SCROPHULARIACEAE FIGWORT FAMILY 
DOWNY FALSE FOXGLOVE 
Gerardia flava L. 
The Downy False Foxglove is found in dry openings in woods 
and thickets from Maine to Ontario and Wisconsin, south to 
Georgia and Mussissippi. It is perennial and partly parasitic on 
the roots of other plants. 
The whole plant is covered Oy f) 
with a soft close down. The stem yy 
is simple or sparingly branched \ 
and 2-4 feet high. The leaves are = 
quite variable, the upper usually (/ i 
entire and the lower variously ‘ei 
cut and toothed. All are usually he 
opposite but sometimes in whorls 
of 3. 
The Foxgloves bloom from 
July to September. 
The 5 lobes of the 
calyx are about as 
long as the tube. The 
corolla is yellow and VY 
smooth outside. The f 
4 stamens are quite hairy and in pairs. 
The capsule is hairy and about twice 
as long as the calyx. 
The Smooth False Foxglove, Gerardia 
virginica (L.) BSP., has flowers very 
much like those of the downy species except that the corolla is not 
so widely expanded above. The plant is somewhat larger, being 3-6 
feet tall, and is not downy. The leaves are usually petioled and much 
more deeply cut. None are entire. The capsule is without hairs. 
The Entire-leaved False Foxglove, Gerardia laevigata Rat., 
differs from the Smooth False Foxglove principally in having entire 
leaves, or at most the lowest obscurely toothed. The pedicels are 
shorter than the calyx tube and there is no bloom on the stems as 
commonly appears on the smooth species. 
A fairy, cradled in each bloom, “Leave me to blossom where I 
To all who pass the charmed sprung, | 
spot A joy untarnished shall I seem; 
Whispers in warning: “Friend, Pluck me, and you dispel the 
admire— charm af 
But touch me not! And blur the dream! 
Jewelweed—FLORENCE EARLE COATES 
eat 
