Part 9

The tuberous rootstock has the flavor, and something the shape, of the cucumber, and was probably used as food by the Indians. It would not be an uninteresting study to discover which of our common wild plants are able to afford pleasant and nutritious food; in such a pursuit many of the otherwise unattractive popular names would prove suggestive.

COMMON BLADDERWORT. _Utricularia vulgaris._ Bladderwort Family.

_Stems._—Immersed, one to three feet long. _Leaves._—Many-parted, hair-like, bearing numerous bladders. _Scape._—Six to twelve inches long. _Flowers._—Yellow, five to twelve on each scape. _Calyx._—Two-lipped. _Corolla._—Two-lipped, spurred at the base. _Stamens._—Two. _Pistil._—One.

This curious water-plant may or may not have roots; in either case it is not fastened to the ground, but is floated by means of the many bladders which are borne on its finely dissected leaves. It is commonly found in ponds and slow streams, flowering throughout the summer. Thoreau calls it “a dirty-conditioned flower, like a sluttish woman with a gaudy yellow bonnet.”

The horned bladderwort, _U. cornuta_, roots in the peat-bogs and sandy swamps. Its large yellow helmet-shaped flowers are very fragrant, less than half a dozen being borne on each scape.

YELLOW POND-LILY. SPATTER DOCK. _Nuphar advena._ Water-lily Family.

_Leaves._—Floating or erect, roundish to oblong, with a deep cleft at their base. _Flowers._—Yellow, sometimes purplish, large, somewhat globular. _Calyx._—Of five or six sepals or more, yellow or green without. _Corolla._—Of numerous small, thick, fleshy petals which are shorter than the stamens and resemble them. _Stamens._—Very numerous. _Pistil._—One, with a disk-like, many-rayed stigma.

Bordering the slow streams and stagnant ponds from May till August may be seen the yellow pond-lilies. These flowers lack the delicate beauty and fragrance of the white water-lilies; having, indeed, either from their odor, or appearance, or the form of their fruit, won for themselves in England the unpoetic title of “brandy-bottle.” Owing to their love of mud they have also been called “frog-lilies.” The Indians used their roots for food.

WINTER-CRESS, YELLOW ROCKET. HERB OF ST. BARBARA. _Barbarea vulgaris._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

_Stem._—Smooth. _Leaves._—The lower lyre-shaped; the upper ovate, toothed or deeply incised at their base. _Flowers._—Yellow, growing in racemes. _Pod._—Linear, erect or slightly spreading.

As early as May we find the bright flowers of the winter-cress along the roadside. This is probably the first of the yellow mustards to appear.

BLACK MUSTARD. _Brassica nigra._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

Often several feet high. _Stem._—Branching. _Leaves._—The lower with a large terminal lobe and a few small lateral ones. _Flowers._—Yellow, rather small, growing in a raceme. _Pods._—Smooth, erect, appressed, about half an inch long.

Many are familiar with the appearance of this plant who are ignorant of its name. The pale yellow flowers spring from the waste places along the roadside and border the dry fields throughout the summer. The tall spreading branches recall the biblical description: “It groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”

This plant is extensively cultivated in Europe, its ground seeds forming the well-known condiment. The ancients used it for medicinal purposes. It has come across the water to us, and is a troublesome weed in many parts of the country.

WILD RADISH. _Raphanus Raphanistrum._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

One to three feet high. _Leaves._—Rough, lyre-shaped. _Flowers._—Yellow, veiny, turning white or purplish; larger than those of the black mustard, otherwise resembling them. _Pod._—Often necklace-form by constriction between the seeds.

This plant is a troublesome weed in many of our fields. It is the stock from which the garden radish has been raised.

CYNTHIA. DWARF DANDELION. _Krigia Virginica._ Composite Family (p. 13).

_Stems._—Several, becoming branched, leafy. _Leaves._—Earlier ones roundish; the latter narrower and often cleft. _Flower-heads._—Yellow, composed entirely of strap-shaped flowers.

In some parts of the country these flowers are among the earliest to appear. They are found in New England, as well as south and westward.

The flowers of _K. amplexicaulis_ appear later, and their range is a little farther south. Near Philadelphia great masses of the orange-colored blossoms and pale green stems and foliage line the railway embankments in June.

