HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



ings, the petals thrown back, stamens and styles much in evi- 

 dence. They terminate delicate, leafless scapes, springing with 

 the leaves from a creeping rootstock. Leaves, 3 -divided, notched, 

 closing or "sleeping" at night by folding backward. May to 

 July. 



The whole plant lies upon the ground in the deep forest 

 in little bunches or clusters. New England and Middle 

 States, and in mountains of North Carolina. The plant 

 produces cleistogamous blossoms, small, pollinated in the 

 bud. This little plant lays claim to the following names: 

 cuckoo's meat, sour trefoil, shamrock, alleluia. From it 

 druggists obtain "salts of lemon." 



Seneca Snakeroot. Mountain Flax 



Polygala Senega. — Family, Milkwort. Color, white, sometimes 

 tinged with green. Flowers in a close, single, elongated spike on 

 a leafy stem from a knotty rootstock. Leaves, sessile, lance- 

 shaped, somewhat broad in the middle, rough-margined. Below 

 on the stem they are reduced almost to scales. May to July. 



Rather tall, reaching 1 foot in height. Rocky and sandy 

 soil, mostly in woods, in northern New England States. 



Whorled Milkwort 



P. e oerticittata. — This species may be known by its long, narrow 

 leaves whorled on the stem. Color, a greenish white or purplish. 

 Basal leaves wanting, but a few are scattered singly on the stem. 

 Flowers in short spikes, larger below, leading to a point. A bract 

 stands behind each separate flower, and falls with the flower. 

 6 to 12 inches high, June to November. 



Common in fields in dry or moist soil all along the Atlantic 

 coast. 



Snow-on-the-Mountain 



Euphorbia marginata. — Family, Spurge. The flowers of this 

 plant (for description of Family, see p. 9) are collected in umbel- 

 like groups of, usually, threes, surrounded by involucres of con- 

 spicuous, white-margined leaves. Stem, somewhat hairy, stout, 

 tall, reaching 3 feet in height. Leaves, below the involucre, broad, 

 ovate, smooth, with smooth margins. Umbels often forked. 



This species is showy, not because of the flowers, but the 

 white-bordered leaves. Often cultivated, but found wild 

 in dry soil, waste places, westward and southward. (See 

 illustration, p. 91.) 



90 



