Chapter III: Preface (3)

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.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

(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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

What appears like a single large blossom seated almost within the whorl of leaves is in reality a cluster of tiny, green-petalled, four-parted flowers surrounded by four large greenish-white bracts. It ranges from Labrador to Alaska south to N. J., Ind., and Minn.

HEATH FAMILY
(_Ericaceæ_)

(A) Spotted Wintergreen (_Chimaphila maculata_) is a very handsome plant that we often come across in our rambles through rich woodland. The stalk, rising from 3 to 9 inches high, is of a ruddy color; the leaves are thick, smooth, irregularly toothed, lance-shaped, pointed, and with conspicuous whitish streaks following the veins. In July and August it bears one to five nodding flowers on long, erect peduncles above the topmost whorl of leaves. It ranges from Me., Ontario, and Minn. southward to Ga. and Miss.

(B) Pipsissewa; Prince’s Pine (_Chimaphila umbellata_) grows in similar localities and is generally more common than the last. Its leaves are usually in two whorls about the brownish stem; they are bright shining green, toothed, unspotted, pointed, but broadened toward the end. The flowers are similar to the last and are in a loose 2- to 8-flowered umbel. The style is very short, with a five-parted gummy stigma. This species is found from N. S. to Ga. and westward.

(A) Shin-leaf (_Pyrola elliptica_) is the most common of the Pyrolas. The evergreen leaves are bright green, obscurely toothed, broadly elliptical and narrowing into long stems that clasp at the base. During May a long, smooth scape springs from the middle of the group of basal leaves to a height of 5 to 10 inches, bearing near its top a raceme of several flowers. It is common throughout the United States and southern Canada.

(B) One-flowered Pyrola (_Moneses uniflora_) externally closely resembles the preceding species. The flower scape is from 2 to 5 inches high, and at the summit bears, during June or July, a single nodding flower. It ranges from Labrador to Alaska and south to Pa. and Minn.

(C) Indian Pipe; Corpse Plant (_Monotropa uniflora_) is a very peculiar, ghostly appearing plant found commonly in dimly lighted rich woods. It has no green foliage, just white bract-like appendages on its upright, white, cold, clammy stem. A single white flower nods from the top. It is parasitic, drawing its nourishment from living roots or decaying vegetable matter. Common throughout our range.

Swamp Honeysuckle; White Azalea (_Rhododendron viscosum_) is a most beautiful swamp shrub with handsome, fragrant, white flowers. In low, wet swamps it is very common and blooms very profusely during June and July. The bush is from 3 to 8 feet in height and very branchy. The leaves are long-oval, broadest toward the blunt-pointed tip and narrowing to short stems.

The beautiful flowers are pure white, or rarely tinged with pink; the tube of the long corolla is covered with very sticky brownish hairs, and terminates in five, large-pointed spreading lobes. The stamens are very long, slender, and white, and tipped with yellow anthers. The five-pointed calyx is very small and inconspicuous.

During the early time of their bloom all the Azaleas bear hanging among the fragrant flowers, peculiar, juicy, pulpy growths that are edible, as any well-bred farmer’s boy knows; he calls them May or Swamp Apples, but they are really modified buds and not fungous growths or caused by insects, as was formerly believed. These beautiful Azaleas are found from Me. to Ohio and southward.

(A) Pink Azalea; Pinxter Flower; Wild Honeysuckle (_Rhododendron nudiflorum_) is one of our most interesting wild shrubs, interesting because the flowers bloom before the leaves appear, or just as they commence to grow, and because of the very beautiful colors its pink flowers impart to our swamps during April and early May. The flowers are practically the same in form as the white varieties, except that the corolla tube is shorter.

Pink Azalea grows in open woods or swamps from Me. to Ill. and southward.

(B) Rhodora (_Rhododendron canadense_) is a beautiful member of this family, immortalized in verse by Emerson. It is a smaller shrub, growing from 1 to 3 feet high. The flowers usually appear before the pale-green, oblong leaves; the corolla is about one inch long, light magenta, and two-lipped. The upper lip is three-lobed and the lower is nearly divided into two distinct linear petals. They grow in thin clusters terminating the branches. Rhodora is found on damp hillsides and in swamps from Newfoundland to Quebec and south to N. J. and Pa., flowering during May and June.

