Part 27

ARROW-HEAD.—S. variabilis. ]

GROUND CHERRY. Physalis Virginiana. Nightshade Family.

A strong-scented, low, much branched and spreading herb. Leaves.—Somewhat oblong or heart-shaped, wavy-toothed. Flowers.—Greenish or yellowish-white, solitary on nodding flower-stalks. Calyx.—Five-cleft; enlarging and much inflated in fruit, loosely enclosing the berry. Corolla.—Between wheel-shaped and funnel-form. Stamens.—Five, erect, with yellow anthers. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—A green or yellow edible berry which is loosely enveloped in the much-inflated calyx.

We find the ground cherry in light sandy soil, and are more apt to notice the loosely enveloped berry of the late year than the rather inconspicuous flowers which appear in summer.

TURTLE-HEAD. Chelone glabra. Figwort Family.

One to seven feet high. Stem.—Smooth, upright, branching. Leaves.—Opposite, lance-shaped, toothed. Flowers.—White or pinkish, growing in a spike or close cluster. Calyx.—Of five sepals. Corolla.—Two-lipped, the upper lip broad and arched, notched at the apex, lower lip three-lobed at the apex, woolly bearded in the throat. Stamens.—Four perfect ones, with woolly filaments and very woolly, heart-shaped anthers, and one small sterile one. Pistil.—One.

It seems to have been my fate to find the flowers which the botany relegates to “dry, sandy soil” flourishing luxuriantly in marshes; and to encounter the flowers which by rights belong to “wet woods” flaunting themselves in sunny meadows. This cannot be attributed to the natural depravity of inanimate objects, for what is more full of life than the flowers?—and no one would believe in their depravity except perhaps the amateur botanist who is endeavoring to master the different species of golden-rods and asters. Therefore it is pleasant to record that I do not remember ever having met a turtle-head, which is assigned by the botany to “wet places,” which had not gotten as close to a stream or a marsh or a moist ditch as it well could without actually wetting its feet. The flowers of this plant are more odd and striking than pretty. Their appearance is such that their common name seems fairly appropriate. I have heard unbotanical people call them “white closed gentians.”

PLATE XXX

TURTLE-HEAD.—C. glabra. ]

COMMON DODDER. LOVE VINE. Cuscuta Gronovii. Convolvulus Family.

Stems.—Yellow or reddish, thread-like, twining, leafless. Flowers.—White, in close clusters. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—With five spreading lobes. Stamens.—Five. Pistil.—One, with two styles.

Late in the summer we are perhaps tempted deep into some thicket by the jasmine-scented heads of the button-bush or the fragrant spikes of the clethra, and note for the first time the tangled golden threads and close white flower-clusters of the dodder. If we try to trace to their source these twisted stems, which the Creoles know as “angels’ hair,” we discover that they are fastened to the bark of the shrub or plant about which they are twining by means of small suckers; but nowhere can we find any connection with the earth, all their nourishment being extracted from the plant to which they are adhering. Originally this curious herb sprang from the ground which succored it until it succeeded in attaching itself to some plant; having accomplished this it severed all connection with mother-earth by the withering away or snapping off of the stem below.

The flax-dodder, C. Epilinum, is a very injurious plant in European flax-fields. It has been sparingly introduced into this country with flax-seed.

TRAVELLER’S JOY. VIRGIN’S BOWER. Clematis Virginiana. Crowfoot Family.

Stem.—Climbing, somewhat woody. Leaves.—Opposite, three-divided. Flowers.—Whitish, in clusters, unisexual. Calyx.—Of four petal-like sepals. Corolla.—None. Stamens and Pistils.—Indefinite in number, occurring on different plants.

In July and August this beautiful plant, covered with its white blossoms and clambering over the shrubs which border the country lanes, makes indeed a fitting bower for any maid or traveller who may chance to be seeking shelter. Later in the year the seeds with their silvery plumes give a feathery effect which is very striking.

PLATE XXXI

TRAVELLER’S JOY.—Clematis Virginiana. ]

This graceful climber works its way by means of its bending or clasping leaf-stalks. Darwin has made interesting experiments regarding the movements of the young shoots of the Clematis. He discovered that, “one revolved describing a broad oval, in five hours, thirty minutes; and another in six hours, twelve minutes; they follow the course of the sun.”

SWEET PEPPERBUSH. WHITE ALDER. Clethra alnifolia. Heath Family.

A shrub from three to ten feet high. Leaves.—Alternate, ovate, sharply toothed. Flowers.—White, growing in clustered finger-like racemes. Calyx.—Of five sepals. Corolla.—Of five oblong petals. Stamens.—Ten, protruding. Pistil.—One, three-cleft at apex.

Nearly all our flowering shrubs are past their glory by midsummer, when the fragrant blossoms of the sweet pepperbush begin to exhale their perfume from the cool thickets which line the lanes along the New England coast. There is a certain luxuriance in the vegetation of this part of the country in August which is generally lacking farther inland, where the fairer flowers have passed away, and the country begins to show the effects of the long days of heat and drought. The moisture of the air, and the peculiar character of the soil near the sea, are responsible for the freshness and beauty of many of the late flowers which we find in such a locality.

Clethra is the ancient Greek name for the alder, which this plant somewhat resembles in foliage.

THORN-APPLE. JAMESTOWN WEED. Datura Stramonium. Nightshade Family.

Stem.—Smooth and branching. Leaves.—Ovate, wavy-toothed or angled. Flowers.—White, large and showy, on short flower-stalks from the forks of the branching stem. Calyx.—Five-toothed. Corolla.—Funnel-form, the border five-toothed. Stamens.—Five. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—Green, globular, prickly.

The showy white flowers of the thorn-apple are found in waste places during the summer and autumn, a heap of rubbish forming their usual unattractive background. The plant is a rank, ill-scented one, which was introduced into our country from Asia. It was so associated with civilization as to be called the “white man’s plant” by the Indians.

Its purple-flowered relative, D. Tatula, is an emigrant from the tropics. This genus possesses narcotic-poisonous properties.

WILD BALSAM-APPLE. Echinocystis lobata. Gourd Family.