RATTLESNAKE-WEED. _Hieracium venosum._ Composite Family (p. 13).

_Stem or Scape._—One or two feet high, naked or with a single leaf, smooth, slender, forking above. _Leaves._—From the root, oblong, often making a sort of flat rosette, usually conspicuously veined with purple. _Flower-heads._—Yellow, composed entirely of strap-shaped flowers.

The loosely clustered yellow flower-heads of the rattlesnake-weed somewhat resemble small dandelions. They abound in the pine-woods and dry, waste places of early summer. The purple-veined leaves, whose curious markings give to the plant its common name, grow close to the ground and are supposed to be efficacious in rattlesnake bites. Here again crops out the old “doctrine of signatures,” for undoubtedly this virtue has been attributed to the species solely on account of the fancied resemblance between its leaves and the markings of the rattlesnake.

_H. scabrum_ is another common species, which may be distinguished from the rattlesnake-weed by its stout, leafy stem and unveined leaves.

DANDELION. _Taraxacum officinale._ Composite Family (p. 13).

If Emerson’s definition of a weed, as a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered, be correct, we can hardly place the dandelion in that category, for its young sprouts have been valued as a pot-herb, its fresh leaves enjoyed as a salad, and its dried roots used as a substitute for coffee in various countries and ages. It is said that the Apache Indians so greatly relish it as food, that they scour the country for many days in order to procure enough to appease their appetites, and that the quantity consumed by one individual exceeds belief. The feathery-tufted seeds which form the downy balls beloved as “clocks” by country children, are delicately and beautifully adapted to dissemination by the wind, which ingenious arrangement partly accounts for the plant’s wide range. The common name is a corruption of the French _dent de lion_. There is a difference of opinion as to which part of the plant is supposed to resemble a lion’s tooth. Some fancy the jagged leaves gave rise to the name, while others claim that it refers to the yellow flowers, which they liken to the golden teeth of the heraldic lion. In nearly every European country the plant bears a name of similar signification.

POVERTY-GRASS. _Hudsonia tomentosa._ Rock-rose Family.

“Bushy, heath-like little shrubs, seldom a foot high.” (Gray.) _Leaves._—Small, oval or narrowly oblong, pressed close to the stem. _Flowers._—Bright yellow, small, numerous, crowded along the upper part of the branches. _Calyx._—Of five sepals, the two outer much smaller. _Corolla._—Of five petals. _Stamens._—Nine to thirty. _Pistil._—One, with a long and slender style.

In early summer many of the sand-hills along the New England coast are bright with the yellow flowers of this hoary little shrub. It is also found as far south as Maryland and near the Great Lakes. Each blossom endures for a single day only. The plant’s popular name is due to its economical habit of utilizing sandy unproductive soil where little else will flourish.

BUSH-HONEYSUCKLE. _Diervilla trifida._ Honeysuckle Family.

An upright shrub from one to four feet high. _Leaves._—Opposite, oblong, taper-pointed. _Flowers._—Yellow, sometimes much tinged with red, clustered usually in threes, in the axils of the upper leaves and at the summit of the stem. _Calyx._—With slender awl-shaped lobes. _Corolla._—Funnel-form, five-lobed, the lower lobe larger than the others and of a deeper yellow, with a small nectar-bearing gland at its base. _Stamens._—Five. _Pistil._—One.

This pretty little shrub is found along our rocky hills and mountains. The blossoms appear in early summer, and form a good example of nectar-bearing flowers. The lower lobe of the corolla is crested and more deeply colored than the others, thus advising the bee of secreted treasure. The hairy filaments of the stamens are so placed as to protect the nectar from injury by rain. When the blossom has been despoiled and at the same time fertilized, for the nectar-seeking bee has probably deposited some pollen upon its pistil, the color of the corolla changes from a pale to a deep yellow, thus giving warning to the insect world that further attentions would be useless to both parties.

COW WHEAT. _Melampyrum Americanum._ Figwort Family.

_Stem._—Low, erect, branching. _Leaves._—Opposite, lance-shaped. _Flowers._—Small, greenish-yellow, solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. _Calyx._—Bell-shaped, four-cleft. _Corolla._—Two-lipped, upper lip arched, lower three-lobed and spreading at the apex. _Stamens._—Four. _Pistil._—One.

