum canadense_) may be found flowering in rich woods
during April and May, from Me. to Mich. and southward. It has two large,
heart-shaped leaves on long petioles from the base; deep green above and
lighter below, soft, wooly, and handsomely veined.
The leaves are very beautiful, but it is the solitary flower that makes
this plant so interesting. Small, dully colored, on a weak, short stem
that barely raises it above ground and often leaves it concealed by the
dead leaves that carpet the woods in early spring.
The flower is bell-shaped, with three short, sharply-pointed spreading
lobes; six stamens with short anthers and a thick style with six
radiating stigmas. Another species (_grandiflorum_), found in Va. and N.
C., has but one leaf and flowers twice as large, or two inches in length.
[Illustration: ]
Pipe Vine; Dutchman’s Pipe (_Aristolochia macrophylla_). The Dutchman’s
Pipe is chiefly a southern plant or vine, being found from Pa. and Minn.
southward. It has a woody, climbing stem that may attain lengths of from
10 to 40 feet. The very large, deep-green, veiny leaves that alternate
along the stem are very beautiful. In the dull, greenish-yellow flowers,
however, lies the chief interest of the botanist. Its stigma matures and
withers away before the ripening of the pollen, thus making the plant
dependent upon insects for its perpetuation.
The throat is filled with tiny hairs, all pointing inward, so ingress is
easy but egress impossible. Entering insects are held prisoners, living
upon the nectar, until the stigma withers and pollen ripens; after this
the hairs in the throat lose their rigidity and the pollen-dusted and
well-fed prisoners are allowed to escape. Their memories are poor or the
pollen feast is well worth the imprisonment, for they usually immediately
hie to another blossom and force their way in, of course pollenizing the
flower in so doing.
[Illustration: ]
BUCKWHEAT FAMILY
(_Polygonaceæ_)
This family is divided into seven genera and many of these are further
divided. They are all inconspicuous in flower. The genus Rumex, to which
our common Sorrels belong, contain seventeen species: that of Polygonum,
which contains the Knot-weeds, has 32 species included in its six
sub-genera.
(A) Lady’s Thumb; Persicaria; Knotgrass (_Polygonum persicaria_)
(European). This is a very common weed everywhere in damp places,
especially about farmhouses. The small, crimson-pink flowers are in dense
spikes terminating the branching stems that are from 1 to 3 feet high.
The lanceolate pointed leaves, that alternate along the angled and
sheathed stem, are rather rough and usually have a dark triangular spot
in the middle.
(B) Common Smartweed; Water Pepper (_P. hydropiper_) has similar shaped
flowers of a greenish color. The leaves are lanceolate and very acrid. It
is very abundant in wet places throughout our range.
[Illustration: ]
PINK FAMILY
(_Caryophyllaceæ_)
(A) Common Chickweed (_Stellaria media_) (European). Although this is an
introduced weed, so hardy and prolific is it that probably it now exceeds
in numbers any of our indigenous plants. It grows profusely about
dooryards and along roadsides everywhere. The corolla consists of five
white, very deeply cleft petals, and the calyx of the same number of
larger and longer green sepals. The leaves are ovate, small, opposite, on
small stems about the length of the leaves. The plant stem is either
simple or branched and ranges from 2 to 10 in. in height.
(B) Long-leaved Stitchwort (_S. longifolia_) has larger flowers than the
last, but the petals are very narrow and so deeply cleft as to appear to
be ten in number instead of five. The sepals are nearly but not quite as
long as the petals. The stem is weak and usually supported by surrounding
grasses or vegetation. The leaves are small, linear, and pointed at both
ends. Common everywhere in wet places.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Corn Cockle (_Agrostemma githago_) (European). The Corn Cockle is
very closely related to the Campions (genus Lychnis). It is an annual
with an erect and rather downy stem; it branches but slightly, each
branch being terminated by one or two large handsome magenta flowers with
an expanse of one to two inches. The calyx is densely hairy, as are also
the lanceolate leaves that grow oppositely on the stem. We find it as an
escape from gardens or in waste places near grain fields.
(B) Ragged Robin (_Lychnis Flos-cuculi_) (European). This species, which
is also known as Meadow Lychnis, is noteworthy because of the slashed
appearance of its five crimson petals. The flower calyx is deeply ribbed
and is of a brownish-purple color, as is also the upper part of the
flower stem; both are sticky and hairy. It is sometimes found in waste
land or moist places where it has escaped from cultivation.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Bladder Campion (_Silene latifolia_) (European). We have several
Campions, some natives and some introduced. The present species was
brought to us from Europe. It has very unusual blossoms, in that the
calyx is very inflated, almost globular and handsomely marked with darker
green, so as to often give it a very similar appearance to that of the
citron melon. The five white petals are cleft in twain for nearly their
whole length.
It is a common escape from gardens and may be found blooming from June to
August along roads or in dry waste places from Quebec to Minn. and south
to Va. and Mo.
(B) Evening Lychnis; White Campion (_Lychnis alba_) (European). This is
another attractive species introduced from Europe. The petals are white,
deeply cleft, and crowned at the base with little petal-like divisions;
the calyx is inflated and often deep pink on the ribs. The leaves are
smooth edged and oppositely on the stem that grows from one to two feet
high. Escaped from gardens, from Me. to N. J. and west to Ohio.
[Illustration: ]
Bouncing Bet (_Saponaria officinalis_) (European). This is probably the
most hardy and the most widely distributed of our adventive members of
the Pink family. It increases very rapidly by means of underground
runners as well as by seed. It is very commonly known as “Soapwort,”
because of the fact that the mucilaginous juice from the crushed leaves
will form a lather if they are shaken in water; it is said that it was,
in olden days, used for washing purposes.
The plant stem is quite stout, smooth, erect, and sparingly or not at all
branched. At the top is a corymbed or flat-topped cluster containing many
flowers; petals, notched or sometimes quite deeply cleft, and with an
appendage at the top of the long claws that, bent at right angles, enter
the long, tubular, veined, greenish, 5-notched calyx.
From July until September Soapwort blooms profusely in waste places along
railroad beds and beside dusty roads where few other flowers are able to
flourish. It was one of the first of foreign flowers to be introduced
into this country.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Maiden Pink (_Dianthus deltoides_) (European). A handsome
rose-colored Pink that has become naturalized along the Atlantic Coast
and is quite abundant in some localities, in fields and waste places. The
flowers grow singly, or in pairs, at the ends of the branching stem; the
petals are broad, wedge-shaped, and finely toothed.
(B) Fire Pink; Catchfly (_Silene virginica_) is one of our most
brilliantly colored wild flowers, the petals being either deep crimson or
scarlet; the five petals are oblong, 2-cleft, long-limbed, and five in
number. The lower leaves are thin and spatulate, the upper ones
oblong-lanceolate. Both stem, leaves, and calyx are rather hairy. This
species is found in open woods from southern N. J., western N. Y., and
Mich. southward.
Wild Pink (_Silene pennsylvanica_) is another beautiful native species,
with bright pink flowers and a low, sticky stem; the upper leaves are
small, and the numerous basal ones lance-shaped. It is rather common from
Me. to N. Y. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
PURSLANE FAMILY
(_Portulacaceæ_)
(A) Spring Beauty (_Claytonia virginica_), although very delicate in
appearance, is among our earliest flowering plants.
The weak stem is usually very crooked and is often prostrate on the
ground; two linear-lanceolate leaves clasp it oppositely about halfway
up. The opened flowers, somewhat less than an inch across, have five
petals, two sepals, and five golden stamens that mature before the
stigma. It is found in moist woods from Me. to Mich. and south to the
Gulf.
(B) Purslane (_Portulaca oleracea_) (European) has a prostrate, juicy
stem and thick, fleshy leaves; the latter are wedge-shaped with rounded
ends. The stem is very branching and spreads or radiates from the root.
