HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



strongly veined with white as in E. pubescens, short-petioled, 

 ovate, pointed, advancing up somewhat on the stem on one side. 

 Flowers in a one-sided spike, small, greenish white, the lip pocket- 

 shaped and curving backward at the apex. July and August. 



Near the coast and westward to Kentucky and Tennessee. 



E. decipiens is stout-stemmed, with leaves less strongly veined 

 with white, sometimes not at all. Flowers rather crowded in one- 

 sided racemes. Lip, not sac-shaped, but much swollen at base, 

 prolonged into a point at the apex. July and August. 



Dry woods, northward. 



Lizard's Tail 



Saururus cernuus. — Family, Lizard's Tail. Color, white. Leaves, 

 alternate, ovate, heart-shaped at base, with petioles thin, dark 

 green. Summer. 



An example of a perfect flower — that is, possessing stamens 

 and pistils, but without calyx or corolla. The flowers are on 

 short pedicels, each with a little bract under it. They are 

 crowded in a terminal spike which gently nods and waves 

 its numerous white threads. The stamens have long, dan- 

 gling filaments. The flowers are slightly fragrant. The pet- 

 ioled leaves have converging ribs. Stem 2 to 5 feet tall. 

 I have found this flower growing out of an old mill-dam 

 where water trickling over the stones kept it perpetually 

 wet. Its usual habitat is a swamp. Connecticut to Florida 

 and westward. (See illustration, p. 57.) 



Bastard Toad-flax 



Comandra umbettata. — Family, Sandalwood. Color, greenish 

 white. Leaves, alternate, nearly sessile, about 1 inch long, pale 

 green, pinnately veined. No corolla, but a tubular calyx, spread- 

 ing at the top and lengthened beyond the fruit. At its base, 

 above the ovary, is a thick disk, and from the edge of this the 

 stamens spring, one opposite each lobe of the calyx, their anthers 

 joined to the center of the disk by tufts of hair-like threads. 

 Flowers in corymb-like clusters, terminal or in the axils of the 

 uppermost leaves. Fruit, a roundish drupe, tipped by the 5 

 lobes of the calyx. Parasitic on roots of other plants. May to 

 July. 



Found in dry fields, from Cape Breton Island south to 

 Florida and westward to the Pacific coast. 



56 



