WILD FLOWERS pink 



ground runners or stolens. The roots have some 

 medicinal value as a tonic, and when placed in water 

 and agitated, they form a soaplike lather — a peculiarity 

 that gives rise to the common names of Soaproot and 

 Latherwort. The slightly grooved, erect stem is 

 smooth, stout and leafy. It is sparingly branched, 

 and grows one or two feet high. It is noticeably swollen 

 at the joints, and is green in colour, sometimes stained 

 with red. The thick-textured, tapering oval leaves 

 grow alternately in pairs, and graduate as they mount 

 the stalk. Their smooth surface shows three or five 

 distinct ribs, and the margins are entire or very faintly 

 scalloped. They unite at the base where they narrow 

 into broad, short, clasping petioles. The showy, 

 fragrant flowers are about an inch broad and are pink 

 in colour, becoming white in proportion to the amount 

 of shade in which they grow. The thin-textured petals 

 are generally notched, and taper clawlike to their 

 narrow, pointed base within a long, pale green, finely 

 veined, five-toothed tubular calyx, from which they 

 emerge and spread at right angles. At the top of the 

 claw where the petals widen, they are crowned with 

 two little, thread-like appendages. The ten yellowish 

 stamens are divided into five long and five short sets, 

 the former of which mature before the latter. The 

 pistil has two recurving points or styles. The flowers 

 are borne in a loose, terminal head, with many small 

 bracts or floral leaves. A short, slender stem connects 

 the calyx with the stalk, which it joins at the axil of 

 the smaller leaves. This short flower stem usually 



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