170 PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 



scales. Corolla : of four or five usually bract-like petals. Stamens ; eight or ten 

 with anthers attached horizontally to the filaments. Pistil : one; stigma,five- 

 rayed. fruit : a capsule, which after flowering, erects itself. Leaves : white and 

 smooth ; more truly scales than leaves. Stem : round ; smooth ; waxy ; about 

 eight inches high. Roots : fibrous. 



Few plants are uncanny, and we therefore shiver slightly 

 when we take hold of the ghost-flower, which is so clammy and 

 white. It further annoys us by turning black and decomposing 

 almost instantly after having been touched. Children and In- 

 dians, whose nerves are perhaps more hardy than those of or- 

 dinary mortals, delight in the plant. The former play with it, 

 and the latter have some way of using it supposedly to 

 strengthen the eyesight. 



The whiteness of the plant is owing to the absence of all 

 chlorophyll grains, or green colouring matter ; and it may not 

 be inappropriate to mention here that it is through the chemi- 

 cal change of these grains that we have the varied tints of the 

 autumn foliage. 



FALSE BEECH-DROPS. PINE SAP. (Plate LXXXIX.) 

 Hypdpitys Hypdpitys. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Indian-Pipe. Ecru or tawny, Fragrant. General. June, July, 



occasionally red. 



This is a closely allied plant to the Indian-pipe. The differ- 

 ence between them is that the false beech-drops have more 

 flowers. They grow in a one-sided raceme and their hue is 

 variable. Both plants are conspicuous in the deep, cool woods 

 of summer. 



WILD GINGER. 



Asarum Canadense. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Birthroot. Yellowish, spotted Scentless. Throughout the April, May. 



with brown-purple. northern states. 



Flowers : solitary ; growing towards the ground on a slender peduncle in the 

 fork of the tall leaves. Calyx : bell-shaped ; three-lobed ; the lobes spread- 

 ing; acute. Corolla: none. Stamens: twelve. Pistil : one, with six spread-, 

 ing stigmas. Fruit : a fleshy capsule that bursts and scatters many seeds. 



