Part 28

Stem.—Climbing, nearly smooth, with three-forked tendrils. Leaves.—Deeply and sharply five-lobed. Flowers.—Numerous, small, greenish-white, unisexual; the staminate ones growing in long racemes, the pistillate ones in small clusters or solitary. Fruit.—Fleshy, oval, green, about two inches long, clothed with weak prickles.

This is an ornamental climber which is found bearing its flowers and fruit at the same time. It grows in rich soil along rivers in parts of New England, Pennsylvania, and westward; and is often cultivated in gardens, making an effective arbor-vine. The generic name is from two Greek words which signify hedgehog and bladder, in reference to the prickly fruit.

WHITE ASTERS. Aster. Composite Family (p. 13).

Flower-heads.—Composed of white ray-flowers with a centre of yellow disk-flowers.

While we have far fewer species of white than of blue or purple asters, some of these few are so abundant in individuals as to hold their own fairly well against their bright-hued rivals.

The slender zigzag stems, thin, coarsely toothed, heart-shaped leaves, and white, loosely clustered flower-heads of A. corymbosus, are noticeable along the shaded roadsides and in the open woods of August.

Bordering the dry fields at this same season are the spreading wand-like branches, thickly covered with the tiny flower-heads as with snowflakes, of A. ericoides.

A. umbellatus is the tall white aster of the swamps and moist thickets. It sometimes reaches a height of seven feet, and can be identified by its long tapering leaves and large, flat flower-clusters.

A beautiful and abundant seaside species is A. multiflorus. Its small flower-heads are closely crowded on the low, bushy, spreading branches; its leaves are narrow, rigid, crowded, and somewhat hoary. The whole effect of the plant is heath-like; it also somewhat suggests an evergreen.

BONESET. THOROUGHWORT. Eupatorium perfoliatum. Composite Family (p. 13).

Stem.—Stout and hairy, two to four feet high. Leaves.—Opposite, widely spreading, lance-shaped, united at the base around the stem. Flower-heads.—Dull white, small, composed entirely of tubular blossoms borne in large clusters.

To one whose childhood was passed in the country some fifty years ago the name or sight of this plant is fraught with unpleasant memories. The attic or wood-shed was hung with bunches of the dried herb which served as so many grewsome warnings against wet feet, or any over-exposure which might result in cold or malaria. A certain Nemesis, in the shape of a nauseous draught which was poured down the throat under the name of “boneset tea,” attended such a catastrophe. The Indians first discovered its virtues, and named the plant ague-weed. Possibly this is one of the few herbs whose efficacy has not been over-rated. Dr. Millspaugh says: “It is prominently adapted to cure a disease peculiar to the South, known as break-bone fever (Dengue), and it is without doubt from this property that the name boneset was derived.”

WHITE SNAKEROOT. Eupatorium ageratoides. Composite Family (p. 13).

About three feet high. Stem.—Smooth and branching. Leaves.—Opposite, long-stalked, broadly ovate, coarsely and sharply toothed. Flower-heads.—White, clustered, composed of tubular blossoms.

Although this species is less common than boneset, it is frequently found blossoming in the rich Northern woods of late summer.

PLATE XXXII

BONESET.—E. perfoliatum. ]

CLIMBING HEMP-WEED. Mikania scandens. Composite Family (p. 13).

Stem.—Twining and climbing, nearly smooth. Leaves.—Opposite, somewhat triangular-heart-shaped, pointed, toothed at the base. Flower-heads.—Dull white or flesh-color, composed of four tubular flowers; clustered, resembling boneset.

In late summer one often finds the thickets which line the slow streams nearly covered with the dull white flowers of the climbing hemp-weed. At first sight the likeness to the boneset is so marked that the two plants are often confused, but a second glance discovers the climbing stems and triangular leaves which clearly distinguish this genus.

LADIES’ TRESSES. Spiranthes cernua. Orchis Family (p. 17).

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.

PLATE XXXIII

LADIES’ TRESSES.—S. cernua. ]

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.