ee ~ a " — - “a \ ) ~ aay S \ WX: A et = —" \ co [pa ” is =o \ 5 LoS aE, = \ \ _—— — = 7 X( } = , —— \\ | J \ | ] | / Dy | ) 4 / | 2 = 4 \ = " ju } “ == bs |} d ‘ Z 4 ” {- =. ares yy vA \ q Ns w) ¢ \ x d > Ay, ~ » i) aN \ 4 4 . = HRN Stree HNN crim NTI) = A RY PAY =] 1 = vi ey |! J it hy . AYy/ a \ a \ 4y =| ~ — 3 VIE 4 0 —— \r a) | : . 2 a \ 2 a “ t U | \ i \ Ke ¥) = \ ¥ < \ \ N Oak S SS \ ON \ : y ~ — (GAP RAINS ese oc (Crmudirisin DCS oma oc (Cicer wesinione eel Id Ml eee CHAPTERE GL V © .2 55 a GHaAPTER, 2°V 2.232... CuApiRe OVI... CmarreR ms. V Tike hos... CHAPTER OV TIT. ..-- STAPTER< KS oa SHAR TER: MOK 7-222 e 3 RCMP AER NOD os oo 5 Crapirr ACT. ics. Caarter XXIII. 3... IPllaraies, abel dikeili SOCIMES. con nos ceo seobassooens Plant Wanderings and Migrations............. Slime-moulds and Blue-green Algae........... Bricihtsoneenwe Alea ee aco 2 es eee oka IBironnin JAUbemne amael Teel YMIGRE Ss oan psc occ socee IMae@ ALO. Sorts) Oi [MNES 5 5b nok ahacaosooboc STddrtf Sarat CPCS GS eer es ok ee ree ate ae cece cana ee Trembling Fungi, Club-fungi, Shelf-fungi and INAS NT; @ OMS. see ec estes Scher eee cli Conse (CariciGim=mbioean gravel Tbe. oc ancode ccnocacr Yeasts, Morels, Cup-fungi and Truffles........ Blights, Black-fungi and Root-fungi......... Iiehenss ands eetle=timei es ae eeeien ae Warnes IKnimals Oi IBEVEIECEs 5o6556ncdancosovuce Mosses and Liverworts as Links between the ANikea® aiaGh Iahied nee IMRWNtSot05 Ges000ca00deoce ILangeinyvoris Gui IMUnMeSOe Rs cob 6o5c507 oonabouenec MOSSES) Ob, sVinnineSotar aemineeinceiieeenteitr aus. ants Christmas-green Plants or Club-mosses....... leeirims, uml WWENISTEAIeIAMS. | ASL e eas ao ecdbocsococad Scounme—nushes and=blonrsetails,. 5,5:.4...-0.- What Seeds Are and how they are Produced... Ground-hemlocks and Various Pines.......... Nom Cat-tails,.tosWel-grasses.. ..0..54-...5 05. . (Grasse amel Sadlaes.. 5 og Goth aansBanecueneue ow 204 vill CHAPTER X CHAPTER X CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER CHAPTER KOVAL 25, 5 Bee Vat RIO aa be, ere D9) I a fe boy, Gil Gare bo Gi i eee 59, GV: DEO VN or XXXVII.. EKO V Leb 98). ae 2 De errors RIE Te a eamt 2.) epee POL LDS ke OL Vs. Be Vi ceaeee Minnesota Plant Life. From Callas to Water-star-grasses............ 217 Rushes, Lilies, Blue Flags and Orchids........ 224 Poplars and) Willowsize ec sa eee eee 233 From Bayberries to Oaks, Elms and Nettles... 243 From Sandalwoods to Buttercups............. 256 From Barberries to Witch-hazels.............. 274 Roses, Peas and the Relatives.....::3.+-sneee 286 From Geraniums to Maples and Touch-me-nots 305 From Buckthorns to Prickly Pears...........; 319 From Leatherwoods to Dogwoods............ 232 High Types and Low Types of Flowers....... 343 From Wintergreens to Chaffweeds............ 350 Brom. Ash’ Trees. to. Verbenas:. .. . = 5225 -eee 360 Prom Peppermints to) Plantains:...-...25+- eae From: Bedstraws to) Lobeliasee... eee eee 388 Dandelions, Ragweeds and Thistles............ 390 Adaptations of Plants to their Surroundings... 417 Hydrophyire= Plants... ceeerss =e ee 442 MerophyticsPlants 7... ka o> e 463 Halophytes and Mesophytes;. 2... eee 473 Maintenance of the Plant Individual........... 483 Maintenance of the Plant Species.............. 500 TEA eels ATR lle (Prova, JO RGATE OVE List of Plates. so A ravine near St. Paul, where shade-loving plants make their home. From a photograph by Dr. Francis Pee irene (EN ein ecenoienG Canin teeta Oe Raucci wean Frontispiece. In the black oak country. Near the Chisago lakes. From a photostaph py Or, Hrancis) Ramaley..25-s257ee2s2 =. 240 Pond with lilies. Ramsey county. Around it are growing oaks, willows, sumacs and blue flags, milkweeds and smartweeds. From a photograph by Williams.......... 312 Roadside vegetation near St. Paul. The most conspicu- ous plants are hemp, wormwood, squirrel-tail grass and daisies. From a photograph by Dr. Francis Ramaley... 456 Fic. Fic. Fic. ieaen TG: Fic. Fic. Fic. to on Index to Il[lustrations. se In the forest district. Growth of white pines and spruces upon a rocky island. Steamboat channel, Lake of the Woods. Atter photograph byathe authotecse cere oe earn eaten: Prairie scene on the Coteau. Sunflowers line the roadway on either side. After photograph by Mr. R. S. Mackintosh..... Roadside vegetation. Grasses and pulses. An elm tree in background. Cedar lake. After photograph by Williams... Spruces forming a zone around a peat-bog. Farther back are tamaracks and pines. The shrub in the foreground is the bog-willow, while the flowers are those of an orchid,—Pogo- nia. Near Grand Rapids. After photograph by Mr. Warren IEXESONGUES HSRAS| en BhoRae aa TA MCE TOR SIA CRT EO TRG cyt Ban Ge oe Zones of aquatic vegetation. In the center pond-lilies; at the edge smartweed; farther back cat-tails, blue flags, sweet flags and sedges; still farther back soft turf with grass, moss, sedge and milkweed. After photograph by Williams........ Island in the Mississippi above St. Paul. The center is occu- pied by elms while the rim is fringed with willows. An ex- ample of a “minor tension.” After photograph by Professor WV oat Aa pile lives ads Asie ach oe Me ay elma Cp aR NERY tor MO Lake border vegetation of cat-tails, grasses, reeds and sedges. Lake of the Isles. After photograph by Williams........... Portion of a board which had been standing in the tank shown in Fig. to. It is encrusted with limestone deposited by a colony of blue-green algae. After photograph by Miss Jos- ephine E. Tilden. From the Botanical Gazettc............... ide) 1E1¢ 12 14 xl Minnesota Plant Life. Fic.9. Portion of a pond-scum thread, showing how it is made up of Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fie. Fic. Fic. Fic. 10. II. 12. r3 14. Tbe 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. transparent-walled cells with a coiled green ribbon in each, much magnified. After Atkinson Patches of pond-scum floating in a tank. A lime-encrusting alga grows on the boards up to high-water mark. Near Minneapolis. After photograph by Mr. R. W. Squires Patches of wheat-rust, natural size and enlarged. The red rust stage. After Atkinson Patches of wheat-rust, natural size and enlarged. The black rust stage. After Atkinson Wheat-rust in its barberry-leaf stage; to the left a barberry leaf with diseased spots; in the middle, a single spot with cups; to the right, two of the cups, in top view slightly mag- nified. After Atkinson Magnified section through a cluster-cup of the wheat-rust in its barberry-leaf stage. Shows chains of spore-cells. The large cells at the sides are those of the barberry leaf much magni- fied. After Atkinson Growth of club-fungi on decaying wood. After Lloyd........ Shelf-fungus growing on dead stump of oak tree. After pho- tograph by Hibbard eve, ae" e's e'8, 6.2,'0;\6..0' © 6 6.06708 &. 5,660) vn oe eane © * ini elaeee Upper and under sides of mushroom-like pore-fungus. After Lloyd A pore-fungus lying flat upon a decaying branch. After Lloyd Deadly variety of mushroom. After Atkinson. Bulletin 138, Cornell Ag. Exp. Station. This is sometimes known as the “poison cup” Under side of two mushroom-fruits. After Atkinson. Bulletin 138, Cornell Ag. Exp. Station. 0... ....ccs.0 cess cu ess sesmmess Common edible mushroom. After Atkinson. Bulletin 138, Cornell Ag. Exp. Station........ 00.000 0seieseeeene sm cues siae 34 35 51 si 52 53 56 57 59 61 Minnesota Plant Life. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Eure: Fic. res Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Jai 22. 23. 24. Als 20. 27. 28. 29. 30. Bi 32: 33- 34. 35. 36. 37. Development of mushroom-fruits on their underground vege- tative tract. After Atkinson. Bulletin 138, Cornell Ag. Exp. NSEAUELONL ITO oi8 Beara See tps he NRA fa ate MRR! ar hve ND cars eal da \Wenenie jponneloeilil: “Aimee IblkonyGle. cow coe ogoaducnucooonenenebc sone ‘Autiwacl juni, Wiese ILMOnGl, net cceoco cod ue euds Omdoonodouenc Pocket-fungus on sand-cherry. After Bailey. Bulletin 70, Comelh Ape Easp ota lOM ot. occ 5 teow Rene cakes od aeanac ne memes AN sol iieebnslyobys “Nie ILNOselabosocccedconcdsboccco0Mbauc Cup-fungi growing on decaying twig. After Lloyd........... Leaf-spot disease caused by fungus. After Halsted........... Leaf-spot fungus growing on pear leaves. After Duggar. Bul- letras 'CornellyAw. Kxpi. Station sence. ees Race eel lesen Fungus spot-disease of strawberry leaf. After Bailey. Bulletin couCornell) Wiiiga Ate, VE xponotatlonly sein. cicentae tie cookseeeioale Fungus spot-disease on leaf of false Solomon’s seal. After Ee Heatl Ste cliptat: sen Meaparctettes ative stem cer aiate a eet ea eR es ores ere areie hovers Fungus spot-disease on pear. After Duggar. Bulletin 145, CornielipAg- xp, otatiOle nse th is soe ee Ria ctr) Oe, Fungus spot-disease of bean pods. After Halsted............ Twig-fungus on currant canes. After Durand. Bulletin 125, Corte OE xpi SLA HOM sy. Anat atege sn aid tere aaa ake are an Se ene Rock-lichens growing profusely in a glacial pot-hole. Near Taylor's Falls. After photograph by Mr. E. C. Mills........ “Old man’s beard.’ A lichen growing attached to the twigs of tamarack. Lake Superior, north shore. Natural size, six inches in length. After photograph by Professor Bruce Fink A lichen growing upon a rock, and covered with the charac- teristic saucer-shaped fruits of its fungus component. After JANG ALSTON IU ee eeyret shoe Pid A eer er eG ra AN EI XU 64 68 82 83 84 85 86 87 Q2 93 X1V Fic. 38. FIG. 30. Fic. 40. Fic. 41. Fic. 42. Fic. 43. Fic. 44. Fic. 45. Fic. 46. HiGsAz: Fic. 48. Minnesota Plant Life. A tuft of “reindeer moss.” Natural size, 2%4 feet in diameter. Age, probably over one hundred years. North shore of Lake Superior. After photograph by Professor Bruce Fink....... A male moss plant. ‘The spermaries are produced in clusters at the end-of the stem. After Atkinson:..--:.>..-+ ssseeeees A female moss plant. The egg-organs are inclosed in the tuft of leaves at the tip of the stem. After Atkinson............. The club-shaped spermary of a moss, much magnified, and two spermatozoids, very highly magnified. After Atkinson...... Tip of a leafy moss plant, sectioned lengthwise and magnified. The flask-shaped egg-organs, one with an egg in place, are shown. These bodies are barely visible to the naked eye. After VAGKINS OMe. hosrers oa ostelaieros al easietoe els eins mee Mud-flat liverwort, showing method of growth and branch- ing. After Atkinson,<.i2.dacsaeicer oemate tee Ce The umbrella-liverwort; showing the prostrate vegetative body, and the upright branches on which the egg-organs are borne, and where later the capsular plants will be found péerchiney vAfter Atkinsom: a7 ie Sener eee Stem of the umbrella-liverwort, showing the little cups with bodies inside, which are employed by the plant for purposes of propagation. After Atkmson . Jo... si..4..50. 0 oe Road across a peat-bog; tamaracks and birches in background. Near Grand Rapids. After photograph by Mr. Warren Pen- Gereast ©... 2. cure fe Givesrht as igtetlet eeu a ott beets een ae pe Peat-moss leafy-plants with capsular-plants imbedded at the tips of short leafless erect branches. After Atkinson......... A moss leafy-plant, with prostrate propagative branch and erect female reproductive branch. On the latter two egg- organs have developed their eggs into capsular plants, one of which is ejecting spores. The two round bodies are spores much maecnified: sAitersAtkinsony cas.ce vss eee <4 eee 97 125 127 132 136 138 145 147 Minnesota Plant Life. Fic. 40. Fic. iat ho Fic: 53: Tes 54) Fic. 55. IRIeS Gay JRE Gy TG 5o! Fic. 59. Fic. 60. Fic. 61. RIG: 62: Branch of a club-moss plant, bearing two cones; with a single leaf of the cone, showing the spore case and one of the spores, the latter much magnified. After Atkinson.......... Flat-branched club-moss. After Britton and Brown.......... Smaller club-moss. To the left a plant with three cones, next a single cone dissected to show the spore cases, next a single large-spore-case with four spores revealed, and on the right a small-spore-case with the small spores sifting out. After / NG eia ky OM edie tater el ae a pnetS eects Care ene rile 5 ibis zaps Gy ene SranD oes Adder’s-tongue fern. After E. N. Williams, in Meehan’s RG td HEME es oe Ie ey A or Re aA aie Ia Ole Otc oom ole Virginia grape-fern. After Britton and Brown............... AN Greullrorcc jollewane, Aue ZN aboloyNg SAS gon asc G00 240 dco bo noaKe Clayton’s, or interrupted fern. After Britton and Brown..... Bed of ferns. Sensitive fern in middle of foreground. After DlnOyWworenraylol lony Wrens. go oascse caboose cs obedocsndooGoo OOS (Clhiitjyelke, sNitiere IBreiiowm anavel IBieONwO, Gaccacaaccdccacocuonooe The interrupted fern (in background) and shield-ferns (in fore- eround)) Atte, photograph) by, Walliamsss- 22 4-2 see e- ae Four-leaved water-fern. After Britton and Brown............ A sexual fern-plant somewhat magnified. Its natural size is about a quarter of an inch across. The round bodies are spermaries, the chimney-shaped ones are egg-organs, seen moral alone VV AN MOM oos Sid d coe Go06 20660000 ono 6d odie A fern-plant embryo imbedded in the enlarged egg-organ, where it arose by segmentation of an egg. S, tip of rudi- mentary stem; L, tip of first leaf; R, tip of primitive rootlet; F, nursing foot. Much magnified. After Atkinson......... Portion of maiden-hair fern leaf, showing marginal pockets, which serve to protect the clusters of spore-cdses under each Ine yOL Se YAU duermALanDiOy alae, tee Geman ee GOn Ria okt ctor Meecha eae XV 159 168 169 XVl1 Fic. ne Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic: Lee BIG: Fic. 63. 64. 66. 67. 68. 73: se As Minnesota Plant Life. A patch of spore-cases on the back of a common polypody- fern-leat.. ‘Magnified. After Atkinsonsoeoe- aa doer engreseaces of the common fern, much magnified, showing how the spring back reverts and then snaps shut again, throwing the spores as from a sling. After Atkinson........ A walking-fern climbing down a hillside. Buds form at the very tips of the slender leaves and grow into new plants. After’ AthinsOn oie fora 0 antes Soto oie Te erage ne eek Sree Maiden-hair ferns and lady ferns. After photograph by Wil- Tiare yi tse cw kets cas toca erga a chtel es ora lets acy aneeiat eta eee ana A fruiting stem of the horse-tail. The shield-shaped spore- bearing leaves are aggregated in a cone. After Atkinson.... Scouring-rush spores; to the left a spore with appendages curled up, in moist air; to the right a spore with appendages extendeds in Gdiny-aitaeArten Atkins Oily empties eee Diagram of an ovary, with one seed-rudiment, in a higher seed-plant. s, the stigma, where two pollen-spores have germinated; o, wall of ovary; f, stalk of ovule; ai and ii, rudimentary seed-coats; mn, spore-case, with single large spore, which has germinated to produce the reduced female plant; k, the egg; e, the body which forms the albumen; b, other cells of the female. The male plant is shown as a tubu- lar thread growing towards the egg. After Atkinson........ White pines on the rocks at Taylor's Falls. After photograph Dy Walla ans) cos. Secs toraronees itis a nei eho s le tohe tee ES ne Jack pine. After Britton and Brown.............-.--++.+ss0% Rock-vegetation near Duluth. White pines, white cedars and junipers. After photograph by Williams..................05 Tamarack swamp with sedge border. After photograph by Wialliaiintsciciaec loiSscc 0c ois vie alo 'srees bus eter tea ie roy ne Tene et ee Red cedars on the banks of a Minnesota lake. After photo- graph: by Williams sso: +1006 nals amnwts's vyiny Un ais 6 sivinie 6 5c Riva ae 170 171 172 173 176 177 181 187 188 189 191 Minnesota Plant Life. ING, SE Fic. Fic. FTE: Fic. 79. . 80. . 90. , Olt. 93.- . 94. Rock on the St. Croix river, near Taylor’s Falls. Shows zonal distribution of trees. White pines stand on top of the rock, and birches and poplars on the sides. After photograph by Mr. H. © Cutler Bur-reed. After Britton and Brown eitayis}iulinta\ib)telieltel (eiie) (elie) (el \s)felis/ielte| lolly olele Lakeside vegetation. Just off shore is a growth of the floating pondweed, then of arrowheads, while farther out are reeds and rushes. After photograph by Williams Clasping-leaved pondweed. After Britton and Brown Evening scene in Minnesota. Arrowheads, bulrushes and wil- lows in foreground. After photograph by Williams Arrowhead. After Britton and Brown Eel-grass. After Britton and Brown Wild rice and pond lilies. After photograph by Williams..... Beard-grass. After Britton and Brown Barnyard grass. After Britton and Brown Minnesota Muhlenberg grass. After Britton and Brown Beckman grass. After Britton and Brown Indian corn in the shock. After photograph by Williams Wild rice in a Minnesota lake. After photograph by Williams Wild rice. After Britton and Brown Kalm’s brome-grass. After Britton and Brown A cluster of sedge-flowers (Carex-type), a single pistillate flower with one fruit rudiment. and a staminate flower with thneeestanvensa cmt tonne 218 98. Sedges and rushes. After photograph by Williams........... 224 99. Dog’s-tooth violet in flower. After Atkinson................ 225 100. Clintonia... After Britton-and Browns. » ..0.9 25-454 eee ee 225 101. Blue flags. After photograph by Williams................... 226 102. Stream-side vegetation. Blue flags in foreground. Aiter pho- tograph: by PW illiaimst each ec geo siee ecore eee 227 103. Yellow lady-slipper After photograph by Mr. R. S. Mackin- [01] ) er a Ree eee An REO ERC Gre Sitritnee eyes 5 20.7 229 104. Wild orchis: “After Britton and Brown’. >. .....-a0 2.0. oun ee 230 105. Cottonwoods on the Minnesota. After photograph by Wil- Wiis) Screven ee Oe 235 106. Poplar vegetation of burnt district. Near Rat Portage, Ont. Attersphotograph” by7 thes auth Otc eter eet brie 237 107, ‘Cottonwood: ~Aitem Britton and: Browieeae te aaa eee 238 108. Peach-leafed willows on shore of stream. After photograph by Wrlliatias: 2.00 Sass is cs ptosis voce ci anaes eke et 239 109. Clusters of willow flowers; on the left the pistillate flowers and on the right the staminate. Each pistillate flower con- sists principally of'a single fruit-rudiment, and each staminate flower of two, or sometimes a larger number of stamens. After, Atkinson nay ..,ate ctctckeuane roto toate tenn eee rete coer 240 110. Beach vegetation, Garden Island, Lake of the Woods. The long-leafed willow forms the outer zone, and the black willow the inner. After photograph by the author................. 241 111. Hickory trees. Lake Minnetonka. After photograph by Wil- AMIS h siave fsiniee ors Fok cider cut 9 eee ODE nee ee 244 Minnesota Plant Life. Fic. 112. Ironwoods and oaks. The smaller trees are ironwoods and IDiKes Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. ae Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. 113. II4. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. hop-hornbeams. Lake Calhoun. After photograph by Hib- The paper or canoe birch. After photograph by Williams.... An Indian encampment, Lake of the Woods. The vegetation is principally the canoe birch, and the canoes and tepees illus- trate the uses to which birch-bark is put by the aborigines. After photograph by Wright. From Minnesota Botanical SHU GAES cs Ste ocke wh sat eRe ae ae een he Pee cP eR eR eS Sere An oak twig with leaves and both sorts of flowers. The one with three prongs is the pistillate flower; the other, with five stamens, is the staminate. The staminate flowers grow in drooping clusterss, Alter AtKINSOMG, 22 juices. cartels «lec wie or Oaks and blue flags. A marshy place in the oak-woods. After photosrapla (by. Walliatis ss c0. cies eayta tie sales sea ei eer ius=javeeatan American elm. After Britton and Brown.................-.. American elm. Lake Minnetonka. After photograph by Wil- el area Nets In nA RBar nn Rar h a ome NOE Abtier Wome tte Mere ria aio Roadside vegetation of nettles and vines. Winter aspect. Atier photoerapleby Walliams.” yer et ae thoe oreyeel= Gi tee Glasswerk, Ate IBisitiorm armel Iie ococosscenococndsedaune Pokeweed. After Chesnut. F. B. 86, U. S. Dept. Ag........ Carpetweed. After Britton and Brown.................+-.... Spring-beauty, in flower, After Atlansom. ..2.2...0-62-- +45 «0+ Water-shield. After Britton and Brown.....................