YELLOW 



SMOOTH FALSE FOXGLOVE. 



Gerardia quercifolia. Figwort Family. 



Stem. Smooth; three to six feet high; usually branching. Leaves. 

 The lower usually deeply incised ; the upper narrowly oblong, incised, or 

 entire. Flowers. Yellow ; large ; in a raceme or spike. Calyx. Five- 

 cleft. Corolla. Two inches long; somewhat tubular; swelling above; 

 with five more or less unequal, spreading lobes ; woolly within. Stamens. 

 Four ; in pairs ; woolly. Pistil. One. 



These large, pale yellow flowers are very beautiful and strik- 

 ing when seen in the dry woods of late summer. They are all 

 the more appreciated because there are few flowers abroad at this 

 season save the Composites, which are decorative and radiant 

 enough, but usually somewhat lacking in the delicate charm we 

 look for in a flower. 



For me the plant is associated especially with two localities. 

 One is a mountain-road whose borders, from early June, are 

 brilliant with a show of lovely blossoms, but which, just before 

 the appearance of the false foxglove, is threatened with a dismal 

 break in the floral procession. Only the sharpest eyes are 

 solaced by multitudes of round yellow buds, that burst suddenly 

 into peculiarly fresh and pleasing flowers. 



The other favored spot is a wooded island on the coast, sur- 

 rounded by a salt marsh. In August, when the marsh itself is 

 still brilliant with sea-pinks and milkwort, and beginning to wear 

 its glowing mantle of asters and golden-rods, this island can 

 scarcely boast a blossom save that of the false foxglove. But the 

 plant succeeds in redeeming the lonely spot from any suspicion 

 of dreariness by its lavish display of cheery flowers. 



The downy false foxglove, G. flava, is usually a somewhat 

 lower plant, with a close down, a less-branched stem, more en- 

 tire leaves, and smaller, similar flowers. 



The members of this genus, which is named after Gerarde, 

 the author of the famous " Herball," are supposed to be more or 

 less parasitic in their habits, drawing their nourishment from the 

 roots of other plants. 



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