A low fleshy herb without green foliage; tawny, reddish, or whitish. Flowers.—Resembling in structure those of the Indian pipe, but clustered in a raceme.
The pine sap is a parasitic plant which is closely allied to the Indian pipe (Pl. XXI.). Its clustered flowers are usually fragrant. The plant is commonly of a somewhat tawny hue, but occasionally one finds a bright red specimen. It flourishes in oak or pine-woods from June till August.
Rattlesnake-root.
Prenanthes alba.
Height.—Two to four feet. Leaves.—The lower cleft or toothed, the uppermost oblong and undivided. Flower-heads.—Nodding, composed of white or greenish strap-shaped flowers surrounded by a purplish involucre.
Lion’s Foot. Gall-of-the-Earth.
Prenanthes serpentaria. Composite Family (p. [13]).
Height.—About two feet. Leaves.—Roughish, the lower lobed, the upper oblong lance-shaped. Flower-heads.—Nodding, composed of greenish or cream-colored strap-shaped flowers surrounded by a greenish or purple involucre.
These plants are peculiarly decorative in late summer on account of their graceful, drooping, bell-shaped flower-heads. The flowers themselves almost escape notice, and their color is rather difficult to determine, the purplish or greenish involucre being the plants’ conspicuous feature.
The generic name is from the Greek, and signifies drooping blossom.
Wild Bean. Ground-nut.
Apios tuberosa. Pulse Family (p. [16]).
Stem.—Twining and climbing over bushes. Leaves.—Divided into three to seven narrowly oval leaflets. Flowers.—Papilionaceous, purplish or chocolate-color, somewhat violet-scented, closely clustered in racemes.