In the open woods, from June until September, we encounter the pale yellow flowers of this rather insignificant little plant. The cow wheat was formerly cultivated by the Dutch as food for cattle. The Spanish name, _Trigo de Vaca_, would seem to indicate a similar custom in Spain. The generic name, _Melampyrum_, is from the Greek, and signifies _black wheat_, in reference to the appearance of the seeds of some species when mixed with grain. The flower would not be likely to attract one’s attention were it not exceedingly common in some parts of the country, flourishing especially in our more eastern woodlands.

MEADOW LILY. WILD YELLOW LILY. _Lilium Canadense._ Lily Family.

_Stem._—Two to five feet high. _Leaves._—Whorled, lance-shaped. _Flowers._—Yellow, spotted with reddish-brown, bell-shaped, two to three inches long. _Perianth._—Of six recurved sepals, with a nectar-bearing furrow at their base. _Stamens._—Six, with anthers loaded with brown pollen. _Pistil._—One, with a three-lobed stigma.

What does the summer bring which is more enchanting than a sequestered wood-bordered meadow hung with a thousand of these delicate, nodding bells which look as though ready to tinkle at the least disturbance and sound an alarum among the flowers?

These too are true “lilies of the field,” less gorgeous, less imposing than the Turks’ caps, but with an unsurpassed grace and charm of their own. “Fairy-caps,” these pointed blossoms are sometimes called; “witch-caps,” would be more appropriate still. Indeed they would make dainty headgear for any of the dim inhabitants of Wonder-Land.

The growth of this plant is very striking when seen at its best. The erect stem is surrounded with regular whorls of leaves, from the upper one of which curves a circle of long-stemmed, nodding flowers. They suggest an exquisite design for a church candelabra.

PRICKLY PEAR. INDIAN FIG. _Opuntia Rafinesquii._ Cactus Family.

_Flowers._—Yellow, large, two and a half to three and a half inches across. _Calyx._—Of numerous sepals. _Corolla._—Of ten or twelve petals. _Stamens._—Numerous. _Pistil._—One, with numerous stigmas. _Fruit._—Shaped like a small pear, often with prickles over its surface.

This curious-looking plant is one of the only two representatives of the Cactus family in the Northeastern States. It has deep green, fleshy, prickly, rounded joints and large yellow flowers, which are often conspicuous in summer in dry, sandy places along the coast.

_O. vulgaris_, the only other species found in Northeastern America, has somewhat smaller flowers, but otherwise so closely resembles _O. Rafinesquii_ as to make it difficult to distinguish between the two.

FOUR-LEAVED LOOSESTRIFE. _Lysimachia quadrifolia._ Primrose Family.

_Stem._—Slender, one or two feet high. _Leaves._—Narrowly oblong, whorled in fours, fives, or sixes. _Flowers._—Yellow, spotted or streaked with red, on slender, hair-like flower-stalks from the axils of the leaves. _Calyx._—Five or six-parted. _Corolla._—Very deeply five or six-parted. _Stamens._—Four or five. _Pistil._—One.

This slender pretty plant grows along the roadsides and attracts one’s notice in June by its regular whorls of leaves and flowers. Linnæus says that this genus is named after Lysimachus, King of Sicily. Loosestrife is the English for Lysimachus; but whether the ancient superstition that the placing of these flowers upon the yokes of oxen rendered the beasts gentle and submissive arose from the peace-suggestive title or from other causes, I cannot discover.

YELLOW LOOSESTRIFE. _Lysimachia stricta._ Primrose Family.

The yellow loosestrife bears its flowers, which are similar to those of _L. quadrifolia_, in a terminal raceme; it has opposite lance-shaped leaves. Its bright yellow clusters border the streams and brighten the marshes from June till August.

ROCK-ROSE. FROST-WEED. _Helianthemum Canadense._ Rock-rose Family.

About one foot high. _Leaves._—Set close to the stem, simple, lance-oblong. _Flowers._—Of two kinds: the earlier, more noticeable ones, yellow, solitary, about one inch across; the later ones small and clustered, usually without petals. _Calyx._—(Of the petal-bearing flowers) of five sepals. _Corolla._—Of five early falling petals which are crumpled in the bud. _Stamens._—Numerous. _Pistil._—One, with a three-lobed stigma.

