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Jamestown Weed, Thorn Apple, Jimson Weed, and Devil's Trumpet When we consider that there are over five million Gypsies wandering about the globe, and that the narcotic seeds of the thorn apple, which apparently heal, as well as poison, have been a favorite medicine of theirs for ages, we can understand at least one means of the weed reaching these shores from tropical Asia. |
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Culver's-root Slender, erect white wands make conspicuous advertisements in shady retreats at midsummer, when insect life is at its height and floral competition for insect favors at its fiercest. |
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Button-bush, Honey-balls, Globe-flower Delicious fragrance, faintly suggesting jessamine, leads one over marshy ground to where the button-bush displays dense, creamy-white globes of bloom, heads that Miss Lounsberry aptly likens to little cushions full of pins. |
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Partridge Vine A carpet of these dark, shining, little evergreen leaves, spread at the foot of forest trees, whether sprinkled over in June with pairs of waxy, cream-white, pink-tipped, velvety, lilac-scented flowers that suggest attenuated arbutus blossoms, or with coral-red berries in autumn and winter. |
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Cleavers, Bedstraw Among some seventy other English folk names by which cleavers are known are the following, taken from Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora, are Catchweed, Beggar-lice, Burhead, Clover-grass, Cling-rascal, Scratch-grass. |
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Common Elder, Elderberry Like the wild carrot among all the umbel-bearers, and the daisy among the horde of composites, the elder flower has massed its minute florets together, knowing that there was no hope of attracting insect friends, except in such union. |
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Hobble-bush, American Wayfaring Tree Widespread, irregular clusters of white bloom, that suggest heads of hydrangea whose plan has somehow miscarried, form a very decorative feature of the woods in May, when the shrubbery in Nature's garden, as in men's, is in its glory. |
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One-seeded, Star Cucumber In a damp, shady, waste corner, perhaps the first weed to take possession is the star cucumber, a poor relation of the musk and water melons, the squash, cucumber, pumpkin, and gourd of the garden. |
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Rattlesnake-root, Cankerweed, Lion's-foot Nodding in graceful, open clusters from the top of a shining colored stalk, the inconspicuous little bell-like flowers of this common plant spread their rays to release the branching styles for contact with pollen-laden visitors. |
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Boneset, Agueweed, Indian Sage Frequently, in just such situations as its sister the Joe-Pye weed selects, and with similar intent, the boneset spreads its soft, leaden-white bloom. But it will be noticed that the butterflies, which love color, especially deep pinks and magenta, let this plant alone. |
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White Asters or Starworts First to bloom among the white species, beginning in July, is the Upland White Aster, which elects to grow in the rocky or dry soil of high ground in the northern United States westward to Colorado. |
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Daisy Fleabane, Sweet Scabious At a glance one knows this flower to be akin to Robin's plantain, the asters and daisy. A smaller, more delicate species, with mostly entire leaves and appressed hairs (E. ramosus) —E. strigosum of Gray—has a similar range and season of bloom. |
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Groundsel-bush When the little bright white, silky cockades, clustered at the ends of the branches, appear on a female groundsel-bush in autumn, our eyes are attracted to the shrub for the first time. |
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Pearly, or Large-flowered, Everlasting When the small, white, overlapping scales of an everlasting's oblong involucre expand stiff and straight, each pert little flower-head resembles nothing so much as a miniature pond lily, only what would be a lily's yellow stamens are in this case the true flowers, which become brown in drying. |
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Yarrow Everywhere this commonest of common weeds confronts us. The compact, dusty-looking clusters appearing not by way-sides only, around the world, but in the mythology, folk lore, medicine, and literature of many peoples. |
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Dog's or Fetid Camomile, Dillweed Little wonder the camomile encompasses the earth, for it imitates the triumphant daisy, putting into practice those business methods of the modern department store, by which the composite horde have become the most successful strugglers for survival. |
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Common Daisy, Love-me, Love-me-not Myriads and myriads of daisies, whitening our fields as if a belated blizzard had covered them with a snowy mantle in June, fill the farmer with dismay, the flower-lover with rapture. |
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Golden Club A first cousin of cruel Jack-in-the-pulpit, the skunk cabbage, and the water-arum, a poor relation also of the calla lily, the golden club seems to be denied part of its tribal inheritance—the spathe, corresponding to the pulpit in which Jack preaches, or to the lily's showy white skirt. |
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Perfoliate Bellwort, Straw Bell The Sessile-leaved Bellwort, or Wild Oat (U. sessifolia), as its name implies, has its thin, pale green leaves tapering at either end, seated on the stem, not surrounding it, or apparently strung on it. |
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Yellow Adder's Tongue, Trout Lily Colonies of these dainty Iittle lilies, that so often grow beside leaping brooks where and when the trout hide, justify at least one of their names. But they have nothing in common with the violet or a dog's tooth. |
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Yellow Clintonia So completely has Clinton, the practical man of affairs, obliterated Clinton, the naturalist, from the popular mind, that, were it not for this plant keeping his memory green, we should be in danger of forgetting the weary, overworked governor. |
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Indian Cucumber-root In September, when small clusters of dark-purple berries replace the flowers, and rich tints dye the leaves, the plant is truly beautiful. It is said the Indians used to eat the horizontal, white, fleshy rootstock, which has a flavor like a cucumber's. |
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Carrion-flower Presently fruit begins to set, and we can approach the luxuriant vine without offence to our noses. The beautiful glossy green foliage takes on resplendent tints in early autumn. |
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Yellow Star-grass Usually only one of these little blossoms in a cluster on each plant opens at a time. But that one peers upward so brightly from among the grass it cannot well be overlooked. Sitting in a meadow sprinkled over with these yellow stars, we see coming to them many small bees. |
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Blackberry Lily This blackberry lily of gorgeous hue originally came from China. Escaping from gardens here and there, it was first reported as a wild flower at East Rock, Connecticut. Other groups of vagabonds were met marching along the roadsides on Long Island. |
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Large Yellow Lady's Slipper Swinging outward from a leaf-clasped stem, this orchid attracts us by its flaunted beauty and decorative form from tip to root, not less than the aesthetic little bees for which its adornment and mechanism are so marvellously adapted. |
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Yellow Fringed Orchis Where this brilliant, beautiful orchid and its lovely white sister grow together in the bog—which cannot be through a very wide range, since one is common northward, where the other is rare, and vice versa—the Yellow fringed orchis will be found blooming a few days later. |
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Large Yellow Pond, or Water Lily The very beautiful native American Lotus, also known as Water Chinkapin or Wankapin, found locally in Ontario, the Connecticut River, some lakes, slow streams, and ponds in New Jersey, southward to Florida, and westward to Michigan and Illinois, Indian Territory and Louisiana, displays its pale yellow flowers in July and August. |
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Marsh Marigold, American Cowslip Not a true marigold, and even less a cowslip, it is by these names that this flower, which looks most like a buttercup, will continue to be called, in spite of the protests of scientific classifiers. |
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Common Meadow Buttercup What youngster has not held these shining golden flowers under his chin to test his fondness for butter ? Dandelions and marsh-marigolds may reflect their color in his clear skin too, but the buttercup is every child's favorite. |
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