PINK 



through which we pass. In parts of the country it is nearly as 

 common as the golden-rods and asters which appear at about 

 the same season. With the deep purple of the iron-weed it gives 

 variety to the intense hues which herald the coming of autumn. 

 ' ' Joe Pye ' ' is said to have been the name of an Indian who 

 cured typhus fever in New England by means of this plant. The 

 tiny trumpet-shaped blossoms which make up the flower-heads 

 may have suggested the other common name. 



PINK KNOTWEED. 



Polygonum Pennsylvanicum. Buckwheat Family. 



One to four feet high. Stein. Branching. Leaves. Alternate, lance- 

 shaped. Flowers. Bright pink, growing in thick, short, erect spikes. 

 Calyx. Mostly five-parted, the divisions petal-like, pink. Corolla. 

 None. Stamens. Usually eight. Pistil. One, with a two-cleft style. 



In late summer this plant can hardly escape notice. Its 

 erect pink spikes direct attention to some neglected corner in 

 the garden or brighten the fields and roadsides. The rosy divi- 

 sions of the calyx persist till after the fruit has formed, pressing 

 closely against the dark seed-vessel within. 



SAND KNOTWEED. 



Polygonella articulata. (Formerly Polygonum articulatum.) Buckwheat 



Family. 



Erect, branching, four to twelve inches high. Leaves. Linear, incon- 

 spicuous. Flowers. Rose-color, nodding, in very slender racemes, Calyx. 

 Five-parted. Corolla. None. Stamens. Eight. Pistil. One, with 

 three styles. 



Under date of September 26th, Thoreau writes : " The 

 Polygonum articulatum, giving a rosy tinge to Jenny's desert, is 

 very interesting now, with its slender dense racemes of rose-tinted 

 flowers, apparently without leaves, rising cleanly out of the sand. 

 It looks warm and brave, a foot or more high, and mingled with 

 deciduous blue curls. It is much divided, with many spreading, 

 slender-racemed branches, with inconspicuous linear leaves, re- 

 minding me, both by its form and its colors, of a peach-orchard 

 in blossom, especially when the sunlight falls on it ; minute rose- 



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