MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. 79 



HerbEobert. There is another variety of the ge- 

 Geraniwm ranium Called herb Robert {G. Ro- 



oei'Uanwm). ihis is also common, 

 and blossoms in June, continuing through the sum- 

 mer. The flowers are nearly magenta color — that is, 

 a deep purple, brownish crimson. The stems of the 

 plant are ruddy. 



Indian Poke, or -^^O"* *^'« ^^^ «^ ^^^ ^^ *^^ ^^S^"" 



False White ning of June large masses of light 



Hellebore, gpggjj, corrugated leaves are seen in 



Veratrum viride. , , n i- i ■, ■, • ■, 



the hollows of the meadow, which 

 have a tropical look. This plant is the Indian poke, 

 and we learn from the farmers that it is poisonous ; 

 sheep and pigs have been killed by eating the leaves. 

 Gray says the roots yield the_ acrid poisonous veratrin. 

 A Campton farmer told me that in his boyhood he 

 innocently fed his father's pigs M'ith some of the 

 plants, and on the following morning they were found 

 " stone dead." The leaves bear a distant resemblance 

 to those of the Funkia (a relative of the poisonous 

 plant) ; but beyond its leaves it does not interest us ; 

 the green flowers are borne on a weedy, pyramidal 

 spike. In later summer the whole plant withers, 

 blackens, and disappears. We are reminded of the 

 ungodly man in David's psalm : 



"I went by, and lo, he was gone : I sought him, 

 but his place could nowhere be found." 



