HORSE-GENTIAN ( Fcvcrwort) 



Triosteum perfoliatum L. 



June 



Hilly, open woods 

 pastures 



Tt is a strange ]il;iiit. 'I'liosteum, the horse-gen- 

 tian. In the same laniily as the honeysuckles, the 

 twinllower, tlie Vihiirnunis, and the elderheriy, 

 it seems to liave tiu' charaetoristics of none of 

 these kill. Instead, the hor.«!e-gentian grows in gorgeous solitude in the 

 diy upland pasture or the dry \\(>;)i! lot, and produces a tall, stout stalk 

 wit1\ long, l)roa(l. tapi red k-avcs flas|)ing llic downy stem. In the axils 

 of tiiese oddly shajx'd leaves are clusters oC long sepals enclosing the dark 

 maroon, tuhular llowers with their ))rotruding, greenish pistils and the 

 shorter stamens. The tlowers are an inu-onnuon color among llowers, and 

 last but a short time in ]\ray and .lune. 



"When the llowers fall away, the long, leaf-like calyx segments remain 

 in star-shajied formation around the stem, and by late summer when the 

 ])asture is dry and tlie woods are crackly with dry lieat, the horse-gentian 

 shows bright red-orange fruits in the axils of the leaves. The fruits are 

 brilliant and att lact ive, but fall away too soon for them to be used 

 ornamentally. 



The berries are often called wild coffee. More than a hundred yeai-s 

 airo in IVnnsvlvania -and no doubt elsewhere, wherever the Triosteum 

 grows — the dried and toasted fruits of "wild coffee" were used by some 

 of the Pennsylvania (Jcrmans as an acceptable substitute for that bev- 

 erage. The name has persisted to this day. 



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