American Rhododendron; Great Laurel (_Rhododendron maximum_) is a large, tall, and very ornamental shrub growing from 5 to 35 feet high. It is one of the most characteristic shrubs of the Alleghany Mountain region, where it grows in such profusion as to form almost impenetrable thickets. As it is a very hardy shrub and not injured by transplanting, it is very often used for decorative effects in parks and about private dwellings.

The oblong leaves are deep, glossy green, tough and leathery in texture, and have a smooth, slightly rolled-under edge. They droop in the winter season but are widespread in summer.

At the ends of the numerous branches, during June and July, are showy clusters of pink or white flowers. Each blossom spreads nearly two inches and is composed of five broad, blunt-ended petals of a pink-white color spotted with golden-orange. They have ten spreading stamens and a small pistil.

Rhododendron is found in rich, hilly, or mountainous woods, commonly from Pa. to Ga. but rarely northward to Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Mountain Laurel; Spoon-wood (_Kalmia latifolia_) is one of the most popular of our beautiful flowering shrubs. In the North it grows from 3 to 8 feet in height, but in the Southern States it often attains heights of 20 to 30 feet.

The leaves are dark, glossy green, pointed at each end and oblong in shape; they are arranged alternately along the branches and in dense terminal clusters. The flowers are very peculiar in their construction, the corolla being deep saucer- or bowl-shaped, with five short, broad lobes; on the outside, around the bottom edge of the “bowl,” are ten small humps, that inside the corolla form little pockets to receive the anthers of the slender white stamens, curving from the centre of the blossom like the spokes of a wheel.

Both moths and bees visit these flowers in quest of the little supply of nectar that is secreted about the base of the greenish pistil. The flower stems are sticky so that only winged insects can get to the interior. Laurel is common from N. B. to Ont. and southward.

Sheep Laurel; Lambkill (_Kalmia angustifolia_) is a small, shrubby species, ranging from 8 to 36 inches high. Besides the common names given above, it is less often known as “Sheep Poison” and “Wicky,” a rather sinister lot of names to be applied to a shrub with such handsome flowers.

All of the Laurels have dangerous properties, the juices of the leaves being very poisonous. It is also claimed that honey made by bees feeding on the nectar from Laurel blossoms is also poisonous. This species gets its many names, referring to its destructive effects on sheep, because it grows in abundance in pastures suitable only for the pasturage of sheep. The leaves of this small Laurel look tempting but are often very fatal to the animals eating them.

Their shapes, forms, and mechanisms are about like those of the Mountain Laurel, but the color is a beautiful, deep pink; little red anthers fit snugly in the ten little pockets formed for them in the surface of the corolla. Sheep Laurel is common from Lab. to Ont. and southward, blooming in June and July.

(A) Wintergreen; Checkerberry (_Gaultheria procumbens_). I doubt if there is a country boy or girl within the range of this plant, and it extends from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf, who is not perfectly familiar with it.

The leaves are all clustered at the top of the ruddy stem that grows from 2 to 5 inches high; those of adult plants are deep, shining green, ovate-pointed, and very sparingly toothed. Usually two white tubular, 5-notched flowers hang on slender peduncles, just beneath the spreading leaves, during July and August.

(B) Trailing Arbutus; Mayflower (_Epigæa repens_). Arbutus is a creeping plant; the stems are tough, hairy, and branched; they spread out along the ground for 6 to 15 inches from the root. The evergreen, alternating leaves are tough, oval, slightly heart-shaped at the base, net-veined and toothless. The flowers are in terminal clusters, opening in April and May. They are five-parted, delicate pink, and have a fragrance similar to that of the Water Lily. Arbutus grows throughout the eastern half of our continent on shady, rocky hillsides.

(A) Labrador Tea (_Ledum grœnlandicum_) is an erect shrub growing from 1 to 3 feet high. It is not uncommon in suitable places in the eastern half of Canada, and is found rarely in mountains south to Conn., Pa., and Minn.; its habitat is in bogs or damp thickets. The narrowly oblong leaves are green above, have the edges rolled back, and are covered beneath with a rusty wool.

DIAPENSIA FAMILY
(_Diapensiaceæ_)

(B) Pyxie; Flowering Moss (_Pyxidanthera barbulata_). Pyxie is a very attractive moss-like shrub found commonly growing in the pine barrens of the Southeastern States, from N. J. to N. C. The branches are prostrate and creep along the ground for 6 to 10 inches from the roots.

