FLOWER AND OTHER STUDIES FOR THE SUMMER OF 1918 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M. D., R. A. O. U., ETC. 



MAJOR, MEDICAL CORPS, U. S. ARMY 



IN THE issue of American Forestry for last month 

 considerable attention was paid to the Spiderwort 

 (Fig. i) and to the edible mushroom known as the 

 delicious morel (Morchella deliciosa, Fig. 2). Cuts were 

 made of these interesting species ; but owing to lack of 

 space accommodations, they were both crowded out. 

 They are reproduced here in that their histories may be 

 made more complete through placing them on record 

 taken in connection with what was published about them 

 in the June number. 



During the latter part of that month, and in some 

 regions throughout the rest of the summer well up into 

 the autumn, we 

 meet with a 

 genus of flow- 

 ers of which 

 there are about 

 a dozen species 

 in the United 

 States, mostly 

 east of the 

 M i s s i s s ippi 

 River. Refer- 

 ence is made to 

 the Skull-cap 

 of the genus 

 S cut ell aria, 

 both names be- 

 i n g decidedly 

 fanciful ; for 

 surely the 

 beautiful flow- 

 ers of no one 

 of the species 

 in the remotest 

 degree remind 

 us of such a 

 thing as a 

 " skull - cap, " 

 any more than 

 the fruiting 

 calyx suggests 

 a "little dish" (Fig. 3), which is the meaning of the Latin 

 name scutella. This name apparently came about from 

 the fact that the peculiarly formed appendage on the 

 superior lip of the calyx opens on pressure and thus 

 exposes the four little seeds in the cavity. This the 

 children have likened to a little dish; and even Linnaeus 

 who created the genus seems to have been influenced by 

 the same suggestion when he named it Scutellaria. Our 

 vernacular names are equally ridiculous, for one of the 

 best known species of this Mint family (Labiatae), the 

 Scutellaria laterifolia, has not only been called Helmet- 

 flower and Hoodwort, but also Mad-weed and Mad Dog 



NO PLANT OF SPRING AND SUMMER IS MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN THE SPIDERWORT 



OF THE ATLANTIC STATES 



Fig. 1 In the flora of the eastern United States we find two genera of plants in the Spiderwort family 

 (Commelinacae) ; there are many species of the Spiderwort genus (Tradescantia), while the second group 

 contains the Dayflowers (Cotninelina), of which there are several kinds. 



Skull-cap, appellations handed down to us by the old 

 herb doctors, who held that they could cure hydrophobia 

 through its use. One of the most abundant Helmet- 

 flowers is the Scutellaria laterifolia, which is usually 

 found growing in damp and wet places in the woods in 

 almost any part of this country, and in not a few locali- 

 ties in the British possessions north of us. It is more 

 abundant in some regions than in others, while in the 

 case of other large areas it is not found at all. 



The general form of the flowers of the helmet-flower 

 genus is well shown in Figure 3, which is one of the 

 species that possesses serrated leaves. 5". laterifolia has 



flowers that are 

 usually blue, 

 though in rare 

 instances they 

 may be pink, 

 or pink run- 

 ning to white 

 and even pure 

 white. Generi- 

 c a 1 1 y, Gray 

 char acterizes 

 the genus Scu- 

 tellaria thus: 

 "Calyx bell- 

 shaped in flow- 

 er, splitting to 

 the base at ma- 

 turity, the lips 

 entire, the up- 

 per usually 

 falling away. 

 Corolla with an 

 elongated curv- 

 ed ascending 

 tube, dilated at 

 the throat ; the 

 upper lip en- 

 tire or barely 

 notch ed, the 

 lateral lobes 

 mostly connected with the upper rather than the lower 

 lip ; the lower lobe or lip spreading and convex, notched 

 at the apex." This much we can easily see in Figure 3, 

 and Gray further informs us that they are "bitter peren- 

 nial herbs, not aromatic, the short peduncles or pedicels 

 chiefly opposite, 1 -flowered, often I -sided, axillary or 

 spiked or racemed ;" they flower all summer long. 



6". serrata (Fig. 3) has been called the Showy Skull- 

 cap for the reason that its flowers are so beautiful and 

 striking. Other species are the Hairy Skull-cap, the 

 Larger or Hyssop Skull-cap, and the Marsh Skull-cap 

 (S. galericulata) . Gray describes about thirteen species 



433 



