HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Richweed. Clearweed 

 Pitea pumila. — Family, Nettle. Flowers of two kinds, stami- 

 nate and pistillate. Corolla wanting. Sepals 3, a hooded scale 

 in front of each. In the pistillate flowers, one large sepal incloses 

 the seed, an achene, in fruit. From the resemblance of this sepal 

 to a cap, the name is derived (pileus, a cap). Leaves, pointed, 

 3 -ribbed, coarsely toothed. Stem smooth, 3 to 18 inches high. 

 July to September. 



Cool, moist, shady places. 



Great Water Dock 



Rumex Britannica. — Family, Buckwheat. Flowers, lacking corol- 

 la, consist of 6 sepals, 6 stamens, and 3 styles. The 3 inner sepals, 

 called valves, bear each a grain-like body upon the back. They 

 are larger than the 3 outer ones, and are often colored, petal-like. 

 The 3 outer are leaf-like and green. Flowers borne upon slender 

 pedicels, forming a long, green panicle. Leaves, oblong, or lance- 

 shaped, very large, those near the root 1 or 2 feet long, their 

 petioles sheathing the stem at the base. Stems coarse, tall, 5 to 

 10 feet, sometimes measuring 10 inches around at base. Summer. 



Wet places everywhere, especially borders of streams. 



Pale Dock 



R. altissimus. — A species 3 to 6 feet tall, with long, pale green 

 leaves, flowers on short, nodding peduncles. Common in alluvial 

 soil. 



White Dock 



R. pallidas. — This has a white root, whence its common name. 

 It grows 1 to 3 feet high, with narrow, smooth leaves, the stem 

 thickly branched, coarse in its growth, like most of this genus. 



Yellow Dock 



R. crtspus. — This is a well - known weed, growing with per- 

 tinacity in cultivated grounds, with a strong root. The farmers 

 consider the dockweed among their most unwelcome growths. 

 Leaves, narrow, with wavy margins. Flowers crowded in whorls, 

 in long panicles. 



Swamp Dock 

 R. <verticillktus. — A tall species found in swamps, with flowers 

 whorled about the stem in loose, almost leafless racemes. Often 

 the lower leaves of many of these species turn a bright red early 

 in the season. 



Bitter Dock 

 R. obtusifolius has flowers whorled in looser, more distant 

 panicles. Lower leaves ovate, heart-shaped, obtuse, the upper 



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