274 PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



the coming year would make them brides. It has been lauded 

 in ancient poetry, and probably more associated with good and 

 evil than any other plant. 



Sarothra gentiandides, orange-grass, or pine-weed, has tiny 

 flowers of a deep yellow scattered along the branches. The 

 leaves are small, erect and wiry. It is commonly found in dry, 

 sterile or sandy soil from Maine southward and westward. 

 The generic name of the plant was formerly Hypericum nudi- 

 caule. 



INDIAN TOBACCO. 



Lobelia infiata. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Lobelia. Violet^ blue, or white . Scentless. General. June-August. 



Flowers: axillary; growing in terminal, leafy racemes. Calyx: tubular; 

 inflated; veined; five-cleft. Corolla: tubular; split down the upper side; 

 the five lobes very regular. Stamens: five; united; the anthers bearded. 

 Pistil: one. Pod: inflated. Leaves: sessile; ovate; hairy. Stem: one to 

 two feet high ; erect ; branched ; hairy. 



Unfortunately this lobelia does not shed abroad a very en- 

 nobling influence among its companions. Its narcotic proper- 

 ties are well known and have been rather indiscriminately used 

 by the Indians. They chew and smoke the dried leaves, which 

 have a bitter flavour like tobacco. The plant is a poisonous 

 one and has been largely employed as an emetic. It is, in fact, 

 a rather plebeian relative of the cardinal flower. 



CORN=COCKLE. CORN- ROSE. 



Agrostemina Githago. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Fink. Crimson J>urple. Scentless. General. July-September. 



Flowers: terminal; solitary. Calyx: large, with five linear lobes alternating 

 with and exceeding the corolla. Corolla : oi five rounded petals. Stamens: 

 ten. Pistil : one ; styles, five. Leaves : opposite ; linear-lanceolate ; pale green ; 

 hairy. Stem: stout, erect; much branched; four-angled. 



The generic name lychnis, which was formerly applied to this 

 plant and which means a lamp or light, expressed well the effect 

 of the corn-cockle in our grain fields. It illuminates them with 

 ablaze of crimson light and causes the traveller to exclaim, the 

 fields here are as beautiful as they are in England. 