Each branch is very thickly set with tiny, stiff, lance-shaped leaves less than half an inch in length. The numerous tiny white or pink flowers are seated on the stem, growing from the angles of the leaves; they have five broad-ended petals and attached between each of them is a curious, short, stout stamen.

LEADWORT FAMILY
(_Plumbaginaceæ_)

Seaside plants with perfect, regular flowers in one-sided racemes or spikes; five-parted and with plaited calyx.

Marsh Rosemary; Sea Lavender (_Limonium carolinianum_) is a very characteristic plant of the seashore; it is found very commonly in salt marshes along the Atlantic Coast from Labrador to Florida, and along the Gulf of Texas.

The plant has a thick, woody, very astringent root, from which grows a single naked stalk. This stem divides into numerous branches and branchlets, all destitute of leaves and spreading out so that the appearance of the whole plant is that of a very diminutive tree. The leaves all radiate from the root at the base of the flower stalk; they are spatulate-shaped, thick, almost smooth-edged, and are on long stems.

At the end of each branchlet is a slender one-sided raceme of tiny buds. From July until September these open out into tiny lavender flowers with five tiny petals, each coming from a five-toothed, ribbed calyx.

PRIMROSE FAMILY
_Primulaceæ_

(A) Yellow Loosestrife (_Lysimachia terrestris_). Yellow Loosestrife has a tall, slender, simple stem from 8 to 24 inches high. The leaves are pointed-lanceolate, stemless, and crowded along the stem, either oppositely or alternately. The flower spike is long and contains many buds on slender pedicels; they open from the bottom of the spike upward. Each flower has five-pointed golden-yellow petals, each with two small reddish-brown spots near the base; the stamens and pistil project in a cone-like cluster. This Loosestrife is abundant from Newfoundland to Hudson Bay and southward.

(B) Four-leaved Loosestrife (_Lysimachia quadrifolia_) is a very common species found in low land in about the same range. The flowers are very similar but each petal has a single large spot of reddish-brown at its base instead of a double one; the flowers appear from the axils of the upper leaves. The pointed, lanceolate leaves are whorled about the stem usually in groups of fours, occasionally more or less.

(A) Shooting Star; American Cowslip (_Dodecatheon Meadia_) is a western species that grows in open woodlands and on prairies from Pa. to Md. to Manitoba and southward through the Mississippi Valley.

The leaves are all in a tuft radiating from the base; they are oblong, bluntly pointed, and taper into trough-like stems. From the centre of this cluster of leaves rises a bare flower stalk, 8 to 20 inches tall, branching at the summit into several slender, curving peduncles, each supporting a single nodding flower.

The stamens project from the throat of the flower, the five golden anthers forming a conspicuous cone. Shooting Star blooms in April and May.

(B) Moneywort; Myrtle (_Lysimachia Nummularia_) (European) is a very dainty and beautiful trailing or creeping vine, often spreading over large surfaces of ground. It is a most beautiful plant for rockeries and does well in the house in hanging pots. The leaves, that grow oppositely all along the stem, are almost round; it is from their shape and the fact that they are about the size of the English twopence that they originally received the name of Moneywort.

Fringed Loosestrife (_Steironema ciliatum_). Fringed Loosestrife is a very branching herb not at all like the other varieties. The smooth stem rises to heights of from 12 to 24 inches. The species receives its specific name Fringed (_ciliatum_) because of the fine hairs on the upper side of the leaf stems, the rest of the plant being smooth.

The smooth light-green leaves are lance-shaped and pointed on short petioles or stems growing oppositely on the plant stem. The flowers grow on slender pedicles from the axils of the terminal leaves; the golden-yellow corolla is divided into five ovate lobes, each terminating in a sharp, twisted, or mucronate point; round the centre of the corolla is a reddish-brown ring, formed by the small spots at the bases of the five lobes. The pale-green pistil in the centre is surrounded by ten stamens, five being fertile and the other alternating ones being abortive.

Fringed Loosestrife is common in low ground and thickets from Newfoundland to British Columbia southward to the Gulf of Mexico.

(A) Star Flower (_Trientalis americana_) is a very dainty little plant often called the “Star Anemone.”

