SCROPHULARIACEAE 



FIGWORT FAMILY 



WOOD BETONY. COMMON LOUSEWORT 



Pedicularis canadensis L, 



The superstition that this plant bred lice in sheep that fed on 

 on it accounts for the name Lousewort. Wood Betony is the more 

 correct name. It grows in dry open woods and thickets and on 

 dry open knolls and slopes from 

 Nova Scotia to Manitoba, south 

 to Florida, Mississippi and north- 

 ern Mexico. It is sometimes 

 partly parasitic on the roots of 

 other plants. 



There is usually a cluster of 

 very hairy stems which grow 

 6-18 inches high. The leaves are 

 scattered and all but the upper- 

 most are petioled. The lower are 

 pinnately divided and the upper 

 are variously toothed and lobed. 



The blooming season is April 

 to June. The yellow, though 

 often reddish, flowers are pro- 

 duced in a short dense spike. 

 The hairy calyx is split down the 

 front but is otherwise almost 

 entire, though somewhat i-sided. 

 The corolla is strongly 2-lipped, 

 the upper lip arched and in- 

 curved, whereas the lower is 

 3-lobed. The 4 stamens are 

 paired within the upper lip. The 

 capsule is slightly i-sided and 

 about 3 times as long as the calyx. 



The Swamp Betony, Pedicularis lanceolata Michx., grows in wet 

 places, is nearly smooth throughout and 1-3 feet high. The leaves are 

 doubly cut toothed and some of them are opposite. The calyx is 

 2-lobed and the lobes have leaflike margins. The upper lip of the 

 pale yellow corolla is incurved, and the capsule is not much longer 

 than the calyx. This plant occurs from Ontario to Manitoba, south 

 to Virginia, Ohio and Nebraska, and flowers from August to October. 



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