236 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIP]LD AND GARDEN. 



Garget. I" September the handsome purple 



Phytolacca decandra. berries of the garget plant appear, 

 hanging their dark clusters against the hazy 

 olive foliage of early autumn. In summer 

 the rather inconspicuous white flowers, 

 which grow on slender stems and some- 

 what resemljle 

 the white lilac, 

 are not apt to 

 attract notice ; 

 but the berries 



are really beautiful and do not fail to catch 

 the eye. The name Phytolacca is a com- 

 bination of an incorrect Greek word for 

 plant with the French word lac (lake), 

 which was derived from the crimson character of the 

 berry juice. The juice has been used for coloring 

 purposes, but unsuccessfully, as it fades. Garget 

 reaches a height of from six to nine feet, and grows 

 in the thickets where the ground is low. 



The closed or bottle gentian is an 

 inhabitant of the woods northward. 

 Its flowers are like tiny thick ten- 

 pins in shape, and are often a very good blue. The 

 blue flower, however, is a creation of the imagina- 

 tion ; in reality it does not exist, and the so-called 

 blue is often a decided violet of dilute character ; 



Garget. 



Closed or Bottle 

 Crentian. 



Gentiana Andrewsii. 