- Water-lilies. After photograph by Williams................. Marsh-marigold or cowslip. After Britton and Brown....... False rue-anemone growing in pots. University plant house. After photograph by Dr. D. T. MacDougal. From Minne- sota Botanical Studies White water-buttercup. After Britton and Brown............ X1X 245 247 248 249 Sox Minnesota Plant Life. Fic. 129. Early meadow-rue. After Britton and Brown................ 272 Fic. 130. May-apple, or mandrake, in flower. After Atkinson.......... 275 Fic. 131. Clammy-weed. After Britton and Brown.....,.............. 276 Hrés132) Blood-root. Atter Britton and’ Browns «4.0. 4) ose eee 276 HIG. 133. Water-eress, eAiten brittonvand!) Browiles-.osctieen ceeee 277 Prenr34, Pitcher-plant. Atter Brttonand Browne s-.1--5- os see 278 Bic135. Sundew.= Atter Britton ands mower siete tne 280 Fic. 136. River-weed. After Britton. and Browne. 5..1.-..4. 01. eee 281 Fic. 137. American alum-root. After Britton and Brown.............. 282 Fic. 138. Marsh Parnassia. After Britton and Brown.....:......:.c008 283 Bre) 130) Elawthorn = Auter Brttonland bro wilsemiar-er cree 287 Fic. 140. Apple-blossoms. After photograph by Williams.............. 288 Fic. 141. Marsh fivefinger. After Britton and Brown.................. 289 Hic. 142) Roses! sAttern photography bya Walllicina sey rere etter 291 Fic. 143. Sand-cherry in fruit. After Bailey. Bulletin 70, Cornell Ag. Exp,. Stations «o.c:. cine csoae 1 sed ee eat k eon ae nee 292 Fic. 144. A cluster of choke-cherry flowers and a single flower dis- sected.; After Atkinson’ .2)-Agr ch or acre ea tcctreer etnies 293 Fic. 145. Kentucky coffee-tree. After Britton and Brown............. 206 Eye. 146. Wild dupine: After Britton ‘and Brown: 22°60... -2. 2000 wean 208 Fic. 147. Sweet-clover bushes. After photograph by Williams......... 299 Fic. 148. White clover. After photograph by Williams................ 300 Fre. 149. Tick-trefoil. After Britton and Brown)... <5... 3.......00n 303 Fic. 150. Sumac bushes, with golden-rods in foreground and maples in background. After photograph by Williams................ 300 Fic. 151. Poison-sumac. After Chesnut. F. B. 86, U. S. Dept. Ag..... 310 Fic. 152. Poison-ivy. After Chesnut. F. B. 86, U. S. Dept. Ag........ 311 Fic. 153. Leaves and flowers of the sugar-maple. After Atkinson...... 314 Fic. 154. A grove of sugar-maples. Near Lake Minnetonka. After photograph by Mir BC. Mallee icy nes ie 315 Minnesota Plant Life. XX Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. FIG. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. JE Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. 155. Moosewood maple. After Britton and Brown................ 316 156. Touch-me-not. After Britton and Brown.................... 217, 157. Tree covered by grape-vine. After photograph by Williams.. 320 158. Virginia creeper on tree trunks. After Schneck in Meehan’s VU KOL OT AEP Re tary OG OIG RA ret OLN OIE UOT Thc Sacto ERIC SD eno onan ene 322 159. Basswood trees. Shore of Lake Calhoun. After photograph bya bandae een sete os Saco n ts eta a tid maim eae tego eaimarengts 324 1oom Beachheather wAiter Eritroneands i Owalepet peterson 327 161. Sweet white violet. After Britton and Brown................ 328 162. Western prickly-pear cactus. After Britton and Brown....... 330 ng, (Gamnserner, —Aitaie: Bei woyn ehavel IBiMON Ales Goo ouncdoone clone geboouEe 237 1OAWVWiater-parsnip. Auter Britton ands Browse seer cise ntl 338 165. Wild parsley. After photograph by Williams................ 330 166. Water-hemlock. After Chesnut. F. B. 86, U. S. Dept. Ag... 340 oy, IDhienct Cornel, Anise lieder) eral IOs coccscnsscuccunencoe 341 168. Wintergreen plant in flower. After Atkinson................ 351 n6oL. Ieilliaatign sion rerds,) auniere YNoobSOil 5 cus con coanne Soacoaucgoacess 354 170m Wioss-plant. Atter Britton and Brow. |. tai.0.% ec ies a tiele sien 355 171. Small cranberry. After Britton and Brown.................. 357 72, Yellow eentian.- Atter Britton and Browm.....2. 2.00.2... .0: 362 173. Swamp milkweed. After Britton and Brown................. 365 174. Brookside vegetation. Milkweeds in foreground. After pho- tostaph. Wye WalliamsS37s Sdn sates ccs ele es netereriar Pee tice 366 175. Dodder in flower; the parasite is seen to be clutching tightly EHesStemmOnits OSE plant. Auite tt hctn's Onl cree ieryet iene tone 368 176. Virginia water-leaf. After Britton and Brown............... 370 177. Blue verbena. After Britton and Brown.................... 373 178. Wild mint. After Britton and Brown......... Bahia tou iee-ashe 375 179 . Clump of horse-mint (in middle of picture). After photo- SrapiMibys WilltatiSe. «ccataspe dacs so wee ccm anh ee cle vate ene 376 Minnesota Plant Life. XX Ere 180, Elorse-mint. sAitersbritton ald, STO wiles aie ine et tne esas 377 Fic. 181. View in Minnesota lake district. Shows in center two mullein plants in characteristic positions. After photograph by Wil- E01 ieeane Ae ie Hike Ree i RR Per ea Pee ei Woo RAC snc & 380 Fre. 182: Monkey flower. After Britton and Brown..--....--.--sseeee 381 Bicate3) Jousewort, After BirittonsandsStowiles. a: ace ee eee 382 Pre.184) Bladderwort. Aiter Brittonsand) Browiie..: oc ee ee 383 Fic. 185. Cancerroot. After Jellett in Meehan’s Monthly................ 385 Fic. 186. Rugel’s plantain. After Britton and Brown Soils oop ee 386 Ere 187. “Bedstraw, *Atter Britton) and! Browmlas se oee eee eee eee 389 Fic. 188. Partridgeberry. After Britton and Brown.................-- 3890 Fic. 189. High bush cranberry. After Britton and Brown............. 390 Fic. 190. Snowberry. After Britton and Brown.................:----- 392 Brc: 19% Blue-bells’ Aiter Britton and Brown. .--5- see ee oes 395 Breé.192) Blue lobelia. Aitter Britton and Brownseeees sae eee 306 Fic. 193. Chrysanthemum in flower. After Miller. Bulletin 147, Cor- nellvAte, Hap. “Station. 2 acest c-nae cc eae enn eee 400 Fic. 194. Dandelions in flower. Lake Calhoun. After photograph by Fltb bard’ 2 ace csc one d Sten oe Oe alte OOO a ee ee 401 Fic. 195. Dandelions in fruit. After photograph by Williams.......... 402 Fic. 196. Wild iettuce, a compass-plant; the fruits stand in heads, and each fruit is provided with a parachute of bristles. After Athinsomierys: . oc no sees Pie cease tates 08 Mok oe aaa cet cote cle 403 Fic. 197. Rattlesnake-root. After Britton and Brown............... .. 404 Fic. 198. Cocklebur; After Britton and Brown... ce ees ee eee 404 Fic. 199. Ragweed: After Britton.and Browns. .0. 52. cisco nes eee 405 Fic. 200. Autumnal vegetation of marsh border. Thoroughwort or joe- pye weed. After photograph by Williams.................6 406 Fic. 201. Boneset or thoroughwort. After Britton and Brown......... 407 Pic. 202, Blazine-star. Atter Britton and) Browse. ons eters ere 407 Minnesota Plant Life. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. 1D. ines Fic. Fic. Fic. Eines Fic. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 209. 210. 211. PRA 213. 214. 215. 216. 217. 218. Autumnal composite vegetation. In foreground golden-rods, sunflowers and asters; in background, on brow of cliff, wormwood or sage-brush. Aiter photograph by Williams... Early golden-rod. After Britton and Brown................. Asters and golden-rod. Banks of the Mississippi. After pho- TOGA Pls yee NWAULIATIS hn jeles eee WeeleWier cw ete etre wal sei a ooo Rosinweed compass-plant. After Britton and Brown......... Cone-flowers. After photograph by Williams................ Prairie cone-flower. After Britton and Brown............... Water bur-marigold. After Britton and Brown.............. Cornflower, Aiiter: Britton: ands Brow sei ere re ee Bur oak and bracken fern. Illustrates relation between strength of stem and the weight to be borne. After photograph by Li 5) Dic na Iie aan each bec oe oy PAI Antara tom taeeerte one om yeerkcre Willows and bulrushes. The latter are typical surf-plants. Nii paoOeacayon tony WGINMENINS, copes ce oooc con coc ooobmodeas Elm tree growing in the open. Light is received on all sides. Miter photograph by. Wrillianisiecccs. sercyopisiccericte. = sistem e ook Two-leafed wood-lilies. These plants have the broad leaves of shade plants and the white, conspicuous flowers. After pho- josreyola Jon JalinloeinG ooo covouo vl ooh da Ganon puoeDO DD OOs TOD DOUS Jack-in-the-pulpit. A shade plant. After photograph by Hib- Leaves of the sensitive fern, a shade-loving variety. After Piotosrapa byetsibbatG stoic ts tae eee oa. Peet ieee cro The Virginia creeper on the walls of the old round tower, Fort Snelling. This plant does not turn towards the sun, but clings to the shaded wall. Aiter photograph by Williains.... “Gallery woods,” near Minnesota Falls, valley of the Minne- sota, in the prairie district. Dependence of trees upon mois- ture is illustrated by their grouping in declivities. After pho- [HeRsrehole.joyy ironiessyore IR ID), IhAWshiles 5 oho ue neane ooo ocdaod ond XX11 408 409 419 421 430 431 433 XXIV Fic. cen Fic. Fic. 1c Fic. EG: Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. Fic. 219 220. 221. 222, 223. 224. 225. 226. 230. Minnesota Plant Life. . Dandelion fruiting in shady spot. Shows the slender stems and erect root-leaves of the shady habitat, and fruits adapted for wind distribution. After photograph by Hibbard........ Vegetation of ravine. The home of mosses and liverworts. The plants in front are touch-me-nots. After photograph by Willian tive. ch vereaie eg sen iberclom ole eosronemtiovewte Ook aa evel ie sole) ohare aaa Stream-side vegetation. Ironweeds, thoroughwort, mullein, sedge, speedwell and shrubbery. Hydrophytic vegetation in water's edge. After photograph by Williams. . Ol. ee ee Birch trees along a lake shore. Bar vegetation in background. Aiterphotogtaph) bys Williamishess ss sc cleiiee ace ate teen Trees along a river bank. Soft maple and cottonwood. Min- nesota river. After photograph by Williams................ Marshy place at the edge of a wood. After photograph by Murdock 2.c.c.tecc8 24 anon 328 vin ese Races nee Ferns in tamarack swamp, Lake Calhoun. After photograph Dy SElibbard’s o's a a.ccctocssaee cic tee rchortic crereio tenon reac he Swamp saxifrages. The large root-leaves are adapted to the shade of the swamp. The whole plant is hairy. Tamarack swamp, Lake Harriet. After photograph by Hibbard........ . A marsh-loving sedge, showing fruit clusters. After photo- Staple by. Elibbardincecns ooo aoieters ao ctelettietnae cot ere nena oe ea . A pitcher plant in flower; tamarack swamp. The leaves are converted into insect-traps. After photograph by Hibbard... . Rock vegetation, Lake of the Woods, near Keewatin, Ontario. Junipers, bellworts, pines, ferns, poplars and grasses predom- inate. After photograph, by“Wight.; scythe oes cc’ atcke cae Growth of hardwood trees upon a rocky island. Northwest angle, Lake of the Woods. After photograph by the author.. . Vegetation of sand dunes, Isle aux Sables, Lake of the Woods. In the foreground is the sand cherry and scrub poplar, in the center a juniper bush and in the background plimis; After: photograph -by the authotes<.+ scree eyes) 441 447 448 449 452 454 455 456 458 401 406 4608 Minnesota Plant Life. XXV Fic. 232. The valley of the Minnesota river in the prairie district. Abun- dant grass vegetation. After photograph by Professor R. D. VAIS o's Scenes aR RIG TC ae re me tis Eh tee eee 471 Fic. 233. Cottonwood trees on the Minnesota river. After photograph Dive MV ellgeatias 8 ance etalon ts ein hc tte,a phos Meats We mam eee de Moeeatars fae nets 474 Fic. 234. A Minnesota meadow bordered by shrubbery and deciduous forest. After photograph by Mr. W. A. Wheeler....... Seraaie 475 Fic. 235. Roadside vegetation in summer. After photograph by Wil- LEW eee cera Rene Se crt acer eee: ek ake Ue Pee Ren oe ite Seah Be 8 477 Fic. ze Roadside vegetation in winter, St. Anthony Park. Oaks, sun- flowers and goldenrods. After photograph by Williams..... 477 Fic. 237. Autumnal underbrush, Mississippi river, between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Golden rods, asters and sumac. After photo- erapheDy:! Wallidis ace oc ae et wt crtitr ethane se wld a oe ateare 478 Fic. 238. Neglected corner in the Minneapolis manufacturing district. Weeds and shrubbery. After photograph by Williams...... 479 Fic. 239. Modern hardwood forest of the St. Croix valley, near Osceola. After photograph by Professor W. R. Appleby.............. 480 Fic. 240. View of Fort Snelling, showing midsummer vegetation. After photorrapin by Walliamiswn tease oe ee om oe le oe 481 Ve 4 4 a bs ry * Ji Ghaptcmsl Plants in their Societies. i Purpose of this book. In the- pages of this book I hope to give the reader an idea of the diversified plant life which occupies the air, the soil and the waters of Minnesota. First of all, it must be remembered that plants although passive creatures are quite as truly living beings as are the more active animals. Just as men and women, either themselves or their ancestors, have entered the state from some other region, so also have plants, according to the nature of each, found their way and selected their abodes. It is no easy problem to de- termine why some family has chosen one village rather than another. ‘This may have been from causes which are too subtle or too remote for analysis, but it is recognized that people have not come to make their homes without some reason which seemed sufficient to them or to their forefathers. So, too, there is always some reason for the appearance at a particular spot of one kind of plant rather than another, and it is possible in a general way to explain the vegetation of the hills and meadows of the state. Minnesota geography. A glance at the map will show that the State of Minnesota lies between the 43rd and 49th paral- lels of north latitude and between the 89th and 97th meri- dians west, and that it is centrally located in the North Ameri- can continent. Within its domain rises the Mississippi and by this great river the surplus rain-fall of the state is in large measure carried away to the Gulf of Mexico. The northwest- ern portion, by the Red river and its tributaries, is drained through Lake Winnipeg into Hudson bay, while a few streams flow in the valley of the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic ocean. Minnesota, therefore, is not only geographically but hydro- graphically central. Hence it might be supposea that its plants 2 2 Minnesota Plant Life. would have immigrated equally from all directions. Such, how- ever, is by no means the fact and it is needful to inquire further into the conditions which regulate plant distribution before the true situation can be understood. Minnesota climate. Connected with the geographical posi- tion of the state, and to a very great degree dependent upon it, is that combination of average winds, average temperature, average precipitation of moisture, and average illumination by the sun to which is given the general name of climate. Min- nesota enjoys what is known as a mid-continental climate, characterized by warmth in the summer and cold in the winter. There are no prevailing winds from year’s end to year’s end as there are at some places by the sea. The sun never shines with equatorial directness, nor are there ever weeks or months of twilight, or of darkness, as in the regions of the poles. There are no great mountain ranges to cool the clouds as they move across the sky and to force them to yield their moisture in the eternal snows; and during the year there may always be ex- pected an average rain-fall of about twenty-five inches. Through the spring and summer there is always a rise in temperature to stimulate growth, but there is never that fervent, damp heat which favors the rank and luxuriant vegetation of the tropics. Consequently there are to be found in Minnesota, plants adapted to the rhythm of the seasons, to the oblique illumination of the sun, to the average moisture of the air and of the soil, and to the winds which sometimes sweep over the prairies with an almost resistless force. As an illustration of the adaptation of plants to seasonal rhythm may be mentioned the autumnal habit of most trees in Minnesota of shedding their leaves. Indeed, this is so common a fact of experience that it is scarcely realized to be a definite reaction of the plant to its environment. Yet leaves do not fall merely because the nights are growing cold, but because there is formed at the base of each leaf-stalk a little layer of cork which, when complete, cuts the leaf from the twig as if by a pair of shears. Certainly such is not everywhere a necessary habit, for it is known that in the tropics many trees do not lose their leaves each year, but retain them for varying periods of time until their usefulness is past—a character shared also by some Minnesota Plant Life. 3 trees of temperate regions. Apparently, then, the habit of rejecting leaves that would be killed by the winter’s cold and would become burdensome another summer may be directly connected with the geographical position of the state. Again, trees with enormous, delicate leaves like those of many palms or bananas, are not found upon the prairies of the Red river, because, clearly, if trees with such thin, large leaves were exposed to the wind they would be blown to pieces and their life would be destroyed. Large delicate-leaved forms are more characteristic of regions where the wind is slight or where it is broken by masses of surrounding vegetation. Furthermore, in a state so well watered as Minnesota there is no development of those curious desert types which are seen in Arizona, in the Sahara, or in the arid regions of South Africa and Australia; for where it is arid those plants only can grow that by structure and habits are fitted to utilize the relatively small quantities of moisture. The strange columnar cacti of the Gila, standing leafless and rigid—vegetable pillars of the desert—would be out of place wherever the rain-fall permits the production of ordinary leaves and branches. ‘Thus in survey- ing the vegetation of the world one is impressed with the influ- ence of climate upon the plant population of every district. The physical history of Minnesota. A knowledge of its geography and climate does not, however, afford all the data for comprehending the vegetation of any region, since it is not alone the climate of to-day, but even more strongly the climate and other conditions of the past, that are reflected in the forms and structures of the plants. Therefore, a knowledge also of the geological history of the state and of its various soils 1s essential to an understanding of its vegetation. There is strong reason to suppose that about ten thousand years ago much of the surface of North America was covered by a thick sheet of ice which advanced slowly from the north and later as slowly retreated. The period of ice-advance is known to geologists as the glacial period, and throughout Minnesota are to be found the traces of glacial action. The clays, pebbles and bowlders so abundant throughout the state are believed to have been depos- ited either upon the front of a glacial mass, or tinderneath, or from the waters caused by its melting. When such a move- 4 Minnesota Plant Life. ment of ice toak place there must have been a great modifica- tion of drainage conditions over all the invaded district. Streams were dammed, hills were levelled, valleys were filled, lake bot- toms were hollowed out or covered with confused masses of rocks and clay—ground into powder by the powerful action of the ice, continuing, as it did, through more than a thousand years. It is clear, too, that the ancient vegetation must have been almost wholly swept away by this invasion from the Arctic zone. It is true that plants are sometimes found growing close to the edge of glaciers in the Alps, in Greenland and in Alaska. Sometimes even masses of soil are so borne upon the surface of the glacier that plants of hardy habit may continue their exist- ence there. Yet, with a due regard to these well-known facts, it is not conceivable that for so long a period of rigorous cold the old pre-glacial plant-population of the state could have held its ground. It must be supposed, rather, that as the