254 PLANTS GROWING IN SANDY SOIL. 



which line the base have one stamen ; the pistillate ones which grow singly in the 

 centre have a thrte-lobed ovary and three styles. Leaves ; ovate, or lanceolate ; 

 smooth. Stem ; two to three feet high; divided into five-forked umbels, which 

 again divide and bear the flower-heads; highly coloured with purple. 



Patterning itself by many that are larger and perhaps wiser, 

 the little spurge has arranged about itself a set of bracts, or an 

 involucre that is commonly mistaken for petals ; and in its 

 centre is the community of staminate and pistillate blossoms. 

 Although the medical properties of spurges are said to have 

 been discovered long ago by King Juba of Mauritania, in Africa, 

 and to be equally well known to our own Indians ; they have 

 not altogether the sanction of many for medical use. It is 

 certainly true that aside from its powers of purging the plant 

 possesses little virtue. It belongs to a poisonous family and 

 must be proud to boast of the faithful, old castor-oil plant, 

 Ricinus communis, as a member of the same natural family. 



SAND KNOTWEED. COAST JOINTWEED. 



Polygonella articulata. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Buckwheat. Rose fink. Scentless. Maine to Florida. September. 



Flwuers : minute; growing nodding in a spike-like raceme; each flower ap- 

 pearing from within a bract. Calyx : unequally five-parted. Corolla : none. 

 Stamens: eight. Pistil: one; styles, three. Leaves: alternate; sheathing 

 the stem; linear; jointed at the base. Stem : upright; branching; thread-like. 



What sweet things must the autumn winds whisper to the 

 tiny knotweed as they sweep along the coast, to make it tint 

 the sandy plain with its delicate blush! And what a keen 

 appreciation the little plant must have of the beauty dear 

 to Dame Nature's heart to give out its bloom so abundantly ! 

 It seems loath to leave us, and often lingers well on into the 

 autumn. 



SANDY SOIL ASTERS. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Composite. Purple, blue or Scentless. General. Late summer and 



white. early autumn. 



Flower-heads : composed of tubular and ligulate flowers, or ray and disk 

 flowers. The rays purple, blue or white and the disks yellow. 



