The American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature 1 has approved 

 woodbetony as the English generic name for the cultivated species of Pcdicu- 

 laris; however, in the West, woodbetony is very rarely, if ever, used as a name 

 for the native species. We are advised that fernleaf, the English generic name 

 adopted here, will replace woodbetony in the second edition of Standardized 

 Plant Names, now in preparation. 



Of the approximately 30 species of fernleaf (all perennial) occurring in the 

 Western States, the majority grown in the mountains from the ponderosa-pine 

 belt to above timber line. They are found in a wide variety of sites, most 

 species being partial to moist soils, although a few occur in relatively dry 

 situations. As a rule, fernleafs are not abundant on the range. These plants 

 vary in palatability from practically worthless to, at best, fair forage for live- 

 stock, being more palatable to sheep than to cattle. 



The genus belongs to the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) and is distin- 

 guished by the spurless, strongly two-lipped corolla ; the upper lip hooded or 

 arched (galeate), sometimes beaked or toothed at the tip; the lower lip erect or 

 ascending, three-lobed with its lobes commonly spreading, the lateral ones being 

 rounded and larger. The calyx is cleft on the lower side and two- to five-lobed. 

 The four stamens, with pollen sacs all alike, are in two pairs, ascending under 

 the upper lip of the corolla. The leaves are alternate, opposite, or whorled (in 

 the western species prevailingly alternate), often tufted at the base of the 

 plant arid toothed, lobed, or divided. The flowers are borne in terminal, usually 

 leafy-bracted spikes or racemes. 



Elephanthead, which is accorded a separate treatment in this handbook, is 

 well known because of its distinctive reddish-purple, long-beaked flowers. 



Meadow fernleaf (P. orenula? ta) , a species with tufted stems from 4 to 16 

 inches high, occurs in mountain meadows from Wyoming and Colorado west- 

 ward to Nevada. The leaves of this species are narrowly oblong to linear, 

 with whitish margins, which are doubly round-toothed. The whitish or purplish 

 flowers are borne in dense, terminal spikes, with the upper lip of the corolla 

 curved, but not beaked. This species is practically worthless as forage and 

 occurs but sparsely on the range. However, it is becoming a pest in some 

 irrigated meadows. 



Northern fernleaf (P. bracteo' sa) , the species pictured at the beginning of 

 this article, is common, widespread, and fairly characteristic of the larger, 

 more palatable species of Pedicwlaris. The specific name of this robust peren- 

 nial weed refers to the prominent, leaflike bracts of the long clusters of yellow- 

 ish flowers. This species occurs mainly in moist sites of the ponderosa pine, 

 aspen, and spruce belts ; it is not a very common plant and is never abundant. 

 It grows in parks and meadows, along streambanks among willows and other 

 shrubs in both aspen and rather dense coniferous timber, ranging from 

 British Columbia and Alberta to Colorado and California. The palatability of 

 northern fernleaf is poor for cattle and fair for sheep, but is relatively high for 

 this particular genus. Its comparatively low palatability and usually infrequent 

 occurrence locally relegate the species to a position of minor forage importance. 



Sickletop (P. racemo'sa), one of the most widespread of the western species, 

 occurs chiefly on open mountain sides, and sparsely in lodgepole and spruce 

 timber, from Alberta and British Columbia to California and New Mexico. 

 The flowers of this species are white or pink and borne in a loose, leafy-bracted 

 spike. The upper lip of the corolla is strongly incurving and prolonged into a 

 tapering hooked beak which nearly touches the lower lip. The hairless leaves, 

 not lobed or divided, are minutely and doubly round-toothed (crenate). Many 

 stems, 8 to 20 inches high, with very slender branches, are produced from a 

 woody root crown. Although sometimes cropped by sheep, this species is prac- 

 tically worthless as a forage plant. 



Species of fernleaf, especially those with divided leaves, are used horti- 

 culturally but are not widely known. 2 Some of the species best known in 

 horticulture are two of the western species, sickletop and Grays fernleaf (P. 

 gray' 1), the eastern species early fernleaf (P. canaderi sis) and swamp fern- 

 leaf (P. lanceola'ta), and the European fernleaf (P. palus'tris). 



1 American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature. STANDARDIZED PLANT 

 NAMES . . . Prepared by F. L. Olmsted, F. V. Coville. and H. P. Kelsey. 546 pp. 

 Salem, Mass., 1923. 



- Bailey, L. H. THE STANDARD CYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE . . . New ed., 3 v., illus. 

 New York and Ix>ndon. 1933. 



