130 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



it, was in high favor with colonial dames in the period of the 

 Boston Tea Party. 



The plant's season of growth is in itself peculiar, its roots 

 lengthening very perceptibly during the late fall and early 

 winter. This makes it much better to dig them in the spring 

 than in the fall. In digging, the gatherer must don rubber 

 boots, for the runs are plashy and often one would be more 

 than ankle deep in the icy water. The cushion of sphagnum 

 moss about the base of the plants is easily dug away with the 

 garden trowel and the crisp roots broken off. The root leaves 

 of the purple avens are thick and deeply parted, with rounded 

 lobes. The tough, hairy, branching stems grow to a height 

 of two feet and their few leaves are three parted. 



In June the large purplish-brown and yellow -blotched 

 flowers are borne in loose racemes nodding and bell-like. The 

 position of the flowers like that of the hare-bell of our river 

 banks, protects its pollen and nectar from the rains and heavy 

 dews. The blossoms close at night and droop their sleepy 

 heads still lower. As in other members of the rose family, 

 the claw-like petals drop early, leaving a fuzzy seed ball. The 

 flowers welcome practically all the flying insects that care for 

 nectar or pollen. 



"O, who can tell 

 The hidden power of herbes, and might of magic spell !" 



sang Spencer in his Faerie Queen. Even down to our own 

 prosaic day the interest in the purple avens centers not a little 

 in the supernatural powers which are attributed to it. Accord- 

 ing to popular belief, friends provided with the leaves are able 

 to converse though many miles apart and speaking in the 

 faintest whispers. 



The wandering Romany bands are said to hold this plant 

 in high repute, for no sooner does a gypsy wife decide to go 

 fortune telling to a near-by town than she takes some of the 

 coarsely ground root and, steeping it, decides from the appear- 



