Part 8

_Stem._—Leafy below, leafy-bracted above, six to twenty inches high. _Leaves._—Linear-lance-shaped, the lowest elongated. _Flowers._—White, fragrant, the lips wavy or crisped; growing in slender spikes.

This pretty little orchid is found in great abundance in September and October. The botany relegates it to “wet places,” but I have seen dry upland pastures as well as low-lying swamps profusely flecked with its slender, fragrant spikes. The braided appearance of these spikes would easily account for the popular name of ladies’ tresses; but we learn that the plant’s English name was formerly “ladies’ _traces_,” from a fancied resemblance between its twisted clusters and the lacings which played so important a part in the feminine toilet. I am told that in parts of New England the country people have christened the plant “wild hyacinth.”

The flowers of _S. gracilis_ are very small, and grow in a much more slender, one-sided spike than those of _S. cernua._ They are found in the dry woods and along the sandy hill-sides from July onward.

GREEN-FLOWERED MILKWEED. _Asclepias verticillata._ Milkweed Family.

_Stem._—Slender, very leafy to the summit. _Leaves._—Very narrow, from three to six in a whorl. _Flowers._—Greenish-white, in small clusters at the summit and along the sides of the stem. _Fruit._—Two erect pods, one often stunted.

This species is one commonly found on dry uplands, especially southward, with flowers resembling in structure those of the other milkweeds. (Pl. .)

GROUNDSEL TREE. _Baccharis halimifolia._ Composite Family (p. 13).

A shrub from six to twelve feet high. _Leaves._—Somewhat ovate and wedge-shaped, coarsely toothed on the upper entire. _Flower-heads._—Whitish or yellowish, composed of unisexual tubular flowers, the stamens and pistils occurring on different plants.

Some October day, as we pick our way through the salt marshes which lie back of the beach, we may spy in the distance a thicket which looks as though composed of such white-flowered shrubs as belong to June. Hastening to the spot we discover that the silky-tufted seeds of the female groundsel tree are responsible for our surprise. The shrub is much more noticeable and effective at this season than when—a few weeks previous—it was covered with its small white or yellowish flower-heads.

GRASS OF PARNASSUS. _Parnassia Caroliniana._ Saxifrage Family.

_Stem._—Scape-like, nine inches to two feet high, with usually one small rounded leaf clasping it below; bearing at its summit a single flower. _Leaves._—Thickish, rounded, often heart-shaped, from the root. _Flower._—White or cream-color, veiny. _Calyx._—Of five slightly united sepals. _Corolla._—Of five veiny petals. _True Stamens._—Five, alternate with the petals, and with clusters of sterile gland-tipped filaments. _Pistil._—One, with four stigmas.

Gerarde indignantly declares that this plant has been described by blind men, not “such as are blinde in their eyes, but in their understandings, for if this plant be a kind of grasse then may the Butter-burre or Colte’s-foote be reckoned for grasses—as also all other plants whatsoever.” But if it covered Parnassus with its delicate veiny blossoms as abundantly as it does some moist New England meadows each autumn, the ancients may have reasoned that a plant almost as common as grass must somehow partake of its nature. The slender-stemmed, creamy flowers are never seen to better advantage than when disputing with the fringed gentian the possession of some luxurious swamp.

PEARLY EVERLASTING. _Anaphilis margaritacea._ Composite Family (p. 13).

_Stem._—Erect, one or two feet high, leafy. _Leaves._—Broadly linear to lance-shaped. _Flower-heads._—Composed entirely of tubular flowers with very numerous pearly white involucral scales.

This species is common throughout our Northern woods and pastures, blossoming in August. Thoreau writes of it in September: “The pearly everlasting is an interesting white at present. Though the stems and leaves are still green, it is dry and unwithering like an artificial flower; its white, flexuous stem and branches, too, like wire wound with cotton. Neither is there any scent to betray it. Its amaranthine quality is instead of high color. Its very brown centre now affects me as a fresh and original color. It monopolizes small circles in the midst of sweet fern, perchance, on a dry hill-side.”

FRAGRANT LIFE-EVERLASTING. _Gnaphalium polycephalum._ Composite Family (p. 13).