The flowers are tiny, solitary, and yellowish, seated in the whorls of
leaves that terminate the branches. Found in waste places anywhere and
possibly indigenous in the Southwest.
[Illustration: ]
WATER LILY FAMILY
(_Nymphæceæ_)
(A) Cow Lily; Yellow Pond Lily (_Nymphæa advena_) is not unattractive and
is interesting in its makeup. The leaves are thick, rough, ovate, slit or
lobed to the stem, which is long and hollow. The flower is raised above
the surface of the water on a long, hollow stem. What appear to be six
large green and yellow petals are in reality sepals; the real petals are
numerous, stamen-like, inserted with the very numerous stamens under the
golden-yellow rayed disk that forms the stigma. Very common in still or
stagnant water.
(B) Water Lily; Water Nymph (_Castalia odorata_) needs no introduction to
our readers. To my mind, it leads all other flowers in beauty, grace,
purity, and fragrance. It is composed of four sepals, greenish on the
outside and whitish within, and numerous pure, waxy-white petals. They
sometimes are gigantic in size, often spreading five or six inches
across. It flowers from June to Sept. in ponds or slow-moving water.
[Illustration: ]
RANUNCULUS FAMILY
(_Ranunculaceæ_)
(A) Water Plantain (_Ranunculus laxicaulis_) is a rather common
marsh-inhabiting Buttercup, with five to seven narrow yellow petals. The
stem is stout but rather weak and angled, at each joint sending out a
clasping lanceolate, almost toothless leaf. The flowers, which are about
¾ in. broad, are on long peduncles terminating the branching stem that
rises from 1 to 2½ feet. It is found in bogs, ditches, and muddy places
from Me. to Minn. and south to the Gulf.
(B) Marsh Marigold (_Caltha palustris_) is the very common marsh herb
usually, but erroneously, called “Cowslip.” Its leaves are very commonly
used and marketed for food. The flowers are perfect, have no petals but
from five to nine (usually the former) golden-yellow, shining sepals, and
numerous brighter stamens. The stems are hollow and furrowed. The leaves
are round, kidney-shaped, usually with scalloped edges. Marsh Marigold is
abundant in swamps or wet meadows from Newfoundland to Alaska and
southward through the United States, flowering in April and May.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Creeping Buttercup (_Ranunculus repens_) is, as per its name, a
creeping plant. The stem is prostrate, creeping along the ground and
striking new roots from the junctions of the leaf and flower stems with
the main one. The flowers are large and broad-petalled, both the petals
and stamens being a deep shining golden yellow. This species is
indigenous in the West, but probably introduced from Europe in the East,
where it is found chiefly near the coast, in ditches or along the edges
of marshes.
(B) Common Buttercup; Crowfoot (_R. acris_) (European). Even though we
have quantities of native Buttercups, it is this handsome foreigner that
is the most abundant; this is the species that is found in fields
everywhere, the one that delights the little folks and figures in many of
their childish games.
The leaves and stem of the Crowfoots are very acrid, but not poisonous;
on this account they are shunned by cattle and horses. This accounts in
part for their abundance in most fields and pastures.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Tall Meadow Rue (_Thalictrum polygamum_) is one of the characteristic
plants of swamps and edges of streams. Should its neighboring plants be
three or four feet high, we find the plume-like flowers of this species
triumphantly waving above them on stems of five, six, or even seven feet
tall.
The stalk is rather stout and grooved, pale-green, stained with maroon.
The long-stemmed leaves are many times compounded into small, lobed
leaflets of a pale, dull, blue-green color. The flowers are in feathery
clusters; each individual flower having numerous white filaments, no
petals, but usually four or five early-falling sepals.
From June to September we may find the mist-like flowers of Meadow Rue in
swamps, from Labrador to Manitoba and south through the United States.
(B) Pasque Flower (_Anemone patens_) has a solitary erect flower with
five to seven purplish sepals. Leaves divided and cut into narrow, acute
lobes. Both stem and leaves covered with silky hairs. This species is
found on prairies from Wis. and Montana southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Wood Anemone; Wind Flower (_Anemone quinquefolia_). The stem is
slender and from 4 to 8 in. high. Three leaves radiate from a point about
two thirds up; each on a long stem and divided into three to five,
toothed, ovate leaflets, The solitary flower rises on a slender peduncle
from the junction of these three leaves with the stem proper. It has four
to seven sepals, most often five; white inside and purplish white on
their outer surface. The flower has an expanse of slightly less than one
inch, but is rarely seen fully expanded. The Wind Flower is common in
woods or thickets from Nova Scotia to the Rockies and southward.
(B) Rue Anemone (_Anemonella thalictroides_) has four to nine sepals
(usually six), numerous orange-tipped stamens and a broad stigma. There
are several flowers on exceedingly slender peduncles, rising from the
whorl of leaves. The latter are on slender stems, have heart-shaped bases
and three-lobed ends; rather small, pale-green above and with a whitish
bloom below. It is found in the same localities and the same range as the
last species, with which it associates.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Purple Virgin’s Bower (_Clematis verticillaris_) is probably the most
rare species of Clematis. It grows in rocky, hilly, or mountainous woods,
most abundantly in northern portions of its range, which is from Quebec
to Hudson Bay and south locally to Del. and Pa. It is a climbing woody
vine, supporting itself by the bending or clasping of the leaf stalks.
The flowers grow singly, on long stems from the axils of the leaves or
from the end of the vine. They are large and handsome, the four thin,
purple, pointed, translucent sepals spreading from two to four inches
when fully expanded. The leaves are divided into three leaflets, ovate,
pointed, with a heart-shaped base.
(B) Virgin’s Bower (_Clematis virginiana_) is a beautiful, graceful,
climbing, twining vine found throughout our range. The small
greenish-white flowers, with four or five petals, grow in clusters from
the leaf axils; staminate and pistillate ones are on separate plants. In
fall, the beautiful silky plumes of the seed pods gives this species the
name of “Old Man’s Beard.”
[Illustration: ]
(A) Wild Columbine (_Aquilegia canadensis_) is one of our typical, early
woodland plants, graceful in form and beautiful in flower. It grows in
rocky woodland throughout our range, flowering from April to June.
The stem is very slender, wiry, and graceful, quite branching, and
attaining heights of one to two feet. The flowers are heavy, which causes
them to nod from their slender, thread-like peduncles. A quantity of
nectar is secreted in the base of each red spur, serving to attract
butterflies, moths, and often the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, for those
birds are very partial to red colors.
(B) Goldthread (_Coptis trifolia_) is a small woodland plant receiving
its name from the slender, thread-like, golden-yellow roots. These roots
are characteristic and readily identify the species. The leaves are
evergreen, deeply shining green in color, 3-parted and notched, on long
petioles from the root. The white flower has five or six early-falling
sepals; it is usually solitary on a scape from 3 to 6 in. high. Common in
rich woods throughout U. S. and Canada.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Monkshood; Aconite (_Aconitum uncinatum_) is an attractive wild
flower with a slender, rather weak stem often supporting itself against
other species. The flowers are quite large and handsome. The five sepals
are very unequal in size and shape; the upper one large and hood-like,
concealing two small petals within it. The leaves are firm, three- to
five-lobed and notched, on slender petioles. In rich, moist woods from
Pa. southward, flowering from June to September.
(B) Hepatica; Liverwort (_Hepatica triloba_). If we except the Skunk
Cabbage, the beautiful Hepatica is the first of our flowers to appear.
Its stems are thickly covered with fuzzy hairs; the three-lobed,
smooth-edged leaves are rather thick and coarse, lasting through the
winter but turning a ruddy color, while the new ones, that appear with
the buds, are light-green and radiate above the older prostrate ones. A
single blossom appears at the end of each long fuzzy scape; it is about
one inch broad, and has five to ten pale-purple or lilac sepals.
Hepaticas bloom from March to May in open woods from N. S. to Manitoba
and southward.
