(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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
(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.
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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
The tubular yellow flowers have two-lipped corollas, the upper ones of two lobes and the lower of three, the centre of one which extends into a large sac-like spur and has a protruding, pouting, orange palate that closes the throat of the blossom. This arrangement is designed for the bumblebee, whose weight on the lower lip opens the flower so he can get at the nectar, while it is tightly closed to pilfering ants.
(A) Turtle-head (Chelone glabra). This is a moisture-loving plant found in swamps.
The stem is stout, smooth, and erect, from 1 to 3 feet tall. The leaves are lance-shaped, stemmed, pointed, and toothed. The flowers are clustered in a short spike at the summit of the stem, the corolla is tubular, about an inch in length, and is white, tinged with pink. The upper lip is broad, arched, creased and notched in the middle; the lower lip is three-lobed and wooly-bearded in the throat. Turtle-head blooms from July until September and ranges from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward.
(B) Pentstemon; Beard-tongue (Pentstemon hirsutus) has a straight, slender wooly stem that grows from 1 to 3 feet high. The leaves are light-green, lance-shaped, rough-edged, or minutely toothed, the upper ones seated oppositely on the stem and the lower ones with short petioles. The small magenta-white flowers are in panicled racemes. The trumpet-shaped corolla has two lobes to the upper lip and three on the lower, the throat nearly closed by a hairy palate on the lower lip. Me. to Wisconsin and southward.
Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens) is a perennial with a smooth, square, hollow stem growing from 1 to 3 feet in height and branching considerably. The leaves, seated oppositely on the stem, are lance-shaped, pointed, and slightly toothed. The flowers are few in number and are on long, slender pedicels from the axils of the upper leaves. They open one or two at a time. The pale-purple flowers have two large lips, the upper divided into two lobes and the lower one into three, all broad and wavy. Four white stamens and a pistil nearly fill the throat, at the mouth of which are two bright orange-yellow spots.
A small store of nectar is secreted in the base of the flower tube. The double-yellow palate serves to close the entrance to the tube so that small useless insects may not be allowed to partake of the sweets within. When, however, the burly bumblebee alights upon the lower lip, his weight causes it to droop and allow easy access to its meagre supply of nectar. Monkey Flower is found in wet places from N. B. to Manitoba and southward.
(A) American Brooklime (Veronica americana), the prettiest of the Speedwells or Veronicas, is a very frail plant.
The stem is stout, smooth, hollow, and quite weak; the lower part spreads over the ground and frequently takes root at the angles of the lower leaves. At intervals, branches rise to heights of 6 to 15 inches, bearing from the axils of the upper leaves small four-parted blue flowers in loose racemes. The light-blue petals have purple stripes and a white spot at the base.
Brooklime has a long season of bloom, being found in flower from May until September. It is common in moist ditches and along brooks or in swamps, from Newfoundland to Alaska and south to Va. and Mo.
(B) Common Speedwell (Veronica officinalis) is a popular little plant. The prostrate wooly stem is erect at the end and terminates in a raceme of pale-lavender, four-petalled flowers, the lower petal of which is conspicuously smaller than the other three, a common trait of this genus. Speedwell is quite common through the United States and southern Canada.
(A) Purple Gerardia (Gerardia purpurea) is a pretty little species that decorates low, moist, sandy fields and meadows with its beautiful purple-pink blossoms. The slender stem is quite branchy and averages about a foot in height, though it occasionally attains heights of 2 feet. From three to eight flowers, opening one at a time, grow along the ends of each branch. The corolla is broad and about 1 in. long, bright purplish pink, the mouth of the funnel spreading into five rounded lobes, spotted or downy within.
All the Gerardias and Foxgloves are quite parasitic, attaching their roots to those of other plants and getting part of their sustenance from them. This species is found chiefly along the coasts of the Atlantic, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. It blooms from August to October.
(B) Smooth False Foxglove (Gerardia virginica) has a smooth, branching stem from 2 to 6 feet high. The large, lemon-yellow flowers measure nearly 2 inches long by an inch broad. The plant grows from Me. to Minn. and southward and blooms during August and Sept.
Scarlet Painted-cup; Indian Paint Brush (Castilleja coccinea). This singular species is a parasite-that is, it fastens its roots upon those of other plants and takes their nourishment from them.
The slender, hollow, reddish, angular, and hairy stem grows from a tuft of smooth-edged, oblong leaves. The stem leaves are rather small and, the upper ones especially, have the ends three-lobed; those near and surrounding the flowers have their ends scarlet, as though they had been dipped in a pot of red paint. The flower’s corolla is almost concealed in the two-lobed cylindrical calyx, the end of which is usually a brilliant scarlet. The corolla is irregular, greenish yellow, with a narrow upper lip and a three-lobed lower one. They have, set in the upper lip, four unequal stamens and a long pistil.
The Scarlet Painted-cup is found in low, sandy ground from Mass. to Manitoba and southward.
