Part 15

The flowers are inconspicuous, hidden by the sheath; they are of two kinds, the sterile and fertile, the former placed above, the latter consisting of four or more stamens and 2 4-celled anthers, the fertile or fruit-bearing flowers of a one-celled ovary. The fruit, when ripe, is bright scarlet, clustered round the lower part of the round fleshy scape. As the berries ripen, the hood or sheath withers and shrivels away to admit the ripening rays of heat and light to the fruit.

The root of the Indian Turnip consists of a round, wrinkled, fleshy corm, somewhat larger than that of the garden crocus; from this rises the simple scape or stem of the plant, which is sheathed with the base of the leaves. These are on long naked stalks, divided into three ovate pointed leaflets, waved at the edges.

The juices of the Indian Turnip are hot, acrid, and of a poisonous quality, but can be rendered useful and harmless by the action of heat; the roots roasted in the fire are no longer poisonous. The Indian herbalists use the Indian Turnip in medicine as a remedy in violent colic, long experience having taught them in what manner to employ this dangerous root.

The Arum belongs to a natural order, most plants of which contain an acrid poison, yet under proper care can be made valuable articles of food. Among these we may mention the roots of Colocosia mucronatum, violaceum, and others, which, under the more familiar names of EDDOES and YAMS, are in common use in tropical countries.

The juice of Arum triphyllum, our Indian Turnip, has been used, boiled in milk, as a remedy for consumption.

Portland sago is prepared from the larger species, Arum maculatum, Spotted Arum. The corm, or root, yields a fine, white, starchy powder, similar to Arrow-root, and is prepared much in the same way as potato starch. The pulp, after being ground or pounded, is thrown into clean water and stirred; the water, after settling, is poured off, and the white sediment is again submitted to the same process until it becomes quite pure, and is then dried. A pound of this starch may be made from a peck of the roots. The roots should be dried in sand before using. Thus purified and divested of its poisonous qualities, the powder so procured becomes a pleasant and valuable article of food, and is sold under the name of Portland Sago, or Portland Arrow-root.

When deprived of the poisonous acrid juices that pervade them, all our known species may be rendered valuable both as food and medicine; but they should not be employed without care and experience. The writer remembers, not many years ago, several children being poisoned by the leaves of Arum triphyllum being gathered and eaten as greens, in one of the early-settled back townships of Western Canada. The same deplorable accident happened by ignorant persons gathering the leaves of the Mandrake or May Apple (Podophyllum pellatum).

There seems in the vegetable world, as well as in the moral, two opposite principles, the good and the evil. The gracious God has given to man the power, by the cultivation of his intellect, to elicit the good and useful, separating it from the vile and injurious, thus turning that into a blessing which would otherwise be a curse.

“The Arum family possess many valuable medicinal qualities,” says Dr. Charles Lee, in his valuable work on the medicinal plants of North America, “but would nevertheless become dangerous poisons in the hands of ignorant persons.”

The useful Cassava, (Zanipha Manipor), of the West Indies and tropical America, is another remarkable instance of art overcoming nature, and obtaining a positive good from that which in its natural state is evil. The Cassava, from the flour of which the bread made by the natives is manufactured, being the starchy parts of a poisonous plant of the Euphorbia family, the milky juice of which is highly acrid and poisonous. The pleasant and useful article sold in the shops under the name of tapioca is also made from the Cassava root.

* * * * *

NAT. ORD. COMPOSITÆ.

CONE FLOWER. Rudbeckia fulgida.

THE Cone Flower is one of the handsomest of our rayed flowers. The gorgeous flaming orange dress, with the deep purple disk of almost metallic lustre, is one of the ornaments of all our wild open prairie-like plains during the hot months of July, August and September. We find the Cone Flower on the sunny spots among the wild herbage of grassy thickets, associated with the wild Sunflowers, Asters and other plants of the widely diffused Composite Order.

During the harvest months, when the more delicate spring flowers are ripening their seed, our heat-loving Rudbeckias, Chrysanthemums, Sunflowers, Coreopsises, Ox-eyes, and Asters, are lifting their starry heads to greet the light and heat of the sun’s ardent rays, adorning the dry wastes, gravelly and sandy hills, and wide grassy plains, with their gay blossoms;

“Bright flowers that linger as they fall. Whose last are dearest.”

Many of these compound flowers possess medicinal qualities. Some, as the thistle, dandelion, wild lettuce, and others, are narcotic, being supplied with an abundance of bitter milky juice. The Sunflower, Coreopsis, Cone-Flower, Tagweed, and Tansy, contain resinous properties.

The beautiful Aster family, if not remarkable for any peculiarly useful qualities, contains many highly ornamental plants. Numerous species of these charming flowers belong to our Canadian flora; lingering with us

“When fairer flowers are all decayed,”

brightening the waste places and banks of lakes and lonely streams with starry flowers of every hue and shade—white, pearly blue, and deep purple; while the Solidagoes (golden rod), are celebrated for the valuable dyes that are yielded by their deep golden blossoms. But to return to the subject of our artist’s plate, the Cone Flower:

The plant is from one to three feet in height, the stem simple, or branching, each branchlet terminating in a single head. The rays are of a deep orange colour, varying to yellow; the leaves broadly lanceolate, sometimes once or twice lobed, partly clasping the rough, hairy stem, hoary and of a dull green, few and scattered. The scales of the chaffy disk are of a dark, shining purple, forming a somewhat depressed cone. This species, with a slenderer-stemmed variety, with rays of a golden yellow, are to be met with largely diffused over the Province.

Many splendid species of the Cone Flower are to be found in the wide-spread prairies of the Western States, where their brilliant starry flowers are mingled with many a gay blossom known only to the wild Indian hunter, and the herb-seeking medicine men of the native tribes, who know their medicinal and healing qualities, if they are insensible to their outward beauties.

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

Captitalization of genus and species names is inconsistant and has been left as in the original. Hyphenation of some plant names and use of apostrophes in some names is inconsistent and have been left as in the original. Modern spelling of common and Latin names differs in some cases but spelling of names has been left as in the original. Obvious type-setting errors and punctuation have been corrected without note. Other corrections have been noted below.

Plates for this book were used for previous publications by the same authors, one being Canadian Wild Flowers. The plates were used in a different order in this book and as a result some numbers printed on the plates did not match the Table of Contents. Therefore, some plate numbers in the text have been changed to match the Table of Contents. Those changes are noted below.

page 7, day at Waltham Abby. ==> day at Waltham Abbey. plate, PLATE X. ==> PLATE I. page 14, pointed involcure are ==> pointed involucre are plate, PLATE III. ==> PLATE II. page 31, supports the stigmata. ==> supports the stigma. plate, PLATE IV. ==> PLATE III. plate, PLATE II. ==> PLATE IV. page 42, few that are were ornamental ==> few that are more ornamental plate, PLATE VI. ==> PLATE V. plate, PLATE V. ==> PLATE VI. plate, PLATE I. ==> PLATE X.