Some October day, as we pick our way through the salt marshes which lie back of the beach, we may spy in the distance a thicket which looks as though composed of such white-flowered shrubs as belong to June. Hastening to the spot we discover that the silky-tufted seeds of the female groundsel tree are responsible for our surprise. The shrub is much more noticeable and effective at this season than when—a few weeks previous—it was covered with its small white or yellowish flower-heads.
Grass of Parnassus.
Parnassia Caroliniana. Saxifrage Family.
Stem.—Scape-like, nine inches to two feet high, with usually one small rounded leaf clasping it below; bearing at its summit a single flower. Leaves.—Thickish, rounded, often heart-shaped, from the root. Flower.—White or cream-color, veiny. Calyx.—Of five slightly united sepals. Corolla.—Of five veiny petals. True Stamens.—Five, alternate with the petals, and with clusters of sterile gland-tipped filaments. Pistil.—One, with four stigmas.
PLATE XXXIV
GRASS OF PARNASSUS.—P. Caroliniana.
Gerarde indignantly declares that this plant has been described by blind men, not “such as are blinde in their eyes, but in their understandings, for if this plant be a kind of grasse then may the Butter-burre or Colte’s-foote be reckoned for grasses—as also all other plants whatsoever.” But if it covered Parnassus with its delicate veiny blossoms as abundantly as it does some moist New England meadows each autumn, the ancients may have reasoned that a plant almost as common as grass must somehow partake of its nature. The slender-stemmed, creamy flowers are never seen to better advantage than when disputing with the fringed gentian the possession of some luxurious swamp.
Pearly Everlasting.
Anaphilis margaritacea. Composite Family (p. [13]).
Stem.—Erect, one or two feet high, leafy. Leaves.—Broadly linear to lance-shaped. Flower-heads.—Composed entirely of tubular flowers with very numerous pearly white involucral scales.
This species is common throughout our Northern woods and pastures, blossoming in August. Thoreau writes of it in September: “The pearly everlasting is an interesting white at present. Though the stems and leaves are still green, it is dry and unwithering like an artificial flower; its white, flexuous stem and branches, too, like wire wound with cotton. Neither is there any scent to betray it. Its amaranthine quality is instead of high color. Its very brown centre now affects me as a fresh and original color. It monopolizes small circles in the midst of sweet fern, perchance, on a dry hill-side.”