HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Golden Alexanders 



Zizia aurea (named from a botanist, I. B. Ziz). — Family, Parsley. 

 Color, golden yellow. Flowers, rather large for this family, in 

 compound umbels. Stem, erect, hollow, branched, 2 to 3 feet 

 high. Lower leaves, long-petioled, heart-shaped at base; those 

 on stem divided into 3 stalked leaflets, each leaflet ovate or oval, 

 undivided, serrate all around, the petiole clasping the stem with 

 enlarged base; those still higher up near the flower, sessile. May 

 and June. 



A bright flower, not uncommon in rich, moist woods and 

 along river-banks from Connecticut to Georgia, west to Minne- 

 sota, Arkansas, and Texas. Found 3,500 feet high in Virginia. 

 Wild Parsnip 



Pastinkca safwa. — Family, Parsley. Color, yellow. No in- 

 volucre under the umbels of yellow flowers. Leaves, pinnately 

 compound. Stem, stout, tall, smooth, grooved. 



This is the cultivated parsnip, now escaped from gardens 

 and found in a wild state everywhere. It is fed to cattle, 

 especially in Europe, where the root is said sometimes to 

 reach the length of 4 feet. Rich soil in open, waste places. 



Whorled Loosestrife. Crosswort 

 Lysimkchia quadrifolia. — Family, Primrose. Color, deep yel- 

 low, spotted or lined with red. Calyx, 5 or 6 -parted. Corolla, 

 wheel-shaped, deeply parted, axillary, on long, slender peduncles. 

 Leaves; generally in whorls of fours, sessile, occasionally a pair 

 opposite, with leaflets oblong to lance-shaped, pointed at apex, 

 black-dotted, smooth. June to August. 



The flowering stem presents a regular appearance. 4 

 leaves, rarely 5, or less, grow at even distances in whorls 

 along the stem, and 2 or more star-shaped blossoms, small, 

 on long, thread-like peduncles, spring from the leaf-axils. 

 1 to 2 feet high. Its symmetry and slight color make it 

 pleasing. In moist or sandy soil, in thickets or along road- 

 sides. New Brunswick to Minnesota, south to Georgia. 

 (See illustration, p. 199.) 



L, terrestris. — Color, yellow, with dark markings. Flowers, 

 much like the last, but in their inflorescence they differ, being 

 collected in long, terminal, bracted racemes. On slender pedicels, 

 but shorter than the preceding. Fruit, a round pod. Leaves, 

 opposite, long, narrow, broader at base, acute at apex, black- 



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