Part 1

[Illustration: _WILD SENNA: Cassia Marilandica._]

WILD FLOWERS OF THE NORTH-EASTERN STATES

BEING THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHT INDIVIDUALS COMMON TO THE NORTH-EASTERN UNITED STATES, DRAWN AND DESCRIBED FROM LIFE BY

ELLEN MILLER AND MARGARET CHRISTINE WHITING

------ WITH THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS THE SIZE OF LIFE ------

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS NEW YORK LONDON 27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND

The Knickerbocker Press

1895

COPYRIGHT, 1895 BY G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

Dedicated

TO

MARY GOODRICH WHITING

AND

MARY ESTHER MILLER

INTRODUCTION.

It was with no desire to compete with scientific botanies that this collection of flowers was gathered together, but with the hope of making their acquaintance more easy to non-scientific folk than the much condensed manuals of our flora are able to do. The opportunity of introducing a plant, with that graceful amplitude which forestalls human meetings, is denied to the scientific botanist by the needful restrictions of his formulæ, and there remain unnoted by him (because beyond the scope of a special terminology) numberless traits of race-habit, and personal details of growth belonging to the plants, to which the unlearned observer will attach a degree of significance, incommensurate, perhaps, to their scientific value. To the simple Nature-lover each growth possesses a personal quality more desirable than the catalogued facts of its existence, and which offers an invitation to his thought beyond the knowledge he may gain from books.

Supplementary, then, to the scientific classification, there is a place for the mere lover and observer, who shall display the results of his study in the most direct terms, that require no glossaries of explanation, nor, if it may be avoided, any dissection of flower-growths. Too often the amateur is dismayed, in his effort to name a plant, by the botanical need of a microscopic analysis, which calls for a preliminary training, and in its process destroys the flower he seeks to know. If it were possible for a pictorial botany to be prepared for English readers in the common vocabulary, the destructive element which, at present, occupies a painfully large place in the study of all popular science, might be confined to the needs of the higher student, and no longer pursued by children, or the merely curious observers of our common forms of life. The effort to verify what has already been established, which, in some intellectually alert localities, threatens the more delicate of our annuals and biennials with extermination, might be avoided, if we were able to recognize the commoner sorts of plants by their general character, their gesture, color, and habits, leaving scientific analysis for serious study.

The present collection of flowers common to the North-eastern United States, which was started as a personal pastime, has taken its present shape under the belief that it were well to make a beginning towards a floral portrait-gallery; it is from this point of view, rather than from the purely botanical, that the drawings have been made and the descriptions written. Days have been pleasantly spent in searching for a specimen which would show most typically the particular trick of growth, the characteristic gesture which individualized it from all other plants; often a flower has been drawn and described as it grew, surprised in its familiar haunt. Effort has been made to gather within the prescribed limits as great a diversity of growths, and as many variations of types in each family, as was feasible. Because of the desire to localize the collection, somewhat, the flowers of the seaboard have been excluded. A few shrubs, and even one small tree, the Witch Hazel, have been included, because their flowers or fruit form such essential features in the floral calendar, or possess so strong a hold upon the wayfarers’ affections, that their presence has seemed inevitable. In the case of two vines, the Carrion Flower and the Virginia Creeper, the drawings were made from the fruit (companioned by the figure of the single flower) for the obvious reason that the blossoms of the one are inconspicuous, and of the other so malodorous, they offer small temptations to a near acquaintance, while both are recompensed with highly decorative berry-clusters. The drawings of the flowers are the size of life; in every possible instance the growth also is given without reduction.

That every flower-lover will find some favorites omitted, is altogether probable, in a selection of three hundred individuals from among the hosts which invite representation. The extreme dry weather of the previous season must be held accountable for several noteworthy, and much regretted, blanks in the list.

