PLATE LXVI
MILKWORT.
“I must not forget to mention that delicate and lovely flower of May, the fringed polygala. You gather it when you go for the fragrant showy orchis—that is, if you are lucky enough to find it. It is rather a shy flower, and is not found in every wood. One day we went up and down through the woods looking for it—woods of mingled oak, chestnut, pine, and hemlock,—and were about giving it up when suddenly we came upon a gay company of them beside an old wood-road. It was as if a flock of small rose-purple butterflies had alighted there on the ground before us. The whole plant has a singularly fresh and tender aspect. Its foliage is of a slightly purple tinge and of very delicate texture. Not the least interesting feature about the plant is the concealed fertile flower which it bears on a subterranean stem, keeping, as it were, one flower for beauty and one for use.”
It seems unnecessary to tempt “odorous comparisons” by endeavoring to supplement the above description of Mr. Burroughs.
Moss Polygala.
Polygala cruciata. Milkwort Family.
Stems.—Three to ten inches high, almost winged at the angles, with spreading opposite leaves and branches. Leaves.—Linear, nearly all whorled in fours. Flowers.—Greenish or purplish-pink, growing in short, thick spikes which terminate the branches.
There is something very moss-like in the appearance of this little plant which blossoms in late summer. It is found near moist places and salt marshes along the coast, being very common in parts of New England.
Spreading Dogbane. Indian Hemp.
Apocynum androsæmifolium. Dogbane Family.
Stems.—Erect, branching, two or three feet high. Leaves.—Opposite, oval. Flowers.—Rose-color veined with deep pink, loosely clustered. Calyx.—Five-parted. Corolla.—Small, bell-shaped, five-cleft. Stamens.—Five, slightly adherent to the pistil. Pistil.—Two ovaries surmounted by a large, two-lobed stigma. Fruit.—Two long and slender pods.
PLATE LXVII
SPREADING DOGBANE.—A. androsæmifolium.