_Stem._—Erect, one to three feet high, woolly. _Leaves._—Lance-shaped. _Flower-heads._—Yellowish-white, clustered at the summit of the branches, composed of many tubular flowers.

This is the “fragrant life-everlasting,” as Thoreau calls it, of late summer. It abounds in rocky pastures and throughout the somewhat open woods.

NOTE.—Flowers so faintly tinged with color as to give a white effect in the mass or at a distance are placed in the White section: _greenish_ or _greenish-white_ flowers are also found here. The Moth Mullein (p. 152) and Bouncing Bet (p. 196) are found frequently bearing white flowers: indeed, white varieties of flowers which are usually colored, need never surprise one.

II YELLOW

MARSH MARIGOLD. _Caltha palustris._ Crowfoot Family.

_Stem._—Hollow, furrowed. _Leaves._—Rounded, somewhat kidney-shaped. _Flowers._—Golden-yellow. _Calyx._—Of five to nine petal-like sepals. _Corolla._—None. _Stamens._—Numerous. _Pistils._—Five to ten, almost without styles.

Hark, hark! the lark at Heaven’s gate sings, And Phœbus ’gins arise, His steeds to water at those springs, On chaliced flowers that lies: And winking Mary-buds begin To ope their golden eyes; With everything that pretty is— My lady sweet, arise! Arise, arise.—_Cymbeline._

We claim—and not without authority—that these “winking Mary-buds” are identical with the gay marsh marigolds which border our springs and gladden our wet meadows every April. There are those who assert that the poet had in mind the garden marigold—_Calendula_—but surely no cultivated flower could harmonize with the spirit of the song as do these gleaming swamp blossoms. We will yield to the garden if necessary—

The marigold that goes to bed with the sun And with him rises weeping—

of the “Winter’s Tale,” but insist on retaining for that larger, lovelier garden in which we all feel a certain sense of possession—even if we are not taxed on real estate in any part of the country—the “golden eyes” of the Mary-buds, and we feel strengthened in our position by the statement in Mr. Robinson’s “Wild Garden” that the marsh marigold is so abundant along certain English rivers as to cause the ground to look as though paved with gold at those seasons when they overflow their banks.

These flowers are peddled about our streets every spring under the name of cowslips—a title to which they have no claim, and which is the result of that reckless fashion of christening unrecognized flowers which is so prevalent, and which is responsible for so much confusion about their English names.

The derivation of marigold is somewhat obscure. In the “Grete Herball” of the sixteenth century the flower is spoken of as _Mary Gowles_, and by the early English poets as _gold_ simply. As the first part of the word might be derived from the Anglo-Saxon _mere_—a marsh, it seems possible that the entire name may signify _marsh-gold_, which would be an appropriate and poetic title for this shining flower of the marshes.

SPICE-BUSH. BENJAMIN-BUSH. FEVER-BUSH. _Lindera Benzoin._ Laurel Family.

An aromatic shrub from six to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._—Oblong, pale underneath. _Flowers._—Appearing before the leaves in March or April, honey-yellow, borne in clusters which are composed of smaller clusters, surrounded by an involucre of four early falling scales. _Fruit._—Red, berry-like, somewhat pear-shaped.

These are among the very earliest blossoms to be found in the moist woods of spring. During the Revolution the powdered berries were used as a substitute for allspice; while at the time of the Rebellion the leaves served as a substitute for tea.

YELLOW ADDER’S TONGUE. DOG’S TOOTH VIOLET. _Erythronium Americanum._ Lily Family.

_Scape._—Six to nine inches high, one-flowered. _Leaves._—Two, oblong-lance-shaped, pale green mottled with purple and white. _Flower._—Rather large, pale yellow marked with purple, nodding. _Perianth._—Of six recurved or spreading sepals. _Stamens._—Six. _Pistil._—One.

The white blossoms of the shad-bush gleam from the thicket, and the sheltered hill-side is already starred with the blood-root and anemone when we go to seek the yellow adder’s tongue. We direct our steps toward one of those hollows in the wood which is watered by such a clear gurgling brook as must appeal to every country-loving heart; and there where the pale April sunlight filters through the leafless branches, nod myriads of these lilies, each one guarded by a pair of mottled, erect, sentinel-like leaves.