glacier steadily advanced from the north, year after vear plants flung their seeds into air-currents moving southward or attached them to the fur of animals seeking a warmer clime and thus gradu- ally season by season themselves migrated toward the south. Fvidently those plants provided with seeds, buoyant, winged, barbed or hooked were best fitted by such contrivances to leave the snows and ice of a thousand years, while the plants with smooth and heavy seeds either migrated more leisurely and more sparingly or were quite extinguished by the cold. When the glacial period came finally to an end and the ice- sheet moved north beyond the confines of the state, there opened to the immigrants from the south a new Minnesota. Great lakes formed by the waters of the melting ice now lay where before there was land. Rivers were flowing in new direc- tions and were carving for themselves new gorges through the rocks. A fertile soil was deposited upon the hill-sides—not, indeed, a rich leaf-mould, but capable of supporting many kinds of plants. Into this land of promise the southern plants began to come. Winds from the south, animals ranging toward the north and water-fowl in their annual migrations, brought back in some instances no doubt the very same varieties which hun- dreds of years earlier had fled before the ice, and in others, new kinds born and bred in the south and seeking new homes where Minnesota Plant Life. 5 they might obtain a foothold for themselves and their descend- ants. \When one contemplates for a moment this epitome of plant-wanderings he is impressed by its similarity to the history of his own race. It is known how peoples have moved from one country to another, not usually en masse but individually, quite as did the plants and under very much the same impelling forces. For it is those plants which were able to leave the region of increasing cold that later continued their kind under more favorable circumstances, as it is also the hardy race of men who migrate from the worn out farm, or congested city to some new country in which they may find prosperity and happiness for themselves and for their children. Laws of plant distribution. There are, then, three paths along which to seek the general laws of plant distribution. First, as regards an area, one must inquire what is its geographical position? second, what is its climate? third, what is its soil and physical history? ‘The answers to these three questions ex- plain in large degree what must be the plant population of that area. With respect to the vegetation of Minnesota the most impressive fact is that it is an immigrant vegetation. It mani- fests the characters of a new community quite as truly as does the American Republic, in its social and political organization, the characters of anew country. This can be illustrated clearly if one compare the Minnesota forest with the ancient forest of the tropics in India, in Venezuela, or about the sources of the Nile. When one enters the dark solitudes of an equatorial for- est his first thought is, from the sounds that reach his ears, that the life of the forest must be above his head. Few animals are seen, almost no insects and scarcely a green leaf or plant upon the forest-floor, but there, rather, are dead and decaying trunks of trees which have fallen and massive columns of trees that are standing, while arching overhead are interlaced branches that intercept the light and make the scene like that in some dim cathedral. But if froma balloon one could look down upon the immemorial crowns he would see spread out beneath him a world alive with birds and insects, brilliant with flowers and rich with the verdure of vines and air-plants. It would be much as if the tree-tops had taken the place of the turf and shrubbery of more northern climes. Many orchids and other plants of that 6 Minnesota Plant Life. nature would be seen perched upon the branches, dangling their roots into the damp air below; climbing and twining plants would be abundant and especially would there be observed a much greater variety over a particular area than could be expected in temperate regions. This peculiarity of the tropical forest, this exuberant development of tree-top life is a natural result of age. It is because the forest has been standing for countless centuries, unmodified by changes of climate, unin- vaded by glacial sheets, that it includes so many different kinds of individuals. For the same reason there have arisen depen- dencies between different varieties of plants, and some have learned to perch themselves upon the branches of others or have entwined themselves around the stems of their neighbors. Just so, in an old society like that of India or wherever there is not the democracy and equality which exists under a newer social order, is caste developed. People are born to be dependent and it is fore-ordained in the social system that they and their de- scendants shall not rise above this position. In the forests of Minnesota all is very different. When one enters the pine-woods of the north, or the elm and maple-woods of the south, he is not impressed with the silence and solitude of the forest-floor, nor does he discover that the tree-tops have become a special soil for the development of peculiar plants. Perching plants are rare; vines and lianas do not form so large a proportion of the total population. ‘There is nearly always a well-developed underbrush, and many sorts of little heaths, asters, gentians and golden-rods display their flowers and ripen their fruits under the shadow of the trees. They are not com- pelled by the umbrageous growth of larger plants to climb the trunks or hang themselves upon the topmost branches in order to obtain their share of sunlight and of rain. Nor is the number of kinds in an acre nearly so great as in the tropics, for there has not yet ensued that long period of competition which, in the tropical forest, has reduced what might once have been social clumps of trees to the lone survivors of to-day. Forest and prairie. ‘There are two principal vegetation- regions in Minnesota, the forest and the prairie. The forest occupies the northern portion of the state extending south to Minnesota Plant Life. 7 the valley of the Minnesota river. The prairie comprises the southern portion of the state and a strip along the western boundary in the valley of the Red river of the North. These two regions, so different in their appearance, are inhabited by plants which are not altogether dissimilar to each other. Most of the plants at home on the prairie are not entirely absent from the forest, while the greater number of forest plants may be encountered, possibly not so abundantly, but at least casually, on the prairie. ‘The difference between the two regions does Fic. 1.—In the forest district. Growth of white pines and spruces upon a rocky island. Steamboat channel, Lake of the Woods. After photograph by the author. not lie in differences in the kinds of plants so much as it does in the different character of the dominant plants. Among the pines and spruces of the forest occur many of the grasses, vetches and asters of the prairie. Along the borders of prairie sloughs and streams there will be growing the same varieties of arrow- heads, milkweeds and willow-herbs that form a characteristic vegetation in similar places in the forest. But the dominant plants of the forest are trees, lifting up their erect, perennial stems, struggling with each other for light and air and giving to the whole formation an upright effect, while the prairies are 8 Minnesota Plant Life. dominated by grasses with prostrate underground stems woven together into a solid and matted turf, thrusting into the air only their side-branches and thus giving to the whole a flat and level character. It is not very well known precisely why the prairie type of vegetation has established itself over such large areas of the world. Some have attributed it to fires, others have thought that climate and soil are responsible for the difference between prairie and forest. Perhaps all that need be said is that there are these two principal methods of developing plant-stems. When the dominant plants of an area are such as have acquired the habit of trying to avoid each other’s shade by elongation of their stems, that region is a forest. When, on the other hand, an area 1s occupied by plants that have learned to elbow each other beneath the surface of the soil, that region is a prairie. It is a mistake to suppose that the lofty tree is in every sense stronger than the modest grass, for the two have simply devised different means of accomplishing the same result. A prime necessity of most plants is sunlight, since without it they are unable to construct their food from the gases of the atmosphere and the water of their sap. Therefore, they must have light, and to obtain it they adopt instinctively the methods of growth which will enable them to do their own life-work regardless of their neighbors. The pine tree may be described as a plant which for ages has been solving the problem of better illumina- tion by a progressive increase in height. The grass, by copious ramification of a protected underground stem upon which lat- eral leaf-bearing branches are produced, in its way strives to obtain illumination, nutriment and persistence. Another difference which exists between the forest and prairie of Minnesota is in the direction from which the plants have come. ‘The forest is, in large part, composed, so far as its domi- nant plants are concerned, of northern forms, while the prairie is inhabited rather by immigrants from the south. So on a map illustrating plant distribution in the northern hemisphere it will be found that the prairies in Europe, in Asia and in America lie south of a forest belt. It is true that in the tropics around the world a forest region exists, broken only by deserts like those of the Sahara, or northern Australia; but in regions beyond the tropics it would seem that in both hemispheres there Minnesota Plant Life. 9 are intermediate forest zones between the prairies of temperate regions and the tundras about the poles. Minnesota is situated between the forest and prairie regions of the North American continent and includes a representation of each. A careful study of the populations in these regions will show that each is striving to extend itself; thus wherever a stream flows from the forests of the north down through the prairies of the south, forest plants advance along the banks and reach more southern latitudes. In Minnesota the pine trees that in the north form so characteristic a growth are found in isolated patches, fewer in numbers, down the Mississippi—even Fic. 2.—Prairie scene on the Coteau. Sunflowers line the roadway on either side. After photograph by Mr. R. S. MacIntosh. beyond the confines of the state, for the white pine exists upon the Mississippi bluffs in Iowa. Similarly, along the open which a river produces, there is chance for southern winds to distribute the seeds of prairie plants, and characteristic vegetation of the prairie, such as sunflowers and golden-rods, has pushed its way up into the forest, leaving the larger streams along their tribu- taries, and finding a path even into depths of the pine-woods where the soil is favorable. It would be a great mistake to count plants quiet, unenterprising creatures, not alert to make use of every opportunity for growth and development. The forest must rather be regarded as composed of plants eager to compete with those of the prairie upon their own ground, and equally must the prairie plants be regarded as ambitious on their 10 Minnesota Plant Life. part to try conclusions with those of the forest, if they obtain an opportunity to penetrate between the interstices of the more northern erect formation. Plant populations, then, in the two great vegetation regions of the state, are in a state of tension, and the line between them is necessarily slowly shifting and irregular. Some little change in the topography, some slight modification of the drainage, the drying up of a lake or the erosion of a deeper gorge by a stream, may give an opportunity for one formation or the other to extend its limits at the expense of its neighbor. This gen- eral state of tension exists not only between the forest and the Fic. 3.—Roadside vegetation. Grasses and pulses. An elm tree in background. Cedar lake. After photograph by Williams. prairie, but also between plants on the tops of hills and those at the base, between plants in the center of swamps and those at the circumference, or between plants at the edge of a lake or stream and those farther inland. Plant zones. ‘The result of such competition is seen in the pretty general appearance of plant zones wherever the topog- raphy permits them to be developed. A simple and well-known example of this tendency of plants to grow in zones or lines may be seen along any road, path, ditch or trail in the state. It is well known that certain kinds of plants particularly select the road-side as a favorite place for growth. Such are usually Minnesota Plant Life. LI robust, enterprising plants of modern structure, and the pick of the whole world for growing ability—for nowhere is there so great a proportion of what are called weeds and introduced plants as beside a road. ‘There one finds the knot-grasses, rag- weeds, thistles, cockscomb-grasses and other imported species, many of them belonging to types which by sheer vegetable enterprise and ability have found their way with man around the whole northern hemisphere, and some of them are common even to Australia and Africa as well. As might be expected Fic. 4.—Spruces forming a zone around a peat-bog. Farther back are tamaracks and pines. The shrub in the foreground is the bog-willow, while the flowers are those of an orchid,— Pogonia. Near Grand Rapids. After photograph by Mr.Warren Pendergast. from their distribution along paths or other works made by man, they have been assisted in their wanderings by human agencies rather than by the ministrations of the winds, the water-fowl or the beasts of the field. Such plants appear also in door-yards, in neglected meadows, in pastures, along railway lines and in short wherever man has gone. Another kind of zonal distribution, not influenced by human agencies, may be seen around the lakes of the state, especially where beaches have been formed. Here special beach-rows of [2 Minnesota Plant Life. plants will be found, consisting among others of certain sand- loving grasses, cockleburrs, pinks and fumitories, and clearly distinct from the plants farther back upon the shore. Nor will these plants develop so vigorously under any other conditions. Again in the swamp region of the north, where a peat-bog is slowly filling with moss and encroaching upon the forest, beau- tiful illustrations of this zonal arrangement can be observed with the tamarack and spruce trees becoming gradually smaller and smaller toward the center of the bog. In meadows, too, : 2 Y KP 4 ie biubabtieaiiécts neo ee Fic. 5.—Zones of aquatic vegetation. In the center pond-lilies; at the edge smartweed; far- ther back cat-tails, blue flags, sweet flags, and sedges; still farther back soft turf with grass, moss, sedge and milkweed. After photograph by Williams. formed by the drying-up of lakes, are sometimes found en- croachments of the meadow plants upon such knolls as were originally islands surrounded by water. The meadow, as it were, washes up upon the knoll and upon the banks of the old lake, so that mingled with the dogwoods, willows and other shrubs of the knoll or bank one will observe the grasses and sedges of the meadow. P Zonal distribution is a characteristic arrangement not only of land, but also of water plants, and as one pushes his canoe from the shore of a Minnesota lake he will doubtless find that he Minnesota Plant Life. 13 passes over distinct zones of aquatic vegetation. First, there will be the sedges at the water’s edge, then the reed-grasses, or wild rice in a little deeper water, then the bulrushes with their cylindrical, leafless stems rising from submerged rootstocks below, and exposing as small a surface as possible to the action of the surf. Next will come the pond-lilies and water-lilies, the water-shields, and sometimes the lotus with its circular leaves rising from or floating upon the water and presenting every- where their arched margins to the waves. ‘Then come the pond- weeds and milfoils with their stems and submerged leaves ascending through the water but not reaching the surface, and finally the bass-weeds with their lime-encrusted stems and leaves lying upon the bottom at a depth of from ten to fifteen feet. Whether one climbs a hill, rows out into a lake, walks from the margin of a stream back to the prairie or the woods; whether one steps from his house and across the road into a field, or strolls from a meadow up to a wooded bank, he will find that he is traversing zones of vegetation. The occasion for such a distribution of plants in zones is to be sought generally in the topography of the region, and where there 1s great irregu- larity in the topography there is irregularity in the zones, while sometimes over a level no zones appear. Sometimes, also, where the topography is favorable to the development of plant zones special conditions of distribution serve to obliterate them or prevent their occurrence. The same general causes which tend to separate the forest from the prairie, defining their limits, are seen to mark also the boundary between one portion of the forest and another. Just as the great prairie group of plants strives as a whole to en- croach upon the forest, so the plants at the base of a knoll strive to climb it and establish themselves over its surface, and mean- while quite as vigorously the plants on the knoll attempt to make their way into the gullies and sloughs. ‘The plant on drier soil may be regarded as always endeavoring to accommo- date itself to moister soil, and that on moist soil as always strug- eling to gain a foothold where the moisture is not so ‘great. So there are often seen at the margin of ponds the pond-lilies emerging as far as they are able upon the mud, exerting them- selves to the full limit of their structural qualities to maintain 14 Minnesota Plant Life. a terrestrial life, and in the same pond may be found land-plants pushing down to the very water’s edge or beyond it until they can go no farther because of the limitations of their structure. The tension between the forest and prairie, because it extends so widely, may be called a continental tension. The other ten- sions, between knolls and ravines, between banks and meadows, between beaches and pond edges, may be called minor tensions, but the law of the two cannot be very different. Indeed, there may be gained a fair idea of the fundamental difference between prairie and forest by observation of an area so limited as a road- * 1 ie #) 1 gi Mew” neta adel. Fic. 6.—Island in the Mississippi above St. Paul. The center is occupied by elms while the rim is fringed with willows. Anexample of a ‘minor tension.”’ After photograph by Professor W. R. Appleby. side or path. The principal difference between the two is the duration of the causes at work. Between the prairie and the forest the tension has been in existence possibly for thousands of years, while between the knoll and the ravine possibly for but a few decades or centuries. As a result there have come to exist in the old warring formations structural peculiarities char- acteristic of each, so that, to the eye of the observer, they pre- sent very different appearances. Where the struggle is of more recent origin and of more limited extent the differences are not so great and, therefore, not so evident. Forests of Minnesota and of the world. We cannot well consider forest as it exists in Minnesota apart from the general forest which covers the northern part of the continent. From Minnesota Plant Life. 15 the plant’s point of view, Minnesota is not a province, for, to the plant, political boundaries as established by man, have slight significance. Nor does the prairie, which occupies the south- ern part of the state, exist as a special Minnesota prairie. Rather is it the northeastern extension of the great plains which occupy the whole central area of the continent from the foothills of the Rockies back to the forests of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indi- ana and Wisconsin. ‘The question then arises how did the for- ests come to consist of the plants which dominate them, and how did the prairie come to have its particular inhabitants rather than others? If a census be taken of all the kinds of plants in the forests of North America and be compared with a similar census taken in the forests of Europe and Siberia there will be perceived a great similarity between the plants of the two regions. But if in like manner the plants of the prairies of the United States be compared with those growing upon the steppes of Russia and Siberia it will be discovered that the similarity is not by any means so great. A very much larger number of plants are common to the forest districts of Europe, Asia and North America than are common to the steppes and prairies of the two hemispheres. Yet, im this’ latter instance, there are’ many groups which are similar and not a few identical species. Sup- pose, further, that the forests of the northern hemsiphere, of which the Minnesota forest is but a portion, be compared with the deciduous forests of the southern hemisphere, including those of the Transvaal Republic, Chili and the Argentine, New Zealand and Tasmania, it would be noticed that almost no com- mon species, and but few common groups of species can be found. Or if the pampas of the Argentine be compared with the prairies of the United States, again would it be discovered that the common species are exceedingly scarce. It would seem, then, that the greatest differences which exist between plant populations of the world are between those of the north temperate and the south temperate regions. ‘The occasion of this will be understood if it be remembered for a moment what are the opportunities for the expansion of plant- life in the tropics and under the equator. There for countless thousands of years plants have been developing and competing 16 Minnesota Plant Life. with one another amid favorable conditions of temperature, moisture and illumination. ‘The equatorial region of the world is at once the cradle and the crucible of plant-life. In that tre- mendous struggle for existence many of the modern improve- ments and refinements in plant structure began to originate. During the centuries; forms unfavorable were eliminated and destroyed, leaving the stronger in a condition to migrate north or south as rapidly as they accommodated themselves to the increasing obliqueness of the sun. Evidently, then, the great- est differences should be expected not between the plants of North America and Europe, both of them tenanted by north- bound immigrants from the equatorial region, nor even between the north temperate regions and the tropics, since the plants in the former are but the traveled relatives of those at home in the latter region. But the greatest difference should be expected to exist, as it does, between those plants which have left the tropics and have slowly made their way, changing their form and habits as they wandered, some to the far north and others to the south. North American flora. If the North American continent were quite flat, without differences in elevation above the sea, and were connected with the tropics by a continuous stretch of land, it could be imagined that the forest region might have extended directly across the northern half of the continent. It is, however, not such a level plain, for two great mountain ranges run from north to south and the continent is connected with the tropics by a narrow isthmus, so that there are factors which prevent an even division of forest and prairie. Mountain ranges extending from north to south are not, as mountain ranges extending from east to west would be, barriers against plant distribution from the tropics toward the poles. This is the reason why North America has what the botanists call a “richer flora” than Europe and Asia. In the Old World the principal mountain ranges, such as the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Appenines, the Carpathians, the Caucasus and the Himalayas are transverse, extending in a generally east-and-west direction. For this reason when the glacial period came on, unfortunate European or Asiatic plants as they migrated south, found them- selves compelled to climb some mountain range in order to Minnesota Plant Life. 17 make their escape to the temperate climate beyond the influ- ence of the ice, and under these conditions most of them must have perished as wretchedly as did so many of the troops of Hannibal when they crossed the Alps. Moreover, when the gla- cial period came to an end in Europe and Asia it was difficult for plants to return over the mountain-passes, and as a result, these continents are tenanted by a less diversified vegetation than that of North America. The longitudinal mountain ranges of the New World have rather aided the movements of plants than hindered them, for they have assisted northern plants to find their way along high altitudes to constantly lower latitudes, while at the various stages of their journey such plants have enjoyed the opportunity of climbing down the mountain sides and out upon the plains, if they were able to accommodate themselves to the higher tem- perature. This movement has taken place not only on the western side of the continent, but also along the Alleghenies. Yet owing to the greater height of the western range it is found that northern genera of plants like some of the roses and willows have developed more abundantly toward the southwest than toward the southeast, simply because they have followed an easier path along the cool high ridges of the Rockies than along the warmer, lower Appalachian range. By these two mountain ranges, lying one to the east and the other to the west of Minne- sota, some slight influence has no doubt been exerted upon plant migration, both in the prairie and in the forest region of the state. But this effect must have been stronger in the prairie region; for the forest plants from the east and north could enter as easily from the north and would not need to depend upon any lateral movement. From the west, however, where the plains rise gently to the mountains, many plants which had found an asylum on the sides of peaks and escarpments must have, in the last ten thousand years, slowly crept down into the plains and there developed habits and structures which persist to this day. 3 Chapter ff Plant Wanderings and Migrations. SF Habits of birds and animals. ‘The habits of birds and ani- mals are of much importance in any study of plant distribu- tion; for the plant, but rarely provided with independent meth- ods of locomotion, is forced to depend upon other agencies for dissemination. To the waterfowl especially, with their well- r Fic. 7.—lLake border vegetation of cat-tails, grasses, reeds and sedges, Lake of the Isles. After photograph by Williams. known habit of flying south in the autumn and north in the spring, do many plants owe the widening of their range. Their seeds are ripened and fall upon the mud at the border of some lake or pond where they are picked up on the feet or plumage of migrant birds and are carried hundreds of miles north or south of the point where they were produced. That is one rea- Minnesota Plant Life. 19 son why throughout Minnesota the lake-shore vegetation is so homogeneous. Every bay is visited at some time during the year by wild fowl and in the mud on their feet they carry about the seeds of a variety of plants. It is therefore, those water- edge plants which have seeds not too large to be thus trans- ported that are the more widely distributed. Especially if the seed is of a kind attractive to the bird is it likely to be removed. Thus ducks, though they eat hundreds of thousands of young wild-rice plants encased in their seed-coats, nevertheless from their very habit of using these plants for food distribute them more widely than if they were not thus agreeable to their taste. Migrating animals, like the bison which once roamed in enor- mous herds over the whole prairie region, must have picked up in their fur, as they wallowed in the sand or on the banks of streams, countless seeds of a great variety of plants and carried them to all parts of their range. In this way, plants having seeds provided with attachment-prongs, like the tick-trefoils, beggars’-lice, burdocks and cockleburrs must have obtained through the agency of animals far greater opportunities for travel than were enjoyed by species the seeds or fruits of which were hard and smooth. The fancy of animals and birds for certain sleeping places has also influenced plant distribution, and their habits of wan- dering in the woods and by the water have been utilized by cer- tain kinds of plants, and some remarkable adaptations exist, such as the curious explosive seed-pods of the touch-me-not. This common plant, when brushed against, explodes its fruits, throwing out the seeds where they may be caught in the fur of a passing animal and carried away. Certain exotic gourd-plants too, have explosive fruits which when agitated by a slight touch shoot out the seeds and these, provided with a viscid membrane, readily adhere to the passing bird or animal. Other plants have their seeds enclosed in edible areas, as for example the gooseberries, currants, apples, peaches, raspberries, junipers and a host of others. In such fruits the seeds are themselves protected by hard coats which resist the digestive processes of the animal or bird and they can thus pass through its body with- out injury. Sometimes the instincts of animals benefit the plant, as when a squirrel carries off an acorn and buries it from 20 Minnesota Plant Life. some dim notion of secretiveness or possibly of providence. On account of the rhythm of the seasons in Minnesota the principal migrations of birds and land animals have not been irom east to west but from north to south, and the principal tension-line runs in general from east to west. Insects and worms. A few seeds are peculiarly modified for insect distribution, as for example, those of some spurges and other small plants, which have little crests or grooves just fitted to receive the jaws of ants, thus making them easily porta- ble by these busy toilers. Others are assisted in their distribu- tion by burrowing worms, but this always within narrow limits. Inanimate agencies. Allusion has already been made to the inanimate agencies which are employed by plants as aids in distribution. Among these are currents of wind, currents of water and in a slight degree translocations of soil. The latter, best observed in mountainous regions where avalanches exert a considerable influence, is of slight importance in Minnesota, though upon the hillsides and cliffs along some of the northern lakes, this method of distribution exists. Wind currents. In plant distribution the most important inanimate agency is doubtless the wind. ‘The alertness with which plants make use of it in seed-dissemination is well exem- plified by the new population which appears after a fire and covers burnt places in the forest. When the pines or spruces are destroyed by fire it is a fact of common observation that poplars, maples, elms, wiliow-herbs, milkweeds and other light- seeded plants spring up. The well-known fire-weed with its purple panicle of flowers ripens seeds that are provided with tufts of delicate hairs, and when thrown out of the pods in which they are produced the wind may catch them and whirl them away over the tree-tops for many miles. The poplars, too, and cottonwoods are famous for their winged seeds and succeed in entering promptly a burnt tract, so that within a year or two they have established themselves while there are yet to be found probably none of the heavy-seeded plants, like hickories, wal- nuts and oaks, and but few of the plants with adhesive seeds or pulp-inclosed seeds fitted for animal distribution. It is not the seeds alone but often the fruits of plants which are trans- ported by the wind, as for example, the maple-fruits, the elm- Minnesota Plant Life. OT fruits and the fruits of a great variety of dandelion-like and sun- flower-like plants. Sometimes the whole plant is distributed by the wind and examples of this are especially striking upon the prairie where the wind has free sweep. ‘Thus, tumbling plants like the Russian thistle, the tumbling mustard and the tumbling grass, when their fruits are ripe separate all or the greater part of the stem from its attachment and curve their branches so that the whole takes the shape of a ball rolling freely for miles over the level prairies before the wind. Some- times the wind acts indirectly in the distribution of plants, as for instance, when a portion of the boggy shore of some lake breaks loose and is blown away to be anchored possibly under new conditions across the lake. Water currents. Though the agency of currents of water in transporting seeds is scarcely so universally employed as that of the wind, it should not be overlooked. ‘This agency is par- ticularly important for heavy-seeded plants as their seeds are often borne along a stream in its currents and eddies to find a lodgment possibly miles below the point where they were intro- duced. Other seeds, to facilitate their floating, are provided with buoyant apparatus which adapts them also for wind distri- bution. Man. One very important agent in plant distribution re- mains to be considered, namely, man. Unlike the birds and animals, man in his migrations is not so strongly regulated by the changing rhythm of the seasons. On the contrary the prin- cipal lines of migration of men since the advent of Caucasians upon the continent have been from east to west, rather than from north to south. Roads and trails have been beaten across the plains and through the forests; railway lines have been built, binding distant portions of the country together, and to connect with them steamships cross the seas. Freights are car- ried from one hemisphere to another, and along with that for which there are invoices and bills of lading comes often a con- signment of seeds of fruits, unrecorded yet none the less im- portant. In this manner some harmful weeds as well as some useful forage-plants have reached the fields of Minnesota. With the immigration of men and women from Russia has come the Russian thistle; from France and England the cockles of the 22 Minnesota Plant Life. wheat; from Italy some mustards; indeed, from all the coun- tries of Europe plants have found their way in company with man. Some of them are later immigrants than others. Those which crossed with the pilgrim fathers are now as much at home as those to the manner born. Others, the advent of which dates from yesterday, have not yet shown all their capabilities, and doubtless even now the dangerous new weeds of the next decade are some of them precariously existing as little colonies upon ballast-heaps or along the lines of eastern or western rail- ways. Associations between migrating plants. When plants travel they do not always travel alone, but in company as man does, who when he migrates brings with him his horses, oxen, sheep, fowls, dogs, and other domestic animals which have become attached to him. So the plant when it migrates often takes with it other plants. Thus where the maples go, there go also those curious fungi that grow upon the leaves, looking like little drops of tar. With the willow as it is uprooted and floats down a stream, perhaps finding a foothold for its twigs somewhere below, go the lichens and mosses upon its bark. There is something about the proximity of certain kinds of plants which is very agreeable to other varieties, so that gen- erally with pine trees one finds wintergreens associated, and with peat-mosses, cranberries. The latter are not associations like the associations between the maple and the fungus upon its leaves, but are rather indications of kindred tastes in habita- tions. The establishment of one kind of plant over an area may be the natural and, perhaps, the necessary pre-requisite for the development of another plant which has formed the habit of attaching its fortunes to those of the first one in the field. Plants, also, by their position and attitudes strongly influence the distribution of other plants. If plants, which are accus- tomed to depend upon winged seeds for their distribution, find themselves gradually enclosed by the foliage of strong-growing neighbors it will be difficult, perhaps, for them to extend farther the range of their seeds. Or, possibly, the berries which were attractive during a season when neighboring plants were not in fruit may not be so attractive another year when the adjacent forms are ripening their own larger, more highly colored, more highly scented or sweeter fruit. Minnesota Plant Life. 23 Where the story of plant migration is recorded. It is im- possible to mention except in a more extended account the many and various ways in which plants influence the distribu- tion of each other or receive influence from outside sources, but enough has been said to indicate the general laws under which the State of Minnesota has received the plants which now inhabit its territory. ‘They have come from all points of the compass, from all parts of the world, bringing with them habits acquired through countless generations of struggle and adapta- tion. ‘To the enlightened eye, the form of a plant tells a story of its life and of the experiences it must have undergone to develop one type of structure rather than another. Just as in the formidable defensive armor of an extinct armadillo may be read somewhat of the story of its struggle with its enemies, so in the three hundred feet of solid trunk and in the massive girth of a living Big-tree in the Sierras one may read the story of its struggle in the ancient forests when its allies and com- petitors were perhaps more numerous and more vigorous in their aspiration for light than are the neighbors of to-day. In the Minnesota valley, not far from New Ulm, there are found upon rocks exposed in the river-bed by the erosion of the waters, some specimens of the little prickly-pear cactus, a desert plant which has found its way from the plains of Arizona and New Mexico. By all its characters it indicates how it must have been trained in a school of life different from that in which the plants around it receive their education. Its solid, leafless, flattened stem with a resistent rind is fitted to withstand the evaporation of moisture—a character much needed in the des- ert, but less necessary in the valley of the Minnesota. Its strong root system extending out a yard or more on every side was indispensible to collect what little moisture there might have been in the arid soil of the southwestern desert; with a smaller root system it could do very well in its northern home. The sharp thorns and spines with which it is covered were a necessary protective armor where vegetation was sparse and grazing animals hungry; without this armor it could live very | __ well on the hills of New Ulm, for there dwell other plants with- out armor nor do the herds destroy them. Such a plant, evi- dently a wanderer from another land, is like a man of medizval 24 Minnesota Plant Life. times who should be reincarnated in a modern society and should insist upon wearing the coat of mail and carrying the rapier which were necessary in another age, but would be rec- ognized as altogether out of place in the life of the present day. The pine trees, with their needle-shaped leaves fitted to trans- pire water but slowly and with their strong branches able to carry the weight of the snow which is piled upon them in their northern home, when they find their way down the river to the comparatively genial climate of Iowa cannot at once abandon the structures which they developed under the stern necessity imposed by the severer climate of their native land. The mat- plant, such as a purslane or carpet-weed, adapted to life on a flat plane where it is not shaded