STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 

 TURTLEHEAD SNAKEHEAD Chelone glabra (L.). 



(PLATE XII.) 



This coarse but rather showy plant is found in damp 

 thickets near lakes and streams. The large white two- 

 lipped flowers grow in terminal clusters or spikes ; the upper 

 lip projects downward like a turtle's bill; the foliage is 

 dark green, the leaves opposite, the edges coarsely-toothed, 

 long and sharp-pointed; the stem, simple, or widely branch- 

 ing and bushy; the large handsome white flowers are often 

 tinged with red or purplish-red ; the blossom is open-throated, 

 somewhat contracted at the mouth by the overhanging of the 

 upper lip. The whole plant is from two to three feet high. 

 The name of the genus is derived from a Greek word which 

 signifies a tortoise, the form of the beaked corolla resembling 

 the head of a rep'tile; hence also the common name Snake- 

 head, from the fancied likeness to the open mouth of a snake. 

 The flowering season is from July to September; probably 

 under cultivation this flower would become highly orna- 

 mental as a large border plant. 



There are many very ornamental flowers belonging to the 

 same natural order as the Turtlehead, among which are 

 the Beard-tongue (Pentstemon pubescens),* Monkey-flower 

 (Mimulus), Snapdragon (Antirrhinum), Scarlet-cup (Cas- 

 tilleia), and the Gerardia, with many other plants more 

 remarkable for beauty than for any useful or healing quali- 

 ties, but very showy in the garden and not difficult of cultiva- 

 tion. 



CARDINAL FLOWER Lobelia cardinalis (L.). 



(PLATE X.) 



One of the most striking of our native flowers is the Ked 

 Lobelia or Cardinal Flower. The plant had found its way 



* See Plate XX. 



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