SCROPHULARIACEAE FIGWORT FAMILY 
WOOD BETONY. COMMON LOUSEWORT 
Pedicularis canadensis L. 
The superstition that this plant bred lice in sheep that fed on 
on it accounts for the name Lousewort. Wood Betony is the more 
correct name. It grows in dry open woods and thickets and on 
dry open knolls and slopes from 
Nova Scotia to Manitoba, south 
to Florida, Mississippi and north- 
ern Mexico. It is sometimes 
partly parasitic on the roots of 
other plants. 
There is usually a cluster of 
very hairy stems which grow 
6-18 inches high. The leaves are 
scattered and all but the upper- 
most are petioled. The lower are 
pinnately divided and the upper 
are variously toothed and lobed. 
The blooming season is April 
to June. The yellow, though 
often reddish, flowers are pro- 
duced in a short dense spike. 
The hairy calyx is split down the 
front but is otherwise almost 
entire, though somewhat 1-sided. 
The corolla is strongly 2-lipped, 
the upper lip arched and in- 
curved, whereas the lower is 
3-lobed. The 4 stamens are 
paired within the upper lip. The 
capsule is slightly 1-sided and 
about 3 times as long as the calyx. 
The Swamp Betony, Pedicularis lanceolata Michx., grows in wet 
places, is nearly smooth throughout and 1-3 feet high. The leaves are 
doubly cut toothed and some of them are opposite. The calyx is 
2-lobed and the lobes have leaflike margins. The upper lip of the 
pale yellow corolla is incurved, and the capsule is not much longer 
than the calyx. This plant occurs from Ontario to Manitoba, south 
to Virginia, Ohio and Nebraska, and flowers from August to October. 
313 
