Part 25

Several leaves and two or three flower spires rise from the earth together, each protected by purple-red sheaths. The sole occasion for its name lies in the quaint shape of the seed.

*Nancy-over-the Ground.* Tiarella cordifolia. *White Cool-wort (N. Y.)* *False Mitre-Wort.*

Found on wooded slopes, in moist nooks during May.

The root throws out slender runners, which bear leaves, and flowers on upright, 4- to 8-inch long, hairy stems.

The leaf is heart-shaped at the base, its lobes overlapping the stem, and the margin is cut and toothed irregularly into a faint semblance of a maple-seedling leaf; the edge is slightly curling, the noticeable ribs are hairy underneath, and the fibre is coarse; the color is green, often speckled with rusty spots.

The 5 small, pointed petals spread alternately with the 5 blunt-tipped calyx-parts; the flower is all pure white, except for the orange tips to the 10 stamens; the long, sharp-pointed pistil is conspicuous. These pretty feathery flowers, on their little foot-stems, are arranged in a loose spike, borne by the long, sometimes leafy, flower-stem.

Nancy spreads rapidly, carpeting the earth with its close-growing flat leaves above which the flower-spires rise alertly. The foliage turns brown and gray early in the summer.

*Wild Currant.* Ribes floridum.

Found in blossom in May, on the edge of thickets.

A bush, from 4 to 5 feet high, with a branching, woody stem, covered with a gray bark.

The leaf is lobed after the manner of the currant leaf, with a heart-shaped base, and toothed margin; the veins are numerous, the surface smooth, and the color a fall green. The leaves, on inch-long foot-stems, which widen at the base, and are fringed along the edges with light, weak hairs, grow in small alternate clusters on the branches.

The bell-shaped flower is 5-parted at the top, the divisions rounded and recurved; the small petals are set within the large calyx-bell, alternating with 5 tiny stamens; the color is a pale greenish-yellow. Each flower bell hangs on a short stem, with a narrow leaflet at its foot; from six to ten, or more, bells droop in a cluster, from the angles of the leaves.

The small fruit is black.

*Grass of Parnassus.* Parnassia Caroliniana.

Found in moist ground from July to September.

The flower-stems rise from a cluster of leaves to the height of 6 or 12 inches usually.

The leaf is rounding, often scoop-shaped or sometimes heart-shaped at the base, with an entire margin, and a thick, leathery texture; in color an opaque dull green. It is set on a long stem, and rises from the root.

The flower is like a shallow saucer, formed of 5 white petals which are much veined with hair lines of pale green; the green calyx is 5-parted; the pistil is green, and surrounded by 5 large-tipped stamens, which alternate with the petals, and a second circle of stamens without anthers,--all straw-color. It is borne singly on a long one-leafed stem.

ORPINE FAMILY.

CRASSULACEÆ.

*Live-for-ever.* Sedum Telephium. *Pudding-bag-plant.* *Aaron’s-rod (N. H.).* *Stone-crop.* *Witches’ money-bags (Mass.).*

Found in rocky soil, along roads and in door-yards, blossoming during August.

Its very leafy and branching stalk, from 1 to 2 feet high, is large and round and juicy; very smooth, and pale green, inclining to pink near the blossoms.

The broad, oval leaf, with its stout midrib, and slightly scalloped margin, is thick, tough, and juicy; the surface is very smooth, and the color a light gray-green, pale on the underside with a bloom, and moist to the touch. The leaves clasp the stalk alternately, and very close together, from foot to flower.

The small richly-hued flower has 5 sharp-pointed petals, which spread widely, and are colored a full crimson or garnet; the 5-parted green calyx being also toned with red. The flowers form a close, round, terminal cluster.

Shrugged down among the close gathered leaves the bloom has a jewel-like effect of glowing color, and the seed-cases take on a deep red hue which prolongs its season of beauty as a compensation for its infrequent flowering. The plant’s endurance during droughts and tenacious hold on life are remarkable; a cut stalk has been observed full of unwithered bloom a fortnight after the farmer’s scythe had swept the roadside. To children its charm lies in the power of inflation which belongs to the easily separated skin of the leaves.

SUNDEW FAMILY.

DROSERACEÆ.