Part 62

Height.—About two feet. Leaves.—Roughish, the lower lobed, the upper oblong lance-shaped. Flower-heads.—Nodding, composed of greenish or cream-colored strap-shaped flowers surrounded by a greenish or purple involucre.

These plants are peculiarly decorative in late summer on account of their graceful, drooping, bell-shaped flower-heads. The flowers themselves almost escape notice, and their color is rather difficult to determine, the purplish or greenish involucre being the plants’ conspicuous feature.

The generic name is from the Greek, and signifies drooping blossom.

WILD BEAN. GROUND-NUT. Apios tuberosa. Pulse Family (p. 16).

Stem.—Twining and climbing over bushes. Leaves.—Divided into three to seven narrowly oval leaflets. Flowers.—Papilionaceous, purplish or chocolate-color, somewhat violet-scented, closely clustered in racemes.

In late summer the dark, rich flowers of the wild bean are found in short, thick clusters among the luxuriant undergrowth and thickets of low ground. The plant is a climber, bearing edible pear-shaped tubers on underground shoots, which give it its generic name signifying a pear.

CORAL-ROOT. Corallorhiza multiflora. Orchis Family (p. 17).

Rootstock.—Much branched, coral-like, toothed. Stem.—Nine to eighteen inches high, without green foliage. Flowers.—Rather small, dull brownish-purple or yellowish, sometimes mottled with red; growing in a raceme.

In the dry summer woods one frequently encounters the dull racemes of this rather inconspicuous little plant. It is often found in the immediate neighborhood of the Indian pipe and pine sap. Being, like them, without green foliage, it might be taken for an allied species by the casual observer. This is one of those orchids which are popularly considered unworthy to bear the name, giving rise to so much incredulity or disappointment in the unbotanical.

INDEX TO LATIN NAMES

Achillea Millefolium, 94

Actæa alba, 50

Actæa rubra, 52

Agrimonia Eupatoria, 156

Aletris farinosa, 86

Alisma Plantago, 98

Althæa officinalis, 206

Amelanchier oblongifolia, 22

Ampelopsis quinquefolia, 65

Amphicarpæa monoica, 262

Anagallis arvensis, 226

Anaphilis margaritacea, 112

Anemone nemorosa, 24

Anemone Virginiana, 76

Anemonella thalictroides, 26

Antennaria plantaginifolia, 32

Anthemis Cotula, 71

Aphyllon uniflorum, 236