134 GERARDIA PEDICULARIA. FERN-LEAVED FALSE FOXGLOVE. 



tion, does not regard the characters which Rafinesque took as 

 generic to be of sufficient importance to divide the genus 

 established by Linna?us, although he retains some as of sec- 

 tional value. Thus our plant, in Chapman's "Southern Flora" 

 and in Wood's " Class-Book," is classed as Dasystoma pedicularia, 

 but in Gray's " Manual " it is Gerardia pedicularia, in section 

 Dasystoma, Dasystoma seems to be from the Greek dasys, 

 thick, and stoma, a mouth ; but unless it be that the corolla is 

 generally of a thicker texture in the species classed as Dasys- 

 toma than in those placed in the other sections, it is difficult to 

 guess at the application. Dasystoma includes all the perennial 

 Gerardias. 



The Gerardias are said to be more or less parasitic on the 

 roots of other plants ; but we have been unable to find any clear 

 evidence of the fact in any personal examination, or to find the 

 full proof of it in any published account. All that we have 

 read on the subject seemed to leave room for further observa- 

 tions. One of the reasons given is that no attempts to cultivate 

 it have been successful ; but then the same is said of the Trail- 

 ing Arbutus, — Epigcca repens, — which no one pretends is a 

 parasite. Johnson, an English writer, tells us that " Gerardia 

 pedicularia was introduced into England in 1826, and all the 

 perennial species can be raised from cuttings as well as by seed, 

 and G. quercifolia (a closely related species to G. pedicularia) by 

 dividing the rootstocks in spring." If this is the result of 

 actual observation, and not merely assumed because it is the 

 case with perennials in general, it would seem to be established 

 that the Gerardias can be grown in gardens. Mr. Thomas 

 Moore, however, of the Chelsea Botanical Garden, London, 

 and one of the best of English practical writers, remarks of the 

 whole family of Gerardias that "all attempts to cultivate them 

 in England have failed." But it would be well worth while to 

 try them again. There certainly are large numbers of roots on 

 our plant which have no attachment to other plants, and which 

 must derive nutrition directly from the soil. In the specimen 



