We may search for these graceful, delicately tinted flowers in the rocky woods of April and May.
Nearly allied to them is the wild sweet William, P. maculata, the pink-purple blossoms of which are found along the streams and in the rich woods of somewhat southern localities.
The beautiful moss pink, P. subulata, is also a member of this genus. This little evergreen heath-like plant clothes the dry hill-sides with a glowing mantle of purple-pink every spring, Southern New York being probably its most northerly range in our Eastern States. Great masses of these flowers may be seen covering the rocks in the Central Park in May.
The pink or whitish clusters of P. glaberrima are found in the open woods and prairies somewhat westward in July.
Robin’s Plantain. Blue Spring-daisy.
Erigeron bellidifolius. Composite Family (p. [13]).
Stem.—Simple, hairy, producing offsets from the base. Root-leaves.—Somewhat rounded or wedge-shaped. Stem-leaves.—Somewhat oblong, lance-shaped, partly clasping. Flower-heads.—Rather large, on slender flower-stalks, composed of both strap-shaped and tubular flowers, the former (ray-flowers) bluish-purple, the latter (disk-flowers) yellow.
This is one of the earliest members of the Composite family to make its appearance, that great tribe being usually associated with the late summer months. The flower might easily be taken for a purple aster which had mistaken the season, or for a blue daisy, as one of its common names suggests. E. Philadelphicus is a later very similar species with smaller flower-heads.
One-flowered Cancer-root.
Aphyllon uniflorum. Broom-Rape Family.
Scape.—Slender, fleshy, three to five inches high, one-flowered. Leaves.—None. Flower.—Pale purple, solitary, one inch long, with a delicate fragrance. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—Somewhat two-lipped, with two yellow bearded folds in the throat. Stamens.—Four. Pistil.—One.
In April or May the odd pretty flower of the parasitic one-flowered cancer-root is found in the damp woodlands.