The choice of botanical terms has been intentionally confined to those which long usage has so wrought into the common speech that they have practically ceased to belong to strictly scientific nomenclature. The floral families have been arranged in the order employed in Gray’s _Manual_; the individual members of a genus, and of a family, have been placed in their usual sequence of bloom, that the flower-gatherer may know when to reasonably expect the successive blossoming of any special set of plants. It is impossible however to be arbitrarily definite in any such classification of Nature’s methods. Nor are we able to do more than to approximate accuracy in describing color; modifications, even direct contradictions, of the normal or usual type are constantly discovered, which we may impute to variations in soil or temperature, but whose appearance follows laws we dimly apprehend. Of one thing only may we be sure: Nature tunes her seemingly fickle choice to harmony, whatever the key; always there remains a perfect adjustment of color between stalk and stem and leaf and blossom.

By the generosity of Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, of Cambridge, Mass., the lists of folk-names for many flowers have been greatly enriched. Recognition is due also to Dr. B. F. Robinson, and to his assistants of the Harvard Herbarium, for very kind aid in the botanical classification of specimens.

DEERFIELD, MASS., April 3d, 1895.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CROWFOOT FAMILY, _Ranunculaceæ_ 1

BARBERRY FAMILY, _Berberidaceæ_ 32

WATER-LILY FAMILY, _Nymphæaceæ_ 36

PITCHER-PLANTS, _Sarraceniaceæ_ 40

POPPY FAMILY, _Papaveraceæ_ 42

FUMITORY FAMILY, _Fumariaceæ_ 46

MUSTARD FAMILY, _Cruciferæ_ 50

ROCK-ROSE FAMILY, _Cistaceæ_ 60

VIOLET FAMILY, _Violaceæ_ 62

PINK FAMILY, _Caryophyllaceæ_ 76

ST. JOHN’S-WORT FAMILY, _Hypericaceæ_ 90

MALLOW FAMILY, _Malvaceæ_ 94

GERANIUM FAMILY, _Geraniaceæ_ 96

HOLLY FAMILY, _Ilicineæ_ 104

STAFF-TREE FAMILY, _Celastraceæ_ 106

BUCKTHORN FAMILY, _Rhamnaceæ_ 108

VINE FAMILY, _Vitaceæ_ 110

MILKWORT FAMILY, _Polygalaceæ_ 112

PULSE FAMILY, _Leguminosæ_ 116

ROSE FAMILY, _Rosaceæ_ 144

SAXIFRAGE FAMILY, _Saxifragaceæ_ 178

ORPINE FAMILY, _Crassulaceæ_ 188

SUNDEW FAMILY, _Droseraceæ_ 190

WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY, _Hamamelideæ_ 192

EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY, _Onagraceæ_ 194

GOURD FAMILY, _Cucurbitaceæ_ 204

PARSLEY FAMILY, _Umbelliferæ_ 206

GINSENG FAMILY, _Araliaceæ_ 220

DOGWOOD FAMILY, _Cornaceæ_ 224

HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY, _Caprifoliaceæ_ 226

MADDER FAMILY, _Rubiaceæ_ 238

COMPOSITE FAMILY, _Compositæ_ 246

LOBELIA FAMILY, _Lobeliaceæ_ 356

CAMPANULA FAMILY, _Campanulaceæ_ 364

HEATH FAMILY, _Ericaceæ_ 370

PRIMROSE FAMILY, _Primulaceæ_ 408

DOGBANE FAMILY, _Apocynaceæ_ 418

MILKWEED FAMILY, _Asclepiadaceæ_ 422

GENTIAN FAMILY, _Gentianaceæ_ 436

BORAGE FAMILY, _Borraginaceæ_ 440

CONVOLVULUS FAMILY, _Convolvulaceæ_ 444

NIGHTSHADE FAMILY, _Solanaceæ_ 450

FIGWORT FAMILY, _Scrophulariaceæ_ 452

BROOM-RAPE FAMILY, _Orobanchaceæ_ 484

VERVAIN FAMILY, _Verbenaceæ_ 486

MINT FAMILY, _Labiatæ_ 492

POKEWEED FAMILY, _Phytolaccaceæ_ 518

BUCKWHEAT FAMILY, _Polygonaceæ_ 520

BIRTHWORT FAMILY, _Aristolochiaceæ_ 528

LAUREL FAMILY, _Lauraceæ_ 530

MEZEREUM FAMILY, _Thymelæaceæ_ 532

SWEET-GALE FAMILY, _Myricaceæ_ 534

ORCHIS FAMILY, _Orchidaceæ_ 536

IRIS FAMILY, _Iridaceæ_ 564

AMARYLLIS FAMILY, _Amaryllidaceæ_ 568

LILY FAMILY, _Liliaceæ_ 570

PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY, _Pontederiaceæ_ 596

