[WILD GINGER—Asarum caudatum.]

COMMON MILKWEED. SILKWEED.

Asclepias Mexicana, Cav. Milkweed Family.

Stems.—Three to five feet high; slender. Leaves.—Mostly whorled and fascicled; linear-lanceolate; short-petioled; two to six inches long. Peduncles.—Erect; slender; often in whorls. Flowers.—Very small and numerous; in umbels; white and lavender. Corolla-lobes.—Two lines long. Anthers.—Twice the filament column. Horns.—Awl-shaped; arising from below the middle of the ovate hoods, and conspicuously curved over the stigma. Pods.—Slender; spindle-shaped. (Structure otherwise as in Gomphocarpus.) Hab.—Throughout the State, and beyond its borders.

This is one of our most widely distributed milkweeds, and may be found blossoming along our dusty roadsides and through the fields in early summer. Its stems are tall and wandlike with long, narrow leaves, and its little blossoms are very trim. Its distaff-shaped pods, with their beautiful silken down, are familiar objects, much beloved by the children, and are sought by older people who utilize them in many dainty ways.

CHICORY. SUCCORY. WILD BACHELOR'S-BUTTON.

Cichorium Intybus, L. Composite Family.

Stems.—Two to five feet high; much branched. Leaves.—Alternate; the lower oblong or lanceolate, partly clasping, sometimes sharply incised; the upper reduced to bracts. Flower-heads.—Bright blue; sessile; two or three together in the axils of the leaves or terminal; of ray-flowers only. Rays.—Ten lines long; about two wide; notched at the tip. Bracts of the involucre in two series; green. Hab.—Escaped from cultivation in many places.