294 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



ish white. Leaves, simple, thread - like, whorled, 3 to 6 to- 

 gether, with margins turned back, 2 or 3 inches long. Time, 

 July. 



This is the most ethereal and exquisite of the milkweeds. I 

 first saw it on the top of Federal Hill, Pompton, N.J. It is more 

 common southward. A small umbel of delicate white flowers 

 terminates a stem generally unbranched. The needle-like leaves 

 give it a delicate appearance. 



35. Four-leaved Milkweed 



A. quadrifhlia has a slender stem, naked below, and bears 

 leaves 2 to 4 inches long about the middle, in i or 2 sets of 

 fours; and above, i or 2 pairs; all ovate or lance-shaped, 

 thin, tapering, with petioles. The blossoms are a pale rose 

 color and white. 



Range from Maine to North Carolina and Arkansas. 



36. Five-flowered Gentian 



Geniidna guinqueflora. — Family, Gentian. Color, pale 

 blue. Leaves, with heart-shaped and partly clasping bases, 3- 

 to 7-nerved, pointed, ovate to lance-shaped. Calyx, small, 

 with 5 narrowly linear lobes. Corolla, a long, narrow tube, 

 divided at the summit into 5 bristly -pointed broad lobes. 

 About 5 flowers at the summit of the stem or branches, in 

 racemes or panicles. Stem, about 2 feet tall or less, slender. 



Found along the mountains, especially of the AUeghanies, 

 southward to Florida. A variety, OccidenMis, has longer and 

 more leaf-like calyx divisions. 



37. Moss or Ground Pink 



Phlox subulata. — Family, Polemonium. Color, pink, pur- 

 ple, or white. Leaves, narrow, thin, fascicled, smaller ones 

 clustered in the axils, irregularly arranged on the stem, ever- 

 green. Time, May. 



