YELLOW FALSE FOXGLOVE 



Auteolaria gtand'iRora (Benth.) Pennell 



Woods The yellow false foxglove is a splendid addition to the 



July - August .summer woodland flora of Illinois. 



On the hogback ridge where the black oaks and 

 ironwoods grow in heavy clay soil, the graceful plants of the yellow 

 false foxglove stand tall in the splashy sun and shadow of the ridge 

 woods. The foxglove plant has many willowy stems three feet tall or 

 more, abundantly leafy with leaves deeply toothed, somewhat folded, 

 grey-green ; in the axils of the leaves are the bright buttercup-yellow buds. 

 At first they are round. Then they elongate and open as a large tubular 

 blossom often two to three inches long, witli a broad, open face of five 

 petal divisions and a deep, shining, golden throat. The flower glistens 

 much as a buttercup or a marsh marigold does, and is almost like a 

 garden flower misplaced there in the oak country or dry clay soil of the 

 hogback. But the yellow false foxglove could not live in tlie garden. 

 This plant is a semi-])arasite on the roots of oak trees, and such parasites 

 are firmly anchored to their chosen host in their chosen haunt and can- 

 not be moved. Unlike many tnie parasites, the false foxglove has green 

 leaves which manufacture most of theii- own food. The roots are fas- 

 tened to the roots of tlio host, from which some food and moisture are 

 obtained. 



In August and September the yellow false foxglove opens its dra- 

 matically beautiful flowers; they turn brown and drop away, and more 

 buds open during a i)eriod of several weeks. The interesting, blackened 

 stalks of seed pods remain all winter. 



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