HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



plants. Leaves, 3 in a whorl, on a low stem, palmately divided 

 into 5 long-stalked leaflets. July and August. 



The members of the Ginseng Family, with their pretty 

 leaves and delicate flowers, are among the choicest finds of 

 the woods. In their botanical features they are not unlike 

 the parsleys, having a short, toothed calyx, 5 petals, 5 

 stamens, and from 2 to 5 styles. Compound leaves and 

 small white (or greenish) flowers in umbels complete the 

 likeness. But they differ from the rank and often baneful 

 parsleys in one important respect. None of the ginsengs is 

 poisonous. Their roots are aromatic, of pleasant flavor. 

 The ginseng has a stem 1 foot high, bearing above the 

 leaves a simple umbel of white flowers, and later a cluster of 

 bright red, berry-like drupes. 



Dwarf Ginseng, or Ground-nut 



P. trifolium is often found growing near in the same woods. The 

 ground-nut refers to its root, a small tuber, sweet and edible, sunk 

 deep into the ground, only unearthed after careful, patient digging. 



It is a lovely herb, with little balls of blossoms just over- 

 topping a whorl of 3 leaves, each divided into 3 to 5 sessile 

 leaflets, all on the same leaf-stalk. It is a spring flower, 

 coming with the hepatica in April and May, perfecting later 

 a yellowish fruit. (See illustration, p. 97.) 



Water Pennywort 



Hydrocotyle umbellsda,. — Family, Parsley. Flowers, small, urn- 

 belled, pedicelled, white or greenish, from rootstocks creeping in 

 the mud. The leaves are tiny imitations of lily-pads. After 

 flowering, the top of the water where it grows is covered with the 

 specks of white blossoms. heaves orbicular, crenate, small, with 

 the long petiole fastened to the middle underneath. June and 

 July. (See illustration, p. 99.) 



H. <vert{cillkta. — This species has few flowers in umbels, in in- 

 terrupted spikes. Leaves like the last. June to September. 



Massachusetts to Florida and westward. 



H. americkna.. — Flowers, very small, heaves, kidney-shaped. 

 Sometimes called water ivy. It has small, thread - like stems 

 which creep over wet moss and cling to soft mud. The pretty, 

 shiny, roundish or kidney - shaped leaves, crenately lobed, are 



