PYROLA FAMILY. Pyrolaceae. 



A familiar clammy, white, parasitic 

 Vonotropa plant, deriving its nourishment from roots 

 nniflora and decayed vegetation, generally found 



White or in the vicinity of rotting trees. The stem 



pinkish ig thick> translucent white, and without 



July-August . , . 



leaves, except for the scaly bracts which 



take their place. The white or delicately pink-salmon- 

 tinted flower has five, or sometimes four, oblong petals, 

 and the 10-12 stamens are pale tan color. The flower is 

 in a nodding position, and is usually solitary, although 

 rarely two may be found on one stem ; the latter is often 

 pink-tinged and springs with several others from a mat 

 of entangled fibrous rootlets. The enlarged ovary finally 

 assumes an erect position, becoming a pale tawny sal-- 

 mon color ; it is usually ten-grooved and five-celled, and 

 forms a large, fleshy, ovoid seed-vessel. The plant is at 

 home in the dim-lit fastnesses of the forest, and it quickly 

 withers and blackens after being gathered and exposed 

 to sunlight. 3-9 inches high. Nearly throughout the 

 country. 



A somewhat similar parasitic plant found 

 False Beech- mos ^ frequently over the roots of oaks and 

 rops or pines. The stems are in clusters, and are 



Monotropn slightly downy ; they are whitish, pale 

 Hypopitys tan color, or reddish, with many bracts. 



Tawny fh e sma ll bracts are thin, papery, yellow- 



Jun d e iSh> etC ' ish red) and they tum black When wither - 

 September in g- The small vase-shaped flowers are 

 light crimson-red more or less touched 

 with yellow ; the tips of the flower are quite yellowish. 

 The cluster of 3-10, or rarely more, drooping flowers is 

 slightly fragrant. The fleshy vase-shaped seed-vessels 

 become erect. 4-12 inches high. In dry woods from 

 Me., south, and west to Ore. and Ariz. The generic 

 name is from the Greek, and means turned one-sided, in 

 allusion to the one-sided drooping method of flower- 

 growth. 



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