248 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



sky at sundown on a cold September evening. The 

 corolla is vase-shaped, topped by five pointed divi- 

 sions. The plant is from eight to fifteen inches high, 

 and the stem is mostly rough with tiny fine hairs at 

 the top. The leaves are stiff and long lance-shaped. 

 This species of gentian is common in the vicinity of 

 Minneapolis, the Minnehaha Falls in the country of 

 Hiawatha, and on the dry borders of the great wheat- 

 fields of Minnesota. The soap wort gentian (Gentiana 

 Saponarid) is another Western species which we will 

 occasionally see on the roadsides near damp woods 

 from New York west to Minnesota. The light lilac - 

 blue corolla is but slightly open, and the five blunt 

 lobes or divisions are almost erect. The leaves are 

 broad lance-shaped and rough-edged. The stem is 

 smooth and about a foot or eighteen inches high. 



The five-flowered gentian (Gentiana quinqueflora] 

 is a slender-stemmed branching plant with broad 

 lance-shaped leaves partly clasping the stem, and 

 clusters of five flowers at the summit, pale lilac- 

 blue ; the corolla is funnel-formed with five bristle- 

 tipped lobes. This flower is found on hillsides from 

 Maine to Illinois ; it grows in the vicinity of Lake 

 Mohunk, and commonly through the Shawangunk 

 Mountains. It is also found in the northern hills 

 of New Jersey. 



Whoever heard of a stone wall bordering the hill- 



