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Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 317 



WOOD BETONY; LOUSEWORT (Pedicularis can- 



adensis) is a peculiar plant that we find in dry woods 

 and thickets and often along roadsides. It almost al- 

 ways has an unkempt appearance due chiefly to the 

 fact that the florets grow from the flowering head 

 with little regard to symmetry, and the leaves are 

 rolled, folded, twisted or bent out of shape. It has 

 many cognomens, one at least being undeserved, that 

 of Lousewort, this being applied because of an early, 

 mistaken belief of farmers that it had insects that 

 infested sheep that fed upon its foliage. It is quite 

 commonly called Beefsteak Plant because of the 

 color of the upper lips of the flowers and because the 

 leaves and stem are often stained with a purplish 

 brown. 



The flowering stems are stout, hairy and leafy; 

 they rise to heights of 6 to 18 inches. The leaves are 

 all fernlike in form; many of them rise on long hairy 

 stems from the roots and smaller ones alternate up 

 the flower stalk. The flower spike is short and dense- 

 ly flowered and contains many small bract-like leaves 

 among the tubular flowers. The corolla is composed 

 of two lips, the upper one being arched and strongly 

 curved or hooked at the tip ; four stamens are gather- 

 ed under the shelter of the upper lip and a slender 

 pistil projects through and beyond a small 

 tooth or notch in the end of it; the lower lip is short- 

 er, three-lobed and yellowish in color. The upper lip 

 varies from a yellowish green in freshly opened flow- 

 ers to a dull reddish on the mature blossoms, this 

 latter being the beefsteak color alluded to in one of 

 its common names. 



Wood Betony is found from Nova Scotia to Manito- 

 ba and southwards. It is quite abundant throughout 

 its range and its flowers may be found from early in 

 May to the latter part of July. 



