FIGWORT FAMILY. 



SCROPHULARIACE^. 



Common Lousewort. Pedicularis Canadensis. 



Beefsteak Plant. 



Found on roadside banks, and in dry copses, during May. 



Several flower-bearing, leafy, stout stems, 6 to 10 inches high, 

 spring from a foot tuffet of leaves. 



The foot-leaves are large and long, and set on long, wide, grooved, 

 hairy stems ; the stem leaves taper at each end, and are at first set on 

 short stems, and above clasping ; all the leaves are often and regularly 

 cut like a feather, a resemblance increased by the finely toothed margin ; 

 with strong midribs, coarse texture, and shining surfaces. The color 

 is dark green, the lower leaves dashed with red-purple, the stems being 

 also ]'ed-purple. The leaves occur alternately, and not near together, 

 along the stems. 



This curious flower is 2-lipped : the upper is flat and curved, 

 with a two-pronged tip, the lower is 3-lobed, the edges curled inward ; 

 their surface shining ; the upper lip is a dark purplish-red, the lower, 

 j)ale yellow, while the throat is reddish. The pistil pushes out between 

 the prongs of the upper lip. The deep and somewhat square calyx is 

 parted beneath the lower lip ; it is of a coarse, and hairy aspect, aud 

 colored light green, edged with dark red. The flowers, set close, in the 

 hold of little bract-like leaves, are arranged spirally, in a round terminal 

 spike. 



As the fresh blossoms climb upward the spike lengthens and be- 

 comes club-shaped. The withered flowers cling long after their color 

 has faded ; when newly opened, they are all yellow, their beak-like 

 upper lips only faintly flushed with the red, which, presently, assumes 

 so sanguinary a hue that there is some occasion for the waggery of the 

 local folk-name of " Beefsteak Plant." 



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