The perennial rootstalk is long and horizontal and throws up a single, smooth, slender stalk from 3 to 9 inches high; at the top of this stalk is a whorl of from five to ten thin, smooth, veiny light-green leaves; they are lance-shaped and sharply pointed. During May and June a solitary blossom (rarely two) appears above the whorl of leaves on a very slender pedicel. The delicate white petals are sharply pointed and range from six to eight in number. The Star Flower is found in thin woodland from Labrador to Manitoba and south to Va., Ill., and Minn.

(B) Pimpernel; Poor Man’s Weather-glass (_Anagallis arvensis_) (European) is a flower readily identified; in the first place there are very few red flowers to be found and no others with the shade of red of this one, a salmon or coppery-red. The square stem is smooth, slender, and rather weak, often lying prostrate on the ground. It is found in waste, sandy places especially near the coast.

LOGANIA FAMILY
(_Loganiaceæ_)

(A) Yellow False Jessamine (_Gelsemium sempervirens_). This beautiful vine is very common in the Southern States where it may be found climbing the trunks of trees, trailing over bushes, or even creeping over the ground. During March and April large, handsome yellow flowers appear in one-sided spikes. The blossoms are tubular-funnel form and range from 1 to 2 inches in length.

The ovate-pointed leaves, that grow oppositely on short petioles, are evergreen; the short flower spikes grow from their axils. The stem is smooth, woody, and twining. This species ranges from Va. to Fla. and Texas.

(B) Indian Pink; Pink-root (_Spigelia marilandica_) is an erect herb found in rich woods from Ohio and Ky. to Fla. and Texas. It is a perennial with a simple stem rising from 1 to 2 feet high. The flowers grow in a short, one-sided spike; the corolla is tubular-funnel form, five-lobed at the end, and about 1 or 2 inches in length.

GENTIAN FAMILY
(_Gentianaceæ_)

(A) Rose Pink (_Sabatia angularis_) is the most widely distributed of the Sabbatias. Whereas the rest of the tribe are confined in a range very close to the seacoast, this species is commonly found in rich ground in all the states from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic. Its period of bloom is during July and August.

The ovate-lanceolate leaves are stemless and seated oppositely on the stem. The branches usually divide near their ends, each division bearing a beautiful flower about an inch across. At the centre of the five-parted, pink corolla is a yellow-green star, a feature that is quite characteristic with members of this family.

(B) Sea Pink (_Sabatia stellaris_) is a beautiful, slender species common on salt marshes from Me. to Fla. The pink flowers grow singly at the ends of the slender branches. Like that of the last species, the centre is yellow-green but is often edged with a deep crimson which adds greatly to the attractiveness of the blossom.

Large Marsh Pink; Sabbatia (_Sabatia dodecandra_) is the largest-flowered and the most beautiful species of this genus; in fact, it is one of the most delicately beautiful of our wild flowers.

During July and August, along the Atlantic Coast, we sometimes find brackish ponds, the shores and muddy flats of which have a ruddy glow owing to the number of these large, attractive blossoms that appear. The stems are slender and wiry, and but little branched; they attain heights of 1 to 2 feet, each branch bearing usually but a single blossom.

The flowers measure from 2 to 2½ inches across; the nine to twelve petals are a delicate rose color and each has, at its base, a yellow-green spot margined by a three-pointed ochre or crimson border. The corolla has a regular, symmetrical wheel-like appearance, the petals making the spokes and the yellow centre forming the hub. The calyx is composed of linear sepals to the same number as the petals. The stamens are quite widely separated from the slender style, so that self-fertilization is hardly to be expected.

Fringed Gentian (_Gentiana crinita_), because of its exquisite beauty and comparative rarity, is one of the most highly prized of our wild flowers.

The stem is stout, stiff, and branching, each branch being erect and terminating in a bud. The yellow-green leaves are ovate-lanceolate, seated oppositely on the stem.

The calyx is angular, has four sharp points and is a bronze-green in color. During September and October we may find these blossoms fully expanded, delicate, vase-shaped creations with four spreading deeply fringed lobes bearing no resemblance in shape or form to any other American species. The color is a violet-blue, the color that is most attractive to bumblebees, and it is to these insects that the flower is indebted for the setting of its seed. The anthers mature before the stigma is developed so that self-fertilization is impossible. The flowers are wide open only during sunshine, furling in their peculiar twisted manner on cloudy days and at night. In moist woods from Me. to Minn. and southward.

