NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 
the country. Even the trees of the forest were hardly dis- 
tinguished by name, and much less were the wild flowers 
cared for, unless some of the settlers knew of curative 
medicines to be extracted from the leaves or roots, or of 
some household dye for the home-spun flannel garments 
which were then all that could be obtained as clothing for 
their families. 
But to return to my Gerardias, several fine species have 
been found growing on the islands of Lake Ontario and on 
the banks of the Humber, that fruitful wilderness of many 
flowers; and doubtless these handsome, showy plants are 
well known in many localities westward in the Dominion of 
Canada. 
The handsomest of all is G. quercifolia, Oak-leaved 
Gerardia, a robust, stately plant of from three to six feet 
in height, with large open-throated orange bells; it is known 
as False Foxglove. There are several fine purple-flowered 
species, and others of paler yellow than quercifolia, with 
stems coarse, rigid, downy or bristly; the leaves are mostly 
rough on the surface and of a dull green. 
I am not aware of any particularly useful qualities attri- 
buted to this genus, but as ornaments to our gardens they 
would prove very attractive—one of the most suitable is 
G. pedicularia, a very much branched species which grows 
in dry thickets; it is about two feet high, has prettily lobed 
foliage, and bears a profusion of yellow flowers. It seems a 
pity that these beautiful plants should be passed by as only 
weeds, unnoticed and unvalued. 
GAYFEATHER—BUTTON SNAKEROOT—Liatris cylindracea 
(Michx.). 
This pretty purple flower is found growing on dry hills, 
near lakes and rivers, on sandy flats and old dried water- 
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