(B) Hedge Nettle; Wound-wort (Stachys palustris) is a tall mint (1 to 3 feet) with a downy-bristly stem and purple, tubular, two-lipped flowers in a terminal spike and from the axils of the upper leaves; lower lip streaked and spotted. Common in moist ground from N. S. to Manitoba and southward.
Oswego Tea; Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) is one of our most brilliantly colored wild flowers. It grows along the shady borders of woodland streams or pools where its vivid coloring is in strong contrast with the deep greens of the surrounding vegetation. The stem is hairy and rather rough; it attains heights of two feet or more. The short-stemmed, broad lance-shaped leaves are light green, sharply toothed, and rather thin.
The flowers grow in rounded terminal heads, composed of numerous long, tubular, scarlet florets. The upper lip is long, arched, pointed, and often notched at the tip; the lower lip is three-parted, the middle one being longer than the side ones.
Nectar, seated at the base of the long tube, can only be reached by long-tongued insects. Best adapted to it are bumblebees and certain of the butterflies. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, too, attracted to this, his favorite color, often partakes of the sweets. From July until September this beautiful species blooms in suitable localities from Quebec to Manitoba and southward to Ga. and Mo.
NIGHTSHADE FAMILY
(Solanaceæ)
(A) Bittersweet; Nightshade (Solanum Dulcamara) (European), although an immigrant, is quite common in the eastern half of our country. It chooses for its habitat moist thickets or the edges of ponds where there are plenty of shrub to help support it, for this species has weak stems.
The dark-green leaves are variable in form; some are lobed, others have small lateral leaflets, and still others have another pair of still smaller leaflets on the leaf stem. The flowers hang in loose clusters on long peduncles from the axils of the leaves. This species blooms from June until September.
(B) Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum) is a native species with a smooth, erect, branching stem 1 to 2 feet high. The long-stemmed ovate leaves have a wavy-lobed edge. The five-parted white flowers grow in few-flowered clusters from the leaf axils, the round berries are black when fully ripe, and are quite poisonous. This species is found throughout our range.