(A) Downy Gentian (_Gentiana puberula_) is a handsome species springing from a perennial root, the simple, straight stem rising from 8 to 18 inches high; the stem is usually rough and slightly hairy. The light-green leaves are stiff and seated oppositely on the stem. The flowers are borne in terminal clusters or, sometimes, from the axils of the upper leaves; they are bell-shaped with five triangular, slightly spreading lobes. In color they are brilliant violet-blue.

Downy Gentian is common in dry fields and on prairies from Pa. to Ga. and west to Minn. and Mo., flowering during September and October.

(B) Solitary Gentian (_Gentiana Porphyrio_) is a pretty little species growing in moist places from southern N. J. to Fla. The simple, slender stem ranges in height from 6 to 15 inches and bears at the summit a solitary, erect, bell-shaped flower, of a light ultramarine blue color; the five spreading lobes are notched at their bases. The flower is very large compared to the stem and leaves of the plant it grows upon; the blossom measures from 2 to 2½ inches long, which is about the length of the linear leaves.

Closed Gentian; Bottle Gentian (_Gentiana Andrewsii_) is the most abundant of all Gentians. The flowers are as peculiar in their way as those of the Fringed are in theirs. It is remarkable because the five parts of the corolla never spread; the flower remains closed. The flowers are cross-fertilized by the common bumblebee. He knows there is a supply of nectar at the bottom of each blossom and he has the wits and the strength to get at it. Slowly but surely he is able to force the closed lobes apart until his body is half concealed in the “bottle”, and he is able to reach the bottom. As he leaves the flower he is certain to scrape off quantities of pollen on his head and almost sure to leave some of it on the receptive stigma of the next flower visited.

The stem is smooth and simple; it grows from 1 to 2 feet high. The leaves are rather large ovate-pointed, and narrowed into very short, clasping stems. The flowers grow in terminal clusters, set in the axils of the last pairs of leaves. Closed Gentian grows in moist places, often along brooks, from Me. to Manitoba and southward.

DOGBANE FAMILY
(_Apocynaceæ_)

A small family composed chiefly of poisonous tropical plants usually with milky, acrid juices.

(A) Indian Hemp (_Apocynum cannabinum_) is a rather unattractive species with a smooth branching stem, rising from vertical roots to heights of 1 to 4 feet. The ovate-pointed leaves are closely crowded on the stalk oppositely to one another.

The small, five-parted, greenish-white flowers grow in terminal clusters. We find this species very abundant in dry fields and thickets throughout our range; it flowers from June to August.

(B) Spreading Dogbane (_Apocynum androsæmifolium_) is a much more attractive species than its relative just mentioned. It grows from 1 to 4 feet high, and has many long, spreading branches. The short-stemmed, broadly ovate-pointed, pale-green leaves grow oppositely, to the ends of the branches. The clusters of flowers terminating the branches are composed of pink, bell-shaped blossoms, having five pointed, recurved lobes.

MILKWEED FAMILY
(_Asclepiadaceæ_)

A family of stout-stemmed plants having milky juices and, usually, large opposite or whorled leaves. Each blossom has five tiny structures shaped like wishbones, with pollen masses on each end. They are so placed that the visiting bee or butterfly is pretty sure of getting one or more of its legs caught in the sharp angle at the apex and must, in order to get free, tear the tiny arrangement from its support. He then flies to the next plant with this dangling from his legs.

Butterfly-weed; Pleurisy-root; Orange Milk-weed (_Asclepias tuberosa_) is the most brilliantly colored species of the genus.

The stem of butterfly-weed is usually erect, from 1 to 3 feet high; it is rather rough and has but little of the milky juices so common to the other species. The leaves are pointed-oblong, very short-stemmed or seated oppositely. The beautiful orange flowers grow in flat-topped clusters or umbels at the summit of the plant. It is found from Mass. to Minn. and southward.

Common Milk-weed (_Asclepias syriaca_) is the most abundant and the best known of the Milk-weeds. It grows everywhere along roadsides, in fields and on the borders of woods. The rather stout stem rises from 2 to 5 feet high and has numerous, opposite, large, oblong, short-stemmed leaves of a yellow-green color. Both the leaves and the stem are finely hairy and both yield quantities of a thick, bitter, milky fluid if they are broken or bruised anywhere.

The flowers grow in rounded clusters, often in a pendent position, from the axils of the upper leaves. They are very fragrant and secrete an abundance of nectar.

