PLANTAIN FAMILY
(Plantaginaceæ)
(A) Common Plantain (Plantago major) is a very familiar weed about ill-kept dooryards. The leaves are large and spreading; broad-oblong, on long, troughed stems that radiate from the root.
The flower stalk rises to about the same height as the next, but the flower-head is very long. The tiny white flowers open in circles about this head, slowly making their way toward the top in their succession of bloom, which lasts from June until September.
(B) English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). The leaves all radiate from the base; they are lanceolate, sharply pointed, and set on long, troughed stems.
The flower stem is stiff and smooth and attains heights of 6 to 18 inches. The head is short and studded with tiny, four-parted, dull-white flowers, with long, slender stamens. There are often perfect staminate and pistillate flowers on the same plant. It is now as abundant in all parts of our range as it is in its native European home.
MADDER FAMILY
(Rublaceæ)
(A) Bluets; Innocence (Houstonia cærulea). These are very dainty and beautiful little plants that decorate our fields profusely from April until July. The stems are very slender, about 3 to 6 inches tall, and have a few pairs of tiny leaves; larger leaves appear in tufts from the base. The perianth is slender and the lobes flare widely; the corolla is about one half inch in width, white, with the ends of the lobes pale blue or violet, and stained with yellow toward the centre of the flower.
(B) Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) is a most beautiful little trailing vine with rounded, opposite, white-veined leaves along the creeping stem, that extends 6 to 12 inches from the root. Two beautiful little four-parted, bell-shaped flowers terminate each branch. They are downy white within, and pinkish and smooth on the outside. They have a fragrance similar to that of the [Water Lily]. A double red berry replaces the flowers in fall. It is common in woods throughout our range.
