404 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



of the leaves show a tendency to point either north or south. 



One observing the plant carefully can easily see that the leaf- 

 area as a whole exposes its sur- 

 face toward the east and toward 

 the west. The blue-flowered va- 

 rieties, some of them wand-plants 

 from three to twelve feet in 

 lieight, are known by the copious 

 heads of small blue flowers ar- 

 ranged in compound panicles. 

 They are common at the edges of 

 woods. 



A curious little flower, known 

 as Lygodcsniia, is a desert plant 

 with rigid branching stem about 

 a foot in height, and with small, 



Fig. 197. Rattlesnake-root. After Britten awl-sliapcd IcaVCS and floWCrS iu 



pink heads of from three to 

 twelve, giving to the whole cluster quite the appearance of a 

 small carnation. It is a wanderer from the iilains of the south- 

 west. The Xothocalais and 

 its relatives are prairie 

 plants with grass-like 

 leaves and dandelion-like 

 heads. The rattlesnake- 

 roots, some varieties of 

 which are abundant in the 

 Minnesota woods and in 

 shaded ravines, may l)c 

 known by their lieads of 

 flowers, nodding in the 

 common forms, arranged 

 in panicles and of a j)ink 

 or purplish color. ( )ne 

 of these with curiously 

 triangular leaves is abun- 

 dant in deep woods, flow- 

 ering in autumn, and with 

 its mature fruits surmounted by a dcej) brown tuft of pappus 

 hairs. 



I'M. CiH-kkbtir. Aher Urilton and Blown 