by surrounding plants but spreads out all its prostrate branches in a discoid body, cannot erect itself into the slender wand of the aster, taught to assume this shape by centuries of existence in the underbrush above which it had to lift its leaves that they might catch the sun. The aspiring spruce telling in its form a story of other spruce trees close beside it crowding each other as they all reached upward for the light, if it is planted in one’s dooryard with noth- ing near to shade it cannot abandon the character which it developed of old. Plants when they migrate from place to place must take with them those structures and habits which are fitted best to the whole history of their species. In their migrations they select places which resemble as closely as pos- sible those to which they are accustomed. ‘They allow them- selves a certain freedom just as men do, but even as regards men it is well-known that they prefer to migrate along the same parallel of latitude, so that the inhabitants of Minnesota have come rather from the forests of New England and New York, from Canada, from Scotland, and from Scandinavia, than from the highlands of Mexico, from Italy, Africa, or Brazil. Struggles of migrating plants. It must be apparent from all that has been said that the laws governing the migration of plants are substantially the same as those that govern the migra- tion of other living beings. It is an instinct with all living creatures to maintain their own existence as long as they can and to do this they wrest from others, weaker or less fortunate, the right to food and sunshine which they in their turn demand Minnesota Plant Life. 25 of nature. It is even so with men; the dervishes of the Soudan must give way before civilized England. ‘Thus also must the feeble plants of a meadow’s edge yield before the onslaught of trained roadside plants, brought in from other parts of the world and fitted to cope with the conditions of existence in a stronger and better way. As one looks at a placid meadow, its grasses bending in the breeze, he should remember that under- neath the calm serenity of the scene there is a bitter struggle, a relentless internecine warfare between the plants that are already in the meadow and those that are striving to enter from without. Comparison of plants with animals. Next to and even stronger than the instinct to exist is the instinct to persist, and plants sacrifice their own lives for their offspring just as readily in their sphere of life as will a human mother give up her life for her child. In dealing with plants the mind must be rid of the mistaken notion that they are dull, stupid things which stay where they are set without ability to better themselves and their offspring. On the contrary the plant should be regarded as a living organism with definite necessities and definite in- stincts. Plants are quite as much alive as animals, and, indeed, they are greater ground-gainers on the surface of the earth than animals are, for if all the plants of the world should be weighed in one scale pan of a gigantic balance with all the ani- mals in the other it would be seen that as organizers of dead matter into living substance the plants far outrank the animals. In dynamic force, in the ability to apply energy in some definite direction, the animal is indeed superior, but in those purely con- structive vital powers no organisms are so skillfully adapted and so perfectly organized as the plants. ‘They are not altogether of a lower type of life than animals, for they do their work in the world after their fashion, and that is all that animals can do. They are rather to be viewed as other kinds of living things, ‘and are to be regarded not as merely subservient to the needs of animals, not solely as a food-supply for grazing cattle or roving birds, but of interest for their own sake and possessing an indi- viduality to be respected. - Chapter III. Slime-Moulds and Blue-green Algae. Se Number of plants in the world. In the whole world there are now living about 300,000 different kinds of plants, and it is possible that nearly as large a number of forms are extinct. The relics of past plant life in Minnesota are not very abundant, but in the older rocks there are a few fossil sea-weeds deposited on the mud flats of an ancient ocean which covered the region now occupied by the land, and in the red sandstone which oc- curs in the Minnesota valley in limited quantities, there have been found imprints of leaves belonging to by-gone genera. For example, in those days palm trees flourished in the state and have left their replicas along with the remains of red-woods, big-trees, cycads, magnolias, tulip-trees and other varieties. which are not now found within hundreds of miles of Minnesota. From old peat deposits and from soil masses lying under the glacial clays, fragments of charred wood and vegetable debris are sometimes exhumed. Such fossils often show that the dis- tribution of plants before the glacial period was quite different from that of to-day. Number and sorts of plants in Minnesota. At the present time, of the 300,000 living species of plants, about 7,500 are probably to be found growing without cultivation in Minnesota. The figures are in the nature of an estimate, for by no means so considerable a number has yet been discovered. But it must be remembered that the larger proportion of these plants are not the conspicuous objects which are usually in mind when the word “plant” is used, but are rather the insignificant micro- scopic forms, difficult to discover and often of such slight differ- ence from each other that they would be recognized as distinct varieties only by the most trained observers. Minnesota Plant Life. 27 An estimate of the distribution of these 7,500 species of Min- nesota plants among the different groups is approximately as follows: slime-moulds 150; bacteria and algae 1,000; fungi and lichens 3,250; liverworts and mosses 500; ferns and flowering plants 2,600. It is evident then, that most plants of the state belong to the lower orders of vegetation. There may now be given a general account of the Minne- sota vegetation, avoiding the use of technical terms and describ- ing where it is possible certain common forms of each group, so that the reader may have within small compass a comprehensive view of the classes just named, as they are represented in the state. Slime-moulds. The plants (or more probably animals) known as slime-moulds constitute a very peculiar group of organisms. It is by no means certain that they are plants at all, although they have some vegetable characters. In- other respects they resemble the lower animals, and botanists and zoolo- gists have often debated to which of the two great realms of life they really belong. One of them, which is known to occur in Minnesota, may possibly have come under the observation of some of the readers of this book. The roots of cabbages and turnips, when pulled from the ground, are sometimes found to be covered with a curious irregular growth of little spherical tubers, about the size of hazel nuts,—sometimes larger, though often very much smaller. The occasion of the appearance of such tubers is the development of singular little slime-moulds too small to be seen by the naked eye but sufficiently active to cause gall-like swellings in the tissues of the root. Because of the ruptured appearance which the root has when affected by these tiny organisms, the whole structure, root and slime-mould, is known as a root-hernia or as club-root. Most slime-moulds do not, however, live thus as parasites on other plants, but are found on decaying leaves, rotten twigs, fallen logs and other debris of the forest-floor in shaded places. They sometimes grow up from a mucilaginous base, forming little brown, cylindrical plumes, not more than half an inch in height and clustered together, a score or more, ina group. The brown plumes are found upon careful examination to be deli- cately woven masses of threads, between which is a fine brown 28 Minnesota Plant Life. dust which can be shaken out upon the hand or upon a piece of paper. This brown dust, under the microscope, is seen to consist of innumerable tiny spheres, the spores of the plant. If the spores be placed in water, after a time their shells break and out of each comes a little mis-shapen drop of jelly-like substance, which oozes away with a slow and viscid movement. If several of these tiny bits of jelly find themselves close together—per- haps after a rain upon the bark of some rotten log—they crawl towards each other and fuse into a common patch. ‘The patch then moves imperceptibly over the wood, increasing in size as it extracts nourishment from the decayed material. Sometimes the jelly-masses grow to the size of a man’s hand. A common sort is found in tan yards and often upon railway ties resembling very much a piece of ordinary thin jelly and generally coy- ered with a sulphur-colored powder. After the jelly-mass has increased in size to a certain point it breaks up into little clusters which afterwards develop fruit-bodies more or less like the brown plumes spoken of above. Another kind of slime-mould crawls up the stems of various plants in meadows and deposits itself upon the leaves in little foam-patches looking very much like drops of spittle. There are some insects which make similar spittle-masses on leaves and an expert investigation is necessary to determine whether such objects are insect products or the plant bodies of slime-moulds. Some slime-moulds have the power of incrusting their tiny fruit-bodies with lime which they extract from their soil or from rain-water that falls upon them. Such forms are often observed in Minnesota upon dead wood, or fallen leaves, generally in moist shady places in the deep forest. Sometimes the fruit- bodies are almost round, resembling the familiar pills of the homeopathist. In other species they are worm-like, coiled like loose snail-shells, but very much smaller, yet not so small that they cannot easily be discovered if searched for in the places that they have chosen. so ONS} a fs cB) cB} = oa oO = ~) o ne Y io | Vins 7ex= plains why the tips of all the branches in this family of liver- worts are notched. Floating liverworts. 1m Fia@. 54. A quillwort plant. After At- Fic. 55. Clayton's or interrupted fern. After kinson. Britton and Brown. the rest, have a brown and withered look. If examined closely it will be discovered that this is due to their being covered with spore-cases of a brown color, while the rest of the leaflets pro- duce no spore-cases whatever. Another fern of this family is the cinnamon fern which forms leaves of two sorts, some Minnesota Plant Life. 165 much larger and green, adapted solely to starch-making, others smaller, of a cinnamon color and devoted particularly to spore- making. A third species is sometimes known as the royal fern. The leaves are compoundly branched and leaflets towards the tip produce spore-cases, while lower branches of the leaf make leaf-green and form no spores. Of the common ferns belonging to the family of bracken- ferns, there are the polypody, abundant upon rocks in all Fic. 56. Bed of ferns. Sensitive fern in middle of foreground. After photograph by Williams. parts of the state; the maiden-hair, with its slender, wire-like leaf-stems and graceful leaflets, common in woodlands; the bracken-fern with its loosely branched leaves; the cliff-brakes growing in crevices on cliffs and high banks; the spleen- worts and lady-ferns with their delicate leaves; the walking ferns found upon rocks and so named from their habit of stretching out their long leaves and driving the tips into the ground forming there buds from which new plants develop; 166 Minnesota Plant Life. the beech-ferns; the shield-ferns, and the bulblet-ferns recog- nized by the formation on their leaves of bulbils which drop off and propagate the plant. Besides these there are the little brown JVoodsias found upon rocks and distinguished by the dry aspect of their leaves, and, in rich woods, the sensitive ferns and ostrich-ferns peculiar among bracken-ferns for the development of two kinds of leaves much as in the flower- ing ferns. The ostrich-fern especially is a regal plant. Grow- ing in damp glades of the forest it spreads its tall graceful fronds, out- lining a green Corinthian Capitals Initia centre there spring up four or five smaller feather- shaped brown leaves which have abandoned starch-makingand devote themselves entirely to the production of spores. The four-leaved water- fern. Most remarkable in some respects of all ferns is the four-leaved water-fern. It does not always grow in water but Fic. 57. Cliff-brake. After Britton and Brown. is found in dry creek- beds at the extreme western edge of Minnesota. The plant- body consists of a thread-like, creeping, branched stem from which small leaves, resembling four-leaved clovers, arise. ‘These are the vegetative leaves of the plant, but the spore-producing leaves are modified into capsules about the shape of an ordinary bean but considerably smaller. If one of these beans is chipped on the side and placed in a dish of water it will open like a clam- shell and in about twenty minutes a centipede-like object, three or four inches long and as thick as a crochet needle will uncoil itself. It seems absolutely impossible that so large an object could have been packed away inside the bean-like leaf. The Minnesota Plant Life. 167 backbone of the centipede-shaped affair has, however, the ap- pearance of clear jelly and is enormously swollen by the ab- sorption of water. The “legs” of the centipede, twelve to eighteen in number on each side, are yellowish and upon close examination appear to be elongated transparent sacs in each of which a number of pearly yellow bodies of generally oval Fic. 58. The interrupted fern (in background) and shield-ferns (in foreground). After photograph by Williams. shape are situated. These bodies are spore-cases, some of them containing sixty four small-spores and others containing one large-spore, each. As in quillworts and smaller club- mosses, the small-spores produce little reduced males while the large-spores develop females. The egg of the female, never more than one to the plant, segments, after fecundation, into 168 Minnesota Plant Life. an embryo which sucks up all the surplus food- materials that were de- posited m- the. large- spore, produces a root of its own, thrusts it into the soil or water and begins an independent existence. The Minnesota variety is a land-dwelling species of a group which is more generally aquatic, hence the name of water-fern. The fusion of the egg and the sperm in ferns can take place only after heavy rains, or when the melt- ing snows of early springs Fic. 59. Four-leaved Poo After Britton and Brown. have flooded the station of the plant. All ferns, and indeed, most plants, up to and includ- ing the cycad-palms and ginkgo trees, are essentially aquatic in their breeding hab- its. Most of them have motile sperms provided with swim- ming hairs, and un- 4 less there is a me- dium in which the sperm can swim it will never reach the egg. Floating ferns. The family of the floating ferns is rep- Sate etree CoxH\ 72B90%; SH ry) Wit a, ox ou “4 Sy b e - Cr ee eS resented in Minne- sota by a little plant called A zolla, not un- Fic. 60. A sexual fern-plant somewhat magnified. Its nat- COnmMON- an green- ural size is about a quarter of an inch across. The round h Ot ses. where it bodies are spermaries, the chimney-shaped ones are egg- organs, seen from below, After Atkinson. floats upon the sur- Minnesota Plant Life. 169 face of the water in tanks. It has a much branched stem and tiny, rather ovate leaves. The whole body resembles that of a scale-moss. As they grow the leaves form peculiar cavities, opening by a narrow aperture through which a little alga in- serts itself and is a constant companion of the Azolla plant, for in all Azolla leaves are found growths of this little blue-green alga. Like the leaves of the scale-mosses, those of Azolla have two lobes, one, the floating lobe, lying upon the surface of the water and the other, the submerged lobe, lying below. The spore-cases are borne in groups upon the submerged lobe. Fic. 61. A fern-plant embryo imbedded in the enlarged egg-organ, where it arose by seg- mentation of an egg. S, tip of rudimentary stem; L, tip of first leaf; R, tip of primitive rootlet; F, nursing foot. Much magnified. After Atkinson. There are two kinds of spores, large and small, and several of the spore-cases which produce small-spores are developed in clusters and inclosed by a general protective wall. The spore- cases which develop the large-spores occur singly within such a wall and each large-spore-case produces a single large-spore. When the small-spore-cases open, simultaneously several small- spores escape imbedded in a lump of frothy mucilage upon which curious little anchor-shaped barbed hairs are disposed. The large-spore, when its case opens, is found to have one end of its wall provided with low flat-topped excrescences from each 170 Minnesota Plant Life. of which a tuft of delicate threads protrudes. As the frothy masses in which the small-spores are imbedded drift near one of the large-spores, their anchors be- come entangled in the hairs of the large- spore, and thus one or more of the mass- es is secured in such a position that when the small-spores germinate, protrud- ing from each a little tubular plant- Fic. 62. Portion of maiden-hair fern-leaf, showing marginal pockets, which serve to protect the clusters of spore-cases body, the sperms, under each flap. After Atkinson. formed by the male, will not have far to swim to reach the egg. Explanation of what fern leaves really are. In all the ferns belonging to the series known as the true ferns, the spore-cases are little stalked pods containing from one to about sixty four spores, never much ex- ceeding that number. These spore-cases may be seen in the polypody, forming on the under side of the leaves small brown circular patches. Inthe maiden- hair and bracken-ferns they oc- cur under pocket-shaped flaps of the leaf-margin. In the shield- ferns each group of spore-cases on the under side of the leaf is protected, at least while young, FG. 638. A patch of spore-cases on the back of acommon polypody-fern-leaf. Mag- Dy a Shield-shaped or umbrella- Gd KES SRE ESN shaped membrane growing over the group. It is the rule among the true ferns that the leaf which bears the spore-cases also serves as the starch-making organ of the plant, but in the os- Minnesota Plant Life. 171 trich-ferns, the sensitive fern, one of the flowering ferns, the four-leaved water-fern and some other forms which have not been mentioned, there is a division of labor and the leaf which makes starch is not also designed to produce spores. In comparing the true ferns with the adder’s-tongue ferns, it would appear that the condition of things is somewhat pe- culiar. Since it bears the spore-cases it would seem that the Fic. 64. Spore-cases of the common fern, much magnified, showing how the spring back reverts and then snaps shut again, throwing the sporesas from a sling. After Atkin- son. ordinary fern-leaf compares only with the fertile lobe of the adder’s-tongue fern-leaf. This fertile lobe has greatly enlarged and assumed the function of starch-making. At the same time the spore-cases have come to be developed from special cells at its surface, not from mounds of cells as in the lower form. What, now, has become of the sterile segment of the adder’s- tongue fern-leaf? ‘The most reasonable reply to this question that can be offered is that it has undergone steady reduction and 172 Minnesota Plant Life. Fic. 65. A walking-fern climbing down a hillside. Buds form at the very tips of the slender leaves and grow into new plants. After Atkinson. Minnesota Plant Life. 78 has finally disappeared. In a family of tropical ferns not rep- resented in Minnesota are found traces of this sterile segment as stipular plates at the bases of the leaves. Therefore, we arrive at the interesting and remarkable hypothesis that the entire fern-leaf compares with a much elaborated and improved club- moss spore-case. It will be remembered that the fertile seg- ment of the adder’s-tongue leaf was believed to be an over- grown chambered spore-case arising from some club-moss-like Fic. 66. Maiden-hair ferns and lady ferns. After photograph by Williams, ancestral condition. ‘Therefore, among true ferns the common type of leaf in which both starch-making and spore-production are combined, is the primitive one. By a division of labor, some leaves quite abandoned the habit of producing spore-cases and others in the same plant intermitted the production of leaf- green. Thus are explained the two sorts of leaf in the ostrich- fern and the same explanation serves for the cinnamon fern and its allies and for the four-leaved water fern. . 