In the fall the clusters of lilac-colored flowers have been replaced by large, rough-coated seed-pods that are completely filled with the silkiest of flossy substance attached to the numerous black seeds; finally the pod bursts and liberates the seeds, each floating away on the breeze, sometimes aviating for several miles before coming to earth.

(A) Poke Milk-weed (_Asclepias phytolaccoides_) is a tall species growing from 2 to 6 feet in height. The flowers composing its clusters are fewer in number than those of the common milk-weed but much larger and of a clear, ivory-white color. The flower stems are long and slender so that the entire cluster is in a nodding position, it being the only one of the genus in which all the flowers are pendent. Poke Milkweed is found, usually in dry situations, along the edges of woods or along roadsides, from Me. to Minn. and southward. It flowers from June until August.

(B) Whorled Milk-weed (_Asclepias verticillata_) is a very slender species, common in dry woods and on prairies in the South; found north to Mass. and Saskatchewan. The stem is slender, simple, and rises from 1 to 3 feet high. The narrow linear leaves have their margins rolled under; they grow in closely clustered whorls about the stem, usually quite erect. The numerous small, greenish-white flowers grow in a round cluster or umbel at the summit of the stem. It is a very dainty species, one not apt to be confused with any other member of the family.

CONVOLVULUS FAMILY
(_Convolvulaceæ_)

Hedge Bindweed; Wild Morning Glory (_Convolvulus sepium_) climbs gracefully over walls, through thickets, or twines its stem tightly about those of other plants or shrubs.

The large funnel-shaped blossoms grow singly on slender peduncles from the axils of the leaves. The flowers remain open only during sunshine and occasionally on bright, moonlight nights. It is very commonly found in moist ground along roadsides or the borders of woods or thickets, throughout our range and also in Europe.

Common Dodder (_Cuscuta Gronovii_) is a very common little parasitic plant found in moist, shady thickets or among the shrubs and plants bordering ponds or streams. It germinates its seeds in the ground, and the slender stem rises until it comes in contact with some living plant, when the root dies and the Dodder gets its nourishment from its host by means of numerous little suckers. It has no leaves; the stem is orange and the clusters of minute bell-shaped flowers are white.

POLEMONIUM FAMILY
(_Polemoniaceæ_)

(A) Downy Phlox (_Phlox pilosa_). Both the leaves and stem of this species are covered with fine, downy hairs; the sharply pointed calyx is also hairy and sticky. The plant stands from one to two feet in height. The narrow, lance-shaped leaves are rather closely alternated along the stem. The flowers are in a flat-topped cluster at the summit. The five lobes of the corolla are widespread and bluntly pointed.

The present species ranges from Conn. to Manitoba and southward, flowering during May and June in dry woods or on prairies.

(B) Moss Pink; Ground Pink (_Phlox subulata_) is a low, creeping species that spreads over sandy or rocky ground, forming compact masses resembling moss. The stem is very branchy but grows only a few inches high; the ends of the branches turn upward and terminate in clusters of flowers varying from crimson pink to white. Ground Pink is found from western N. E. to Mich. and southward.

BORAGE FAMILY
(Boraginaceæ)

(A) Forget-me-not (_Myosotis scorpioides_) (European). Forget-me-not is a common wild flower in Europe and Asia, and is in this country as an escape and fairly well established in Nova Scotia, New England, New York, and southward. The stem is rather stout but weak; it rises about a foot in height, and is smooth but the leaves are rough and hairy. The flowers are borne in one-sided curving terminal clusters. The five, broad, rounded petals are sky-blue with a yellow eye; the undeveloped buds are pink. There are several species of Myosotis, the present one having the largest and most beautiful flowers.

(B) Wild Comfrey (_Cynoglossum virginianum_) is a common, rough-stemmed perennial growing in deciduous woods from Me. to Mich. and southward. The tubular corolla is pale blue; it is set in a five-parted hairy calyx. The basal leaves are large and ovate; the stem ones clasp the flower stalk with somewhat heart-shaped bases.

(A) Blue-weed; Viper’s Bugloss (_Echium vulgare_) (European). This peculiar plant is locally abundant in dry fields and waste places in the East. It is regarded as a pest and is a difficult one to get rid of.

