404 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



FIG. 197. Rattlesnake-root, 

 and Brown. 



of the leaves show a tendency to point either north or south. 



One observing the plant carefully can easily see that the leaf- 

 area as a whole exposes its sur- 

 face toward the east and toward 

 the west. The blue-flowered va- 

 rieties, some of them wand-plants 

 from three to twelve feet in 

 height, are known by the copious 

 heads of small blue flowers ar- 

 ranged in compound panicles. 

 They are common at the edges of 

 woods. 



A curious little flower, known 

 as Lygodesmia, is a desert plant 

 with rigid branching stem about 

 a foot in height, and with small, 

 After Britton awl-shaped leaves and flowers in 

 pink heads of from three to 



twelve, giving to the whole cluster quite the appearance of a 



small carnation. It is a wanderer from the plains of the south- 

 west. The Not/iocalais and 



its relatives are prairie 



plants with grass-like 



leaves and dandelion-like 



heads. The rattlesnake- 

 roots, some varieties of 



which are abundant in the 



Minnesota woods and in 



shaded ravines, may be 



known by their heads of 



flowers, nodding in the 



common forms, arranged 



in panicles and of a pink 



or purplish color. One 



of these with curiously 



triangular leaves is abun- 

 dant in deep woods, flow-" 



ering in autumn, and with 



its mature fruits surmounted by a deep brown tuft of pappus 



hairs. 



FIG. 198. Cocklebur. After Britton and Brown. 



