White and Greenish 



dry pollen produced by the male blossoms that insects which 

 come to feed on it must occasionally transfer some, albeit this 

 primitive genus still depends largely on the wind. Not its flower, 

 but the exquisite foliage resembling sprays of a robust maiden- 

 hair fern, is this meadow-rue's chief charm. 



The Purplish Meadow-rue ( T. pur pur asc ens), so like the tall 

 species in general characteristics that one cannot tell the dried and 

 pressed specimens of these variable plants apart, is easily named 

 afield by the purplish tinge of its green polygamous flowers. Often 

 its stems show color also. Sometimes, not always, the plant is 

 downy, and the comparatively thick leaflets, which are dark green 

 above, are waxy beneath. We look for this meadow-rue in copses 

 and woodlands from Northern Canada to Florida, and far west- 

 ward after the early meadow-rue has flowered, but before the tall 

 one spreads its fleecy panicles. Quite as decorative as the flower 

 clusters are the compound seed-bearing stars. 



Twin-leaf; Rheumatism Root 



(Jeffersonia diphylld) Barberry family 



Flowers White, i in. broad, solitary, on a naked scape about 7 in. 

 high in flower, more than twice as tall in fruit. Calyx of 4 

 petal-like sepals falling early ; 8 longer, flat, oblong petals ; 

 8 stamens ; i pistil. Leaves : From the root, long-petioled, 

 rounded, palmately veined, cleft into 2 divisions. Fruit: A 

 leathery, many-seeded capsule, slit horizontally. 



Preferred Habitat Rich shady woods. 



Flowering Season April May. 



Distribution New York to Virginia, west to Ontario and Tennessee. 



Like many little darkies in the United States, this low plant 

 was named for Thomas Jefferson. One suspects from a glance 

 at its solitary white flower and deeply divided leaves that it is not 

 far removed from the May apple, which is characterized by even 

 greater Jeffersonian simplicity of habit, although separated into 

 another genus. 



May Apple; Hog Apple; Mandrake; Wild 

 Lemon 



{Podophyllum peltatum) Barberry family 



Flowers White, solitary, large, unpleasantly scented, nodding 

 from the fork between a pair of terminal leaves. Calyx of < 

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