These fragile bright yellow flowers are found in gravelly places in early summer. Under the influence of the sunshine they open once; by the next day their petals have fallen, and their brief beauty is a thing of the past. On June 17th Thoreau finds this “broad, cup-like flower, one of the most delicate yellow flowers, with large spring-yellow petals, and its stamens laid one way.”

In the Vale of Sharon a nearly allied rose-colored species abounds. This is believed by some of the botanists who have travelled in that region to be the Rose of Sharon which Solomon has celebrated.

The name of frost-weed has been given to our plant because of the crystals of ice which shoot from the cracked bark at the base of the stem in late autumn.

——— ——— _Steironema ciliatum._ Primrose Family.

_Stem._—Erect, two to four feet high. _Leaves._—Opposite, narrowly oval, on fringed leaf-stalks. _Flowers._—Yellow, on slender stalks from the axils of the leaves. _Calyx._—Deeply five-parted. _Corolla._—Deeply five-lobed, wheel-shaped, yellow, with a reddish centre. _Stamens._—Five. _Pistil._—One.

This plant is nearly akin to the yellow loosestrifes, but unfortunately it has no English name. It abounds in low grounds and thickets, putting forth its bright wheel-shaped blossoms early in July.

COMMON BARBERRY. _Berberis vulgaris._ Barberry Family.

A shrub. _Leaves._—Oblong, toothed, in clusters from the axil of a thorn. _Flowers._—Yellow, in drooping racemes. _Calyx._—Of six sepals, with from two to six bractlets without. _Corolla._—Of six petals. _Stamens._—Six. _Pistil._—One. _Fruit._—An oblong scarlet berry.

This European shrub has now become thoroughly wild and very plentiful in parts of New England. The drooping yellow flowers of May and June are less noticeable than the oblong clustered berries of September, which light up so many overgrown lanes, and often decorate our lawns and gardens as well.

The ancients extracted a yellow hair-dye from the barberry; and to-day it is used to impart a yellow color to wool. Both its common and botanical names are of Arabic origin.

YELLOW STAR-GRASS. _Hypoxis erecta._ Amaryllis Family.

_Scapes._—Slender, few-flowered. _Leaves._—Linear, grass-like, hairy. _Flowers_.—Yellow. _Perianth._—Six-parted, spreading, the divisions hairy and greenish outside, yellow within. _Stamens._—Six. _Pistil._—One.

When our eyes fall upon what looks like a bit of evening sky set with golden stars, but which proves to be only a piece of shaded turf gleaming with these pretty flowers, we recall Longfellow’s musical lines:

Spake full well in language quaint and olden, One who dwelleth on the castled Rhine, When he called the flowers so blue and golden, Stars, which in earth’s firmament do shine.

The plant grows abundantly in open woods and meadows, flowering in early summer.

WILD INDIGO. _Baptisia tinctoria._ Pulse Family (p. 16).

Two or three feet high. _Stems._—Smooth and slender. _Leaves._—Divided into three rounded leaflets, somewhat pale with a whitish bloom, turning black in drying. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, yellow, clustered in many short, loose racemes.

This rather bushy-looking, bright-flowered plant is constantly encountered in our rambles throughout the somewhat dry and sandy parts of the country in midsummer. It is said that it is found in nearly every State in the Union, and that it has been used as a homœopathic remedy for typhoid fever. Its young shoots are eaten at times in place of asparagus. Both the botanical and common names refer to its having yielded an economical but unsuccessful substitute for indigo.

YELLOW CLOVER. HOP CLOVER. _Trifolium agrarium._ Pulse Family (p. 16).

Six to twelve inches high. _Leaves._—Divided into three oblong leaflets. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, yellow, small, in close heads.

Although this little plant is found in such abundance along our New England roadsides and in many other parts of the country as well, comparatively few people seem to recognize it as a member of the clover group, despite a marked likeness in the leaves and blossoms to others of the same family.

The name clover probably originated in the Latin _clava_-clubs, in reference to the fancied resemblance between the three-pronged club of Hercules and the clover leaf. The clubs of our playing-cards and the _trèfle_ (trefoil) of the French are probably an imitation of the same leaf.