[Illustration: ]
Mandrake; May Apple (_Podophyllum peltatum_) belongs to the Barberry
Family (_Berberidaceæ_), a small family of shrubs or herbs, divided into
five genera of but one or two species each. The present species is quite
common in rich woods, or in shady moist ground, from western N. E. to
Minn. and southward flowering in May. The bare stalk rises to heights of
10 to 12 inches, then branches into two long-stemmed, light-green, large,
spreading leaves; the latter are five- to nine-parted, lobed, notched,
and unevenly balanced. From the forked joint of the leaves hangs a
solitary white flower on a short, slender, curving peduncle, this is very
delicate, nearly two inches across, and of six petals and twice as many
stamens.
The fruit is large and lemon-shaped, yellow in color, ripening in July.
It is the fruit that gives it the name of May Apple. While the leaves and
stem are poisonous, the fruit is not, but has a peculiar, acid, sickish
flavor.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Bloodroot (_Sanguinaria canadensis_). Closely following on the heels
of our handsome Hepatica we find the delicate flowered Bloodroot
unfurling its leaves and expanding its flowers in rich, rocky, open
woodland. The flowers are very delicate; the petals stay but two or three
days anyway, and a breath of wind may blow them off sooner.
After the flower is gone, the leaf develops rapidly and becomes very
large and imposing, with many divisions and lobes. The root is reddish
and is filled with a bloodlike juice, as is also the stem. Bloodroot is
common from N. S. to Minn. and southward. It flowers in April and May.
(B) Prickly Poppy (_Argemone mexicana_) is a handsome Mexican plant found
in the southwestern portions of the United States. It has a prickly stem
from one to two feet high. The stemless leaves have sharp lobes, also
armed with prickles. The flower is bright yellow, has four petals, and
numerous orange-tipped stamens. The flowers give no nectar but plenty of
pollen to the bees that visit them.
[Illustration: ]
Celandine (_Chelidonium majus_) (European) is abundant almost everywhere
in the eastern half of our country.
The stem is quite stout and very branching; at the end of each branch is
a loose cluster of buds on slender pedicels. These open one or two at a
time, so that the plant keeps in bloom for a long time; in fact, the
flowering season extends from early in May to the end of September. The
flowers are half an inch or more broad, with four golden-yellow petals, a
slender, pointed green pistil, and numerous yellow stamens. The seed-pod
is long and slender.
The thin, soft leaves are very handsomely divided into three-to
seven-lobed leaflets. Both stem and leaves have a bright yellow, very
acrid juice, that stains everything it comes in contact with. Celandine
is often known in Europe as “Swallow-wort” as it is supposed to commence
flowering with the coming of the swallows and to cease with their
departure. Its generic name also originated in this belief.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Dutchman’s Breeches (_Dicentra Cucullaria_). This peculiarly flowered
herb belongs to the Fumitory family, a family of delicate, smooth plants
with watery juices and compound, dissected leaves.
The flower stalk, proceeding from the root, attains heights of from 5 to
9 inches and bears a loose raceme of four to eight white, inverted
flowers; the four petals are united in pairs, two of them forming a large
double-spurred sac, and the other two very small petals forming a
protection for the stigma. The double sac is white, stained with yellow.
The leaves are on long petioles from the rootstalk; they are pale
sage-green in color, 3-parted and finely slashed. Dutchman’s Breeches may
be found blooming in April and May in rich, hilly woods from N.S. to
Minn. and south to N.C. and Mo.
(B) Squirrel Corn (_D. canadensis_) is similar, but the white, sac-like
petals are stained with purple, the spurs are shorter and rounder, and
the flower is slightly fragrant. The roots have little tuberous
appendages resembling grains of corn. This species is found in the same
range as the last.
[Illustration: ]
MUSTARD FAMILY
(_Cruciferæ_)
(A) Toothwort; Crinkleroot (_Dentaria diphylla_). During the latter part
of April or in May we will find white, crosslike flowers of Toothwort
often growing side by side with Anemones. Its stem is stout and smooth,
and rises to heights of 8 to 12 inches. Two 3-parted, notched-edged
leaves with short stems are set oppositely on the flowering stalk, above
the middle; other larger, similar ones are on long petioles from the
rootstalk. Its root is crinkled and with toothlike appendages. It is
found in rich woods from N. S. to Minn. and southward.
(B) Whitlow Grass (_Draba verna_) (European) is a weed that we find along
roadsides, waste places, or barren fields. The flowers are small, and the
four white petals are deeply notched. The scape is from 1 to 5 in. high.
The leaves are all basal, lance-shaped, and lobed or toothed.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Common Mustard (_Brassica nigra_) (European) is extensively
cultivated in Europe for the small dark-brown seeds that form a valuable
article of commerce, being used for the table condiment and for various
medicinal purposes.
In our country Mustard is regarded as a pest; it is a very strong, hardy
plant, soon overrunning sections where it gets a foothold. The stem is
very branching and grows to heights of from 2 to 7 feet. The
four-petalled, light-yellow flowers are in small dense clusters at the
ends of the branches; a trail of small, erect seedpods is left in the
wake of the flowers as they continue to bloom along the lengthening stem.
The leaves have a large, terminal notched lobe and smaller lateral ones.
(B) Hedge Mustard (_Sisymbrium officinale_) (European). This common weed
has tiny, four-petalled yellow flowers that bloom all summer, along the
lengthening stem, and leave numerous tiny pods closely set against the
stem. The leaves are more angular and more finely divided than those of
the Common Mustard.
[Illustration: ]
PITCHER PLANT FAMILY
(_Sarraceniaceæ_)
A small family of bog-inhabiting plants having hollow pitcher-formed or
trumpet-shaped leaves.
Pitcher Plant; Huntsman’s Cup (_Sarracenia purpurea_). Few plants are as
little known generally as this species. It is one of the most interesting
ones that we have. The shapes of both the leaves and blossoms are clearly
shown in the opposite picture. The pitchers, or basal leaves, may number
from three to a dozen, all radiating from the root and all with the
orifice up. An examination shows that each pitcher is partially filled
with water. Just below the rim of the leaf, on the inside, is a sticky
substance to attract insects; as these enter, they pass downward over
countless little hairs, all pointing downward. These make it very
difficult for insects to crawl out of the pitcher, and many of them
become exhausted and are drowned in the water. As these insects
decompose, they are absorbed by the plant.
The Pitcher Plant is local in bogs from Labrador to Manitoba and
southward.
[Illustration: ]
SUNDEW FAMILY
(_Droseraceæ_)
(A) Thread-leaved Sundew (_Drosera filiformis_) has long, linear
film-like, erect, very hairy leaves. The flowers are numerous and loosely
racemed at the top of a slender smooth scape; they have five small purple
petals, five stamens, and several 2-parted stigmas. This species is found
in wet sandy soil from New England to Delaware.
(B) Round-leaved Sundew (_Drosera rotundifolia_) is one of the most
common of the Sundews, it is found in moist, sandy, or peaty soil from
Labrador to Alaska and south to Pa. and Cal. The leaves are numerous,
quite round, and on long stems from the root. The leaves are thickly
covered with hairy glands that exude drops of a clear glutinous fluid.
These dew-like drops deceive insects into alighting on the leaves. Having
caught a victim, the leaf slowly folds about it and digests it.
The flower stalk of this species grows from 5 to 9 in. high, is reddish
colored, and often has one or two branches at the top. The one to
twenty-five flowers that it has during the flowering season are white.
[Illustration: ]
SAXIFRAGE FAMILY
(_Saxifragaceæ_)
(A) Grass of Parnassus (_Parnassia caroliniana_) is a pretty little swamp
or meadow plant growing from 8 to 24 inches high. The flowers are a
delicate creamy white, finely veined with greenish, and borne singly on
long scapes; a single heart-shaped leaf clasps each flower scape a short
distance above its base. The basal leaves are long-stemmed, rather thick
and coarse in texture, smooth-edged and bluntly pointed.