The stem is light green spotted with purple; it grows erect from 1 to 3 feet high. The flowers grow on leafy spikes springing from the stem near the top. When the first flowers appear, in June, they are close to the stalk at the base of the rolled-up, leafy spike. As they continue to bloom the spike gradually straightens and the open flowers appear farther and farther from t he stem. The showy, tubular corolla is bright blue, and is exceeded in length by the long stamens and three-parted style; the buds are pink.

(B) Small Bugloss (_Lycopsis arvensis_) (European). This is a very rough, bristly stemmed species, also naturalized from Europe, and now found in waste places near dwellings, from Me. to Minn. and south to Va. The lanceolate leaves are seated on the stem; they diminish to the size of bracts and pass into the racemes of small, tubular, violet-blue flowers.

VERVAIN FAMILY
(_Verbenaceæ_)

Herbs with opposite leaves and perfect but usually irregular flowers, the tubular corollas spreading into two lips or four or five lobes.

Blue Vervain (_Verbena hastata_) is our most common example of the genus. It is a tall, slender, rank-growing plant reaching heights of 2 to 7 feet. The leaves are dark green short stemmed, lanceolate, sharply toothed, and grow oppositely on the stem.

At the top of the stem are numerous slender flower spikes, each branching from the stem and assuming a vertical position, in a regular order suggestive of candelabra. These slender spikes contain many buds, the lower of which open first. From July until the end of August we will find rings of purple flowers about the spikes, gradually drawing nearer the ends as the flowering season advances and leaving behind a long trail of purplish calyces. The tubular corolla has five spreading lobes, a slender pistil, and two pairs of stamens.

MINT FAMILY
(_Labiatæ_)

(A) Self-heal; Heal-all (_Prunella vulgaris_). Along roadsides, in fields, and on the borders of woods, everywhere throughout the country, we will find this familiar flower. The stem grows from 6 to 15 inches high and is topped with a cylindrical flower-head composed of many two-lipped, tubular, purple florets. But few of these bloom at a time, commencing at the bottom, and the flowering season extends from June to September. The leaves are sparingly toothed and seated oppositely on long stems. Usually several leaflets appear from their axils and sometimes smaller flower-heads from the axils of the upper ones.

(B) Skullcap (_Scutellaria integrifolia_) is one of the handsomest of the Skullcaps, the tubular, two-lipped flowers in the loose terminal spike each measuring about one inch in length. The downy stem rises from 6 to 24 inches high and is set oppositely with toothless, lance-shaped, round-ended leaves. It is found in dry ground from Mass. to Fla. and along the Gulf.

(A) Ground Ivy; Gill-over-the-ground (_Nepeta hederacea_). (European) is a beautiful little trailing mint that grows very profusely about country houses.

The leaves rise from the stem in pairs; they are round, with heart-shaped bases, the edge cut into rounded lobes, and their whole surface is downy and veiny. The pretty little purple flowers grow in small clusters from the axils of the leaves. The upper lip is erect and slightly notched; the lower one has three spreading lobes and is spotted with dark purple.

Ground Ivy is found in blossom from May to July throughout the eastern half of our country.

(B) Catnip (_Nepeta cataria_) (European) is a very common mint, introduced from Europe, the aromatic foliage of which has a very peculiar attraction for all members of the feline race. The plant has a stout, square hollow stem from 2 to 3 feet tall and is downy, as are the sage-green, toothed leaves. The lilac-white flowers are clustered on peduncles from the axils of the leaves. Catnip is common throughout our range.

(A) Motherwort (_Leonurus cardiaca_) (European) is a simple, erect-stemmed mint growing from 2 to 4 feet high. It has a very decorative effect, the leaves being large at the base of the stem and rapidly diminishing as they approach the top; the lower ones are quite long-stemmed and all are palmately slashed. The flowers grow in round clusters surrounding the stem at the axils of the leaves.

The numerous flowers composing these clusters have tiny, two-lipped, white, pink, or purple corollas and minute stamens. Both the stem and the leaves have a wooly texture and the former are strongly veined. Motherwort is commonly found about old country dwellings and along roadsides. We find it in bloom from June until August. It is a much more leafy species than most of the mints.

(B) Hedge Nettle; Wound-wort (_Stachys palustris_) is a tall mint (1 to 3 feet) with a downy-bristly stem and purple, tubular, two-lipped flowers in a terminal spike and from the axils of the upper leaves; lower lip streaked and spotted. Common in moist ground from N. S. to Manitoba and southward.