The nonesuch, _Medicago lupulina_, with downy, procumbent stems, and flowers which grow in short spikes, is nearly allied to the hop clover. In its reputed superiority as fodder its English name is said to have originated. Dr. Prior says that for many years this plant has been recognized in Ireland as the true shamrock.

DYER’S GREEN-WEED. WOOD-WAXEN. NEW ENGLAND WHIN. _Genista tinctoria._ Pulse Family (p. 16).

A shrubby plant from one to two feet high. _Leaves._—Lance-shaped. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, yellow, growing in spiked racemes.

This is another foreigner which has established itself in Eastern New York and Massachusetts, where it covers the barren hill-sides with its yellow flowers in early summer. It is a common English plant, formerly valued for the yellow dye which it yielded. It is an undesirable intruder in pasture-lands, as it gives a bitter taste to the milk of cows which feed upon it.

YELLOW SWEET CLOVER. YELLOW MELILOT. _Melilotus officinalis._ Pulse Family (p. 16).

Two to four feet high. _Stem._—Upright. _Leaves._—Divided into three toothed leaflets. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, yellow, growing in spike-like racemes.

This plant is often found blossoming along the roadsides in early summer. It was formerly called in England “king’s-clover,” because, as Parkinson writes, “the yellowe flowers doe crown the top of the stalkes.” The leaves become fragrant in drying.

RATTLEBOX. _Crotalaria sagittalis._ Pulse Family (p. 16).

_Stem._—Hairy, three to six inches high. _Leaves._—Undivided, oval or lance-shaped. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, yellow, but few in a cluster. _Pod._—Inflated, many-seeded, blackish.

The yellow flowers of the rattlebox are found in the sandy meadows and along the roadsides during the summer. Both the generic and English names refer to the rattling of the loose seeds within the inflated pod.

BUTTER-AND-EGGS. TOADFLAX. _Linaria vulgaris._ Figwort Family.

_Stem._—Smooth, erect, one to three feet high. _Leaves._—Alternate, linear or nearly so. _Flowers._—Of two shades of yellow, growing in terminal racemes. _Calyx._—Five-parted. _Corolla._—Pale yellow tipped with orange, long-spurred, two-lipped, closed in the throat. _Stamens._—Four. _Pistil._—One.

The bright blossoms of butter-and-eggs grow in full, close clusters which enliven the waste places along the roadside so commonly, that little attention is paid to these beautiful and conspicuous flowers. They would be considered a “pest” if they did not display great discrimination in their choice of locality, usually selecting otherwise useless pieces of ground. The common name of butter-and-eggs is unusually appropriate, for the two shades of yellow match perfectly their namesakes. Like nearly all our common weeds, this plant has been utilized in various ways by the country people. It yielded what was considered at one time a valuable skin lotion, while its juice mingled with milk constitutes a fly-poison. Its generic name, _Linaria_, and its English title, toadflax, arose from a fancied resemblance between its leaves and those of the flax.

WILD SENNA. _Cassia Marilandica._ Pulse Family.

_Stem._—Three or four feet high. _Leaves._—Divided into from six to nine pairs of narrowly oblong leaflets. _Flowers._—Yellow, in short clusters from the axils of the leaves. _Calyx._—Of five sepals. _Corolla._—Of five slightly unequal, spreading petals, usually somewhat spotted with reddish-brown. _Stamens._—Five to ten, unequal, some of them often imperfect. _Pistil._—One. _Pod._—Long and narrow, slightly curved, flat.

This tall, striking plant, with clusters of yellow flowers which appear in midsummer, grows abundantly along many of the New England roadsides, and also far south and west, thriving best in sandy soil. Although a member of the Pulse family its blossoms are not papilionaceous.

PARTRIDGE-PEA. _Cassia Chamæcrista._ Pulse Family.

_Stems._—Spreading, eight inches to a foot long. _Leaves._—Divided into from ten to fifteen pairs of narrow delicate leaflets, which close at night and are somewhat sensitive to the touch. _Flowers._—Yellow, rather large and showy, on slender stalks beneath the spreading leaves; not papilionaceous. _Calyx._—Of five sepals. _Corolla._—Of five rounded, spreading, somewhat unequal petals, two or three of which are usually spotted at the base with red or purple. _Stamens._—Ten, unequal, dissimilar. _Pistil._—One, with a slender style. _Pod._—Flat.