Indian Pipe. Corpse-plant.
Monotropa uniflora. Heath Family.
A low fleshy herb from three to eight inches high, without green foliage, of a wax-like appearance, with colorless bracts in the place of leaves. Flower.—White or pinkish, single, terminal, nodding. Calyx.—Of two to four bract-like scales. Corolla.—Of four or five wedge-shaped petals. Stamens.—Eight or ten, with yellow anthers. Pistil.—One, with a disk-like, four or five-rayed stigma.
The effect of a cluster of these nodding, wax-like flowers in the deep woods of summer is singularly fairy-like. They spring from a ball of matted rootlets, and are parasitic, drawing their nourishment from decaying vegetable matter. In fruit the plant erects itself and loses its striking resemblance to a pipe. Its clammy touch, and its disposition to decompose and turn black when handled, has earned it the name of corpse-plant. It was used by the Indians as an eye-lotion, and is still believed by some to possess healing properties.
Field Chickweed.
Cerastium arvense. Pink Family.
Four to eight inches high. Stems.—Slender. Leaves.—Linear or narrowly lance-shaped. Flowers.—White, large, in terminal clusters. Calyx.—Usually of five sepals. Corolla.—Usually of five two-lobed petals which are more than twice the length of the calyx. Stamens.—Twice as many, or fewer than the petals. Pistil.—One, with as many styles as there are sepals.
This is one of the most noticeable of the chickweeds. Its starry flowers are found in dry or rocky places, blossoming from May till July.
The common chickweed, which besets damp places everywhere, is Stellaria media; this is much used as food for songbirds.
The long-leaved stitchwort, S. longifolia, is a species which is common in grassy places, especially northward. It has linear leaves, unlike those of S. media, which are ovate or oblong.
PLATE XXI
INDIAN PIPE.—M. uniflora.