The two English names of this plant are unsatisfactory and inappropriate. If the marking of its leaves resembles the skin of an adder why name it after its tongue? And there is equally little reason for calling a lily a violet. Mr. Burroughs has suggested two pretty and significant names. “Fawn lily,” he thinks, would be appropriate, because a fawn is also mottled, and because the two leaves stand up with the alert, startled look of a fawn’s ears. The speckled foliage and perhaps its flowering season are indicated in the title “trout-lily,” which has a spring-like flavor not without charm. It is said that the early settlers of Pennsylvania named the flower “yellow snowdrop,” in memory of their own “harbinger-of-spring.”

The white adder’s tongue, _E. albidum_, is a species which is usually found somewhat westward.

CELANDINE. _Chelidonium majus._ Poppy Family.

_Stem._—Brittle, with saffron-colored, acrid juice. _Leaves._—Compound or divided, toothed or cut. _Flowers._—Yellow, clustered. _Calyx._—Of two sepals falling early. _Corolla._—Of four petals. _Stamens._—Sixteen to twenty-four. _Pistil._—One, with a two-lobed stigma. _Pod._—Slender, linear.

The name of celandine must always suggest the poet who never seemed to weary of writing in its honor:

Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies, Let them live upon their praises; Long as there’s a sun that sets, Primroses will have their glory; Long as there are violets, They will have a place in story; There’s a flower that shall be mine, ’Tis the little celandine.

And when certain yellow flowers which frequent the village roadside are pointed out to us as those of the celandine, we feel a sense of disappointment that the favorite theme of Wordsworth should arouse within us so little enthusiasm. So perhaps we are rather relieved than otherwise to realize that the botanical name of this plant signifies _greater_ celandine; for we remember that the poet never failed to specify the _small_ celandine as the object of his praise. The small celandine is _Ranunculus ficaria_, one of the Crowfoot family, and is only found in this country as an escape from gardens.

Gray tells us that the generic name, _Chelidonium_, from the ancient Greek for swallow, was given “because its flowers appear with the swallows;” but if we turn to Gerarde we read that the title was not bestowed “because it first springeth at the coming in of the swallowes, or dieth when they go away, for as we have saide, it may be founde all the yeare; but because some holde opinion, that with this herbe the dams restore sight to their young ones, when their eies be put out.”

CELANDINE POPPY. _Stylophorum diphyllum._ Poppy Family.

_Stem._—Low, two-leaved. _Stem-leaves._—Opposite, deeply incised. _Root-leaves._—Incised or divided. _Flowers._—Deep yellow, large, one or more at the summit of the stem. _Calyx._—Of two hairy sepals. _Corolla._—Of four petals. _Stamens._—Many. _Pistil._—One, with a two to four-lobed stigma.

In April or May, somewhat south and westward, the woods are brightened, and occasionally the hill-sides are painted yellow, by this handsome flower. In both flower and foliage the plant suggests the celandine.

DOWNY YELLOW VIOLET. _Viola pubescens._ Violet Family.

_Stems._—Leafy above, erect. _Leaves._—Broadly heart-shaped, toothed. _Flowers._—Yellow, veined with purple, otherwise much like those of the common blue violet.

When beechen buds begin to swell, And woods the blue-bird’s warble know, The yellow violet’s modest bell Peeps from the last year’s leaves below,

sings Bryant, in his charming, but not strictly accurate poem, for the chances are that the “beechen buds” have almost burst into foliage, and that the “bluebird’s warble” has been heard for some time when these pretty flowers begin to dot the woods.

The lines which run:

Yet slight thy form, and low thy seat, And earthward bent thy gentle eye, Unapt the passing view to meet, When loftier flowers are flaunting nigh,

would seem to apply more correctly to the round-leaved, _V. rotundifolia_, than to the downy violet, for although its large, flat shining leaves are somewhat conspicuous, its flowers are borne singly on a low scape, which would be less apt to attract notice than the tall, leafy flowering stems of the other.

COMMON CINQUEFOIL. FIVE FINGER. _Potentilla Canadensis._ Rose Family.

_Stem._—Slender, prostrate, or sometimes erect. _Leaves._—Divided really into three leaflets, but apparently into five by the parting of the lateral leaflets. _Flowers._—Yellow, growing singly from the axils of the leaves. _Calyx._—Deeply five-cleft, with bracts between each tooth, thus appearing ten-cleft. _Corolla._—Of five rounded petals. _Stamens._—Many. _Pistils._—Many in a head.

