Indian Cucumber-root(Medeola virginiana) is a common woodland plant, but the flowers are so inconspicuous that they are often overlooked; in fact they are often nodding below the upper leaves so as to be invisible. The stem is tall and slender, ranging from 1 to 3 feet in height; it rises from a thick horizontal rootstalk, having a taste similar to that of the cucumber. A whorl of from five to nine ovate-lanceolate, pointed leaves is located midway on the stem; at the top, three smaller but similarly shaped leaves radiate. Above these, or it may be below, because of the curving pedicels, are three flowers. They are pale greenish-yellow; the three sepals and three petals composing the perianth are very much reflexed or curled; they have six stamens each, and one style dividing into three purplish-brown, recurved stigmas.
It is said that the Indians formerly used the roots for food; at the present time they are used for various medicinal preparations. Cucumber-root is found from N. B. to Manitoba and southward to the Gulf, flowering in rich woods during May and June.
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.
(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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
(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 (formerlyvirescens). 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 bracteatais similar toflava, 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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
(A)Corn Cockle(Agrostemma githago) (European). The Corn Cockle is very closely related to theCampions(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.
(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.
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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.