Minnesota Plant Life. 379 



shade, or potato-bug plant, is covered over with prickles both 

 upon the leaves and upon the stem. Even the berry is very 

 prickly. This plant, having been introduced from the west, 

 is sometimes found along railway tracks, and it has the unen- 

 viable distinction of being the original food of the potato-bug. 

 From it, a few decades ago, when potato cultivation began to 

 be undertaken in Iowa and Nebraska, this destructive insect 

 migrated to the fields. The climbing nightshade has stems 

 from two to eight feet long. The leaves are heart-shaped, often 

 W'ith two leaflets at the base. The flowers are bluish in appear- 

 ance and like those of the potato or tomato, while the berry is 

 red and as large as the end of one's thumb. 



Jimson-weeds. The jimson-weeds, which occur sparingly as 

 introduced forms in the southern part of the state, are tall, 

 unpleasant-smelling herbs, usually three or four feet high. The 

 flowers are large, sometimes two inches broad, shaped rather 

 like morning-glory flowers, but more deeply notched along the 

 edge. The capsule, an inch in length, is prickly and bursts 

 irregularly. 



Wild tobacco. Wild tobacco is found in the vicinity of In- 

 dian reservations, having escaped from their fields. The flow- 

 ers are petunia-like and the leaves are broadly ovate and smooth 

 along the edge. A many-seeded capsule, splitting longitudi- 

 nally into two halves, forms the fruit. 



Figworts. Nearly fifty different varieties of figworts are 

 known to occur in Minnesota. Here are classified the mulleins, 

 the toad-flaxes, the turtle-heads, the monkeyflowers and snap- 

 dragons, the false pimpernel, speedwells, G"r;'flr^/a.y, Indian pinks, 

 cow-wheats, louseworts and yellow-rattles. Figworts may be dis- 

 tinguished from mints, for which they might be mistaken, by 

 their generally cylindrical stems and their two-chambered, or 

 rare.y cne-chambered capsular fruits, different in appearance 

 from the deeply four-lobed, or four-nutleted fruits of the mints. 

 Mullein fruits are, in their structure, typical of the figwort 

 family. The flowers, however, are, for the most part, strongly 

 two-lipped, recalHng those of the mints, but the aromatic, 

 minty odor is absent. 



Mulleins. Mulleins — common plants in fields and pastures 

 — are well-known on account of their woolly leaves, which 



