NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 
GROUND NUT—WILD BEAN—Apios tuberosa (Mecench.), 
known also as Indian Potato and Sweet Bean, a tall climber, 
with compound leaves of five to seven ovate leaflets and 
sweet-scented clustered fiowers of a brownish-purple color; 
the pear-shaped tubers, of the size of a hen’s egg, are used 
as an article of food by the Indians, who roast them in the 
embers and eat them as we do baked potatoes. A fine 
white starchy substance, tasteless and not unwholesome, can 
be obtained by grating the tubers. 
BUTTERFLY WeEED—Asclepias tuberosa (L.). 
Of this remarkable family Canada possesses many hand- 
some species. The most showy is a large bushy plant with 
gorgeous orange, almost scarlet, flowers. Every branch is 
terminated by .a wide-spreading head composed of small 
umbels of brilliant flowers. This plant is known by the 
name of Butterfly Flower from its singularly gay appear- 
ance, which is very attractive when seen on dry hills on 
sunny days. The root is used in medicine as a powerful 
vermifuge by the old settlers, who say they learned its 
medicinal virtues from the Indian herb doctors. 
The floral construction of the flowers of all this family is 
peculiar. The petals are somewhat pointed, five in number; 
divisions of the calyx also five; the petals are reflexed, 
showing a central crown, which is composed’ of five hooded. 
nectaries, each of which encloses a curved horn-like append- 
age. The crown is often of a different shade of color from 
the petals, and from its peculiar form the flower has the 
appearance of being double. The leaves of the Butterfly 
Flower are rough on the surface and hoary; the seed-pods 
are also hoary. It is a striking and showy flower, deficient 
in the viscid milky juice that is so abundant in others of the 
genus. 
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