174 Minnesota Plant Life. In a word, the most distinctive feature of the ferns is this: They loosened that cone-arrangement of leaves which had arisen in the club-mosses and greatly developed the spore-case-area of each leaf until such an area became itself a leaf-like structure, while the original blade of the leaf deteriorated and disappeared. The pine trees, also related to the club-mosses, pursued a very different course of development and retained the cone as a struc- tural unit. From bodies somewhat similar to pine-cones it is probable that the flowers of all higher plants arose. The club-mosses then have originated two great lines of improve- ment, one in which the cone was abandoned as a structural fea- ture, giving rise to the ferns, the other, in which the cone was retained as a structural feature, leading to the fowering plants. Chapter Scouring-rushes and Horse-tails. Se The peculiar family of plants known as scouring-rushes or horse-tails was very much better developed during the age when coal was being deposited than it is to-day. Most of its species are extinct, but there remain, widely distributed over the world, some forty different varieties, of which ten occur in Minnesota. They are not very closely related either to the ferns or to the club-mosses, although they clearly belong in their general vicin- itv. The unbranched forms are known as scouring-rushes on account of the usual deposit of silica in their outer layers. This mineral is useful for scouring tinware, and rushes are actually thus employed by some housewives in the country. The branched forms are known as horse-tails from their peculiar aspect as they stand in fields, in the woods or along the road- side or railway tracks. Fach variety of scouring-rush or horse-tail is distinguished by an undérground rootstock which shows much the same struc- ture as the above-ground portions. Sometimes on the root- stocks tuber-like propagative swellings are formed. Both the erect and subterranean branches are divided into very distinct joints which may be separated from each other like sections of stove-pipe, hence the plants are also called joint-rushes. In some species the plant produces only one kind of erect stem and at the tip of this, or more rarely at the tips of lateral branches, firm and solid cones are borne, each made up of little shield-shaped leaves with central stalks. The leaves are ar- ranged in circles about the axis, not in spirals as in the cones of club-mosses. On the under side of each of the shield-shaped leaves a ring of spore-cases is developed, commonly about eight ina group. The cones bear the leaves so close together that from their mutual pressure they assume a more or less hexagonal outline. 176 Minnesota Plant Life. Scouring-rushes with two sorts of erect stems. In a few of the species there are formed two kinds of erect stems. One is pale or reddish in color, softer to the touch, provided with longer leaves below the cone, devoid of leaf-green and de- voted to the work of spore-production. The other is repeat- edly branched, the branches arising in circles at the top of each joint of the stem. Upon such erect stems no cones are ordinarily displayed, but the whole plant-body is green and starch-producing. Both kinds of erect branches are, however, very similar in internal struc- ture. They are hollow and their wood-threads are ar- ranged in a circle, usually with air-canals between them and within them. At the top of each joint a group of leaves arises in a ring. These are not used for starch- making but are reduced and scale-like and commonly blended together by their edges into a collar closely enveloping the lower part of the joint immediately above. On the special spore-producing branches the leaves are often larger and less completely fused to- gether. Sometimes the leaves are black in color with gray tips, as in a well-known joint rush of Minne- sota. In all the varieties the starch-making is done not by the leaves but by the branch-system, so that in this respect the plants resemble the well-known aspar- agus, to which they bear, however, no close botanical relation. When the spore-cases on the shield-shaped leaves open to eject their spores, the spores may be shaken out into the hand as a green dust. If one watches this dust Gis BE Rie eee it lies upon the hand immediately after of the horse-tail. having been shaken from the cone, it will be spur@ bearing lanes seen that within a couple of seconds after its are aggregated ina (eposit it fluffs and becomes of a lighter a eae AY Te fcy ! By warming it gently with the breath it regains its darker hue and more solid ap- pearance, but in a couple of seconds it fluffs again as it did before. ‘This remarkable behavior is explained if the spores be examined under a good microscope. It will then be observed that apparently attached to each of them are four delicate spoon- Minnesota Plant Life. Tepe, shaped appendages which are very sensitive to moisture. These, when dampened, contract around the green spherical spores, hugging them tightly, but as they dry they straighten, loosen- ing the spore-mass in the process. This is why the moistened dust seems more solid than the same dust when dry. The spoon-shaped appendages originate by the splitting of the outer wall of the spore into two ribbons, as if a couple of peel- ings had been removed. An idea of the arrangement can be obtained by imagining the cover of a base-ball unsewed and laid back. The two pieces of cover would then occupy much the same position with reference to the ball as do the four longer and slenderer spoon-shaped appendages with reference to the spore. Germination of spores. Although all the spores are of the same size and appearance, yet it is the nature of some of them upon germina- tion to develop itubles ovr een Pxie @uS( a CE males, some- thing like small Fic. 68. Scouring-rush spores; to the left a spore with appendages | ay 5 . curled up, in moist air; to the right a spore with appendages ex- aorned_ liver- tended, in dry air. After Atkinson. wort plants, while others develop females, slightly larger than the males but in general closely resembling them. Both the male and the fe- male scouring-rush plants are provided with leaf-green, emerge from the spores, strike their root-hairs into the soil and lead an independent existence. The males produce microscopic spherical spermaries in which arise spermatozoids with large numbers of swimming threads. The females produce a few egg-organs of the characteristic bottle-shape, at the bottom of each of which a single egg is formed. After the fecundation of the egg during rains, or when in some other way plenty of water is available as a medium for the locomotion of the sperms, the embryo of the scouring-rush begins to grow very much as did that of the fern. An erect stem is first produced, then from its base a rootstock. If at the end of the year the erect stem dies, buds on the rootstock remain to form the stems of the succeeding year. By means of its underground stem the 13 , 178 Minnesota Plant Life. spore-producing generation of the plant is perennial, but the sexual plants die after they have performed their functions. Male and female plants. It is now possible to understand the meaning of the curious sensitive appendages of the spores. The spores when ejected are separated from each other into little groups by the writhing of their appendages. ‘The individual spores are not, however, entirely isolated, and that degree of moisture which is favorable for germination impels the append- ages to pull the neighboring spores close together, so that when they germinate, male and female plants shall not be too far apart for the convenience of the swimming sperm. This is a very good example of the extraordinary adaptive relations which come to exist between sexual and spore-producing plants of the same species. The appendages of the spores have seemingly no mean- ing in the life-history of the spore-producing plant itself, but they function in such a way that the task of the sperm-producing plant is made easier and thus the development of fecundated eggs is insured, for the perpetuation of successive generations. Upon clay banks, where there are shade and moisture, one will often find among the young scouring-rushes or horse-tails some of the tiny sexual plants looking very much like diminutive liver- worts as they lie more or less prostrate upon the soil. Different sorts of horse-tails and scouring-rushes. The dif- ferent kinds of horse-tails and scouring-rushes in Minnesota are distinguished by slight structural peculiarities that need not be discussed in detail. The rigid, jointed, unbranched forms, three or four feet in height, which grow along shaded banks are per- haps, in their tissues, the richest in silica or sand, and are the ones which have particularly merited the name of scouring- rushes. The very much branched variety which is such an abun- dant weed in neglected fields, along roadsides, and in the edges of woods, is a different species. A third species, in which the lat- eral branches curve downward in a characteristic way, 1s abun- dant in northern woods and is named the forest horse-tail. Still another kind is often found growing at the edges of ponds and streams, now and then forming great patches in bays and occu- pying the same general position that is ordinarily selected by bulrushes. This, which may be termed the water horse-tail, is commonly not very much branched although under certain Minnesota Plant Life. 179 growth-conditions it is capable of branching almost as abun- dantly as the field horse-tail. A curious dwarf variety two or three inches high is sometimes found growing in tufts in deep woods. It is reported from the St. Croix river valley, but I have not seen authentic specimens of it from Minnesota. Underbrush habits of horse-tails. When the branched va- rieties of horse-tails grow in the edges of woods they often be- come very much taller than in fields. This they accomplish by thrusting out their rigid side-branches in every direction and permitting them to rest upon the twigs of surrounding shrubs or herbs. Thus they can distribute their weight in such a way that the main stem is relieved and the axis may extend itself vertically farther than otherwise. Plants which lean in such fashion upon surrounding plants are known as braced-plants. They are not exactly dependent for their well-being upon the presence of other plants as are the climbers and twiners, but they do derive some advantage from their habit of letting a portion of their weight rest upon plants near them. It is really, if one stops to think of it, quite as much of an engineering problem to erect a slender stem as to build an Eifel tower, and it is no less impossible to extend a leaf into the air without due regard to the strength of materials than it would be to build a cantilever bridge from wet paper. Plants mani- fest architectural design and the problems of structural engi- neering are not at all unlike those requiring solution by the human architect or bridge-builder when he enters upon the plans of a new structure. So it is obvious that the bracing of the side branches of horse-tails, thus diminishing the strain upon the main axis, might enable it under the same general type of structure, to reach a greater elevation into the air. In South America, by bracing devices scouring-rushes grow to a height of twenty or thirty feet, though they are not thicker than an ordinary walking-stick. Where the forest is dense and dark such a plan is seen to be highly advantageous and perhaps even necessary, but in the lighter, thinner forests of Minnesota there is no need of such extreme length. Chapter XX. What Seeds are and how they are Produced. 9 About 150,000 different kinds of plants produce seeds. A seed may be defined as a young plant and its reserve-food- material enclosed within a normally protective layer. Some- times the food-material is deposited beside or around the plantlet, as in the seeds of Indian corn and wheat. Again the food-material may be collected in the plantlet itself, giving to it a white, meaty appearance, and pumpkin and bean seeds are of this structure. It is a mistake to say that plants grow from the seed, or rather it is a half-truth, for the question is whence did the plantlet come that is already present in the seed and needs only to renew its development when the seed germinates? This can be answered in a word. Leaving out of considera- tion some abnormal or peculiar conditions of development, it may be said that all plantlets in seeds arise from eggs. The next question is whence comes the egg from which the plantlet ina seed develops? The reply is, that the egg, as in all other in- stances, is produced in the body of a female plant. Still an- other question—where is one to look for the female plant of a rose or willow, or any other seed-producing species? ‘To this inquiry the answer is, the female, like all other females in the great series of terrestrial plants, develops from a spore. Again, one inquires, where is the spore to be sought? ‘To this is the response that it is formed in the young ovule or rudimentary seed, occurring as a more or less oval, cylindrical or elongated cell in the centre of the seed-rudiment. What then is the seed-rudiment? It is a spore-case which produces at its centre the single, large, thin-walled spore. In seed-plants such a spore is called an embryo-sac and it may easily be found by opening young pine-seeds in cones not more than twelve months old. Unlike the large-spores of the smaller Minnesota Plant Life. 181 club-moss, these seed-plant spores are not ejected from their spore-cases, while, just as in the smaller club-moss, they de- velop females which are retained within the spore-wall and upon the bodies of these females egg-cells are formed. How 1s it possible for such an egg, developed and retained within the tissues of a spore-case, to ob- tain fecundation? Here comes into play an adaptation on the part of the male-plants of the seed- producing varieties. Where is one to look for the male cottonwood tree? Like other male plants it originates from a spore, not, however, the large-spore, enclosed in the rudimentary seed, but the small-spore known as the pol- _ (HASH len-grain, developed in large — ‘e nt on numbers upon special leaves * KANTRA known as stamens. What sort of a plant arises when a pollen spore germinates? Before re- plying to this question another must be asked. Where does a pollen-spore germinate? Not pow the:soil, or ame the water, 1 7o 8 Pieeamibs auvowisy, wittienes cod , rudiment, in a higher seed-plant. s. The as did the small-spores of ferns stigma,where two pollen-spores have germi- and: stiallerclub-m0sses,. bultass see Cava Oh ovary fe otal chore ai and ii, rudimentary seed-coats; n, spore- upon a certain portion ot the case, with single large spore, which has i 5 germinated to produce the reduced female body of a sport e-producing plant; k, the egg; e, the body which forms y = . . the albumen; b, other cells of the female. plant of ele SNES SPECies, a part The male plant is shown as a tubular usually in close proximity to thread growing towards the egg. After s : Atkinson. the rudimentary seeds. ‘This area upon which a spore of the smaller kind is able to germinate is known as the stigma in higher flowering plants, but in the lower families the pollen-spores fall immediately upon the im- mature seeds. Breeding habits of seed-plants. Returning now to the ques- tion, what sort of a plant arises when a pollen-spore germinates, Dr} e9 Mit oc co fameN 182 Minnesota Plant Life. the reply is, a delicate thread, like a cobweb, comes into exist- ence and grows much as a parasitic fungus filament would grow through the tissues of the immature fruit down to the surface of the large-spore, imbedded in the rudimentary seed. By this time the female has developed within the large-spore and has produced her egg. The end of the pollen-tube, as the male is termed, penetrates the wall of the large-spore and transfers a male nucleus, or sperm, which fuses with the egg and thus fecundation is accomplished. ‘Then the egg becomes an embryo which grows and produces a short stem, one or more seed- leaves (in most plants) and a root. While the embryo is devel- oping, the tissues of the spore-case and the membranes sur- rounding it become modified into the outer layers or seed-coats. When the embryo pauses in its growth and passes into a tem- porary dormant condition the seed is said to be ripe. It may not, however, be able at once to germinate. If the reader has closely followed this explanation he will be aware that is is improper to call a pollen-producing plant a male and he will understand that there is no comparison at all between the sowing of pollen-spores on a stigma where they are to germinate and a breeding habit, although the older botanists supposed that such analogy existed. It is found that seed-producing plants, like the smaller club-mosses, have two sorts of spores, small-spores producing males, and large-spores, females. As in the lower type, so also in the seed-plant, there is a retention of the female within the wall of the spore from which she originated. Unlike the smaller club-mosses, the male plant is not retained within the wall of the small-spore, but pro- trudes in the form of a thread of miscroscopic minuteness. The retention of the large-spore within its spore-case, together with the adaptation of the male plant so that fecundation may take place without the opening of either the large-spore or its case, lays the foundation for that compound and complex body, the seed. By these devices the embryo is kept in close proximity to the vegetative areas of its species and in a pine seed there are represented three successive generations. ‘The coats of the seed and sometimes a portion of the food-supply, as in water-lilies, belong to the older spore-producing generation, for they are Minnesota Plant Life. 183 parts of the same plant that produced the large-spore. The meat of the seed, or albumen, belongs to the female, for it is produced within the large-spore as it germinates. The embryo plantlet of the seed belongs to the new spore-producing genera- tion and arises by the segmentation of an egg. After it has renewed its development—when the seed has germinated and the plantlet has become old enough—it will be able in its turn to produce spores. Therefore, the life-history of a cottonwood, for illustration, is twice as complex as that of a man. While there are only two kinds of individuals in the human species, there are four in the cottonwood: first, the pollen-producing tree or staminate cottonwood; second, the seed-rudiment-pro- ducing tree or pistillate cottonwood; third, the male cotton- wood or pollen-tube arising from the pollen-spore and growing as a parasite upon the tissues of the young cottonwood fruit; fourth, the female cottonwood, a microscopic plant inclosed in her spore deep within the rudimentary seed. Indeed there may even be five kinds of cottonwoods, for in higher seed-producing plants there is strong reason to suppose that the albumen of the seed is in reality a degenerate plantlet—a twin brother of the embryo—produced from an egg, rather than, as in the pines, a portion of the female plant-body. From this discussion it will be seen how inaccurate is the common statement that higher plants grow from seeds while lower plants are produced by spores and it is understood how erroneous is the