New 

 Jersey tea 



IVild- 

 indigo 



Black 

 cohosh 



ACCORDING TO SEASON 



akin to it is the blue vetch, whose long, dense, one- 

 sided clusters of small, pea-like flowers make little 

 lakes of pinkish blue in wet meadows farther in- 

 land. 



In the dry woods we encounter constantly a 

 shrubby plant with rounded clusters of small 

 white flowers. This is the New Jersey tea, or 

 red-root; the former name arising from the use 

 made of its leaves during the Revolution, the lat- 

 ter from its dark red root. The driest and most 

 uninviting localities do not seem to discourage 

 either this persistent little shrub or the bushy- 

 looking wild-indigo, with its clover-like leaves 

 and short terminal clusters of yellow, pea-like 

 blossoms. 



In shaded hollows and on the hill-sides the tall 

 white wands of the black cohosh, or bugbane, 

 shoot upward, rocket-like. The great stout 

 stems, large divided leaves and slender spikes of 

 feathery flowers render this the most conspicuous 

 wood-plant of the season. If we chance to be 

 lingering 



" In secret paths that thread the forest land " 



when the last sunlight has died away, and hap- 

 pen suddenly upon one of these ghostly groups, 

 the effect is almost startling. The rank odor of 

 the flowers detracts somewhat from one's enjoy- 



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