We find this species in bloom from the latter part of June until the end
of September, most abundantly in the latter month. It ranges from
Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Va. and Mo.
(B) Early Saxifrage (_Saxifraga virginiensis_) is a tiny-flowered plant
that loves dry, sunny, rocky hillsides. It flowers during March and
April. The leaves are all basal; spatulate in shape, blunt ended, either
rough-edged or toothed, rather coarse in texture, narrowing toward their
base into clasping stems. Saxifrage is common from N. B. to Minn., south
to Ga. and Tenn.
[Illustration: ]
Mitrewort (_Mitella nuda_) has a few flowers, very short-stemmed, in a
loose raceme at the top of a leafless, slightly hairy scape 4 to 7 in.
high. The flowers have five petals, each with the edge beautifully
fringed so as to give the flower a crystalline appearance almost like a
snowflake. We find this species from Labrador to Saskatchewan, south to
Ct. and Mich.
(A) Two-leaved Mitrewort (_Mitella diphylla_) is a larger and sturdier
species with similar flowers, but with two very short-stemmed,
heart-shaped leaves clasping the flower stem oppositely about halfway up
its length. Found in rich woods from N. E. to Minn., south to N. C. and
Mo.
(B) Foam Flower; False Mitrewort (_Tiarella cordifolia_) has the general
appearance of the last species. The slender, hairy flower scape, rising 6
to 12 in. from the rootstalk, has at the top a loose panicle of many
small flowers, each on a long, slender stem, thus differing from the
short-stemmed flowers of Mitella. Foam Flower is common from N. S. to
Minn. southward, flowering in May and June.
[Illustration: ]
ROSE FAMILY
(_Rosaceæ_)
(A) Meadowsweet (_Spiræa salicifolia_) is a common and beautiful shrub
that grows along the edges of woods, swamps, or even roadsides. Its
handsome pyramidal clusters of flowers are in evidence during July and
August. The stem is straight, slender, woody, and yellowish buff; along
it, at close intervals, alternate the lanceolate, toothed, short-stemmed
leaves. At the top is a spire-like panicle of fleecy flower clusters.
Each flower has five round, white petals and numerous long, pink stamens
that give the flowers a feathery appearance and a rosy tint. It ranges
from N. Y. to Mo. and southward.
(B) Hardhack; Steeplebush (_Spiræa tomentosa_) is one of our most
beautiful flowering shrubs. The flower spike is more slender and
steeple-like than that of Meadowsweet, and the flowers are a beautiful
shade of pink. The leaves are more closely alternated and are dark green
above and lighter below. Steeplebush grows in low ground from N. B. to
Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Wild Strawberry (_Fragraria virginiana_). The hairy stems of both
leaves and flowers rise directly from the running rootstalk. The flowers,
several of which grow on each stem, are wheel-shaped, have five rounded
white petals, and narrow lanceolate greenish sepals. After the flowering
season, the green center expands, becomes pulpy, and finally turns red on
the outer surface; the numerous seeds are in little pits provided for
them on the surface of the berry.
The Wild Strawberry is common in fields and pastures throughout our
range.
(B) High Bush Blackberry (_Rubus allegheniensis_) is a tall branching
shrub with slender brown stems, from three to ten feet long, armed with
stout, slightly recurved prickles. It is from this species that the
well-known variety was developed. The leaves are divided into three to
five ovate, pointed, toothed leaflets, with a ribbed and hairy surface.
The flowers have five green sepals alternating with the narrow white
petals. This species is very common everywhere.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Common Cinquefoil; Five-finger (_Potentilla canadensis_). This
species is the most common of the Five-fingers. It is often mistaken for
the Wild Strawberry, because of a similarity between the leaves of the
two species, although those of this species have five divisions while
those of the Strawberry have but three. The flowers are shaped like those
of the Strawberry, but have bright-yellow petals. It is very common in
the United States and southern Canada.
(B) Silvery Cinquefoil (_Potentilla argentea_) is a common and very
handsome species found in dry, barren ground throughout our range, but
most abundantly near the coast. It is smaller than the preceding, being
from 5 to 12 in. high. The little yellow flowers are clustered at the
ends of the branches. The stems and the undersides of the divided and
deeply cut leaves are covered with fine, white, silvery wool, contrasting
sharply with the dark green of the upper surfaces. This species bloom
from May until September.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Agrimony (_Agrimonia gryposepala_) is a common weed found on the
borders of swamps or thickets. It has a tall, hairy, simple stem from two
to four feet high.
The flowers are in a long, many-flowered spike at the top of the stalk.
Each flower is tiny, has five yellow petals, and numerous orange stamens,
giving the spike a bright, golden-yellow appearance. It is a common plant
from N. B. to N. C. and westward to Cal.
(B) Marsh Five-finger; Purple Cinquefoil (_Potentilla palustris_) is in
character quite like the foregoing species. It is the only one, however,
having purple flowers, and is easily recognized on that account. The
flowers are nearly an inch broad, larger than those of the other
Cinquefoils.
The stem grows from 6 to 20 inches long and is rather woody at the base.
Purple Cinquefoil grows in swamps or cool bogs, from Labrador to Alaska
and south to N. J., Pa., Ia., and Cal., flowering during July and August.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Creeping Dalibarda (_Dalibarda repens_) is a delicate woodland plant,
found from N. B. to Manitoba and south to N. J., Ohio, and Mich. It has
creeping, densely tufted rootstalks, from which spring numerous
heart-shaped leaves on long petioles; these leaves, their stems, and the
flower stalks are downy, the former being scallop-edged or toothed.
Dalibarda has two kinds of flowers: The first on long, upright scapes
spread about half an inch, have five oval white petals and many stamens.
The second are cleistogamous ones (fertilized in the bud) on short
curving peduncles from the root. These last flowers are fertile, while
many of those with petals are not. Dalibarda blooms from June to
September in rich woods.
(B) Yellow Avens (_Geum strictum_) grows in moist locations in swamps or
thickets. The texture of the whole plant, leaves and stems, is rough and
coarse. The root leaves are interruptedly pinnate, the segments being
wedge-shaped and toothed. The flowers have quite large golden-yellow
petals and a downy receptacle. This species is common from Newfoundland
to Manitoba and south to N. C. and Mo.
[Illustration: ]
Swamp Rose (_Rosa carolina_). Wild Roses are very common throughout our
range and, of course, are familiar to every one. The Swamp Rose is a very
bushy species, growing from one to nine feet high. It is very common on
the edges of swamps or streams, and in low ground, throughout our range.
The flowers are two or three inches broad and have numerous yellow
stamens radiating from the greenish-white centre. The stem of the Swamp
Rose is sparingly armed with stout, wide-based, curved thorns.
Pasture Rose (_Rosa humulis_) is the most abundant of all our Wild Roses
and grows in profusion in all dry, rocky places. It does not grow as high
as the Swamp Rose, rarely exceeding three feet in height, but the slender
stems are more branching and often grow in large, tangled masses. The
flowers are about the same size as those of the Swamp Rose, but are
usually solitary at the ends of the branches.
The stem is armed with straight, slender, light brown thorns or prickles,
two of which are set oppositely on the stem at its junctions with the
leaf stems.
[Illustration: ]
Sweetbrier; Eglantine (_Rosa rubiginosa_) is a very beautiful species of
Wild Rose introduced from Europe. We may find it blooming quite commonly
in dry, rocky pastures and waste places during June and July. It is
remarkable for and easily identified by the sweet-scented aromatic
fragrance of its leaves. The stems are long and arching, growing from 2
to 6 feet in height; they are brown and are armed at frequent intervals
with short, decidedly recurved thorns or prickles.
At regular intervals along the stem are close-set, compact clusters of
flowers and leaves. The leaves are made up of five or seven very small
leaflets, rounded-ovate in form and with the edge finely double-toothed,
and covered beneath with fine, sticky, glandular hairs. The flowers are
also quite small, especially when compared to the very common Pasture and
Swamp Roses, being only from 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Eglantine is
found from Nova Scotia to Michigan and southward to Virginia and Tenn.
