Part 59

Found growing from the roots of beech trees, in August, through October.

The tough, branching stalk, from 6 to 12 inches high, is brown, inclining to reddish.

There are no leaves, and only a few dry, and unnoticeable scales occur occasionally on the stalk.

The flowers are of two kinds, the upper sterile ones have long, small, 4-notched tubes, and are dull purplish and yellowish-brown in color; the lower seed-bearing flowers appear always as small buds. They are set on short foot-stems, and are irregularly scattered along the branches.

This is a parasite, drawing its life from the root of the beech; where it looks like a dry or dead twig sticking up from the ground. It emits a most unpleasant odor.

VERVAIN FAMILY.

VERBENACEÆ.

*Blue Vervain.* Verbena hastata.

Found in dry grounds, waysides and fields, in July and August.

The large stalk, from 4 to 6 feet in height, is 4-angled and grooved down the sides; it is stout, roughish, and green.

The short-stemmed leaf is long, narrow, and tapering, with a sharply toothed margin, a strongly curved midrib, and a coarse texture, with a roughish surface; in color dark green. The lower leaves are more or less 3-cleft. The arrangement is opposite.

The small tubular corolla is 5-parted, and colored a rich dark blue-purple; the green of the calyx is also tinged with purple. The flowers grow in slender spires, which are grouped in an open pyramidal cluster on the top of the stalk.

The flowers at the foot of the cluster open first, only a few at a time; as the flowering continues upward there is left behind an ever-lengthening line of purple tinged calices which add greatly to the beauty of the bloom, and supply the unifying color in the general scheme of purple and green. Seen in masses, illumined by the sunlight, the color is rarely dark and rich. The bumble bee is a devoted friend to the Vervain, and may often be seen in the early evening, sleepily clinging to the flowery spire he has chosen for his night’s lodging.

*White Vervain.* Verbena urticæfolia. *Nettle-leaved Vervain.*

Found in waste places and roadsides, from July to September.

The branching stalk grows from 1 to 2 feet high, and is 4-sided, each side being grooved down its middle; it is strong-fibred, and rough-hairy, and green.

The oval leaf tapers to the tip, is coarsely toothed, and loose-fibred; its surface is hairy, and its color dark green. The leaves, on short stems, are placed upon the stalk in pairs.

The small, inconspicuous, white flower is 5-pointed. They are clustered in long slender spires, from the top of the stalk, and the angles of the upper leaves.

The leafage of the White Vervain bears a resemblance to the noxious Nettle, that at first sight would lead us to condemn the plant as unworthy; a closer observation bestowed upon the graceful gesture of its flowering spires will rescue its name from the limbo of “weeds.”

*Lop-seed.* Phryma Leptostachya.

Found in light woods in July.

The large stout stalk bears slender branches, grows from 3 to 4 feet in height, and is square, hollow, and woody-fibred; it is smooth, or covered sparsely with small hairs, and grooved at the joints. Green, dashed with bronze, the branches sometimes purplish.

The lower leaves are large, broadly oval, and tapering to a sharp point, and sit on long trough-like stems; the upper are small and narrow. They have irregularly toothed margins, are thin in texture, and hairy; green in color. They are set on the stalk in pairs with a noticeable joint, the pairs occurring at right angles, and at a considerable distance apart.

The very small corolla is 2-lipped; the lower lip is 3-parted, the upper and smaller being 2-parted, and their color is light crimson with a violet tint; the long, dull green calyx is 2-divided, the upper division being longer, with 3 curving crimson tips. The flowers are arranged in pairs, at right angles to each other, in slender spikes, whose long stems bear one or two pairs of little leaves midway their length.

The blackish seed-pod is the oddest feature of this plant; it is grooved, and sharply turns down upon the stem, its little curved hooks bristling with expectation of getting a clutch upon a wayfarer.

MINT FAMILY.

LABIATÆ.

*Gill-over-the-Ground.* Nepeta Glechoma. *Ground Ivy.* *Robin-run-away.* *Creeping Charlie.*