Part 35

——— ——— 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.

PLATE XLVIII

YELLOW STAR-GRASS.—H. erecta. ]

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.