[Illustration: ]
PULSE FAMILY
(_Leguminosæ_)
(A) Wild or Blue Lupine (_Lupinus perennis_) receives its generic name
from the Latin of wolf, because it was thought that the species preyed
upon the soil and made it infertile for other kinds of plants. It is a
very common species in sandy places and we often see it on the banks
along railroads. The stem is quite stout, erect, hairy, and branching.
The leaves have long, slender stems; the leaf, proper, is palmately
divided into seven to eleven narrow, smooth-edged leaflets.
The flowers are in long, showy, terminal spikes of pea-like blossoms.
Lupine is very common through the United States, east of the Rocky
Mountains.
(B) Blue False Indigo (_Baptisia australis_) is a tall branching species
with a stem from 3 to 6 feet in height. The leaves are divided into three
spatulate-shaped leaflets. The violet-blue flowers grow in long loose
spikes; they are about one inch long, have a four- or five-toothed calyx,
straight keel and wings, and short standard. The seed-pod has a spur at
its tip. This species is common from Pa. to Ga. and west to Mo.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Wild Indigo (_Baptisia tinctoria_) is a very branchy and very bushy
herb. The stem divides soon after it leaves the ground, the slender
branchlets extending equally in all directions. The leaves are
three-parted, wedge-shaped, dull green with a white bloom that gives them
a bluish-green appearance. The yellow, butterfly-shaped flowers are in
loose clusters at the ends of all the branches.
The roots of Wild Indigo are used by drug concerns for the compounding of
a number of medicines. An indigo dye, of a poor quality, can also be made
from the plant. Wild Indigo grows in dry, sandy soil from Maine to
Minnesota, flowering from June to September.
(B) Rattlebox (_Crotolaria sagittalis_) receives its name because the
seeds rattle about in the large, inflated, blackish seed-pod. It is an
annual herb, with a hairy-bending stem and stemless, toothless,
pointed-oval leaves alternating along it. The yellow, pea-like flowers
are in small clusters at the ends of the branches. It is found in sandy
soil, chiefly along the coast, from Mass. to Fla. and Texas and, in the
Mississippi basin, to Indiana and South Dakota.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Goats Rue; Cat Gut (_Tephrosia virginiana_). We find this herb in
most all dry, sandy, waste places from N. H. to Minn. and southward.
It is a pea-like plant with a simple, silky-haired, erect stem, leafy to
the top where it terminates in a dense raceme or panicle of
yellowish-white flowers marked with purple. The flowers are large and
numerous; they have a rounded standard but little longer than the wings
and keel. Its roots are long, very slender, and very tough.
(B) Partridge Pea (_Cassia Chamæcrista_) is a handsome species with
large, showy yellow flowers measuring about 1¼ inches across; often the
five, large, rounded petals have purplish spots at their bases; after
flowering long, erect seed-pods are left in the place of each of the
blossoms.
The leaves of the Partridge Pea are long and compounded of 20-30 small,
blunt, lance-shaped leaflets, each with a tiny awl-like point. The stem
is erect, rather smooth, and grows one or two feet tall. We find this
plant in dry or sandy fields throughout the United States.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Rabbit-foot Clover; Stone Clover (_Trifolium arvense_) (European).
The stalk of this species is soft, silky, and from 4 to 10 inches high.
The light-green leaves have three leaflets with blunt tips. The
flower-heads are composed of numerous florets; it is the long, pink,
feathery tips of the five-parted calyx that gives the blossom its silky
fuzziness; it is quite fragrant and is visited by the smallest
butterflies. You may find this species everywhere within our range.
(B) Red Clover (_Trifolium pratense_) is the most common and the most
valuable species of clover. One would hardly believe, knowing how
abundant it is in all parts of our range, that this Clover could have
been introduced and have become so widely distributed, yet such is the
case. One reason that it does so well in this country is that we have a
very large number of bumblebees, and it has been found that clover is so
dependent upon these insects for fertilization, that, without them, it
will soon die out.
The little florets, composing the globular flower-head, are bright
crimson-pink. The three leaflets that make up each leaf have
whitish-green triangles in the middle.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Alsike or Alsatian Clover (_Trifolium hybridum_) (European) is quite
similar to our native White Clover, but the stem is stout, branching, and
juicy. The trifoliate leaves of this species are unmarked and have a
simple, rounded end, not notched, but the edge of the leaf is very finely
toothed. The florets composing the round flower-heads are cream-colored,
tinged with pink; they are very fragrant and laden with nectar.
(B) White Clover (_Trifolium repens_) is the most common of the White
Clovers. It is supposed to be indigenous in the northern parts of our
range. It is highly prized as forage for cattle and is often cultivated
in fields for that purpose. It is also a favorite with keepers of bees.
Its stems are smooth, reclining, and 4 to 10 inches long. The leaves are
composed of three leaflets, heart-shaped or notched at the ends, and
usually with a more or less distinct triangular mark in the middle. The
flowers are creamy white, slightly pinkish, and very fragrant.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Yellow Clover; Hop Clover (_Trifolium agrarium_) (European). This
Clover is very common in the eastern half of the United States and
southern Canada; we find it growing most abundantly along roadsides and
in dry or sandy fields.
The stem is quite smooth, slender, erect, and slightly branching and
grows from 6 to 15 inches high.
The flower-head is oblong, densely crowded with small, golden-yellow
florets, having an alternate scaly arrangement. They bloom from the
bottom of the head upward, and, as they mature, turn yellowish-brown and
are reflexed, resembling dried hops. Its flowering season is from June
until September.
(B) Yellow Melilot; Yellow Sweet Clover (_Melilotus officinalis_)
(European) is a common, weed-like plant, found everywhere in waste
places. The stem is tall and branching, growing from 2 to 4 feet high.
The leaves are trifoliate, each leaflet being finely toothed and the
middle one having a short stem with a double bend. The yellow,
clover-like florets are in long, loose racemes, terminating the branches;
they have a sweet fragrance.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Alfalfa; Lucerne (_Medicago sativa_) (European) is found growing wild
in waste places or fields most anywhere in our range. It makes an
excellent fodder for cattle and will grow in waste, sandy places where it
is impossible to raise crops of hay.
The stalk is smooth, slender, branching, and erect; it grows from 1 to 2
feet high. The leaves are three-parted, on long, slender stems with
narrow stipules at their base. The purple flowers grow in short, loose
racemes at the ends of the slender branches; the seed-pod is curiously
twisted or coiled.
(B) Cow Vetch; Blue Vetch (_Vicia Cracca_) is a trailing herb with a
weak, angled stem; it is common on the borders of thickets or the edges
of cultivated fields. The stem grows from 2 to 3 feet long and climbs
over grasses or low brush by means of small, slender tendrils at the ends
of the leaves.
The compound leaves are made up of twenty to thirty small, oval leaflets,
each tipped with a tiny sharp-pointed bristle. The light violet-colored,
bean-like flowers grow in one-sided racemes.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Ground Nut; Wild Bean (_Apios tuberosa_) is an exceedingly beautiful
climbing vine, attaining lengths of 4 or 5 feet, crawling over walls or
fences, or twisting itself about shrubs or other plants. Its pear-shaped,
tuberous root is edible, as every country boy knows.
The leaves of the Ground Nut are compounded of five, or sometimes seven,
ovate-pointed leaflets; they are toothless, smooth, and light green. The
flowers grow in dense, rounded clusters on slender stalks from between
the angles of the leaves and the plant stem, and are maroon or
lilac-brown. We find Ground Nut in bloom during August and September in
damp ground, usually on the borders of swamps or wet meadows, from N. B.
to Minn. and southward to the Gulf.
