PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 281 



that are stuffed with the pappus and laugh at the ''city people " 

 for calling the plant " rubber tree." It blooms in the dry fields 

 and all along the waysides and is the most generally known of 

 the family. 



BUTTERFLY=WEED. PLEURISY=ROOT. {Plate CXLV.) 

 4sclepias tiiberbsa. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkweed. Orange red. Scentless. Mostly northward. Jtcne-Septeiiibe; . 



Flowers: regular; gamopetalous ; growing in umbel-liice dusters, and show- 

 ing the distinctive features of the milkweed family, see A. incarnata, page 76. 

 Pods : two, which burst open and let fly seeds with beautiful silky tufts. 

 Leaves: alternate; lanceolate; pubescent. Stem : one to two feet high; erect ; 

 branched near the summit ; hairy and containing very little milky juice. 



Perhaps this is one of the most brilliant plants, not exclud- 

 ing those of the tropics, of our country. The soft air of mid- 

 summer plays upon it as it lightens the dry fields, and the 

 tuneful harmony is one of blending tints of orange and red. It 

 is the only northern one of the genus with so much yellow 

 mixed in its colouring. One rarely sees it without a gay band 

 of butterflies hovering about, and it is very possible that from 

 this fact it has received one of its English names. 



The Indians made use of it in many ways ; principally by 

 extracting a sugar-like substance from the flowers. The roots 

 have been believed to be a cure for pleurisy. The plant is also 

 called wind-root and orange-root. 



WILD CARROT. QUEEN ANNE'S LACE. 

 D aliens Carrot a. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Parsley. White. Scentless. General. August.^ Septetnbtr. 



Flowers" minute, delicate; growing in a compound, flat-topped umbel, 

 which becomes concave after flowering. The central flower of the umbel is 

 often purple. Invohicre : light green ; of very fine pinnatifid leaves. Leaves 

 fine ; much divided. Stem : erect ; rough ; branched. 



We may have no qualms of conscience on the grounds of in- 

 hospitality if we say boldly that we should not grieve very much 

 to have this weed return to the old country from where it came. 