From spring to nearly midsummer the roads are bordered and the fields carpeted with the bright flowers of the common cinquefoil. The passer-by unconsciously betrays his recognition of some of the prominent features of the Rose family by often assuming that the plant is a yellow-flowered wild strawberry. Both of the English names refer to the pretty foliage, cinquefoil being derived from the French _cinque feuilles_. The generic name, _Potentilla_, has reference to the powerful medicinal properties formerly attributed to the genus.

SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL. FIVE FINGER. _Potentilla fruticosa._ Rose Family.

_Stem._—Erect, shrubby, one to four feet high. _Leaves._—Divided into five to seven narrow leaflets. _Flowers._—Yellow, resembling those of the common cinquefoil.

Of all the cinquefoils perhaps this one most truly merits the title five finger. Certainly its slender leaflets are much more finger-like than those of the common cinquefoil. It is not a common plant in most localities, but is very abundant among the Berkshire Hills.

SILVERY CINQUEFOIL. _Potentilla argentea._ Rose Family.

_Stems._—Ascending, branched at the summit, white, woolly. _Leaves._—Divided into five wedge-oblong, deeply incised leaflets, which are green above, white with silvery wool, beneath.

The silvery cinquefoil has rather large yellow flowers which are found in dry fields throughout the summer as far south as New Jersey.

GOLDEN RAGWORT. SQUAW-WEED. _Senecio aureus._ Composite Family (p. 13).

_Stem._—One to three feet high. _Root-leaves._—Rounded, the larger ones mostly heart-shaped, toothed, and long-stalked. _Stem-leaves._—The lower lyre-shaped, the upper lance-shaped, incised, set close to the stem. _Flower-heads._—Yellow, clustered, composed of both ray and disk-flowers.

A child would perhaps liken the flower of the golden ragwort to a yellow daisy. Stain yellow the white rays of the daisy, diminish the size of the whole head somewhat, and you have a pretty good likeness of the ragwort. There need be little difficulty in the identification of this plant—although there are several marked varieties—for its flowers are abundant in the early year, at which season but few members of the Composite family are abroad.

The generic name is from _senex_—an old man—alluding to the silky down of the seeds, which is supposed to suggest the silvery hairs of age.

Closely allied to the golden ragwort is the common groundsel, _S. vulgaris_, which is given as food to caged birds. The flower-heads of this species are without rays.

——— ——— _Clintonia borealis._ Lily Family.

_Scape._—Five to eight inches high, sheathed at its base by the stalks of two to four large, oblong, conspicuous leaves. _Flowers._—Greenish-yellow, rather large, rarely solitary. _Perianth._—Of six sepals. _Stamens._—Six, protruding. _Pistil._—One, protruding. _Fruit._—A blue berry.

When rambling through the cool, moist woods our attention is often attracted by patches of great dark, shining, leaves; and if it be late in the year we long to know the flower of which this rich foliage is the setting. To satisfy our curiosity we must return the following May or June, when we shall probably find that a slender scape rises from its midst bearing at its summit several bell-shaped flowers, which, without either high color or fragrance, are peculiarly charming. It is hard to understand why this beautiful plant has received no English name. As to its generic title we cannot but sympathize with Thoreau. “Gray should not have named it from the Governor of New York,” he complains; “what is he to the lovers of flowers in Massachusetts? If named after a man, it must be a man of flowers.... Name your canals and railroads after Clinton, if you please, but his name is not associated with flowers.”

_C. umbellata_ is a more Southern species, with smaller white flowers, which are speckled with green or purplish dots.

YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPER. WHIP-POOR-WILL’S SHOE. _Cypripedium pubescens._ Orchis Family (p. 17).

_Stem._—About two feet high, downy, leafy to the top, one to three-flowered. _Leaves._—Alternate, broadly oval, many-nerved and plaited. _Flowers._—Large, yellow. _Perianth._—Two of the three brownish, elongated sepals united into one under the lip; the lateral petals linear, wavy-twisted, brownish; the pale yellow lip an inflated pouch. _Stamens._—Two, the short filaments of each bearing a two-celled anther. _Stigma._—Broad, obscurely three-lobed, moist and roughish.

