24S FAMILIAR FEATURES OP THE ROADSIDE. 



sky at sundown on a cold September evening. The 

 corolla is vase-shaped, topped by five pointed divi- 

 sions. The plant is from eight to fifteen inches high, 

 and the stem is mostly rough with tiny fine hairs at 

 the top. The leaves are stiff and long lance-shaped. 

 This species of gentian is common in the vicinity of 

 Minneapolis, the Minnehaha Falls in the country of 

 Hiawatha, and on the dry borders of the great wheat- 

 fields of Minnesota. The soapwort gentian ( Gentiana 

 Suj>onana) is another Western species which we will 

 occasionally see on the roadsides near damp woods 

 from New York west to Minnesota. The light lilac - 

 blue corolla is but slightly open, and the five blunt 

 lobes or divisions are almost erect. The leaves are 

 broad lance-shaped and roi;gh-edged. The stem is 

 smooth and about a foot or eighteen inches high. 



The five-flowered gentian {Gentiana quinqueflora) 

 is a slender-stemmed branching plant with broad 

 lance-shaped leaves partly clasping the stem, and 

 clusters of five flowers at the summit, pale lilac- 

 blue ; the corolla is funnel-formed with five bristle- 

 tipped lobes. This fiower is found on hillsides from 

 Maine to Illinois ; it grows in the vicinity of Lake 

 Mohunk, and commonly through the Shawangunk 

 Mountains. It is also found in the northern hills 

 of New Jersey. 



Whoever heard of a stone wall bordering the hill- 



