Cow Wheat.Melampyrum Americanum.
Found on the borders of light woods from July to September.
The stalk is 4 to 6 inches,—or perhaps more,—high; it is branching, leafy, woody-fibred, and slightly rough to the touch. In color, reddish-gray.
The lower leaves are long and narrow, with entire margins; the upper are broader and cut at the base into long spine-like notches; the surface is slightly rough. Color, yellow-green, growing lighter toward the flowers. They are set on the stalk in pairs.
The inconspicuous flowers are tubular and 2-lipped; greenish white, the lower lip being pale yellow; their calices 4-cleft, small, and green. They grow singly from the angles of the upper leaves.
The shadowy stamens, seen under the arch of the upper lip, are vaguely suggestive of an eye. This is a tidy little plant, with no pretensions to beauty.