Minnesota Plant Life. 



275 



seed is a common vine,with leaves shaped a little like the leaves of 

 the wild grape, though not so deeply angled. The underground 

 portion is yellow and Indians use it for medicine. The flowers 

 are of two sorts, developed on different plants. The fruit con- 

 tains a stone which is curved into a circle, marked by clefts and 

 strongly flattened on the sides. The bunches of fruits are blu- 

 ish-black in color and resemble 

 a little the fruits of the wild 

 grape. They are easily distin- 

 guished, however, by the pres- 

 ence in each of the flat stone, 

 very different from the pear- 

 shaped seeds which are found 

 in the berries of the grape. 

 Calycanthuses and laurels, where the sassafras, 

 bays and spice-bushes are grouped, do not pro- 

 duce any Minnesota varieties. 



The sixteenth order includes the poppy fam- 

 ily, where the blood-roots, Dutchman's breeches 

 and fumitories are classified; the mustards, 

 among which may be mentioned the water 

 cresses, rock cresses, whitlow-grasses, pepper- 

 grasses and shepherd's purses ; the caper family, 

 with the clammy-weeds and spider-flowers; the 

 mignonettes, and two other families not repre- 

 sented in the United States. 



Blood-roots. Besides the common poppy, 

 which in some parts of the state has escaped 

 from cultivation, the blood-root is a common 

 form throughout the greater portion of Minne- 

 sota. Blood-root flowers are to be seen in the 

 spring in open woods, where their white petals 

 and great abundance make them attractive ob- 

 jects. The plant is named from the red juice 

 which exists in its horizontal underground rootstock. On the 

 latter, branches arise, bearing leaves those at the base scale- 

 shaped and the upper ones large, heart-shaped or kidney- 

 shaped, with several lobes. The flowering stem displays usually 

 but a single flower in which there are two sepals that early fall 



FIG. 130. May-ap- 

 ple, or mandrake, 

 in flower. After 

 Atkinson. 



