OUR GERARDIAS 



By Dr. W. VV. Bailey. 



MONG the most regal of our summer wildflowers, are the 



false foxgloves of the genus Gerardia. Belonging, as 

 do the true foxgloves to the figwort family (Scrophulari- 

 aceae), they are all considered to be clandestine or root para- 

 sites. This fact is diagnosed by their habit of blackening" in the 

 process of drying. Even the most rapid operators often fail to 

 procure good specimens. 



With us in New England, the plants are about ' equally 

 divided by color into two groups. In the one wherein the 

 flowers are yellow, the plants are large and stately, wfith bell- 

 like corollas an inch or more in length. The species most fa- 

 miliar to us is G. pedicularia which is viscid and glandular with 

 deeply cut leaves and corollas thin and delicate in texture. It 

 is generally from one to two feet high and when found is often 

 abundant. In this species the corollas are almost always pierced 

 by bees near the base. They probably find the hairy stamens an 

 impediment. 



Gerardia flava grows much more scattered and in the deep 

 woods rather than, as is the case with the preceding, on the 

 borders. It is a showy plant to meet with in a lonely wood path 

 and can usually be taken home in good condition, while the 

 blossoms of pedicularia fall too easily. 



Another tall species formerly known as the oak-leaved 

 (quercifolia) is now known as Gerardia virginiea. In most 



