226 PLANTS GROWING IN LIGHT SOIL. 



intimation one has of their whereabouts is to find himself cov- 

 ered with their pods. Time must then be taken to pick them 

 off, even though, as Thoreau says : " You were running for your 

 life." The family is also a numerous one, and it is almost im- 

 possible not to come in contact with some of them when taking 

 a stroll in the autumn. 



M. Canadensis is the tallest and most showy of the genus ; of- 

 ten reaching six feet high. It is not at all discriminating in its 

 choice of a home, and can be found almost anywhere, from the 

 heart of the woods to the middle of a bog. 



M. nudiflbra is a smaller and very common species of the 

 open woods. Its purple flowers grow in a raceme on a usually 

 leafless scape. 



M. grandiflbra bears a long raceme of flowers with leaves 

 divided into large leaflets crowded below it on the same stem. 



All of these plants are readily known by their purplish pa- 

 pilionaceous corollas and three-foliolate leaves. The bloom is 

 often quite pretty. 



WOOD-BETONY. LOUSEWORT. (Plate CXVII) 

 Pedicularis Canadensis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Figzcori. YfUffV^ red^or pxrplt. Scentless. General. May-July. 



Flowers : growing in a short, thick spike. Calyx : united and split down 

 the front. Corolla: tubular; two-lipped, the upper lip helmet-shaped, the 

 lower one erect and three-lobed. Stamens: four enclosed in the upper lip. 

 Pistil: one. Seed pods : dagger-shaped. Leaves: those from the root deeply 

 incised and cut ; those near the flower, smaller and less cut ; hairy. Stem : 

 erect ; hairy. 



The wood-betony is another of the flowers that interest us by 

 their irregularity and vigour of expression. The upper lip raises 

 itself in the most self -asserting manner until it takes the whim 

 to arch over. Two short teeth then hang down and form a 

 striking likeness to the head of a walrus. The under lip, 

 which is shorter, completes the resemblance by drooping. 

 Occasionally the whole flower is of a deep rich purple ; but 

 usually the parts are differently coloured, the upper lip being 



