STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
TURTLEHEAD—SNAKEHEAD—Chelone glabra (L.). 
(PLATE XII.) 
This coarse but rather showy plant is found in damp 
thickets near lakes and streams. The large white two- 
lipped flowers grow in terminal clusters or spikes; the upper 
lip projects downward like a turtle’s bill; the foliage is 
dark green, the leaves opposite, the edges coarsely-toothed, 
long and sharp-pointed; the stem, simple, or widely branch- 
ing and bushy; the large handsome white flowers are often 
tinged with red or purplish-red ; the blossom is open-throated, 
somewhat contracted at the mouth by the overhanging of the 
upper lip. The whole plant is from two to three feet high. 
The name of the genus is derived from a Greek word which 
signifies a tortoise, the form of the beaked corolla resembling 
the head of a reptile; hence also the common name Snake- 
head, from the fancied likeness to the open mouth of a snake. 
The flowering season is from July to September; probably 
under cultivation this flower would become highly orna- 
mental as a large border plant. 
There are many very ornamental flowers belonging to the 
same natural order as the Turtlehead, among which are 
the Beard-tongue (Pentstemon pubescens) ,* Monkey-flower 
(Mimulus), Snapdragon (Antirrhinum), Scarlet-cup (Cas- 
tilleia), and the Gerardia, with many other plants more 
remarkable for beauty than for any useful or healing quali- 
ties, but very showy in the garden and not difficult of cultiva- 
tion. 
CARDINAL FLOwER—Lobelia cardinalis (L.). 
(PLATE X.) 
One of the most striking of our native flowers is the Red 
Lobelia or Cardinal Flower. The plant had found its way 
* See Plate XX. 
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