HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Purple Milkweed 



Asdepias purpurascens Family, Milkweed. (See description 



of flower, p. 10). Color of corolla, deep purple. Leaves, opposite, 

 broad, ovate or oblong, tapering to a sharp point, the upper ones 

 velvety, the lower hard and smooth, 3 to 8 inches long. Flowers, 

 in umbels, 3 or 4 umbels terminating the leafy stem, on short 

 pedicels. June and July. 



New Hampshire to Minnesota and southward. In dry 

 ground, as fields and thickets, along roadsides. Found 

 2,000 feet high in the Catskills. A handsome milkweed, with 

 dark green leaves whose veins are raised, pointed forward 

 and prominent on the under side. (See illustration, p. 329.) 



A* amplexicaulis. — Color of corolla, greenish purple. Leaves, 

 sessile or heart-shaped and clasping the stem, obtuse and bristle- 

 pointed at apex, 3 to 5 inches long. Stem, smooth, pale green, 

 2 to 3 feet high. Umbel of many flowers regular, all pedicelled, 

 at the tip of a long peduncle, with sometimes a second umbel, 

 shorter peduncled, at the base. May to August. 



Dry, sandy soil, fields and woods. New Hampshire to 

 Nebraska and southward. Found 3,000 feet high in Virginia. 



Common Milkweed. Silkweed 

 A, syriaca. — Color of corolla, pink or purple. (See Pink 

 Flowers, p. 284.) 



Blue Phlox 



Phlox divaricata — Family, Polemonium. Color, pale lilac or 

 bluish. Calyx, tubular, with linear teeth longer than the tube. 

 Corolla, with spreading border, the divisions notched, a little 

 longer than the tube. Flowers, in cymose clusters, pedicelled, on 

 ascending stems. Leaves, on the flower - stems, lance - shaped, 

 sessile; those on sterile shoots obtuse, oblong or ovate. Plant 

 12 to 18 inches high. April to June. 



In rocky, moist woods, New England to Florida and west- 

 ward. 



Greek Valerian 



Polemonium reptans, — Family, Polemonium. Color, blue. Parts 

 of the flower in fives. Calyx and corolla, bell-shaped, the latter 

 with short tube and open border. Flowers, few, in corymbs, 

 about \ inch long, nodding on weak, prostrate stems. Leaves, 

 pinnate, 5 to 15 leaflets, ovate or lance-shaped. Upper ones often 

 run together. May and June. 



Woods, New York to Minnesota and southward. This 



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