LION'S FOOT, THE JEWEL WEEDS, AND OTHER AUTUMN PLANTS 



607 



of our country, and very conspicuous when allowed to 

 reach the full measure of its growth. Its small flowers 

 are white, tinted with bright pink on the outside. As 

 suggested in Figure 10, they are arranged in fine racemes, 

 sometimes fully ten inches in length. This Poke-weed, 

 also called Pigeon-berry, Scoke, and Garget, and by still 

 others the Ink-berry, flowers from early summer to 

 October, and thrives from southern Canada and Maine 

 to the Gulf. Its favorite localities are along highways 

 in the country ; in the corners of old fields ; open pastures, 

 and similar places. Often it is found far within city 

 limits, growing in lots not yet built upon, and in certain 



THE COMMON FLORIDA CENTIPEDE IS HERE SHOWN IN THE 

 LEFT HAND FIGURE OF THIS CUT, THE WHIPTAILED SCORPION 

 BEING THE OTHER FORM ILLUSTRATED. (See Fig. 12.) 



Fig. 9 Centipedes formerly constituted the Class Myriapoda, and many 

 still recognize that group. There are many species of them occurring 

 throughout the world in temperate and tropical regions. Some of the 

 species are at least a foot in length, and the bite of one of these is 

 extremely painful. 



waste places. The roots are said to be poisonous ; yet 

 some country folk boil the young shoots with asparagus, 

 and partake of the combination without disastrous effects. 

 Neltje Blanchan invites our attention to the plant by 

 pointing out the fact that "the large leaves, and even 

 the footstalks, take on splendid tints of crimson lake, and 

 the dark berries hang heavy with juice in the thickets ; 

 then the birds, with increased, hungry families, gather in 

 flocks as a preliminary step to traveling southward. Has 

 the brilliant, strong-scented plant no ulterior motive in 

 thus attracting their attention at this particular time? 

 Surely ! Robins, flickers, and downy woodpeckers, chew- 

 inks, and rose-breasted grosbeaks, among other feath- 

 ered agents, may be detected in the act of gormandizing 

 on the fruit, whose undigested seeds they will disperse 

 far and wide. Their droppings form the best of fer- 

 tilizers for young seedlings ; therefore the plants which 

 depend on birds to distribute seeds, as most berry- 

 bearers do, send their children abroad to found new 

 colonies, well equipped for a vigorous start in life." 



When our wild pigeon was with us in countless mil- 

 lions, the bird was extravagantly fond of these poke- 

 weed berries hence the name of "pigeon-berry." The 

 vernacular synonym is a grim reminder of man's ex- 

 termination, by fowling-piece and net, of this superb 

 representative of our avifauna. 



References were made in previous issues of American 

 Forestry to Solomon's Seal and the beautiful climbing 

 Clematis. Different stages in the growths of these inter- 

 esting plants can now be given, and thus more fully 

 illustrate what was said about them in the aforesaid 

 earlier numbers of this magazine (Figs. 8 and 12). This 

 month of October is the time of the year to find them 

 as they are shown here, and both are well worthy of our 

 consideration and study. 



CENTIPEDES AND WHIP-TAILED SCORPIONS 



In our homes as well as in nature there is quite an 

 extensive group of forms that most people know as 

 "thousand-legs." They are very interesting, extremely 



FROM JULY TO SEPTEMBER THERE IS NO BETTER KNOWN 

 PLANT IN THE UNITED STATES THAN THE COMMON POKE 

 WEED OR POKEBERRY (Phytolacca decandra); IN THE CUT WE 

 HAVE A FINE BUNCH OF ifS BERRIES. 



Fig. 10 This is our only species of the Pokeweed family (Phytolaccaceae) 

 in eastern United States; but it is a very striking one, and its crimson 

 juice is used to some extent in the arts. 



varied in kind, and the different genera and species are 

 found all over the world. In structure and habits they 

 approach some groups of insects ; though should we 

 trace them in another direction, they approach the 

 crustaceans. We are all familiar with the common and 