CAT-TAIL FAMILY, _Typhaceæ_ 598

ARUM FAMILY, _Araceæ_ 600

WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY, _Alismaceæ_ 610

_The Cover-Design by E. M.: Derived from the Green Dragon (Arisæma Dracontium) Plant._

WILD FLOWERS OF THE NORTH-EASTERN STATES.

CROWFOOT FAMILY.

RANUNCULACEÆ.

*Hepatica.* _Hepatica triloba._ *Liverwort.* *Liver-leaf.*

Found in April and May, on hillsides, along the edge of woods, and in rocky ground.

The leaf-stems and flower-stems rise from the ground to the height of 4 or 6 inches.

The leaf is heart-shaped, and 3-lobed, of a tough, strong fibre that often survives the winter. Its color is dark green above and dull violet beneath.

The beautiful flower is composed of 6 to 9 petal-like calyx-parts, of an oval shape, and thin texture, whose color varies from light to dark violet, and from lavender-tinted white to a very pink-lavender, or lilac; the stamens are many, and thread-like, and of a pale straw color. Close beneath the flower are 3 reddish-brown, downy little leaves, bearing the semblance of a calyx. The flower is set on a slender, very downy stem, which springs from amidst the leaves.

The harmony of color in this plant as seen in the flower and leaf is striking, a preponderance of violet showing throughout. It is very downy, the young leaves being covered with long silky hairs. The numerous half-opened flowers and buds are slightly nodding, but become more erect when fully spread in the sunlight. The Hepatica is often frequented by small lavender butterflies, in size and color resembling the blossoms,--when they rise and flutter in the soft spring air, it is as though the flowers themselves are taking flight.

[Illustration: HEPATICA: Hepatica triloba.]

*Marsh Marigold.* _Caltha palustris._ *Cowslips.*

Found in late April and early May, in swamps or wet meadows, with its roots in the water.

The branching stalk, from 6 to 10 inches in height, is thick, stout, hollow and juicy, and grooved at the joints; its color is a shining light green.

The leaf is very broad, almost round, with a heart-shaped base, the margin finely cut in slight scallops; the texture is thin but leathery, while the surface is smooth and glossy; the color is dark green. The leaf is set at the junction of the flower-stem with the stalk.

The flower has 5 (or more) rounded petal-like calyx-parts, of a delicate texture that shows a few veins on the inside; it is shaped like a shallow cup and colored a beautiful polished yellow, tinged with green; the many stamens are yellow; the pistils form a conspicuous fringy center. Two or three flowers, on simple, or sometimes leafy foot-stems, form a terminal group.

The buds are round and quite green, turning yellow as they grow; the blossom opens very wide, and is slightly odorous,--it is in marked contrast to the coarser stem and leaf, which have a sprangly gesture. The first sunshine flower of spring.

[Illustration: MARSH MARIGOLD: Caltha palustris.]

*Wind Flower.* _Anemone nemorosa._ *Wood Anemone.*

Found in thickets that yet are open to the sun, in early May or perhaps late in April.

The single stem, about 6 inches in height, is round and smooth and green, showing purple at the foot. It bears a whorl of leaves about midway its height, and a single flower upon its summit.

The compound leaf has from 8 to 9 wedge-shaped leaflets, that are sightly creased on their midribs, and irregularly notched on the edges; the texture is delicately thin, and the color a lovely green. Three leaves on their short reddish stems are placed in a whorl.

