Part 6

Strawberry Blite Chenopodium capitatum

Plate 8, fig. 3

The flowers of the Strawberry Blite are very tiny, but are clustered together into conspicuous spikes, usually a brilliant red in color, though they may vary from greenish to purple. The plants generally grow along brook-banks in fir and spruce forests at 6000-10000 ft. and bloom from late spring to midsummer.

BUCKWHEAT FAMILY

Lady’s Thumb, Heart’s Ease Polygonum pennsilvanicum

Plate 8, fig. 4

The flowers of this plant are small, but they are grouped to form brilliant rose-colored spikes an inch or two long. The plants are 2-5 ft. high and are found in wet ground and dried-up ponds and hence are often pests in grain fields during wet years. They are found at 3000-5000 ft. and bloom all summer. The Heart’s Ease is valuable as a honey plant and its seeds occur as a common impurity in clover seed.

Golden Buckwheat Eriogonum Jamesii

Plate 8, fig. 5

The tiny whitish to yellow flowers of the Golden Buckwheat are clustered in round heads at the tips of stiff gray-green stems. The latter have a bunch of leaves at the base and hence form dense mats in gravelly soil on plains and in the foothills at 4000-9000 ft. The flower clusters are conspicuous throughout the summer.

Crimson Wings Rumex venosus

Plate 8, fig. 8

The name Crimson Wings is applied to this dock on account of the brilliant rose-colored calyx. The latter becomes enormously enlarged as the flower goes to seed and thus forms a device for the carriage of the seed by the wind. The low plants grow in sandy soil at 4000-8000 ft. and bloom in spring and early summer. This species has no value except possibly as an ornamental, but other species of the genus are cultivated for salad, and several of the wild species furnish excellent “greens.”

PINK FAMILY

Alpine Pink, Moss Campion Silene acaulis

Plate 8, fig. 6

The pink or purplish flowers of the Alpine Pink grow densely clustered in mats on exposed mountain tops, often near the snow. They are polar as well as alpine plants and are found in these regions throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In the mountains they occur at 9000-14000 ft. and bloom throughout the summer.

Cow Pink Saponaria vaccaria

Plate 8, fig. 7

The botanical name of the Cow Pink refers to the soap-like sap of some species, which sometimes leads to their use as a substitute for soap. The flowers are white, pink or pale red and bloom all summer. The plant is a troublesome weed in grain fields and grows in waste places at 5000-8000 ft. The seeds are poisonous.

PRIMROSE FAMILY

Bird’s-eye Primrose Primula farinosa

Plate 16, fig. 1

The lilac flowers of the Bird’s-eye Primrose grow in clusters at the tips of unbranched stems. The plants are 4-8 in. high and bloom in the spring. They are found along brook-banks and in wet meadows at 7000-9000 ft. Both the botanical and common names of the Primrose refer to the almost universal habit of blooming in early spring.

Yellow Primrose Steironema ciliatum

Plate 16, fig. 2

The blossoms of the Yellow Primrose grow in pairs in the axils of the leaves and bloom in summer. The plants are 2-5 ft. high and grow in grassy meadows and along streams at 3000-8000 ft.

Primrose Primula Parryi