MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 109 



in pasturage they increased the milk of cows. The 

 milkwort Howers all summer, 



Seneca Snakeroot. Senega, or seneca snakeroot, is anoth- 

 Poh,.jala tiauga. gj. member of the Poljgala family, 

 which is common in the West. Its Howers are 

 white and small, and are clustered in a simple ter- 

 minal spike. The plant is about ten inches high, 

 and the lance-ovate leaves follow the stem in alter- 

 nate positions ; the flowers appear in late spring. 

 Senega is used for medicinal purposes, and is often 

 given in the form of a sirup for a cough. P. poly- 

 gama is still another common variety of milkwort, 

 which is found in sandy places. Its insignificant 

 crimson-pink flowers, of a deep hue, are hardly as 

 handsome as Gray would lead us to suppose. But 

 the useful, fertile flowers of this plant are borne on 

 short underground runners, and are still less con- 

 spicuous. The little plant blooms all summer. P. 

 lutea is an orange-yellow variety common in sandy 

 swamps southward. Its leaves grow alternately on a 

 low stem which is terminated by a single flower head. 

 In^an The Indian CUCUmbei'-root, which re- 



Cucumber-Root, ceives its name from the taste of the 

 ■' tuberous, liorizontal, and white root 



stalk, flowers in early summer ; but the blossom is very 

 unattractive, and it is only in September, when the 

 beautiful dark purple berries appear in clusters of 



