THE FIRE-WEED OR GREAT WILLOW-HERB. 



[Chamaenerion angusiifolium.) 



Scattered throughout the world, but 

 more abundant in the temperate regions 

 of America, there are three hundred and 

 fifty species of plants that are closely 

 related and grouped by the botanist as 

 the evening primrose family. By him 

 this family is called the Onagraceae, 

 possibly derived from tv^o Greek words, 

 meaning wine and a hunt or eager pur- 

 suit. The Greek name is supposed, bv 

 some authorities, to have been applied to 

 a plant a portion of which when eaten 

 would develop a taste for wine. Even 

 now the roots of some species are used 

 in scenting wine. The word may also 

 be derived from the Greek word mean- 

 ing the ass, and used here because many 

 of the species bear elongated, erect and 

 pointed leaves resembling the ears of 

 that animal. 



This family includes a number of in- 

 teresting plants. Here are classed the 

 fuchsias or ladies' eardrops, of which 

 there are many brilliant varieties under 

 cultivation as house plants. These are 

 natives of the mountain regions from 

 Mexico southward. Another cultivated 

 plant is the Clarkia, a native of Oregon 

 and California. 



Among the more common wild species 

 are the evening primroses, the willow- 

 herbs and the enchanter's night-shade, 

 named Circaea in honor of Circe, the 

 enchantress. Why Linnaeus should 

 have chosen this plant with which to 

 honor Circe is difficult to understand, 

 for the Circaea is an insignificant plant 

 of the woods. 



The Fire-weed is one of the most in- 

 teresting of the- wild members of the 

 family. It is abundant in dry fields and 

 along roadsides throughout that portion 

 of North America lying north of North 

 Carolina, Kansas, Arizona and Cal- 

 iforni.'i. With its spikc-likc racemes 

 of ralluT l)r;)a(l i)urplc or sometimes 



white flowers, it beautifies many waste 

 places from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 coast. A plant of the Fire-weed is a 

 continuous bouquet, for it blossoms from 

 June to October. The flowers are fol- 

 lowed by attractive fruits which are 

 long and slender and when ripe spht into 

 four sections, thus releasing the numer- 

 ous seeds which have a tuft of long cot- 

 tony hairs by means of which they are 

 wafted by the wind to long distances. 

 Many of these seeds fall where the con- 

 ditions are not favorable for growth, 

 but they retain their vitality for a longf 

 time. 



The Fire-weed is a plant of the open 

 country and not of the forest. It must 

 have a great deal of sunshine. When 

 its seeds fall in the deep shade of a dense 

 forest, where the rays of the sun pene- 

 trate but a short distance if at all, they 

 cannot grow. But let the woodman or 

 a fire lay low or destroy the noble growth 

 of trees, then there is soon a transforma- 

 tion — the landscape is enlivened by the 

 bright flowers of the Fire-weed. Where 

 the northern coniferous forests have 

 been burned, it is not an uncommon 

 sight to see a Fire-weed plant, from six 

 to ten feet tall, with its broad top of 

 flowers closely contrasted with the 

 blackened remains of a forest monarch. 

 The Fire-weed is an excellent illustra- 

 tion of the perfect provision that is 

 found in Nature for the perpetuation of 

 the species. Its seeds are distributed bv 

 both animate and inanimate forces. 

 They are dropped on both favorable and 

 unfavorable soil. If on the latter, their 

 structure is such that the little embryo 

 plant within the seed can lie dormant 

 for a long time. The deep forest is 

 an unfavorable soil for the seed of the 

 Inre-weed, but remove the trees and it 

 can find no better home. 



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