phrase, so general, especially in popular works, that the spores are the seeds of the fungi or ferns. The higher plants produce spores just as truly as do the lower plants, but in the former a peculiar relation of dependence has come to exist, precisely the reverse of that which was observed in the liverworts. In the latter the capsular plants, that is, the spore- producing plants, were dependent upon the sexual plants for their food-supply and remained perched upon their bodies all through life. In the club-moss group these little perched plants learned how to maintain an entirely independent existence and put forth leaves and roots of their own. In the seed-plants they have become so important and powerful that they do all the vegetative work of their species while the. once stronger and larger sexual plants are reduced to microscopic structures of 184 Minnesota Plant Life. an altogether dependent life-habit. A few definitions may not here be out of place and will be given in as untechnical language as possible. Definitions of certain words. Pollen is a dust consisting of small spores, capable, upon germination, of producing male plants. The embryo-sac is a large-spore developed in the rudi- mentary seed and capable of producing a female. The pollen- spores are produced in special spore-cases situated on leaf-like organs called stamens. ‘The embryo-sacs are commonly pro- duced singly in bodies called ovules borne upon leaves known as carpels. An axis upon which stamens or carpels or both are generated is called a flower. An ovule which has matured, normally as the result of a breeding act, is called a seed. The carpel, or carpels of a flower with the enclosed seeds, is called a fruit. Two series of seed-producing plants. There are two series of seed-producing plants, the lower, in which the pollen-spores fall directly upon the immature seeds and germinate, and the higher, in which the carpels close around the immature seeds and the pollen-spores fall and germinate upon a special portion of the carpel or carpels known as the stigma. Chapter 2ocekr Ground-hemlocks and various Pines. % Of lower seed-plants there are five living and at least two extinct families. In Minnesota but two of the five living fam- ilies are represented. These are the yews and the pines. Ground-hemlocks. The yews are represented by a single species, the ground-hemlock, a well-known plant of wooded banks and forests throughout most of the state. In England a species of yew exists which becomes a large tree, but of the four species in America none reaches any very great size, and the ground-hemlock is the smallest of the group. It is an ever- green shrub with leaves much like those of the balsam, and rec- ognized by its crimson berries the size of small gooseberries. The berry of the yew, however, is not a fruit but a seed, sur- rounded by a red pulp-cup which may be regarded as a basal outgrowth. Of all seed-producing plants in the state the yew gives its seeds the least protection. In pines the seeds are en- closed by the scales of the cone, and in all higher seed-plants the seeds are developed within fruits and are never, from the first, exposed, as in the ground-hemlock. The red pulp which en- circles the yew seed makes it attractive to birds and it is dis- seminated by their agency. Besides the seed-rudiments on the branches, the yew produces little round cones consisting of axes upon which are borne a few shield-shaped leaves. Each of these resembles the spore-producing leaves of the scouring- rush and on the under side of each a circle of pollen-spore-cases are developed. The yew plants, of all Minnesota seed-bearing forms, produce the largest number of pollen-spore-cases on a single stamen. Usually the number is four, often but two, while in the yew the number may be six or even more. The micro- scopic male and female yew plants are short-lived, but the spore- producing plant, beginning as an embryo in the seed, then after 186 Minnesota Plant Life. the germination of the seed achieving independence, is a long- lived shrub of somewhat prostrate habit, and with dark-green leaves and tough-fibred wood in which resin does not occur, while it does in plants of the related pine family. Pines of different sorts. The pine family includes 13 or 14 Minnesota species out of a total of about 300 distributed over all parts of the world. In these the rudimentary seeds are pro- duced upon the inner sides of scales or carpels which, like the stamens, are aggregated into cones. The pines and their allies may therefore be said to produce two kinds of flowers, stami- nate and pistillate. Among the members of the pine family in Minnesota may be mentioned the tamarack, a deciduous tree of social habit; the pines of which three varieties, the white, the jack and the red or Norway, grow within the borders of the state and are dominant species of the northern forest; the spruces, of which there are three varieties, the black, the white and the muskeg; the balsam or fir, common in swamps; the white cedar or arbor-vitae, a tree that flourishes best in the northern part of the state; the hemlock, very rare in Minnesota, but occurring in two isolated patches in St. Louis county and Carlton county; and the junipers, of which there are four species, one tree-like in habit and known as the red cedar, the others low shrubs and called savins or junipers. The white pine. Among all these plants the white pine, the most important timber tree of the state, is of especial interest. Its wood is light, resinous and easily worked. It is used in the manufacture of lumber, laths, shingles, matches, sashes, doors, blinds, woodenware, telegraph poles and the masts of ships. Many millions of dollars are invested in mills for its manu- facture into lumber, and in railways for the transportation of the logs. This tree often grows over a hundred feet in height with a trunk sometimes more than three feet in diameter. Its bark is rough and deeply divided by clefts. When growing in the open, as sometimes upon hills, for example, near lake shores in Cass county, the lower branches are much prolonged and the whole tree has a broadly conical form. But when a native of the forest the lower branches become shaded out of existence and the tree has the well-known compressed slender appear- Minnesota Plant Life. 187 ance. The topmost branches usually dispose themselves in a flamboyant manner, which makes it possible to recognize this variety of pine as tar as it can be seen. ‘The leaves are slender prismatic needles, borne in groups of five, on special short branches. ‘They are of a somewhat bluish-green color, and dur- ing their first winter are inclosed in small bright green buds. The staminate cones are light-brown, egg-shaped, about a third of an inch long and mature in a single season. ‘The pistillate cones are somewhat smaller at first, of a purplish color and borne on the topmost branches of the tree, while the staminate cones are usually developed on the lower branches. Originally the pistillate cones are erece but during the first year of their lives they become heavier and take a hori- zontal position. At “this -time they are nearly aDiaimveh ii length. The next year they grow rapidly, Fic. 70. White pines on the rocks at Taylor’s Falls. After photo- graph by Williams. become pendu- lous, and reach their full size in mid-summer. They are now six inches in length and seven-eighths of an inch or thereabout in diameter. During the autumn of the second year, they open and scatter their brown seeds, each of which is furnished with a del- icate wing by means of which it is disseminated by the wind. Within the seed will be found an edible albumen, with, however, a strongly resinous odor, and in the centre of this stands the straight young pine with from eight to ten seed-leaves growing in a crown about the short apex of its stem. The root, before it issues from the seed, is already provided with a root-cap and the stem-area below the seed-leaves is short. The white pine contains more resin than any other variety, yet it is not ordi- narily used in the manufacture of turpentine as is the pitch pine of the south. 188 Minnesota Plant Life. Pine trees do not spring up again after fires with nearly the vigor possessed by a number of hardwood trees. In Minne- sota hundreds of thousands of young trees are annually de- stroyed by fire and their place is occupied by plants which are comparatively worthless in the commerce of the state. The Norway or red pine. The other commercial pine of Minnesota is a somewhat smaller tree, averaging fifty to eighty feet in height. This is commonly called the Norway pine by log- gers, though a more correct name would be red pine. The bark is of a reddish tint and much smoother than that of the white pine. When standing in groves the tops of the red pines are round, not irregular and crested as are the tops of the white pine. The leaves are produced in pairs on short special branches. ‘They are dark-green, five or six inches in length and shaped somewhat like half-cylinders. The stami- nate cones are longer and slen- derer than those of the white pine, grow in more elongated clusters and are of a purplish color. ‘The pistillate cones are at first almost spherical, red in color and a quarter of an inch or Fic. 71. Jack pine. After Britton and more in length. Like cones of oo the white pine these pistillate flowers take two years to mature and finally drop from between their scales the smaller, darker seeds with wings shaped differ- ently from those of the white pine seeds. The seedling plant has fewer seed-leaves and is limited to eight, while five, six or seven are more common numbers. The wood is not so easily worked as that of the white pine, nor do the logs float so well in drives. The timber is, however, abundantly em- ployed in the manufacture of buildings, trestles and sometimes in railway construction. The jack pine. ‘The third species of pine in Minnesota, the jack pine, is very prevalent in sandy soil throughout the north- ern part of the state. It is a smaller tree than either of the Minnesota Plant Life. 189 others, but may in groves reach the height of seventy or eighty feet. The top is more pointed or spire-like than that of the red pine and the bark is rather thin and irregularly divided, a little like elm bark. ‘The leaves arise in pairs and are much shorter than those of the red pine, varying from three-quarters of an inch to one and a quarter inches in length. The staminate cones are produced in clusters much like those of the red pine, but smaller. The pistillate cones are nearly spherical in shape, FIG. 72. Rock-vegetation near Duluth. White pines, white cedars and junipers. After pho- tograph by Williams. purple in color and appear on the topmost branches of the tree. When the pistillate cones mature during the second season of their lives they are generally curved to one side, by which char- acter they may be recognized and distinguished from the short cones of the red pine. The seeds are small, winged, and black- ish in color and the embryo plantlet has only four or five seed- leaves. There is no difficulty in discriminating even between the seedlings of the three species. The wood of the jack pine 190 Minnesota Plant Life. is not strong and is little used as lumber, though it is cut. for firewood in some parts of the state and occasionally employed in the manufacture of posts or ties. This pine is particularly abundant in the region around Brainerd, where it covers hun- dreds of square miles in an almost unbroken forest. The white cedar. The white cedar or arbor-vite is a tree fifty or sixty feet high with a short, thick trunk. It is especially abundant in the far northern region of the state, not coming south so readily as the pines. It is prominent along lake shores on the international boundary and its branches jutting out over the water make picturesque scenery on the shores of most lakes east of Rainy lake. The leaves are large and remote on older shoots, but on the younger, which are arranged in flat, fern- like groups, they are short and tightly lapped over each other like shingles. The flowers, opening in the spring, are purple in color and the fruits ripen in a single year. The seeds are winged along both margins, thus differing from the pines in which the wings are principally terminal, and are only an eighth of an inch long. Seedling plants of the white cedar have but two seed-leaves, in this respect resembling most higher seed- plants. The wood is very light and peculiarly durable, sweet- scented and brown in color. It is highly prized for railway ties, shingles and fencing lumber and is used by the Indians in the manufacture of paddles and as ribs for their canoes. They em- ploy also the inner bark in the manufacture of mats, cutting it up into strips which they dye and plait elaborately in quaint and traditional patterns. Young arbor-vitz plants are used in Minnesota for hedges. The hemlock. ‘The hemlock is a tree sometimes I10 feet in height with a trunk four feet in diameter, but in Minnesota, in the two small patches where it is known, it does not reach this size. ‘The lower branches are generally drooping and the leaves are short and flat, dark-green above and lighter below. The cones are slightly longer than the leaves. The wood is soft and light, brown or white in color and the general appearance of the twigs with their foliage is quite similar to that of the ground-hemlock—hence the common name of the latter. The two plants, however, are really members of different families. Hemlocks are of much economic importance from their bark, Minnesota Plant Life. IOI to the exclusion of other varieties, being employed in tanning. The substance known as tannin is abundant in hemlock bark and by its action upon hides they are cured and converted into leather. The tamarack. ‘The tamarack differs from the other Min- nesota pines in its habit of shedding its leaves in autumn. The leaves are never of the dark rich green of the spruces, firs or pines, but are of a paler color. In autumn they turn golden yel- low before they fall and after the severe frosts of November i Fic. 73. Tamarack swamp with sedge border. After photograph by Williams. they separate from the twigs by means of cork layers and the tree passes the winter in a leafless condition. Tamaracks oc- cupy wet ground, forming by their growth the well-known feature of the landscape known as the tamarack swamp. ‘The cones of the tamaracks are small. ‘The wood is hard, resinous and durable, weighing twice as much as that of white cedar, and is used in the manufacture of railway ties, as fence poles and for fire-wood. Occasionally, too, it is manufactured into tele- graph poles. 192 Minnesota Plant Life. The spruces. The spruces are known for their spire-like habit of growth and serve as the Christmas trees of the children. They do not grow to any great size in Minnesota although the white spruce under suitable conditions may reach a height of 150 feet. In Minnesota the black spruce seems to be rather more frequent and together with tamaracks, or to their exclu- sion, forms characteristic swamp growths, the trees standing very close together. A slightly different variety, the muskeg spruce, with peculiar drooping branches is particularly abundant in such localities. Spruce leaves are short and four-sided, spreading in all directions from the twig. The cones are small and plump, with shell-shaped scales closely lapping over each other. In the white spruce the cones are oblong and some- what cylindrical in form, while in the black spruce and muskeg spruce they are egg-shaped in general outline. When the leaves of the black spruce die they fall, leaving little hummocks on the twigs. None of these plants except the true pines has special leaf-bearing branches which separate as a whole when the leaves have finished their work. The balsam. ‘The balsam or fir is a slender tree growing in somewhat drier soil than that preferred by the tamaracks and black spruces. In Minnesota it rarely exceeds a height of 40 feet. The leaves are flat and sessile, arranged apparently in rows right and left on the twig, but really in spirals. The twigs have a much flatter look than the twigs of spruces. Only one species occurs in Minnesota and this has a smooth bark in which resinous blisters are formed. The whole plant is sweet-scented and the wood 1s soft and light. From the resin blisters is de- rived the product known as Canada balsam. ‘The balsam tree may be known from the spruces by its erect cones as well as by the flat branch systems, for in spruces the cones are pendu- lous. The junipers and red cedar. ‘There remain to be men- tioned the junipers, a group of evergreens remarkable for trans- forming their pistillate cones into little round blue berries. The scales of the cone become fleshy, inclosing the seeds. ‘They are fragrant and an extract of juniper is used in the flavoring of gin. dirds pick the berries, thus providing for the distribution of the seeds. ‘Therefore, as one would expect, the seeds are not winged Minnesota Plant Life. 193 as in most of the other pines. One of the junipers, the red cedar, grows in Minnesota as a tall tree. It is not very com- mon in the state, but is found at Redwood Falls and on lake shores and bluffs at a few isolated localities in the southern part. The leaves are short and broad with sharp points and are developed in four rows. The red cedar is the most widely distributed plant of its family in North America. The wood is light, perfumed, of a reddish color, except in the outer layers, where it is white. It is largely used in cabinet making, in the ) Fic. 74. Red cedars on the banks of a Minnesota lake. After photograph by Williams. manufacture of lead pencils, and is believed to be so particularly distasteful to moths that closets in which woolen clothing and furs are to be hung during the summer months are sometimes lined with it. The other junipers of the state are low shrubs. One is char- acterized by spreading awl-shaped leaves arranged in whorls of three, and this form sometimes grows into a low tree. The others are prostrate shrubs creeping over the rocks or sand, and are abundant in the northern part of the state where they form a distinctive vegetation on some of the islands in Lake of the 14 194 Minnesota Plant Life. Woods and Rainy lake. Their leaves, like those of the red cedar, lap over each other, are short and slightly pointed. They stand in four rows, giving the branch upon which they are borne a square appearance. Characters of lower seed plants. There are a number of features in which the yews and pines agree. ‘The seeds of each are produced in such a way that when young the pollen spores may fall close to their ends, so that the only tissues through which the pollen-tube must grow to reach the female plant are the cells of the spore-case that surrounds the large-spore in which the female plant is situated. For this reason the lower seed-plants are sometimes called the naked-seeded plants. While the seeds are maturing they are enclosed, except in the ground hemlock, quite as truly as are those of higher forms. In the juniper-berry, for illustration, when it is full grown, the scales which constitute the little fleshy cone are blended at their edges in such a manner that the seeds are entirely enclosed and can- not at all be termed naked. In the pines proper, too, the young cones appress their scales so tightly that the seeds are quite as effectually protected as they would be in the closed fruits of higher types. At first, however, even in the junipers, the scales of the immature cone are open and it is possible for pollen- spores to fall between them, thus reaching the ends of the young seeds growing upon their inner surfaces. A character in which the lower seed-plants all agree is the production of albumen in the seed before the egg of the female is fecundated by the sperm-nucleus of the pollen-tube. In the higher seed-plants the albumen of the seed, when present. does not form until the egg which is to produce the embryo has re- ceived its fecundation. The albumen of the seed may be re- garded as the body of the female plant and the young embryo nurses upon it during its life within the