WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 



narrowly margined stems. They are thick, round, or 

 broadly oval, and often have obscurely toothed margins. 

 From six to twenty delightfully fragrant, white, waxy 

 flowers nod from the slender spike. The thick, round- 

 ing, white petals are rather spreading, and the calyx 

 lobes are long and slender. The flower has ten sta- 

 mens, and an extended, curving pistil. This plant 

 blossoms during June and July in dry, open 

 woods from Georgia and Ohio to Minnesota, and 

 Canada. 



INDIAN-PIPE. ICE-PLANT. GHOST- 

 FLOWER. CORPSE-PLANT 



Monotropa uniflbra. Indian-pipe Family. 



Gathered together in stiff, colourless groups of from 

 three to a dozen or more, these strange, uncanny, waxy 

 white flowers hold their silent, Quaker-like meetings 

 with bowed heads, as if awaiting the motion of some 

 woodland spirit to arouse them. This leafless plant is 

 known as a parasite because it draws its nourishment 

 from other living roots and decaying vegetable matter. 

 It is noticeably cold and clammy to the touch, and is 

 inclined to turn black when plucked or exposed to the 

 sun. The Indians used the Ice-plant for relieving 

 affections of the eyes. The white flower stem, which 

 grows from four to ten inches high, is thick and smooth, 

 and springs from a ball of matted, brittle rootlets. The 

 stem is covered with small, scaly white bracts. The 

 rather large, white terminal and nodding, oblong, 

 shell-shaped flower is wax-like, scentless, and solitary. 



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