(B) Wild or Hog Peanut (_Amphicarpa monoica_)is a dainty, trailing vine 2
to 7 feet long. The delicate, light-green leaves are thrice compounded,
on slender stems from the angles of which are small, drooping clusters of
magenta-lilac blossoms. Other fruitful blossoms at the base of the plant
develop into pear-shaped pods with single large seeds.
[Illustration: ]
FLAX FAMILY
(_Linaceæ_)
(A) Common Flax (_Linum usutatissimum_) (European) This slender species
is more attractive than the last because of its larger flowers. The stem
is very slender, from one to two feet in height, and each of its few
branches is terminated with one or two delicate, violet-blue flowers;
these measure about three quarters of an inch broad, or slightly more.
This is the species that is cultivated very extensively in Europe, and
less so in this country, for its linen fibre and its seed oil, both of
which have a very extensive commercial use.
(B) Wild Yellow Flax (_Linum virginianum_) is a slender perennial species
with a smooth stem from 1 to 2 feet in height. The flowers have a calyx
divided into five sepals, a corolla of five petals, five stamens, and
pistils, perfect and symmetrical flowers fertilized by small bees and
bee-like flies. The small leaves are thin and have but one rib. This
species may be found in dry woodland from Me. to Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
WOOD SORREL FAMILY
(_Oxalidaceæ_)
(A) White Wood Sorrel (_Oxalis Acetosella_) is one of the most delicate
and dainty of our woodland flowers. It is commonly found in cool, damp
situations and is very partial to mountainous regions. The flowers are
very frail looking, about an inch broad, borne on long, slender peduncles
from the root. The leaves are also on long, slender petioles from the
root; they are trifoliate or clover-like, each of the three leaflets
being inversely heart-shaped—that is, with the end notched and with two
rounded lobes. White Wood Sorrel is found from N. S. to Saskatchewan and
south to N. E., N. Y., and in mountains to N. C.
(B) Violet Wood Sorrel (_Oxalis violacea_). The long, slender flower
stalks bear at their summits three or more pale magenta flowers, similar,
except in color, but a trifle smaller than those of the white species.
The leaves of both these Sorrels are very sensitive and fold up if
handled; they also close at dusk and open in the morning.
[Illustration: ]
Yellow Wood Sorrel; Lady’s Sorrel (_Oxalis corniculata_) is not a
woodland plant but is very common along roadsides, in gardens, dooryards,
and fields. The pale-green, slender stem is quite erect, branches but
little, if at all, and grows from three to twelve inches tall. The leaves
are long-stemmed and trifoliate, the three leaflets being broadly
heart-shaped. They are very sensitive and close if roughly handled.
The leaves have very acid and sour juices, similar in taste to those of
the common Red Sorrel that, by the way, belong to an entirely different
family (Buckwheat). Country school children often chew the leaves of both
of these, as the sour taste has an agreeable twang.
The bright golden-yellow flowers are quite fragrant; they open only in
the sunshine and close tightly at night. They grow in few-flowered umbels
at the end of the stem on slender peduncles from the axils of some of the
leaves. After their flowering season little erect, pointed pods take the
place of the flowers. This species is a very common herb or weed
throughout our range.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Wild Geranium; Cranesbill (_Geranium masculatum_) is one of our most
common woodland plants, flowering from May to July. The stem, the leaves,
and the flower calyx are rough-hairy, the former being quite stout and
branching and attaining heights of 1 to 2 feet. The large magenta or
pale-purple flowers are in loose, few-flowered clusters at the ends of
the branches; the petals are large and rounded and slightly overlap.
The leaves of the Geranium are very coarse and fuzzy, and the surface is
often spotted with white or brown; they are palmately divided into five
lobes, each of which is sharply toothed and pointed. It is very common
from Me. to Manitoba and southward.
(B) Herb Robert (_Geranium Robertianum_) is a smaller edition of the
last. Its flowers are similar, but smaller and coarser in texture. Its
leaves are smaller and usually more deeply cleft. The stem is usually
stained with red; both this and the leaves emit a strong odor when
bruised.
Herb Robert is common from Me. to Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
MILKWORT FAMILY
(_Polygalaceæ_)
(A) Fringed Polygala (_Polygala paucifolia_) is a dainty and low
perennial, usually rising but four or five inches from the ground; the
stem bends sharply as it enters the soil and continues into a long,
slender rootstalk often a foot in length. Either one or two flowers are
at the summit of the stem; they are quite large, being nearly an inch in
length; the two lateral sepals are large and wing-shaped; the three
petals are joined together to form a tube, through which the yellow
stamens and pistil protrude. Polygala is common in damp, rich woods from
N. S. to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf, flowering during May and
June.
(B) Milkwort (_Polygala polygama_) is a slender-stemmed species from 5 to
15 inches high; the stem is closely crowded, alternately, with narrow,
oval, pointed, stemless leaves. The dull crimson flowers are borne in
long, slender racemes at the top of the stem. It is quite common
everywhere in dry, sandy soil.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Field or Purple Milkwort (_Polygala sanguinea_) is a sturdy little
pink-headed plant that grows in fields or meadows or along roadsides.
The flowers, proper, are concealed beneath the large, broad, scale-like,
crimson-pink sepals that tightly overlap each other and form the head;
these scale-like sepals correspond to the wings on the Fringed Polygala,
the true petals and minutely crested keel being shorter and not visible
from the outside. The small, stiff, acutely pointed leaves are densely
alternated on the stem up to the flower-head. The plant grows from 6 to
12 inches high, and abounds throughout the U. S.
(B) Cross-leaved Milkwort (_Polygala cruciata_) has spatulate-shaped
leaves arranged in fours around the stem—cross-like. The stem is quite
branchy, and grows from 4 to 14 inches high. At the end of each branch,
seated within the four terminating leaves, is a dainty little globular
pink flower-head.
We find this species around the edges of swamps or in rather moist
fields, from Me. to Minn. and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, flowering
from June until September.
[Illustration: ]
SPURGE FAMILY
(_Euphorbiaceæ_)
Snow-on-the-Mountain; White-edged Spurge (_Euphorbia marginata_) is a
large, bushy herb often cultivated because of its beautiful,
white-margined foliage. The stem is very stout and branchy, and grows
from 2 to 3 feet high. The leaves are dark green, large, ovate-pointed,
and seated on the stem; the lower ones are quite similar in shape to
those of the common Milkweed and are alternated on the stem; those near
the end of the branches are crowded, opposite, or whorled about the stem;
the terminal ones have the edges of the leaves more or less widely
margined with white.
The flowers are rather small, grouped in clusters in the centre of the
terminal cluster of margined leaves. The staminate and pistillate flowers
are on different plants. The involucre is five-parted and has five white
petals.
When broken both the leaves and stems exude quantities of a milky juice.
This species of Spurge grows in dry soil from Minn. and Ohio west to
Colorado, and is sometimes found in parts of the East.
[Illustration: ]
JEWEL-WEED FAMILY
(_Balsaminaceæ_)
Jewel-weed; Spotted Touch-me-not (_Impatiens biflora_) is a common
rank-growing herb with a stout but fragile branching stem. The large,
inflated flower-sac, which is really one of the three sepals, is
orange-yellow, spotted with brown. Two of these singular flowers droop
from the ends of each thread-like peduncle, but only one flowers at a
time.
The slim seed-pod is the cause of two very commonly applied
names—Touch-me-not and Snapweed. When nearly ripe these pods can scarcely
be touched but what they will suddenly, almost explosively, burst and
scatter their seeds in all directions. One not acquainted with their ways
is always startled when he accidentally brushes against the mature
Touch-me-not.
The leaves are very delicate in appearance, and their light, slender
stems are almost translucent; they are ovate, round-toothed, dull-green
above, and whitish-green below. Common in shady places throughout the
United States.
[Illustration: ]
MALLOW FAMILY
(_Malvaceæ_)
Common Mallow; Cheeses (_Malva rotundifolia_) (European) is a very common
weed about dooryards, especially in the country, and along the edges of
cultivated fields. The long stalks spring from biennial roots and creep
over the ground, the branches being 6 to 24 inches in length. The
dark-green, round leaves are very handsome; they have a shallow-lobed and
very firmly toothed edge and are deeply, palmately ribbed. The leaves,
their stems and the plant stems are rather rough.
