YELLOW 



drooping inconspicuous blossoms for his bunch of wood-flowers 

 in June. The generic name is after the sorceress Medea, on ac- 

 count of its supposed medicinal virtues, of which, however, there 

 seems to be no record. 



The tuberous rootstock has the flavor, and something the 

 shape, of the cucumber, and was probably used as food by the 

 Indians. It would not be an uninteresting study to discover 

 which of our common wild plants are able to afford pleasant and 

 nutritious food; in such a pursuit many of the otherwise unat- 

 tractive popular names would prove suggestive. 



WINTER CRESS. YELLOW ROCKET. HERB OF ST. 

 BARBARA. 



Barbarea vulgaris. Mustard Family. 



Stem. Smooth. Leaves. The lower lyre-shaped ; the upper ovate, 

 toothed or deeply incised at their base. Flowers. Yellow ; growing in 

 racemes. Pod. Linear; erect or slightly spreading. 



As early as May we find the bright flowers of the winter- 

 cress along the roadside. This is probably the first of the yel- 

 low mustards to appear. 



BLACK MUSTARD. 



Brassica nigra. Mustard Family. 



Often several feet high. Stem. Branching. Leaves. The lo\ver witia 

 a large terminal lobe and a few small lateral ones. Flowers. Yellow ; 

 rather small ; growing in a raceme. Pods. Smooth; erect; appressed; 

 about half an inch long. 



Many are familiar with the appearance of this plant who are 

 ignorant of its name. The pale yellow flowers spring from the 

 waste places along the roadside and border the dry fields through- 

 out the summer. The tall spreading branches recall the Biblical 

 description: "It groweth up, and becometh greater than all 

 herbs, and shooteth out great branches ; so that the fowls of the 

 air may lodge under the shadow of it." 



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