Minnesota Plant Life. 359 



The sea-milkwort is found in some saline marshes in the Red 

 river valley. It is a small, branched herb, with opposite, fleshy 

 leaves, in the axils of which small, stemless, pink or white flow- 

 ers are produced. Each flower is broadly bell-shaped. 



The poor man's weather-glass or scarlet pimpernel is intro- 

 duced from Europe, in some waste fields. It has the opposite 

 leaves and open tubular flowers of its family, but the color of 

 the flowers, which are produced singly on the stems in the axils 

 of the leaves, is scarlet or pink with a darker centre. They 

 open only in the sunshine, hence the common name. 



The chafifweed, to be met with at the Pipestone quarry in 

 Pipestone county and probably elsewhere on rocks in the Min- 

 nesota valley, selects moist depressions and grows as a little 

 branched, insignificant herb with small, alternate entire leaves, 

 in the axils of which little pink, stemless flowers are produced. 

 The capsule, when it matures, splits by a circular cleft, cutting 

 off its upper portion as a lid, recalling the purslanes. 



The shooting-star may be recognized at once among all the 

 other flowering plants of the state by the curious position 

 which the petals take in the open flowers. The young flowers 

 are erect, but as they grow older the flower is inverted. When 

 they open the petals turn completely back, so that while the 

 stamens point downward, the petals, which are of a purple or 

 whitish color, have their tips directed upward. When this plant 

 begins to set its fruits, the stems of the flowers straighten again, 

 so that the tips of the young capsules point upward. The petals 

 of the open flower are often twisted, giving to the plant a 

 peculiar and characteristic appearance. 



