NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 



GROUND NUT WILD BEAN Apios tuberosa (Moench.), 



known also as Indian Potato and Sweet Bean, a tall climber, 

 with compound leaves of five to seven ovate leaflets and 

 sweet-scented clustered flowers of a brownish-purple color; 

 the pear-shaped tubers, of the size of a hen's egg, are used 

 as an article of food by the Indians, who roast them in the 

 embers and eat them as we do baked potatoes. A fine 

 white starchy substance, tasteless and not unwholesome, can 

 be obtained by grating the tubers. 



BUTTERFLY WEED Asclepias tuberosa (L.). 



Of this remarkable family Canada possesses many hand- 

 some species. The most showy is a large bushy plant with 

 gorgeous orange, almost scarlet, flowers. Every branch is 

 terminated by a wide-spreading head composed of small 

 umbels of brilliant flowers. This plant is known by the 

 name of Butterfly Flower from its singularly gay appear- 

 ance, which is very attractive when seen on dry hills on 

 sunny days. The root is used in medicine as a powerful 

 vermifuge by the old settlers, who say they learned its 

 medicinal virtues from the Indian herb doctors. 



The floral construction of the flowers of all this family is 

 peculiar. The petals are somewhat pointed, five in number; 

 divisions of the calyx also five; the petals are reflexed, 

 showing a central crown, which is composed of five hooded 

 nectaries, each of which encloses a curved horn -like append- 

 age. The crown is often of a different shade of color from 

 the petals, and from its peculiar form the flower has the 

 appearance of being double. The leaves of the Butterfly 

 Flower are rough on the surface and hoary; the seed-pods 

 are also hoary. It is a striking and showy flower, deficient 

 in the viscid milky juice that is so abundant in others of the 

 genus. 



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