Magenta to Pink 



composites are in their glory, that we give them scarcely a glance. 

 The alternate leaves, which are heart-shaped at the base and 

 pointed at the lip, suggesting those of the morning glory, are on 

 petioles arising from sheaths over the enlarged joints which, in 

 this family, are always a most prominent characteristic — {Poly 

 = manv, gonuni =■ a knee). The three outer sepals, keeled when 

 in flower, are irregularly winged when the three-angled, smooth 

 achene hangs from the matured blossom in autumn, the season 

 at which the vine assumes its greatest attractiveness. 



The Arrow-leaved Tear Thumb {P. sagittatum), found in 

 ditches and swampy wet soil, weakly leans on other plants, or 

 climbs over them with the help of the many sharp, recurved 

 prickles which arm its four-angled stem. Even the petioles and 

 under side of the leaf's midrib are set with prickles. The light 

 green leaves, that combine the lance and the arrow shapes, take on 

 a beautiful russet-red tint in autumn. The little, five-parted rose- 

 colored or greenish-white flowers grow in small, close terminal 

 heads from July to September from Nova Scotia to the Gulf and 

 far westward. 



Seaside or Coast Jointweed or Knot-grass {Polygonella arti- 

 ciilata) — Polygonum articulatum of Gray — a low, slender, wiry, 

 diffusely spreading little plant, with thread-like leaves seated on 

 its much-jointed stem, rises cleanly from out the sand of the 

 coast from Maine to Florida, and the shores of the Great Lakes. 

 Very slender racemes of tiny, nodding, rose-tinted white flowers, 

 with a dark midrib to each of the five calyx segments, are insig- 

 nificant of themselves ; but when seen in masses, from July to 

 October, they tinge the upper beaches and sandy meadows with 

 a pink blush that not a few artists have transferred to the fore- 

 ground of their marine pictures. 



Corn Cockle ; Corn Rose ; Corn or Red Cam- 

 pion ; Crown-of-the-Field 



{Agrostemma Githago) Pink familv 



{Lychnis Githago of Gray) 



Flowers — Magenta or bright purplish crimson, i to } in. broad, 

 solitary at end of long, stout footstem ; s lobes of calyx 

 leaf-like, very long and narrow, exceeding petals. Corolla of 

 5 broad, rounded petals; lo stamens; s stvles alternating with 

 calyx lobes, opposite petals. 5/('/;/ .• i to i ft. high, erect, with 

 few or no branches, leafy, the plant covered with fine white 



90 



