THE PHLOX FA^HLV. 443 



ing towards the apex, five-Iohed. Stamens : five, inserted on the corolla, slightly 

 exserted. Leaves: scattered, finely and pinnatcly dissected, the division acute and 

 filiform. Stem: erect ; simple, very leafy. 



Truly a most charming plant is the raven-footed gilia, as amid its sandy 

 surroundings it stands erect and throws out its peculiarly pink-tinted scarlet 

 flowers. Its stalk when well developed is closely packed with such shim- 

 mering bloom, and although of a more delicate texture the flowers appear as 

 gorgeous as do those of many a garden gladiolus. Among the large genus, 

 which is chiefly western in its distribution, this gilia with fine f(jliagc sug- 

 gestive of a raven's footprint has been chosen for description, as none other 

 is more noticeable. 



THE WATER=LEAF FAHILY. 



Hydroph) ' llacea. 

 Mostly pubescent herbs with basal or alternate leaves^ palmately or 

 pinnately divided', and ivhich produce re^^ular^ perfect /loicers trroiving 

 rarely solitary a fid in various forms of inflorescences^ their parts being 

 in fives. 



LARGE LEAVED WATER=LEAF. 



Hydrophylluui niacropliy/Iuui. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Water-leaf. Yello7visk ^vliite. Scentless. Alabama and rennessce .'/</ 1 . 



north zua rd. 



Floivers : growing in a terminal, simple or forked cyme. Calyx : deeply five-cleft 

 and covered with rigid, white hairs. Corolla : five-lobed, with an apj^endage op|)ositc 

 each lobe. Stamens: five; exserted; filaments slender; bearded; anthers, at- 

 tached at the middle. Capsule: globose; very hairy ; enclosed in the persistent 

 calyx. Leaves: from the base and alternate on the stem, with long, stout and 

 hairy petioles ; pinnately divided into seven to thirteen oval segments, bluntlv 

 pointed at their apices and coarsely dentate ; pubescent ; bright-green above, paler 

 below; thin. Stems: one to three feet high: very pubescent and arising from a 

 scaly rootstock. 



As well as for other noted inhabitants, we search the trail through moist 

 w^oods for this water-leaf, which is pretty and has been so named, as others 

 of the genus, not that they are aquatics, but because each leaf is so indented 

 that it might hold water. Usually they are striking-looking plants, perhaps 

 a little weedy sometimes, and possessed of an interesting feature in the 

 feathery hairs of their flower's filaments. 



//. Virginictun, Virginia water-leaf, in opposition to its relative, is but a 

 sparingly pubescent plant with its five to seven leaf segments acute at their 

 apices. In the high mountains of North Carolina it is especially generous 

 with its dark violet bloom. 