Oswego Tea; Bee Balm (_Monarda didyma_) is one of our most brilliantly colored wild flowers. It grows along the shady borders of woodland streams or pools where its vivid coloring is in strong contrast with the deep greens of the surrounding vegetation. The stem is hairy and rather rough; it attains heights of two feet or more. The short-stemmed, broad lance-shaped leaves are light green, sharply toothed, and rather thin.

The flowers grow in rounded terminal heads, composed of numerous long, tubular, scarlet florets. The upper lip is long, arched, pointed, and often notched at the tip; the lower lip is three-parted, the middle one being longer than the side ones.

Nectar, seated at the base of the long tube, can only be reached by long-tongued insects. Best adapted to it are bumblebees and certain of the butterflies. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, too, attracted to this, his favorite color, often partakes of the sweets. From July until September this beautiful species blooms in suitable localities from Quebec to Manitoba and southward to Ga. and Mo.

NIGHTSHADE FAMILY
(_Solanaceæ_)

(A) Bittersweet; Nightshade (_Solanum Dulcamara_) (European), although an immigrant, is quite common in the eastern half of our country. It chooses for its habitat moist thickets or the edges of ponds where there are plenty of shrub to help support it, for this species has weak stems.

The dark-green leaves are variable in form; some are lobed, others have small lateral leaflets, and still others have another pair of still smaller leaflets on the leaf stem. The flowers hang in loose clusters on long peduncles from the axils of the leaves. This species blooms from June until September.

(B) Black Nightshade (_Solanum nigrum_) is a native species with a smooth, erect, branching stem 1 to 2 feet high. The long-stemmed ovate leaves have a wavy-lobed edge. The five-parted white flowers grow in few-flowered clusters from the leaf axils, the round berries are black when fully ripe, and are quite poisonous. This species is found throughout our range.

Purple Thorn Apple (_Datura Tatula_) is a large, ill-scented, rank-growing weed with a stout, smooth stem from 1 to 5 feet high. The long-stemmed leaves have very irregular, coarsely toothed outlines. The lavender-colored, trumpet-shaped flowers are about four inches long. The flaring corolla has five broad, sharply pointed lobes and is seated in a light-green, five-parted calyx about half its length. Usually the color of the corolla is more intense on the lobes and often shades to white toward the base of the tube. After flowering a large green fruit capsule about two inches long appears; it is ovoid in shape and armed with stout prickles. The entire plant has poisonous juices. It grows in waste ground, especially about barnyards, from Me. to Minn. and southward.

Thorn Apple; Jimson Weed (_Datura Stramonium_) also comes from across the water; it is very similar to the preceding, grows in the same places and in the same range. The flowers are white and the leaves are lighter green; the stem is also somewhat stouter.

FIGWORT FAMILY
(_Scrophulariaceæ_)

(A) Common or Great Mullein (_Verbascum Thapsus_) (European). This well-known plant is one of the most common sights along roadsides and in dry fields. Its long stalk rises from 2 to 7 feet above ground.

Mullein leaves are very soft, with fine white downy hairs; they have given to the plant a name very often applied—“Flannel Plant.” The ones on the tall stalk are smaller and diminish in size to bracts as they reach the bottom of the long flower spike. From June until September these flowers open a few at a time and last but a day. The light-yellow corolla has five uneven, concaved lobes and five protruding stamens.

(B) Moth Mullein (_Verbascum Blattaria_) (European) has a tall, very slender stalk at the summit of which is a loose raceme. The flowers are large, have five petals, very prominent stamens, and orange anthers. The upper leaves are lance-shaped, the lower ones have the margins deeply cut, toothed, and notched. It is common from Me. to Ontario and southward.

(A) Blue Toadflax (_Linaria canadensis_). This is a very slender and dainty species, the stem attaining heights of 5 to 30 inches.

The little tubular flowers are violet-blue in color; the corolla is two-lipped, the upper one having two lobes and the lower one three; the latter is pouch-shaped and extends backward into a very slender spur. Blue Toadflax is commonly found in dry, sandy fields throughout the United States and southern Canada.

(B) Toadflax; Butter-and-eggs (_Linaria vulgaris_), although an immigrant, has extended its range from the Atlantic to the Pacific and southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The stem is simple and from 6 to 30 inches high. The narrow alternating leaves are grayish-green, covered with a whitish bloom.