The perennial rootstalk is long and horizontal and throws up a single, smooth, slender stalk from 3 to 9 inches high; at the top of this stalk is a whorl of from five to ten thin, smooth, veiny light-green leaves; they are lance-shaped and sharply pointed. During May and June a solitary blossom (rarely two) appears above the whorl of leaves on a very slender pedicel. The delicate white petals are sharply pointed and range from six to eight in number. The Star Flower is found in thin woodland from Labrador to Manitoba and south to Va., Ill., and Minn.
(B) Pimpernel; Poor Man’s Weather-glass (Anagallis arvensis) (European) is a flower readily identified; in the first place there are very few red flowers to be found and no others with the shade of red of this one, a salmon or coppery-red. The square stem is smooth, slender, and rather weak, often lying prostrate on the ground. It is found in waste, sandy places especially near the coast.
LOGANIA FAMILY
(Loganiaceæ)
(A) Yellow False Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens). This beautiful vine is very common in the Southern States where it may be found climbing the trunks of trees, trailing over bushes, or even creeping over the ground. During March and April large, handsome yellow flowers appear in one-sided spikes. The blossoms are tubular-funnel form and range from 1 to 2 inches in length.
The ovate-pointed leaves, that grow oppositely on short petioles, are evergreen; the short flower spikes grow from their axils. The stem is smooth, woody, and twining. This species ranges from Va. to Fla. and Texas.
(B) Indian Pink; Pink-root (Spigelia marilandica) is an erect herb found in rich woods from Ohio and Ky. to Fla. and Texas. It is a perennial with a simple stem rising from 1 to 2 feet high. The flowers grow in a short, one-sided spike; the corolla is tubular-funnel form, five-lobed at the end, and about 1 or 2 inches in length.
GENTIAN FAMILY
(Gentianaceæ)
(A) Rose Pink (Sabatia angularis) is the most widely distributed of the Sabbatias. Whereas the rest of the tribe are confined in a range very close to the seacoast, this species is commonly found in rich ground in all the states from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic. Its period of bloom is during July and August.