Part 32

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.

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.

PLATE XLI

INDIAN CUCUMBER-ROOT.—M. Virginiana. ]

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).