Wood Betony; Lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis) is a peculiar plant that we find in dry woods and thickets and often along roadsides.
The flowering stems are stout, hairy, and leafy; they rise to heights of 6 to 18 inches. The leaves are all fernlike in form; many of them rise on long, hairy stems from the roots and smaller ones alternate up the flower stalk. The flower spike is short and densely flowered and contains many small bract-like leaves among the tubular flowers. The corolla is composed of two lips, the upper one being arched and strongly curved or hooked at the tip. The upper lip varies from a yellowish green in freshly opened flowers to a dull reddish on the mature blossoms, this latter being the beefsteak color alluded to in one of its common names.
Wood Betony is found from Nova Scotia to Manitoba and southward. It is quite abundant throughout its range and its flowers may be found from early May into the latter part of July.
(A) One-flowered Cancer-root; Broom-rape (Orobanche uniflora) is an attractive little parasite with a subterranean scaly stem, each branch sending up one to four very slender stalks from 3 to 6 inches high and bearing at the top a single blossom each.
Their color varies from a pale purple to a cream color and they average about three quarters of an inch in length. It is found in moist woods throughout the United States and southern Canada.
(B) Beech Drops; Cancer-root (Epifagus virginiana). This peculiar growth is found almost exclusively in beech woods.
The stem attains heights of 6 to 20 inches. At the ends of the branches are a number of curved, tubular flowers; these are stained a dull magenta.
Beech Drops attaches its roots to those of beech trees and gets all its sustenance from them. It blooms form August to Oct. and ranges from N. B. to Minn. and southward.
Trumpet Creeper (Tecoma radicans) is an exceedingly beautiful woody vine having a southern disposition.
The stem grows from 20 to 40 feet long and is either prostrate or climbing. Sometimes it extends over the ground, climbing over the bushes that may be in its path, and again it may take an upward course and climb the trunks and branches of small trees. As it is a hardy plant it is often seen in cultivation and is used to decorate porches in the North.
The flowers are trumpet-shaped, red within and tawny or orange on the outside of the tube. They grow in terminal clusters of two to nine blossoms, each in a cup-shaped, two-parted calyx. The corolla is about 2½ inches long and flares into five rounded lobes. Four anther-bearing stamens and a pistil are in the upper part of the tube. The leaves grow oppositely on the stem and are each composed of 7 to 11 ovate, toothed leaflets. We find this vine from N. J. to Ia. and southward.
(A) Common Plantain (Plantago major) is a very familiar weed about ill-kept dooryards. The leaves are large and spreading; broad-oblong, on long, troughed stems that radiate from the root.
The flower stalk rises to about the same height as the next, but the flower-head is very long. The tiny white flowers open in circles about this head, slowly making their way toward the top in their succession of bloom, which lasts from June until September.
(B) English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). The leaves all radiate from the base; they are lanceolate, sharply pointed, and set on long, troughed stems.
The flower stem is stiff and smooth and attains heights of 6 to 18 inches. The head is short and studded with tiny, four-parted, dull-white flowers, with long, slender stamens. There are often perfect staminate and pistillate flowers on the same plant. It is now as abundant in all parts of our range as it is in its native European home.
(A) Bluets; Innocence (Houstonia cærulea). These are very dainty and beautiful little plants that decorate our fields profusely from April until July. The stems are very slender, about 3 to 6 inches tall, and have a few pairs of tiny leaves; larger leaves appear in tufts from the base. The perianth is slender and the lobes flare widely; the corolla is about one half inch in width, white, with the ends of the lobes pale blue or violet, and stained with yellow toward the centre of the flower.
(B) Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) is a most beautiful little trailing vine with rounded, opposite, white-veined leaves along the creeping stem, that extends 6 to 12 inches from the root. Two beautiful little four-parted, bell-shaped flowers terminate each branch. They are downy white within, and pinkish and smooth on the outside. They have a fragrance similar to that of the Water Lily. A double red berry replaces the flowers in fall. It is common in woods throughout our range.
(A) Bush Honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) is a bush or shrub with thin, straggling, brown branches, attaining heights of 2 to 4 feet. The leaves are thin, light green, somewhat heart-shaped and short stemmed. They grow oppositely on the branches and have small stipules between them. The flowers are borne in pairs from the axils of the terminal leaves. The Naples yellow tubes are about three fourths of an inch in length and have five lobes. This species is common from Quebec to Manitoba and south to Pa. and Mich.
(B) Twinflower (Linnæa borealis americana) is one of the most delicately beautiful of our wild flowers. The stem is slender, trailing, reddish brown, and from 6 to 24 inches long; at intervals very slender, leafy flower stalks rise, bearing at the end two pendulous, bell-shaped, white, fragrant blossoms; the corolla, which has five lobes, is crimson-pink within. The evergreen leaves are short stemmed, almost round, and scallop-toothed. Cool, mossy woods from Lab. to Minn.