156 PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 



BLACK COHOSH. BLACK SNAKEROOT. BUGBANE. 



{Plate LXXIX.) 

 Cimicifuga racembsa. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Crowfoot. White. Disagreeable. General. Summer. 



Flowers: growing in racemes one to three feet in length. Calyx: of four or 

 five early falling sepals. Corolla: very irregular, two of the petals appearing 

 like transformed stamens. Slamens : numerous; with protruding filaments 

 that give the whole a feathery appearance. Pislils : one, two or three. 

 Leaves : alternate ; pinnately-divided, the leaflets deeply toothed. Ste7n : three 

 to eight feet high. 



It is well that the Indians have given this plant the reputa- 

 tion of being efficacious for snake-bite ; and that its generic 

 name, signifying to drive away bugs, endues it with the power 

 of expelling plant vermin. Otherwise we might be inclined to 

 shower anathemas upon it, as a deceitful thing that beckons 

 us to its presence by its wand-like racemes and then treats us 

 to such an unpleasant odour that we are prone to hasten away 

 as swiftly as possible. It may truly be classed among those 

 objects to which, from the standpoint of frail humanity, dis- 

 tance lends enchantment. 



EARLY SAXIFRAGE. 



Saxifraga Virginiensis. 



Flowers : small ; densely clustered in cymes upon the ends of hairy scapes. 

 Calyx: of five very short sepals. Corolla: of five petals. Stamens: ten. 

 Pistil : one, with two styles. Fruit : a many seeded, purple capsule. Leaves : 

 clustered at the root ; obovate ; toothed. Scape: three to nine inches high; 

 clammy. 



All the timorous, hesitating beauty of the early spring bloom 

 clusters about the saxifrage. It slips into the woods quietly, as 

 though fearful that if it made a noise or attracted too much 

 attention. Jack Frost might send some one, or come himself, 

 which would be worse, and punish it by retarding its growth. 

 We find it on the top, or in the clefts, of rocks, which it has 