The flower is like a shallow cup formed of 5 oval, petal-like calyx-parts that curve like shells; it is of a very thin texture and slightly veined, and its color is pure white, often rosy tinted on the outside; the many dainty stamens are a pale straw color, and the pistils are gathered into a light green center.

A more charming plant could hardly be imagined,--stem, leaf, and blossom are alike perfect in growth and harmony of hue. Its bud nods, but the fully open flower lifts itself lightly atop the slender swaying stem. The Wind Flower is social in habit, and gathers in lovely fellowship with its kind upon a favorable hillside.

[Illustration: WIND FLOWER: Anemone nemorosa.]

*Tall Anemone.* _Anemone Virginiana._

Found during July and August in meadows, roadsides, and woods.

The single stalk usually forks midway for the flowers; it grows between 2 and 3 feet high, and is slender and slightly rough to the touch. In color it is light green.

The compound leaf is 3-divided, the middle leaflet being 3-parted, and the side leaflets 2-parted; the margins are notched, and the fibre is tough, while the surface is rough-hairy; the color is green. The leaves grow in a whorl of 3 about the stalk.

The flower is a shallow cup, composed of 5 petal-like calyx-parts, hollowed like shells, of a greenish-white color; the pistils are many, rising in a cylindrical greenish head in the center; the stamens are numerous, and pale. The flowers are set on long slender stems which rise from the whorl of leaves; these stems often fork again at half their length, where in that case, they bear a pair of small leaves, from which the 2, or more, secondary flower-bearing stems arise.

Less gregarious than its early sister, the Tall Anemone grows solitary, or in twos and threes,--frequently beside an old stump. The cylindrical or elongated head turns brown and becomes cottony when the seeds are ripe. The tall elegance of this plant is noteworthy; it bears its leaves, flowers and seeds with an air of distinction, and the long wand-like stems suggest the strings of some musical instrument on which the wind may play, according to the old tradition that the Anemones love to bloom when the wind blows.

[Illustration: TALL ANEMONE: A. Virginiana.]

*Early Meadow Rue.* _Thalictrum dioicum._

Found in rocky woods and hillsides during April and May.

The branching leafy stalk grows from 1 to 2 feet high; smooth, round, and fine of fibre though strong; in color, green.

The leaf is 3 or 4 times divided, terminating in groups of 3 leaflets on short slender stems; the leaflets are small, rounding, slightly heart-shaped at the base, and their margins are notched in rounded scallops; the texture is exceptionally fine and thin, the surface smooth; the color, a fine cool green.

The flower is small and composed of 3 or 4 or 5 little, petal-like, pale green calyx-parts. Different plants bear the pistils and stamens; the flowers of the former are inconspicuous and sparse in comparison with those of the stamen-bearing plant: from these the many stamens, pale green faintly touched with tawny at the tips, droop on slender threads like little tassels. The flowers grow in loose clusters, on branching stems that spring from the leaf-joints.

The Early Meadow Rue is unobtrusive in color and form, but most graceful in gesture, and fine in the texture and finish of all its parts; the leafage has a fern-like delicacy, and the flower tassels of the stamen-bearing plant are airily poised.

[Illustration: EARLY MEADOW RUE: Thalictrum dioicum.]

*Tall Meadow Rue.* _Thalictrum polygamum._

Found in June in wet meadows, both in the shade of thickets and in unsheltered fields.

The stalk, usually 3 or 4 feet high, attains, it is said, to even 9 feet sometimes; it is branching, and somewhat zigzag in growth; round, slightly ribbed, and smooth; green or purple, especially near the joints.

The leaf is highly compound, being composed of 3 long-stemmed divisions which are parted into 3 or 5 short-stemmed groups of 3 leaflets each; these leaflets are rounding in shape, entire,--save for the 1 to 3 round scallops at the tips,--of a fine and thin texture, and smooth surface; a network of delicate veins shows underneath; the color is a beautiful, cool, dark green, lighter underneath. The arrangement is alternate.

