Minnesota Plant Life. 



261 



three feet across. The common coxcombs of the country 

 fiower-garden are relatives of this, and the redroot pigweed, 

 a famihar barn-yard plant, is another closely related form. Still 

 another amaranth g-ro\YS flat upon the ground in dooryards and 

 along the roadside, in its appearance somewhat resembling purs- 

 lane. 



Water-hemp. The water-hemp which grows in swamps has 

 flower clusters reminding one of the common amaranth of the 

 dooryard. The leaves are slender and willow-shaped, while 

 the habitats selected by the plant are preferably the gravelly 

 shores of lakes or rivers in the southern part of the state. 



Pokeweeds. The poke- 

 weed family is represented 

 in Minnesota by a single 

 species that occurs in the 

 southern part of the state 

 rather rarely. In this plant 

 the fruit is a black berry 

 with from five to fifteen 

 chambers, one seed in each 

 chamber. The root is poi- 

 sonous, and the whole plant 

 has a strong, unpleasant 

 odor. It may always be 

 recognized by the division 

 of its stem-pith into disks 

 separated from each other 

 by cavities. 



Four-o'clocks. The four-o'clocks are represented by three 

 species known as umbrella-worts, and remarkable for the in- 

 volucre which stands below the pink or reddish flow^ers. Three 

 to five flowers occur in a single circular involucre which, when 

 the fruits develop, becomes enlarged and papery. The flower- 

 ing area in this order is more ornamental than that of former 

 families ; yet there are no petals, the colored portion being of 

 the nature of calyx. 



Carpetweeds. The carpetweed family is represented in ]^Iin- 

 nesota by the common carpetweed, a mat-plant forming pros- 

 trate disks of vegetation, made up of the much branching, flat, 



Fig. 122. Carpetweed After IJritton and Brown. 



