FLORA OF MICHIGAN. 61 



GREEN LEAVED PARASITES. 



There are a few attractive native plants which have usually baffled all 

 attempts to introduce them into cultivation. The reason for this lack of 

 success is probably owing to the fact that the plants under consideration 

 are partially parasitic. They will not thrive except when some of their 

 roots are attached to their host plants. This list is a short one, and 

 includes: 



Castilleia coccinea, Spreng. Scarlet Painted-Cup. 



pallida, Kunth, var. septentrionalis, Gray. Pale Painted-Cup. 

 Comandra livida, Richardson. Bastard Toad-flax. 



umbellata, Nutt. Bastard Toad-flax. 

 Gerardia aspera, Dougl. Gerardia. 



auriculata, Michx. Gerardia. 

 " flava, L. Downy Foxglove. 

 Icevigata, Raf . Gerardia. 

 pedicularia, L. Lousewort Foxglove. 

 purpurea, L. Purple Gerardia. 



var paupercula, Gray. Purple Gerardia. 

 ** quercifolia, Pursh. Smooth Foxglove. 

 tenuifolia, Vahl. Slender Gerardia. 



var. asperula, Gray. Slender Gerardia. 



NATIVE POISONOUS PLANTS. 



Besides two species of nettles ( Urtica gracilis, Ait., and Laportea 

 Canadensis, Gaud.) there are only two species of native plants which are 

 of any prominence as poisonous to the touch, and even these two are not 

 poisonous to all persons. The latter plants or shrubs are known as poison 

 sumach or poison dogwood (JRhus venenata, DC.), and poison ivy, or 

 poison oak (Rhus Toxicodendron, L.). The last named plant is the most 

 troublesome, as it is often common on dry land, while the one previously 

 noticed is confined to swamps which are not so often frequented. Poison 

 ivy has three leaflets to each leaf, while the handsome Virginian Creeper 

 often confounded with it usually has five leaflets to the leaf, and is harm- 

 less. The roots, leaves or flowers of many of the medicinal plants are 

 more or less poisonous when eaten in sufficient quantity, but fortunately, 

 in nearly all such cases, there is something repulsive to the taste or to 

 the smell. Unless one is a botanist or takes the advice of a good botanist, 

 it is safest to let strange plants alone. 



BOTANY AND THE COUNTRY SCHOOL. 



Wide awake teachers have learned that pupils may advance just as 

 rapidly when properly taught in arithmetic, grammar, spelling, reading, 

 etc., if a few other subjects of a different nature are placed in the course. 

 The ability to observe accurately, we take it for granted will help any 

 person in any kind of business. For cultivating the observing faculty of 

 young persons nothing is better or more convenient than the study of 

 plants. 



" The point never to be lost sight of is that if you teach a child to dis- 

 criminate with the plants in hand and from observation only, between such 

 objects as the simple, heart-shaped, opposite, ex-stipulate stalked leaves of 

 a lilac, and the compound, pinnate, alternate, stipulate leaves of a rose, 

 you lay the foundations of a power for obtaining knowledge which is no 

 way to be measured merely by the amount or kind of information 

 imparted." Marshal Ward in Garden and Forest, December, 1890. 