The small, widespread, bell-shaped flowers are clustered close to the
stalk on short stems from the axils of the leaves. The five petals have
notched tips, are white, delicately tinted with pink or pale magenta, and
have veinings of a deeper shade. The seed is hard, flat, and rounded,
composed of a dozen or more carpels; it is eaten by children with great
relish, these being the “cheeses” that give the species one of its common
names.
[Illustration: ]
(A) High Mallow (_Malva sylvestris_) (European) is a tall biennial with a
coarse branching stem, often attaining a height of 3 feet, or even more
on waste land. Both the stems and the leaves have a thick covering of
hair. The flowers grow in clusters of perhaps a half-dozen from the axils
of the leaves; they have five heart-shaped petals of a purplish color,
with two or three conspicuous veins of a darker shade.
The Mallows get their generic name of Malva, in allusion to the soothing
effect of the mucilaginous juices of the root and stem.
(B) Musk Mallow (_Malva moschata_) (European) is a similar species with
the leaves deeply and palmately slashed and toothed. Several hairy
branching stems proceed from the perennial root to heights of 1 or 2
feet. The flowers are peculiar in that the ends of each of the five
rose-colored petals are roughly notched, looking as though they had been
bitten off.
This species received its name from the fact that when the leaves are
crushed they give forth a slight odor of musk. It is quite abundant in
northern New England and southern Canada.
[Illustration: ]
Rose Mallow (_Hibiscus Moscheutos_) is a tall, leafy perennial, bearing
flowers that easily rank as being among the largest and most beautiful of
any of our wild flowers. The stem is quite stout and inclined to be
hairy. The large leaves are ovate-pointed and toothed; they are stemmed,
and alternate along the main plant stalk. The lower ones are often
three-lobed.
The flowers grow on short stems at the end of the upright stalk. But one
usually blooms at a time and there are not a great many buds; what they
lack in profusion of bloom this species fully makes up in size, for its
blossoms measure 4 to 6 inches across. The five large petals are a
delicate rose color, conspicuously veined, and often with crimson bases.
The long, slender pistil divides at the tip into five flat-headed
stigmas; for more than half its length it is encased in the long stamen
column, the sides of which are covered with yellow anthers.
The Rose Mallow grows in swamps and marshes near the coast, from Mass.
southward, and along the shores of the Great Lakes to Mich. It blooms
from July to September.
[Illustration: ]
ST. JOHNSWORT FAMILY
(_Hypericaceæ_)
Common St. Johnswort (_Hypericum perforatum_) (European) is a wanderer
from the Old World that, having reached our hospitable shores, proceeded
to multiply and overrun the native plants so that it is now regarded by
farmers as a pest along with the Wild Carrot and Mustard. If it is true
that in the struggle for existence the fittest survive, then surely this
species must be one of the fittest; we often see it growing lustily in
circumstances under which few plants could exist. It grows promiscuously
in fields or along roadsides. Even a generous sprinkling of tarvia,
received when the roads were sprinkled, failed to kill this plant,
although many other species died from the effects.
It has a slender but tough stem from 1 to 2 feet high; it has numerous
short branches, each crowded with tiny, stiff, oval leaves. The upper
branches terminate in clusters of five-parted, golden-yellow flowers with
numerous long yellow stamens. This species blooms from July until
September.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Marsh St. Johnswort (_Hypericum virginicum_). The stem is slender,
erect, and from 1 to 2 feet in height, growing from perennial running
rootstalks. The comparatively large leaves are light green with brownish
spots and a white bloom on the underside; they are closely set,
oppositely, on the stem.
The flowers are in small clusters terminating the branches; the five
petals are of a pinkish, flesh color and surround three groups of
golden-yellow stamens. Common in moist places.
(B) St. Johnswort (_Hypericum ellipticum_) has a simple usually
four-angled stem, sometimes with a single branch near the top. It grows
from 8 to 20 inches high and is quite leafy. The leaves are comparatively
large, about the same shape as those of Marsh St. Johnswort. At the top
are a few five-petalled flowers with bright golden-yellow stamens. The
ovoid pods succeeding the flowers are brownish. This species is found in
damp places or along streams from Me. to Minn. and south to Pa.
[Illustration: ]
ROCKROSE FAMILY
(_Cistaceæ_)
(A) Frostweed: Rockrose (_Helianthemum canadense_). This little perennial
is very remarkable and unique, because late in autumn crystals of ice
form about the cracked bark of the root. It is also remarkable for the
fact that it has two sets of flowers, the first ones in June and later
ones in July or August.
The leaves are small, oblong-lanceolate, hoary with white hairs on the
underside, alternating along the stem that rises from 10 to 18 inches
high. Both the early and late flowers are fertile. Frostweed grows in
sandy, dry soil from Me. to Minn. and southward.
(B) Hudsonia (_Hudsonia tomentosa_) is a low-branching, little shrub
rising only 5 or 10 inches above ground. Its branching stems are closely
crowded with tiny, scale-like oval leaves about one half inch long.
The small yellow flowers that are crowded along the ends of the branches
open only in sunshine; the five tiny yellow petals surround numerous
stamens and a long, slender style. Hudsonia is found on sandy shores from
N. B. to Va., and along the Great Lakes.
[Illustration: ]
VIOLET FAMILY
(_Violaceæ_)
(A) Bird-foot Violet (_Viola pedata_) is a well-known and very
characteristic Violet. The flowers of this species are the largest of the
blue Violets; they are blue-violet or purple-violet and have a bright
orange centre, formed by the large anthers.
The leaves grow on long petioles, in dense tufts, from the root; each
leaf is cut into five to eleven parts, all sharply pointed, and the
middle and lateral ones with their ends notched or cleft.
(B) Early Blue Violet; Palmated Violet (_Viola palmata_) has slightly
smaller blue flowers with bearded side petals.
The basal leaves are very variable in shape, ranging from heart-shaped
with rounded teeth and an unbroken edge to palmately cleft ones with five
or seven rounded lobes. Both of these Violets are common in dry ground,
the former in fields or the borders of swamps, and the latter usually in
thin woodland, from Me. to Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Common Violet (_Viola cucullata_) is the commonest and best known of
all the Violets. It grows in low land everywhere—in woods, meadows,
marshes, or along roadsides. It is a very beautiful and variable species
both as to size and color of blossoms and to shape of the leaves.
The flowers are sometimes a deep purple and again may be a light blue, or
even nearly white. The two upper petals are usually darker near the
throat; the three lower ones shade to white at the throat, the side ones
being beautifully fringed or bearded. The leaves are usually
heart-shaped, round-toothed, and concave or furled; they are on long
stems from the base.
(B) Canada Violet (_Viola canadensis_) is the most common of the
leafy-stemmed blue Violets. You will notice that the preceding species
all had their leaves from the base, and the flowers nodding on slender
scapes, while this one has leaves growing on the slender stem and flowers
above them on peduncles, springing from the angles of the leaves. This
species is quite common in woods throughout the United States.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Sweet White Violet (_Viola blanda_) is the most fragrant of our wild
Violets, regardless of color. It is a most charming plant, but very
diminutive, in fact, it is probably the smallest of the entire family.
Occasionally we may find them in some exceptionally favorable locality
growing to a height of perhaps 6 inches, but the usual height will barely
exceed 2 inches. The plant is stemless, that is, the leaf stems and
flower stalks all spring directly from the root.
The leaves of the common White Violet are rounded heart-shaped with
slightly scalloped or round-toothed edges. It is very common in swamps
and moist woods throughout the United States and southern Canada.
