PEPPER FAMILY 



PIPERACEAE 



LIZARD'S TAIL 



Saururus cernuus L. 



The Lizard's Tail is related to the plant which gives us 

 black pepper. It is the only species of the genus and the 

 only member of the Pepper family native to Illinois ; most of 



the others are tropical. 



The Lizard's Tail 

 grows in swamps and 

 shallow water through- 

 out most ofeastern 

 United States, and 

 blooms from June to 

 August. Its slender un- 

 derground stems lives 

 over winter and propa- 

 gates the plant b>' 

 branching and sending 

 up new shoots. A colony 

 thus established may 

 occupy a considerable 

 area and persist for many years. 



The slender and erect stem, 2-5 

 feet high, is sparingly branched and 

 when young slightly hairy, later 

 becoming smooth. The dark green, 

 ovate leaves are 3-6 inches long, 

 deeply heart shaped at the base, 

 entire and palmately 5-9-ribbed. 

 There are several 4-6-inch and very dense spikes of fragrant 

 flowers. The tips of the spikes, on whose account the plant 

 name is derived, droop as the flowers mature. Neither calyx nor 

 corolla is present but the stamens and pistil are white and fairly 

 conspicuous. Stamens are 6-8 and the pistil is composed of 3 or 

 4 parts, each containing 1 seed. The fleshy truit is one-eighth 

 inch in diameter and becomes much wrinkled when dry. 



Men. call me Birch Tree, yet 1 know 



In other days it was not so. 



I am a Dryad slim and white 



Who danced too long one summer night. 



And the Dawn found and prisoned me 1 



The Si)irit of the Birch — Auxiiiu Ketchim 



72 