The flower is without petals; the numerous thread-like, white stamens, with their green tips, spread into feathery tufts, and are set on tiny stems in loose terminal clusters, and also in lesser groups on stems from the angles of the upper leaves.

An elegant plant, beautiful at all seasons with its distinguished-bearing, charming flower clusters, and quaint lavender-hued seed-heads; and especially attractive at the turn of the leaf, when its foliage takes on a delicate crimson tint toned by a grayish bloom.

[Illustration: TALL MEADOW RUE: T. polygamum.]

*Rue Anemone.* _Anemonella thalictroides._

Found in woods and on shady banks, in May.

The slender, erect stalk, 5 or 6 inches in height, is fine and smooth; in color, a light reddish-tinged green.

The leaf is compound, each part being set on a slender, rather long stem; the leaflets are small, broad, heart-shaped at the base, and 2- or 3-lobed near the tip; the texture is exceedingly fine, and smooth to the touch; the color is a dark grayish-green. The leaves form a whorl about the summit of the stalk, from which the flower-stems rise.

The flower is formed of 5 to 8 petal-like calyx-parts, which are oval, slightly convex, of a fine and delicate texture; in color, white, tinged with pale pink. The stamens are many, small, and orange yellow; the several pistils gathered in the center are green. The flowers are poised on slender stems, in groups, generally of 3, springing from the leaf-whorl.

The flowers and leaves rise from the earth together, the undeveloped flower, with bowed head, enfolded by the leaflets; as the plant pushes upward the blossoms grow, the central one developing first, the side ones later. At first the stamens and pistils are gathered together in a close green ball in the middle,--when the central flower has shaken out its yellow-tipped stamens fully, the side flowers begin to grow; thus the plant stays in bloom a long time--nearly two weeks.

[Illustration: RUE ANEMONE: Anemonella thalictroides.]

*Goldthread.* _Coptis trifolia._

Found during May in moist woods.

The root sends up flowers and leaves on stems from 3 to 5 inches high.

The leaf is compound with 3 small leaflets that are wedge-shaped, with notched margins, tough texture, and smooth, shining surface; it is set on a long slender stem. Evergreen, and of a dark green color.

The flower is small; of 5 or 7 narrow, tapering calyx-parts that are a fine silvery-white color. The true petals are inconspicuous and easily confused with the numerous stamens and pistils. The flower-stem is long and slender.

This has a shining flower and leaf. The bright yellow thread-like roots give it its common name.

[Illustration: GOLDTHREAD: Coptis trifolia.]

*Cohosh.* _Actæa spicata, var. rubra._ *Red Baneberry.*

Found in the woods during May.

The small round smooth stalk branches near the top, and grows about 2 feet high. It is green, with a cool gray-white bloom.

The leaf is rather large, and compound, being 2 or 3 times divided; the leaflets are oval, taper-pointed, and set on long, grooved, shining foot-stems; the margin is prettily toothed, with an occasional deep notch, the ribs and veins show like a fine network, the texture is loose, with a noticeable softness to the touch, the surface is shining; the color green. The leaf is set immediately upon the stalk.

The flower is very small; 4 to 10 white petals with oval tips and very slender bases; the many delicate, white stamens, with yellow tips, are longer than the petals. The flowers are arranged in a large, loose, round or club-shaped spike, on a long smooth stem, that springs from the junction of the leaf.

The calyx drops as the flowers open, and the petals soon fall also, leaving the stamens, which remain some time; these are succeeded by the ripening berries that are to be seen frequently during August in deep woods; they are oval in shape and of a shining coral red. The plant seldom bears more than a single spike of flowers.

The White Baneberry, _A. alba_, is very like the Red, but its berries (called “Dolls’ Eyes” in Massachusetts) are shining white with a black dot, and their foot-stems are noticeably larger.

[Illustration: COHOSH: Actæa spicata, var. rubra.]

