Part 59

This beautiful genus, like that of the golden-rod, is one of the peculiar glories of our country. Every autumn these two kinds of flowers clothe our roadsides and meadows with so regal a mantle of purple and gold that we cannot but wonder if the flowers of any other region combine in such a radiant display.

IRON-WEED. Vernonia Noveboracensis. Composite Family (p. 13).

Stem.—Leafy, usually tall. Leaves.—Alternate, somewhat lance-oblong. Flower-heads.—An intense red-purple, loosely clustered, composed entirely of tubular flowers.

Along the roadsides and low meadows near the coast the iron-weed adds its deep purple hues to the color-pageant of late August. By the uninitiated the plant is often mistaken for an aster, but a moment’s inspection will discover that the minute flowers which compose each flower-head are all tubular in shape, and that the ray or strap-shaped blossoms which an aster must have are wanting. These flower-heads are surrounded by an involucre composed of small scales which are tipped with a tiny point and are usually of a purplish color also.

BLUE CURLS. BASTARD PENNYROYAL. Trichostema dichotomum. Mint Family (p. 16).

Stem.—Rather low, branching, clammy. Leaves.—Opposite, narrowly oblong or lance-shaped, glutinous, with a balsamic odor. Flowers.—Purple, occasionally pinkish, not usually clustered. Calyx.—Five-cleft, two-lipped. Corolla.—Five-lobed, the three lower lobes more or less united. Stamens.—Four, very long and curved, protruding. Pistil.—One, with a two-lobed style.

In the sandy fields of late summer this little plant attracts notice by its many purple flowers. Its corolla soon falls and exposes to view the four little nutlets of the ovary lying within the enlarged calyx like tiny eggs in their nest. Its aromatic odor is very perceptible, and the little glands with which it is covered may be seen with the aid of a magnifier. The generic name, Trichostema, signifies hairy stamens and alludes to the curved hair-like filaments.

SEA LAVENDER. MARSH ROSEMARY. Statice Caroliniana. Leadwort Family.

Stems.—Leafless, branching. Leaves.—From the root, somewhat oblong, thick. Flowers.—Lavender-color or pale purple, tiny, scattered or loosely spiked along one side of the branches. Calyx.—Dry, funnel-form. Corolla.—Small, with five petals. Stamens.—Five. Pistil.—One, with five, rarely three, styles.

In August many of the salt marshes are blue with the tiny flowers of the sea lavender. The spray-like appearance of the little plant would seem to account for its name of rosemary, which is derived from the Latin for sea-spray, but Dr. Prior states that this name was given it on account of “its usually growing on the sea-coast, and its odor.”

Blossoming with the lavender we often find the great rose mallows and the dainty sea pinks. The marsh St. John’s-wort as well is frequently a neighbor, and, a little later in the season, the salt marsh fleabane.

BLAZING STAR. Liatris scariosa. Composite Family (p. 13).

Stem.—Simple, stout, hoary, two to five feet high. Leaves.—Alternate, narrowly lance-shaped. Flower-heads.—Racemed along the upper part of the stem, composed entirely of tubular flowers of a beautiful shade of rose-purple.

These showy and beautiful flowers lend still another tint to the many-hued salt marshes and glowing inland meadows of the falling year. Gray assigns them to dry localities from New England to Minnesota and southward, while my own experience of them is limited to the New England coast, where their stout leafy stems and bright-hued blossoms are noticeable among the golden-rods and asters of September. The hasty observer sometimes confuses the plant with the iron-weed, but the two flowers are very different in color and in their manner of growth.

COMMON DITTANY. Cunila Mariana. Mint Family (p. 16).

About one foot high. Stem.—Much branched, reddish. Leaves.—Opposite, aromatic, dotted, smooth, ovate, rounded or heart-shaped at base, set close to the stem. Flowers.—Small, purple, lilac or white, clustered. Calyx.—Five-toothed. Corolla.—Small, two-lipped, the upper lip erect, usually notched, the lower three-cleft. Stamens.—Two, erect, protruding. Pistil.—One, with a two-lobed style.

In late August or early September the delicate flowers of the dittany brighten the dry, sterile banks which flank so many of our roadsides. At a season when few plants are flowering save the omnipresent members of the great Composite family these dainty though unpretentious blossoms are especially attractive. The plant has a pleasant fragrance.

PLATE XCIX

BLAZING STAR.—L. scariosa. ]

CLOSED GENTIAN. Gentiana Andrewsii. Gentian Family.

Stem.—One to two feet high, upright, smooth. Leaves.—Opposite, narrowly oval or lance-shaped. Flowers.—Blue to purple, clustered at the summit of the stem and often in the axils of the leaves. Calyx.—Four or five-cleft. Corolla.—Closed at the mouth, large, oblong. Stamens.—Four or five. Pistil.—One, with two stigmas.

Few flowers adapt themselves better to the season than the closed gentian. We look for it in September when the early waning days and frost-suggestive nights prove so discouraging to the greater part of the floral world. Then in somewhat moist, shaded places along the roadside we find this vigorous, autumnal-looking plant, with stout stems, leaves that bronze as the days advance, and deep-tinted flowers firmly closed as though to protect the delicate reproductive organs within from the sharp touches of the late year.

To me the closed gentian usually shows a deep blue or even purple countenance, although like the fringed gentian and so many other flowers its color is lighter in the shade than in the sunlight. But Thoreau claims for it a “transcendent blue,” “a splendid blue, light in the shade, turning to purple with age.” “Bluer than the bluest sky, they lurk in the moist and shady recesses of the banks,” he writes. Mr. Burroughs also finds it “intensely blue.”

FIVE-FLOWERED GENTIAN. Gentiana quinqueflora. Gentian Family.

Stem.—Slender, branching, one or two feet high. Leaves.—Opposite, ovate, lance-shaped, partly clasping. Flowers.—Pale blue, smaller than those of the closed gentian, in clusters of about five at the summit of stems and branches. Calyx.—Four or five-cleft, small. Corolla.—Funnel-form, four or five-lobed, its lobes bristle-pointed. Stamens.—Four or five. Pistil.—One, with two stigmas.

Although the five-flowered gentian is far less frequently encountered than the closed gentian, it is very common in certain localities. Gray assigns it to “moist hills” and “along the mountains to Florida.” I have found it growing in great abundance on the Shawangunk Mountains in Orange County, N. Y., where it flowers in September.

PLATE C

CLOSED GENTIAN.—G. Andrewsii. ]