YELLOW 



The name touch-me-not refers to the seed-pods, which burst 

 open with such violence when touched, as to project their seeds 

 to a comparatively great distance. This ingenious mechanism 

 secures the dispersion of the seeds without the aid of the wind or 

 animals. In parts of New York the plant is called " silver-leaf," 

 from its silvery appearance when touched with rain or dew, or 

 when held beneath the water. 



AGRIMONY. 



Agrinwnia Eupatoria. Rose Family. 



One or two feet high. Leaves. Divided into several coarsely toothed 

 leaflets. Flowers. Small, yellow, in slender spiked racemes. Calyx. 

 Five-cleft, beset with hooked teeth. Corolla. Of five petals. Stamens. 

 Five to fifteen. Pistils. One to four. 



The slender yellow racemes of the agrimony skirt the woods 

 throughout the later summer. In former times the plant was 

 held in high esteem by town physician and country herbalist 

 alike. Emerson longed to know 



Only the herbs and simples of the wood, 

 Rue, cinquefoil, gill, vervain, and agrimony. 



.Up to a recent date the plant has been dried and preserved by 

 country people and might be seen exposed for sale in the shops 

 of French villages. It has also been utilized in a dressing for 

 shoe-leather. When about to flower it yields a pale yellow dye. 

 Chaucer calls it egremoine. The name is supposed to be 

 derived from the Greek title for an eye-disease, for which the 

 juice of a plant similarly entitled was considered efficacious. 

 The crushed flower yields a lemon-like odor. 



YELLOW WOOD SORREL. 



Oxalis stricta. Geranium Family. 



Stem. Erect. Leaves. Divided into three delicate clover-like leaflets. 

 Flowers. Golden-yellow. Calyx. Of five sepals. Corolla. Of five 

 petals. Stamens. Ten. Pistil. One, with five styles. 



All summer the small flowers of the yellow wood sorrel show 

 brightly against their background of delicate leaves. The plant 



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