(B) Lance-leaved Violet (_Viola lanceolata_) is a taller, more slender
species growing from 3 to 8 inches high. Its leaves are lance-shaped,
scallop-edged, and on long stems from the root. The white flowers are
only slightly fragrant; the three lower petals are strongly veined with
purple and the two side ones are rarely bearded. It is commonly found in
swamps and moist ground from N. S. to Minn. and southward, flowering from
April to June.
[Illustration: ]
Downy Yellow Violet (_Viola pubescens_) is a large, very handsome Violet
that prefers, for its habitat, dry, hilly woods, often by the side of
rushing brooks, but not usually where the soil is moist.
The Yellow Violet is one of the tallest members of the family, its stem
ranging from 6 to 18 inches in length. Both the stems and the leaves are
wooly-hairy. There are from two to four leaves growing from the stem near
its summit; they are heart-shaped, pointed, and either toothed or
scalloped. The flowers, rising on slender peduncles from the axils of the
leaves, are rather large and bright yellow; the two lateral petals are
heavily bearded and the lower one is handsomely veined with purple. These
beards compel visiting insects to brush against the stigma and then
against the anthers before reaching the nectar in the short spur.
Most of the Violets, during the summer, have apetalous or cleistogamous
flowers on short peduncles from the root; these never open, but are
fertilized in the bud. Common from N. S. to Manitoba and southward.
[Illustration: ]
LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY
(_Lythraceæ_)
Purple or Spiked Loosestrife (_Lythrum Salicaria_) (European).
Undoubtedly this species, which came to us from Europe, is the most
beautiful of the genus.
The plant grows from 2 to 4 feet high and branches toward the top. The
many purple flowers, making up the spike, each have six long petals and
are trimorphous, that is, flowers on the same plant, have, relatively,
three different lengths of stamens and pistils. Purple Loosestrife is
found locally in swamps and on marshy borders of streams from Me. to Del.
and westward.
Loosestrife (_Lythrum alatum_) is a tall, slender, native species growing
1 to 3 feet high, angular and branching. The deep-green, lance-shaped
leaves are set oppositely on the lower stem and alternately on the upper
branches. The flowers appear sparingly from the axils of the leaves near
the ends of the branches. This species grows in moist ground from N. S.
to Minn. and southward to the Gulf.
[Illustration: ]
MELASTOMA FAMILY
(_Melastomaceæ_)
Meadow Beauty (_Rhexia virginica_) is a pretty little plant that always
causes a thrill of admiration to pass through us as we come across it in
grassy marshes where other flowers are usually few and far between.
It has numerous buds, two or three of which, only, open at a time,
lasting but for a short space, the petals then falling off and the calyx
and long stamens becoming withered and brownish; these detract greatly
from an otherwise very beautiful plant.
Meadow Beauty or “Deer-grass” is a perennial, has a stout stem, quite
branching and sharp-pointed, ovate, toothed, three-ribbed leaves, seated
oppositely on the stem. The flowers grow on slender peduncles from the
angles of the upper leaves; they have four large, rounded, magenta
petals, each with a short, sharp point at the tip. The eight stamens are
long and slightly unequal, the anthers being exceptionally large and
bright golden-yellow. Meadow Beauty is found blooming during July and
August in sandy marshes and shores from Me. to Fla. and in the states
bordering the Mississippi.
[Illustration: ]
EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY
(_Onagraceæ_)
A family of herbs or shrubs with perfect, usually four-parted flowers,
four petals, four sepals, four or eight stamens and a two- or four parted
stigma.
(A) Great Willow Herb; Fireweed (_Epilobium angustifolium_) springs up in
profusion and attains its greatest growth in clearings or recently burned
land.
The tall, upright stem is usually simple, but occasionally slightly
branched at the top. It attains heights of from 2 to 8 feet.
The flower spike is long; the flowers, blooming from the bottom upward,
leave upright, long, slender pods.
The Great Willow Herb is abundant throughout our range in low ground,
blooming during July and August.
(B) Hairy Willow Herb (_Epilobium hirsutum_) (European) has become
naturalized and is fairly common in waste places and about old dwellings.
It is branchy, hairy, has finely toothed, stemless leaves, and
four-parted magenta flowers growing from the angles of the upper leaves.
[Illustration: ]
(A) Evening Primrose (_Œnothera biennis_) is an exceedingly common
biennial plant, of nocturnal habits, the flowers spreading wide open at
dusk and partly or wholly closing the next morning.
The stem is soft-hairy, quite stout, and often very tall, ranging from 1
to 6 feet in height. Both the stem and the leaves are rather coarse in
texture. The flowers are seated in the angles of the upper leaves. The
four pale lemon-yellow petals are large and rounded, the flower spreading
slightly less than two inches.
The lower buds open first, only a few at a time, so that usually we may
find seed-pods seated among the leaves just below the flowers and
undeveloped buds and leaves above. Primrose blooms in fields and
roadsides, everywhere, from July to September.
(B) Sundrops (_Œnothera fruticosa_) a somewhat similar, diurnal species,
with a branched stem, grows 1 to 3 feet high. The pale-yellow flowers
measure from ½ to 1 inch across; they are in loose, terminal clusters or
from the angles of the upper leaves. The leaves are linear-lanceolate,
slightly toothed. Common from Me. to Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
GINSENG FAMILY
(_Araliaceæ_)
Wild Sarsaparilla (_Aralia nudicaulis_) has a single, large, compound
leaf on a long stem from the creeping, fragrant, aromatic root. The
flowers are gathered into three, rounded umbels at the top of a long stem
that joins the leaf-stem near its base. Common in moist woodland from
Newfoundland to Minn. and southward.
Ginseng (_Panax quinquefolium_) is well known as the plant that is
collected and cultivated for its thick, fleshy, branching roots. The
plant grows from 8 to 18 inches high. Three compound leaves, each
consisting of five ovate-pointed, toothed, short-stemmed leaflets,
radiate from near the top of the smooth stem. It is found in rich, cold
woods from Quebec to Minn., southward.
Dwarf Ginseng (_Panax trifolium_) is a tiny species from 4 to 8 inches
high. It has a spherical root, slender stem, three leaves compounded of
three leaflets each, and numerous tiny white flowers in an umbel above
them. Common in rich woods from N. S. to Minn. and southward.
[Illustration: ]
PARSLEY FAMILY
(_Umbeliferæ_)
(A) Water Parsnip (_Sium circutæfolium_) is a stout, branching herb
growing in shallow water. The rather weak stem is from 2 to 6 feet high.
The alternating, compound leaves are very variable but usually of from
seven to fifteen sharply toothed linear or lance-shaped leaflets. Flat,
dome-shaped clusters, or umbels, of tiny white flowers terminate the
upper branches. This species is very abundant throughout the country.
(B) Wild Carrot; Bird’s Nest; Queen Anne’s Lace (_Daucus Carota_)
(European). While to flower lovers this may appear to be the most
beautiful species of the family, it is the most heartily detested weed
with which the farmer has to contend. It is very prolific, and each
individual plant strikes its roots deep into the ground, as though
determined to defy extermination. The fully-opened flower clusters have
an exquisite, lace-like appearance, while those half-opened are hollowed
suggestively like a bird’s nest; in the centre of the cluster is a tiny
purple floret, all the others being white.
[Illustration: ]
DOGWOOD FAMILY
(_Cornaceæ_)
(A) Flowering Dogwood (_Cornus florida_) is a tall shrub or tree, ranging
in height from 7 to 40 feet. The large, handsome flowers, 2 to 4 inches
across, are in full bloom before or just as the leaves commence to
appear.
The four large notched segments are not petals, but form the involucre
and the real flowers are clustered at the centre; they have four tiny
greenish-white petals and numerous little stamens. This Dogwood is common
in dry woods from Me. to Minn. and south to the Gulf.
(B) Bunchberry; Dwarf Cornel (_Cornus canadensis_) is really a dwarf as
compared to the preceding, for it grows only from 4 to 8 inches high.
The stem is leafless except at the top, at which point four to six leaves
radiate.