The yellow lady’s slipper usually blossoms in May or June, a few days later than its pink sister, _C. acaule._ Regarding its favorite haunts, Mr. Baldwin[3] says: “Its preference is for maples, beeches, and particularly butternuts, and for sloping or hilly ground, and I always look with glad suspicion at a knoll covered with ferns, cohoshes, and trilliums, expecting to see a clump of this plant among them. Its sentinel-like habit of choosing ‘sightly places’ leads it to venture well up on mountain sides.”

The long, wavy, brownish petals give the flower an alert, startled look when surprised in its lonely hiding-places.

_C. parviflorum_, the small yellow lady’s slipper, differs from _C. pubescens_ in the superior richness of its color as well as in its size. It also has the charm of fragrance.

EARLY MEADOW PARSNIP. _Zizia aurea._ Parsley Family (p. 15).

One to three feet high. _Leaves._—Twice or thrice-compound, leaflets oblong to lance-shaped, toothed. _Flowers._—Yellow, small, in compound umbels.

This is one of the earliest members of the Parsley family to appear. Its golden flower-clusters brighten the damp meadows and the borders of streams in May or June and closely resemble the meadow parsnip, _Thaspium aureum_, of which this species was formerly considered a variety, of the later year.

The tall, stout, common wild parsnip, _Pastinaca sativa_, is another yellow representative of this family in which white flowers prevail, the three plants here mentioned being the only yellow species commonly encountered. The common parsnip may be identified by its grooved stem and simply compound leaves. Its roots have been utilized for food at least since the reign of Tiberius, for Pliny tells us that that Emperor brought them to Rome from the banks of the Rhine, where they were successfully cultivated.

GOLDEN CLUB. _Orontium aquaticum._ Arum Family.

_Scape._—Slender, elongated. _Leaves._—Long-stalked, oblong, floating. _Flowers._—Small, yellow, crowded over the narrow spike or spadix.

When we go to the bogs in May to hunt for the purple flower of the pitcher-plant we are likely to chance upon the well-named golden club. This curious-looking club-shaped object, which is found along the borders of ponds, indicates its relationship to the jack-in-the-pulpit, and still more to the calla lily, but unlike them its tiny flowers are shielded by no protecting spathe.

Kalm tells us in his “Travels,” “that the Indians called the plant _Taw-Kee_, and used its dried seeds as food.”

SPEARWORT. _Ranunculus ambigens._ Crowfoot Family.

_Stems._—One to two feet high. _Leaves._—Oblong or lance-shaped, mostly toothed, contracted into a half-clasping leaf-stalk. _Flowers._—Bright yellow, solitary or clustered. _Calyx._—Of five sepals. _Corolla._—Of five to seven oblong petals. _Stamens._—Indefinite in number, occasionally few. _Pistils._—Numerous in a head.

Many weeks after the marsh marigolds have passed away, just such marshy places as they affected are brightly flecked with gold. Wondering, perhaps, if they can be flowering for the second time in the season, we wade recklessly into the bog to rescue, not the marsh marigold, but its near relation, the spearwort, which is still more closely related to the buttercup, as a little comparison of the two flowers will show. This plant is especially common at the North.

INDIAN CUCUMBER-ROOT. _Medeola Virginica._ Lily Family.

_Root._—Tuberous, shaped somewhat like a cucumber, with a suggestion of its flavor. _Stem._—Slender, from one to three feet high, at first clothed with wool. _Leaves._—In two whorls on the flowering plants, the lower of five to nine oblong, pointed leaves set close to the stem, the upper usually of three or four much smaller ones. _Flowers._—Greenish-yellow, small, clustered, recurved, set close to the upper leaves. _Perianth._—Of three sepals and three petals, oblong and alike. _Stamens._—Six, reddish-brown. _Pistil._—With three stigmas, long, recurved, and reddish-brown. _Fruit._—A purple berry.

One is more apt to pause in September to note the brilliant foliage and purple berries of this little plant than to gather the drooping inconspicuous blossoms for his bunch of wood-flowers in June. The generic name is after the sorceress Medea, on account of its supposed medicinal virtues, of which, however, there seems to be no record.