LYSIMACHIA. 165 



Chick Wintergreen or Star-flower, growing in the cool, damp 

 woods. No flower in May and June is more lovingly greeted. 



Analysis. The 7-fold division of the floral organs is 

 the most striking feature of this flower. It is seen in the 

 petals, sepals, stamens, and even in the leaves, and probably 

 it exists also in the pistil and fruit. The 7 white, slightly 

 gamopetalous, wide-spread petals, form a wheel- or star- 

 shaped corolla, and the 7 stamens stand opposing them. 

 The ovary as well as the style is one, and in fruit becomes a 

 1 -celled capsule with about 7 seeds on a free central placenta. 



The Name, Trientdlis (triens, the third part of a foot) 

 Americana, alludes both to the height of the plant and to 

 its native country.* 



XLV. THE LOOSESTRIFES. 



Description. There are many kinds of Loosestrife scat- 

 tered over the country, blooming in June and later. Some 

 choose a gravelly soil, in the borders of woods and thickets. 

 An English writer says, " growing in damp woods, hanging 

 down the sides of mossy slopes, its branches trailing a foot 

 or more long, well clad with roundish, shining, deep-green 

 leaves, and bearing in June and July handsome yellow 

 flowers ; " but here they are oftener found in low meadows 

 and miry swamps. One of them, the Moneywort, alluded to 

 above, is cultivated and runs wild in our gardens. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. All the Loosestrifes are peren- 

 nial herbs, with opposite or whorled (verticillate) leaves, and 

 complete, regular, symmetrical, yellow, more or less gamo- 

 petalous flowers, generally 5, rarely 6 or 7-parted. The co- 

 rolla is somewhat wheel-shaped, the stamens as many as, and 



* We rarely find this plant varying with its flowers 8-parted. In Oregon a variety 

 grows one-third larger, with flowers always 8-parted and rose-colored. 



