UM BELLI FERAE 



PARSLEY FAMILY 



RATTLESNAKE MASTER. BUTTON SNAKEROOT 



Eryrujium yuccifolium Michx. 



The Rattlesnake Master or Button Snakeroot is common 

 in open places in all prairie portions of" the state. It occurs 

 locally as far east as Connecticut and New Jersey, as far south 

 as Florida and Texas, and west 

 to South Dakota and Kansas. It 

 differs markedly from other mem- 

 bers of the family in that the 

 leaves are not compound, and the 

 fiowers are not in umbels. 



This is a smooth stout plant 

 whose 2-6-foot stem is unbranched 

 or branched near the top. The 

 stiff" spiny-toothed leaves are 

 mostly clasping at the base and 

 the lower may be 3 feet long, 

 whereas the upper are much 

 smaller. All are parallel veined 

 and thick. 



The small white fiowers bloom from June to 

 September. Each is produced in the axil ot a 

 bract, in a dense head topping the stem, or in 

 the axil of an upper leaf which has been reduced 

 to a bract. The 5 calyx teeth are rigid and sharp 

 pointed. The 5 white petals are erect, have long 

 incurved tips and are mounted on the calyx. 

 The disk above the ovary, to which the 5 sta- 

 mens are attached, is relatively large and con- 

 spicuous, and the 2 styles are long and slender. 

 The scalv fruits contain 2 seeds each. 



Here, by the broken, moldering wall, 



Where still the tiger lilies ride, 

 Once grew the crown imperial, 

 The tall blue larkspur, white Queen Margaret, 

 Prince's feather, and mourning bride. 



Beyond their pale, a humbler throng. 

 Grew bouncing bet and columbine ; 

 The mountain fringe ran all along 

 The thick-set hedge of cinnamon roses. 

 And overlniiig the eglantine. 



A Puritan Ladu's Garden — S.\K.\ii N. ('i.kc.iiokn 



215 



