598 



SOME ATTRACTIVE NATIVE PLANTS. 



stalk pushing up from the center of the plant, I hailed 

 it as a token of blossoms. I watched its growth with 

 increasing interest, as the woolly peduncle stretched 

 higher and higher, putting out occasionally a tiny green 

 bract. 



It grew very slowly, 

 the promise of buds 

 being at last realized 

 in a dense spike about 

 an inch and a half long, 

 the buds on which 

 began to burst into 

 bloom shortly before 

 the middle of June. 

 There were 42 buds and 

 flowers alternating 

 with each other upon 

 the downy spike. They 

 also were somewhat 

 pubescent, a character- 

 istic which serves to 

 designate my species, 

 together with the fact 

 that my plant bears its 

 flowers quite around 

 the spike, while the 

 other two species bear 

 theirs only on one side. 



Mine is the Goodyera 

 pubescens, a curious and 

 interesting plant. The 

 tiny white fl o w e r s 

 showed their orchida- 

 ceous characteristics 

 The upper sepals and 

 petals were vaulted, the 

 two lower sepals sur- 

 rounding the globular 

 lip with its short re- 

 curved tip. The an- 

 thers were borne on a 

 filament attached to the 

 back of the column. 

 By the aid of a glass I 

 could see that the pollen 

 grains were angular in 

 form. 



The books put the 

 time for the flowering 

 of this species as far 

 advanced in the season 



as July or August, but mine came into bloom 

 on June 13. Perhaps cultivation hastened its ^ 

 maturity, the botanist may say. However that 

 may be, I am quite well satisfied with the pleas- 

 ant results of my care. — Susie E. Kennedy, R. I. 



The Memeola or Indian Cucumber-Root described 

 on page 420, in the July issue of the Garden, is an 

 attractive plant of rich woods which merits greater at- 



FiG. 3. Lithospermum 

 canescens. (Red 

 Root; Puccoon ; In- 

 dian Paint 



tention than it has yet received. Wild flowers are quite 

 as interesting from their curiousness as from the beauty 

 of their flowers, and the cucumber-root belongs to this 

 class. It is a slender perennial herb, one of the lily 

 family, ranging from New England to Minnesota and 

 southward. 



The Spotted Wintergreen, Chima- 

 phila maailata, is another plant of pecu- 

 iar interest which is not generally known 

 (Fig. 4). It is a low herb, inhabiting 

 deep woods throughout the states east of 

 the Mississippi, although it nowhere ap- 

 pears to be common. The flowering 

 period in the north is in June and July. 

 It is one of the heath family, and is 

 closely related to the true wintergreen or 

 checkerberry . The flowers are white or 

 rose-white, borne two to five together on 

 the slender peduncle, 

 The leaves are dark 

 glossy green, with con- 

 spicuous white variega- 

 tions, and they persist 

 through the winter. 

 Another species, Chiin- 

 aphila ii m b e 1 1 a t a , 

 known as prince's pine 

 and pipsissewa, grows in 

 dryer open woods and 

 banks. 



Snow-Plant. Close- 

 ly allied to the chim- 

 aphillas is the remark- 

 able Sarcodes sanguinea, 

 or snow-plant of the 

 Sierra Nevadas (Fig. 5). 

 It is a low and fleshy 

 plant, growing from 

 three to twelve inches 

 high, and entirely de- 

 void of true leaves. It 

 belongs to that strange 

 group of the heath 

 family which comprises 

 the fleshy and parasitic 

 plants, of which our 

 Indian-pipe or corpse- 

 plant is an example. 

 Few species are known 

 in this sub-order, and 

 they are all local or 

 rare. 



The snow-plant was 

 first discovered by one 

 of Fremont's expedi- 

 tions in the valley of the Sacramento. It was described 

 by Dr. John Torrey in 1854 in the sixth volume of 

 Smithsonian Contributions, along with several other new 

 genera which had been discovered by the Pathfinder 



Cypripedium. (^Indian Mocca 

 sin ; Lady Slipper.) 



