WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 
narrowly margined stems. They are thick, round, or 
broadly oval, and often have obscurely toothed margins, 
From six to twenty delightfully fragrant, white, waxy 
flowers nod from the slender spike. The thick, round- 
ing, white petals are rather spreading, and the calyx 
lobes are long and slender. The flower has ten sta- 
mens, and an extended, curving pistil. This plant 
blossoms during June and July in dry, open 
woods from Georgia and Ohio to Minnesota, and 
Canada. 
INDIAN-PIPE. ICE-PLANT. GHOST- 
FLOWER. CORPSE-PLANT 
Monétropa uniflora. Indian-pipe Family. 
Gathered together in stiff, colourless groups of from 
three to a dozen or more, these strange, uncanny, waxy 
white flowers hold their silent, Quaker-like meetings 
with bowed heads, as if awaiting the motion of some 
woodland spirit to arouse them. This leafless plant is 
known as a parasite because it draws its nourishment 
from other living roots and decaying vegetable matter. 
It is noticeably cold and clammy to the touch, and is 
inclined to turn black when plucked or exposed to the 
sun. The Indians used the Ice-plant for relieving 
affections of the eyes. The white flower stem, which 
grows from four to ten inches high, is thick and smooth, 
and springs from a ball of matted, brittle rootlets. The 
stem is covered with small, scaly white bracts. The 
rather large, white terminal and nodding, oblong, 
shell-shaped flower is wax-like, scentless, and solitary. 
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