Whitlow-grass.
Draba verna. Mustard Family (p. [17]).
Scapes.—One to three inches high. Leaves.—All from the root, oblong or lance-shaped. Flowers.—White, with two-cleft petals. Pod.—Flat, varying from oval to oblong, lance-shaped.
This little plant may be found flowering along the roadsides and in sandy places during April and May. It has come to us from Europe.
Shepherd’s Purse.
Capsella Bursa-pastoris. Mustard Family (p. [17]).
Stem.—Low, branching. Root-leaves.—Clustered, incised or toothed. Stem-leaves.—Arrow-shaped, set close to the stem. Flowers.—White, small, in general structure resembling other members of the Mustard family. Pod.—Triangular, heart-shaped.
This is one of the commonest of our wayside weeds, working its way everywhere with such persistency and appropriating other people’s property so shamelessly, that it has won for itself the nickname of pickpocket. Its popular title arose from the shape of its little seed-pods.
May-apple. Mandrake.
Podophyllum peltatum. Barberry Family.
Flowering stem.—Two-leaved, one-flowered. Flowerless stems.—Terminated by one large, rounded, much-lobed leaf. Leaves (of flowering stems).—One-sided, five to nine-lobed, the lobes oblong, the leaf-stalks fastened to their lower side near the inner edge. Flower.—White, large, nodding from the fork made by the two leaves. Calyx.—Of six early falling sepals. Corolla.—Of six to nine rounded petals. Stamens.—Twice as many as the petals. Pistil.—One, with a large, thick stigma set close to the ovary. Fruit.—A large, fleshy, egg-shaped berry, sweet and edible.
“The umbrellas are out!” cry the children, when the great green leaves of the May-apple first unfold themselves in spring. These curious-looking leaves at once betray the hiding-place of the pretty but unpleasantly odoriferous flower which nods beneath them. They lie thickly along the woods and meadows in many parts of the country, arresting one’s attention by the railways. The fruit, which ripens in July, has been given the name of “wild lemon,” in some places on account of its shape. It was valued by the Indians for medicinal purposes, and its mawkish flavor still seems to find favor with the children, notwithstanding its frequently unpleasant after-effects. The leaves and roots are poisonous if taken internally, and are said to have been used as a pot-herb, with fatal results. They yield an extract which has been utilized in medicine.