Yellow and Orange 



in the Mississippi basin, may always be distinguished by the little 

 tufts of hair at the joints of the stem, the compound leaves, and 

 often on the rays of the umbels. 



A yellow variety of the purple meadow parsnip, which is 

 popularly known as Golden Alexanders {T. trjfoliatum var. 

 aureum), confines itself chiefly to woodlands. The leaves are 

 compounded of three leaflets, longer and more lance-shaped in 

 outline than those of other yellow species. 



Four-leaved or Whoried Loosestrife ; 

 Crosswort 



{Lysimachia quadrifolia) Primrose family 



Flowers— ^tWo^, streaked with dark red, J^ in. across or less; 

 each on a thread-like, spreading footstem from a leaf axil. 

 Calyx, 5 to 7 parted ; corolla of 5 to 7 spreading lobes, and 

 as many stamens inserted on the throat; i pistil. Stem: 

 Slender, erect, i to 3 ft. tall, leafy. Leaves : In whorls of 4 

 (rarely in 3's to 7's), lance-shaped or oblong, entire, black 

 dotted. 



Preferred Habitat— O'^Q.n woodland, thickets, roadsides ; moist, 

 sandy soil. 



Flowering Season — June — August. 



Distribution — Georgia and Illinois, north to New Brunswick. 



Mediaeval herbalists usually recorded anything that " Plinie 

 saieth " with profoundest respect; not always so, quaint old Park- 

 inson. Speaking of the common {vulgaris), wild loosestrife of 

 Europe, a rather stout, downy species with terminal clusters of 

 good-sized, yellow flowers, that was once cultivated in our Eastern 

 States, and has sparingly escaped from gardens, he thus refers to 

 the reputation given it by the Roman naturalist: "It is believed 

 to take away strife, or debate between ye beasts, not onely those 

 that are yoked together, but even those that are wild also, by 

 making them tame and quiet . . . if it be either put about their 

 yokes or their necks," significantly adding, " which how true, I 

 leave to them shall try and find it soe." Our slender, symmetri- 

 cal, common loosestrife, with its whorls of leaves and little star- 

 shaped blossoms on thread-like pedicels at regular intervals up 

 the stem, is not even distantly related to the wonderful purple 

 loosestrife (p. 115). 



Another common, lower-growing species, the Bulb-bearing 

 Loosestrife (L. terrestris) — L. stricta of Gray — blooming from 

 July to September, lifts a terminal, elongated raceme of even 

 smaller, slender-pedicelled, yellow flowers streaked or dotted 

 with reddish ; and in the axils of its abundant, opposite, lance- 



324 