*Columbine.* _Aquilegia Canadensis._

Found growing in the clefts of rocks, on sunlit heights, and along banks, during May or June.

The height of the stalk varies from 6 to 18 inches, and it branches widely; it is small, slightly enlarged at the joints, and somewhat square in shape, sometimes rough to the touch; the color is green, strongly tinged with purple-red.

The lower leaves are compound, with 3 leaflets, their margins round-toothed; the upper leaves are oval, or sometimes divided, their margins frequently entire; the texture is very thin and fine; the color light green. They are set on long, slender stems, or at the junction of the branches.

The flower varies a good deal in size; it consists of 5 tubular petals that are prolonged into slender spurs with rounded tips; the calyx is 5-parted, the divisions of a long oval shape, which curve closely between the spurs, alternating with the tubes. The color of the tubes is a pure and lovely yellow, which becomes, by a beautiful gradation, a deep red in the spurs, their tips even tending toward crimson; the calyx is orange-red, running to yellow-green at the stem; the many long stamens hanging in a central tassel are very yellow. The flower nods on the end of a curved stem, with its spurs uppermost.

In early spring the plant consists of a thick tuft of leaves. While still very small the bud begins to turn from pale green to reddish. In maturity the seed-pods become erect. The singular elegance of this plant is only too well appreciated, for human greed plucks it in reckless handfuls, without regard to its possible extinction.

[Illustration: COLUMBINE: Aquilegia Canadensis.]

*Marsh Crowfoot.* _Ranunculus septentrionalis._

Found during May and June growing in moist meadows, beside runlets.

The large, round, hollow stalk grows between 1 and 2 feet high; it branches, and often lies somewhat upon the ground; it is finely grooved, and light green in color.

The compound leaves are 3-divided; each of the leaflets of the lower leaves is provided with a short foot-stem, they are wedge-shaped, broad, and the margins are cut and notched; those of the upper leaves are long and narrow, of unequal size, with entire margins. The texture is loose, the upper surface very hairy, the underside shining; color, a mottled green, lighter underneath.

The large flower is like a shallow cup formed of 5 oval petals, of fine texture and shining with an exceeding gloss; their color a full orange-tinted yellow. The stamens are many, and orange-yellow; the numerous pistils are gathered into a round green center. The calyx is 5-parted, shorter than the petals; greenish-yellow. The flowers are set on short stems, in terminal groups.

After flowering, the plant throws out from the root long, thick, pale runners; these bear an occasional leaf, at the joint of which a new root forms.

[Illustration: MARSH CROWFOOT: Ranunculus septentrionalis.]

*Buttercups.* _Ranunculus acris._ *Tall Crowfoot.*

Found during June and July in meadows and fields.

The stalk, which grows from 2 to 3 feet high, is branching, round, tough-fibred, and hairy; a strong, bright green color.

The large leaf is cleft into 3 or 5 divisions, these again being cut into 3 narrow parts, their tips thus covering the points of a pentagon; the margin is deeply and sharply notched, the ribs are noticeable, and the surface is downy with soft hairs. In color the leaves are dark green, lighter underneath. The lower leaves are set on long grooved stems, the upper clasp the stalk with a pale, silvery and hairy sheath.

The flower cup is formed of 5 broad petals with pointed bases; its inner surface is very shining, the outer is dull; the color is a pure full yellow. The numerous stamens are also yellow, and the many pistils are bunched in a green center. The calyx is 5-parted, the divisions being narrow and pointed, and spreading very wide; it is a pale yellow-green. The flowers are set on long slender stems.

Though the wealth of bloom occurs in June when the meadow-grasses tassel, the burnished golden cups stray through all the season till frost-time. The bud is very round and small, and the flower grows perceptibly after it has opened.

[Illustration: BUTTERCUPS: R. acris.]

*Bristly Crowfoot.* _Ranunculus Pennsylvanicus._

Found in moist ground, in June and July.

The stalk (about 2 feet high) is very leafy, stout, round, and hollow, of a coarse fibre, and exceedingly hairy; light green.