YELLOW PIMPERNEL 



Taenidia integecrima (L.) Drudc 



May 111 M;iy there comes a thin, tenuous, delieate plant. 



Hilly, dry woods to the dry, wooded hillsides. It is a graceful plant 



whose long tajiroot ap|)arently goes endlessly into 

 the gravelly clay soil of thr oak liill. Now in May when the migrating 

 warhlers swarm through the iiew-leal'ed oak>. tin- yeUow pimi)ernel is 

 in hloom. 



De.>ipitc its name, the yellow j)impernel actually is a member of the 

 parsnip family, hut in contrast to that usually lusty tribe, the pimpernel 

 is a graceful, slender, airy ])lant. Its foliage often reminds one of the 

 ap|)earance and manner of growth of the loyal fern (Osmunda rcgaJis). 

 liut the ilowei' clust(M's reveal the plant's true lineage. In these tiny 

 yellow ilowers wlii( h arc hornc in sparse heads in a s|)reading. air}- umbel, 

 one sees that they are typically parsnip ilowers. They are graceful enough, 

 however, for (K'casional llowcr-gatherers to ])ick a few for a bouquet, to 

 the pickers' chagrin and disgust when the charming little blossoms with 

 their neat foliage |»i-oiiiptly wilt ilown into an unreviving mass of limp 



greenerv. 



'J'he yellow ))ini|)crnel belongs there in the gravelly hillside woods. 

 de<']> under the oak shade, where the often barren slopes arc covered 

 with the pleasant greenery of its leaves and the faint ijcrfume of its- 

 llowers. Abovo in the oaks the redstarts Hit and call. The tiny bright 

 birds from the South American jungles will nest nearby in some inacc(>s- 

 sible oak top, and may Hit down. down. down, branch by branch and 

 twig by twig, to daijitily pick gnats from the air ai>ove the pimpernels. 



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