seed just as the young spore-producing plants of a liverwort or moss nurse upon the vegetative body of the sexual plants of their species. In still another respect the lower seed-plants agree and differ from all the higher seed-plants. In them, on the body of the female plant produced within the large-spore, true egg-organs are formed, each enclosing an egg and provided with a short neck the end of which is near the inner surface of the spore- Minnesota Plant Life. 195 wall. In higher seed-plants there is no definite egg-organ, but the egg lies loosely among the other cells of the extremely re- duced and degenerate female. Relation between lower seed-plants and primitive seedless plants. XXX: Roses, Peas and their Relatives. % The rose family is represented in Minnesota by from sixty- five to seventy species, among which are herbs, shrubs and trees, while all unite in the general character ot the flower. Meadow-sweets. Here are to be grouped the Spireas, meadow-sweets or ninebarks, of which there are three varieties in the state. The most common is the willow-leafed Spirea a frequent and abundant meadow plant in every district. All of them are shrubs with alternate leaves—in the ninebark some- what lobed and shaped a little like the leaves of the currant, but in the meadow-sweet or Spirea, with the outline of willow leaves. The flowers are borne in terminal panicles, or large clusters, and in two of the species are of a white or slightly purplish color, while in the third they are of a handsome pink. The meadow-sweets are common plants in swamps and swales as well as in meadows, and one variety is very abundant on the rocky shores of northern lakes, growing often partly submerged under water. While much smaller, the flowers of the Spir@as are in their general appearance much like apple blossoms. Crab-apples and chokeberries. ‘The apples and mountain- ashes, with the June-berries and hawthorns, constitute a very clearly defined series of the rose family. Of apples and quinces, which together with the pears form a characteristic series, there three wild crab-apples and two va- rieties of chokeberries. There is no difficulty in recognizing these are five sorts in Minnesota plants, because they have the typical apple fruit. The common crab-apple is a small tree with ovate to triangular leaves, distinguishable from the western crab-apple or chokeberry, which also occurs in the state, by the general outline of the leaves. In the western crab-apple the leaves are oblong or ovate, but not so triangular. Still another form of crab-apple has somewhat larger oval leaves with shallow notches at the margin. Minnesota Plant Life. 287 The chokeberries are shrubs ordinarily to be looked for in swamps or damp woods. ‘The flowers are considerably smaller than those of the crab-apples, but decidedly similar. The fruits, too, are not different in essential particulars from those of the crab-apples, but are not so large, averaging about the size of a well-grown gooseberry. In one of the chokeberries the fruit is bright red when ripe, while in the other it is almost black. June-berries. Of June-berries there are four or five species growing in Minnesota. ‘These are all shrubs or trees with flow- ers resembling those of the apple, but with more berry-like fruits, smaller on the whole than the fruits of the apples. In the common June-berry The ihuibs s piven ea le. sweet to the taste and of a) reddish. color. she shad-bush, a variety of June-berry, may be dis- tinguished by the white, woolly appearance of the foliage when young, changing to smooth when older. In both of these varieties the leaves are somewhat elongated, like plomelea yes icin othe round-leaved June-berry, J : . Fic. 139. Hawthorn. After Britton and Brown. the leaves, as the name indicates, are almost round, while in the alder June-berry the leaves are oval, notched more deeply towards the tip than towards the base. In all the varieties so far discussed the fruits are more or less apple-shaped. One other, which occurs at the extreme northern edge of the state, in cold bogs, is a !ow shrub, smooth throughout, with a purple pear-shaped fruit, half an inch or so in length. Hawthorns. Neither the apples nor the June-berries are thorny, and by this character they may be distinguished from 288 Minnesota Plant Life. the hawthorns, which have somewhat similar fruits. Haw- thorns are commonly furnished with slender, pointed branches, giving to the twigs a peculiar spurred appearance. Between the different varieties it is exceedingly difficult to discriminate. About six species exist within the state, and they are to be class- ified by the shapes of the leaves and the outlines and surfaces of the fruits. The flowers are borne in flat-topped clusters, reminding one of the flat-topped elder inflorescences. The fruits are never large, being in all the species about the size of choke- berries. Sometimes hawthorn trees fail to produce thorns or form them but sparingly. It is not then easy to dis- tinguish them from the June-berries or choke- berrres: but. inssuch instances the flower clusters are usually dis- tinctive, for while those of the hawthorn are, for the most part, flat- topped, the lower flow- ers having longer stems than the upper, the clus- ters in June-berries and chokeberries are pan- mA G. 140. Apple-blossoms. After photograph by Williams. icled or but slightly flat- topped. Mountain-ashes. ‘he mountain-ashes are very close to the apples and hawthorns. Indeed, they may be regarded as apples with diminutive fruits and compound leaves. ‘Two sorts of mountain-ash may be looked for in the Minnesota woods. ‘They are both low trees with compound, feather- shaped leaves and small white flowers in terminal, compound, flat-topped cymes. The fruits are little red berries, quite like the apple fruits, except that the core has not the papery walls Minnesota Plant Life. 289 of the apple. They may be distinguished from all the other apple-like plants by their compound leaves. The American mountain-ash is discriminated from the western mountain-ash by the shape of the leaflets. In the first named species they are slender and willow-like, while in the other they are elon- gated-oblong and not so sharply pointed. The fruits in the two varieties are very similar but average larger in the western mountain-ash. Both varieties are very ornamental as lawn trees, but the western mountain-ash is more desirable for culti- vation in Minnesota than the other, on account of the larger and handsomer flat-topped clusters of fruits. Strawberries and fivefingers. A group of herbs, including the strawberries, fivefingers and avens, should be men- tioned here. There are a num- ber of varieties of them, some sorts abundant in meadows and fields, others distributed in swamps and along the shores of lakes. The straw- berries in particular are abun- dant and easily recognized by their three-compounded leaves, by their habit of producing runners for propagation and by their clusters of little seed- like fruits upon the swollen =. Fic. 141. Marsh fivefinger. After Britton and Brown. conical axis of the flower. This axis becomes red and fleshy as it matures, and is the edible portion of the strawberry. The other herbs, such as the fivefingers, closely resemble the straw- berries in the character of the flower, but do not form fleshy axes for their fruits. The avens is an erect herb, rather easily mistaken by the casual observer for some kind of anemone in fruit. One sort which is common in Minnesota produces fruit clusters quite similar in appearance to those of the clematis, having the same plumy appendages on the -nutlets. None of these herbs, except the strawberry, is of any particular economic importance. They are all, however, throughout the state, com- 20 290 Minnesota Plant Life. mon objects in open woods and along the edges of moist meadows. The way to distinguish an anemone from a five- finger or avens is this: the flowers of the fivefingers have appar- ently a double calyx formed by the uniting in pairs of the stip- ules at the bases of the calyx leaves. The anemones have no such double calyx. Besides, the stamens in the anemones and buttercups are arranged in spirals, while those of the fivefingers and avens are arranged in whorls. Agrimonies. Two curious little herbs, known as agrimonies, have leaves resembling rose leaves, the flowers in narrow, spike- like racemes and the calyx swollen up around the fruit and fur- nished with a number of hooked bristles. The little fruits which become attached to one’s clothing in the woods in autumn, if they are conical in shape and if the base of the cone is barbed, are those of the agrimony. The bristles do not really belong to the fruit, but arise from the calyx, illustrating how the plant may use the same areas for different purposes. In apples, mountain-ashes, June-berries, and chokeberries the calyx grew up around the fruit and became fleshy. That is to say, the real fruit of the apple is the core, the flesh which is eaten being the outer portion of the flower and not the central ovary or group of ovaries. The agrimony fruits, like those of the apples, pears, quinces and hawthorns, are adapted to animal distribution; but the method of distribution is different. In the apples, calyx- leaves become an inducement to animals to eat the fruits and thus the seeds, remaining uninjured, are distributed. But in agrimonies the calyx is so constructed that with its inclosed fruit and seeds it attaches itself to the fur of animals and in this manner obtains dissemination. Raspberries and blackberries. Very closely related to the fivefingers and strawberries are the brambles, including here the varieties with edible fruits known as raspberries and black- berries. About ten species occur in the state. The different flavors in the fruits give occasion for the classification into rasp- berries and blackberries, and there are no important structural differences, since both plants belong to the same genus. They are shrubs or herbs with characteristic fruitlets like miniature plums aggregated together upon a fleshy swollen axis devel- oped from the centre of the flower, and somewhat like the conical base of the strawberry nutlets. One difference between Minnesota Plant Life. 2901 blackberries and raspberries is in the texture of this axis. In raspberries it becomes drier and the cluster of fruitlets sepa- rates from it, but in blackberries it remains fleshy and there is no separation of the fruit cluster from the receptacle. Of raspberries there are in Minnesota five varieties, including the red and black raspberries, two dwarfed species, and the sour raspberry, in which the fruit is less pleasantly flavored than in the others. Of blackberries there are four sorts,—two varieties of high blackberry, one low blackberry and one swamp black- berry. In all these plants the stems are shrubby. In the Arctic dwarfed raspberry the plant-body is herbaceous, unarmed, and only three to ten inches in height, but not creeping. Another peculiar little creeping raspberry, seldom found in Minnesota, has leaves like those of the violet, and might even be mistaken for a violet un- less seen in flower or fruit. Rose-bushes. The roses are shrubs with large and conspicu- ous flowers which cannot well be mistaken for those of any other variety. The different sorts in Minnesota may be distinguished by the shape of the leaflets, the Fic. 142. Roses. After photograph by A Sas presence or absence of prickles, the shape of the fruit, and the stipules on the leaves. The common prairie rose, for example, has distinct stipules and the leaves are disposed along a prickly stem. ‘There are usually from seven to nine round-ovate leaf- lets in each leaf. The smooth, or meadow rose, is at once known from the prairie rose by the scarcity of prickles, only a few of which ever occur upon the stem. Neither of these varieties climbs. A climbing rose is found, however, in thick- ets in the southeastern portion of the state. In this there are often three or five leaflets to the leaf. Yet another sort is rec- ognized by the prickly midribs of the leaves. The swamp rose and the pasture rose may be known by the presence of a pair 292 Minnesota Plant Life. of extra large prickles just below the stipules at the base of each leaf. . This description does not extend over all the wild roses of the state, but without going into technical details gives an idea of their differences. All the roses are marked by a special type of fruit which may be compared, perhaps, to a strawberry turned inside out; that is to say, the nutlets or fruits are aggre- gated not upon a convex, but upon a concave receptacle. The calyx grows up around this concave end of the flower, and the Fic. 143. Sand-cherry in fruit. After Bailey. Bull. 70, Cornell Ag. Expt. Station. nutlets are inclosed within its red and fleshy substance. Some roses have the fruits, or hips, as they are called, protected by a growth of prickles, while in others they are smooth. Plums, peaches and cherries. seargined leaves -@ecurs in the southeaste: < 1 state. The deep longitudimal @rooves in the fase ey it dor the swamp holly follies and io erly grow close together. aang the Ae ASN get nering aria bernie» be tO GEBEYVE am; $teci 2 sa ws eMder-leated s th are near vb, (ee: avoid them. pe een hitrersweects and wahoos. One species of t r *) wakoos represent their family in Minne tersweet is a twining vine, often climbing up the trt ate trees in the woods and displaying its stem along t the @ges twenty feet or more from the ground. The lez Boron and shaped somewhat like plum leaves. The f el ea < produced im racemes and mature their fruits as orange- | colt oe. spherical capsules, half an inch or less in atari Thes@ fruits split @pen by three clefts m autumn and shoy . red, pulpy stroctere inside . oe Th@ wahoo or spindle-tree, sometimes known sca as bu rm" ing-bush, is a shrub trom six vo twelve feet in height in D fin x nesota. The leaves are plom-sheped, the flowers are adit are *; “ > Minnesota Plant Life. 313 borne in axillary cymes, the fruits are singular, deeply-lobed, three or four-parted capsules. When the capsules split along the sides, a red, fleshy mass is shown within similar to that observed when the bittersweet capsules open. The climbing habit of the bittersweet serves, however, at once to distinguish it from the common wahoo. A rare species of wahoo is a trailing shrub. Bladdernuts. Bladdernuts are branching shrubs with pe- culiar, large, deeply three-lobed bladdery capsules. The leaves are made up of three leaflets and the clusters of flowers arise in their axils. These plants may be readily recognized by the capsules which resemble three small pea-pods blended together by their backs and separate at their tips. They are not uncom- mon in the southern part of the state, where they inhabit the edges of woods. Maple trees. Seven kinds of maple, including the box-elder, occur in Minnesota. These are the soft maple, the red maple, the sugar or hard maple, the black maple, the moosewood maple, the mountain maple, and the ash-leaved maple or box- elder. All of these plants may be known by their production of two-lobed fruits provided with wings. The fruits separate into halves when ripe and each half, furnished with its wing, obtains distribution by the wind. The box-elder is the only Minnesota maple with pinnate leaves. In this plant each leaf is made up of from three to seven leaflets. The other maples, in which the leaves are simple, may be distinguished by their flowers, leaves, bark and fruits. The soft maple and the red maple display their flowers before the leaves emerge from the buds and are among the earliest flowering Minnesota species. The flowers of the common soft maple have no petals and are, therefore, rather inconspicuous, while the flowers of the red maple have showy red or yellow petals. The sugar-maple, or hard maple, and the black maple form the flowers on long drooping stalks and at the same time that the leaves unfold. The leaves of the sugar-maple are smooth on the under side, while in the black maple they are hairy below, usually over the whole surface and always on the veins. The moosewood maple and mountain maple open their flowers in terminal racemes after the leaves have unfolded. In the moosewood maple the ra- cemes are drooping, while in the mountain maple they are erect. 314 Minnesota Plant Life. Of these plants, the soft, red, hard and black maples are large and handsome trees, while the moosewood and mountain maples are small trees or shrubs. The black maple has a rough black bark. The sugar-maple is utilized in the manufacture of sugar, obtained by boiling down its copious sap in the springtime. The red maple has scarlet or crimson bark on the younger trees. The soft maple has whitish bark with leaves more notched than in the hard or black varieties. The moosewood maple has leaves with two deep notches making three sharp lobes toward the end. All the lobes are about equal in size. The mountain maple has leaves similarly three- lobed, but the middle lobe is much _ the largest. Soft maples. The soit maples. ase abundantly planted in Minnesota for shade trees, for which purpose, how- ever, they are not so valuable as hard ma- ples. Under favor- able conditions they ah). 4h ; UWS SAE 7 | Fic. 153. Leaves and flowers of the sugar-maple. After grow to be large ree trees, over a hun- dred feet in height. The branches are brittle and many of them are markedly pendulous like the branches of the weeping wil- lows. The leaves are five-lobed, bright green above and whit- ish or silvery below. In autumn they turn yellow. The flowers are produced in little heads on short lateral branches, and there are two kinds, staminate and pistillate, often borne on the same, but sometimes on different trees. The fruits hang on slender, drooping stems, and very often one side of the fruit fails to mature. As soon as the seeds fall to the ground, or the next season, they may germinate, and the seedlings develop their first leaves and terminal bud during June. Maple wood, from this species, is hard and is used in the manufacture of Minnesota Plant Life. ans woodenware or furniture. Soft maples are abundant through- out the southern part of Minnesota and extend north to Bel- trami county. Red maples. The red maple commonly occurs in Minne- sota as a bush or low tree, but may, under the best conditions, reach a height of over a hundred feet. The bark is of a dark gray color. The leaves are whiter below than above, and in autumn exhibit beautiful hues of scarlet and orange. The flowers are borne much as in the soft maple and the fruits some- Fie. 154. A grove of sugar-maples. Near lake Minnetonka. After photograph by Mr. E.C. Mills. what resemble those of the latter species, though the wings are more incurved. The red twigs, brilliant autumnal color, and more conspicuous flowers distinguish easily this maple from the soft maple. Its wood is heavy and one variety of it, known as curly maple, when polished is very beautiful. In Minnesota the red maple is one of the earliest trees to assume the autumn tints, and, with the sumacs, gives a vivid color to hillsides before the deep red of the scarlet oaks appears. Sugar-maples. ‘The sugar-maple is a large, round-headed tree, sometimes growing in Minnesota to a height of seventy 316 Minnesota Plant Life. five or eighty feet, and, under the most favorable conditions, to nearly twice this height. On the trunk the bark is of a light gray color, while on young twigs it is orange or yellow-brown. The leaves are darker green than those of the soft maple and assume a variety of colors in the autumn, some trees turning scarlet, others crimson, others yellow. If a particular tree is yellow one year it will be yellow the next, the tint of the autumn foliage being apparently an individual habit. The pistillate flowers are more commonly borne towards the tips of their branchlets, while the staminate flowers are on the sides, and lower down. The wood is strong and tough, more valuable than that of any other common maple. It is useful for fuel and is employed in the manufacture of flooring, furni- ture, tool-handles and portions of machinery. Bird's-eye maple and a form of curly maple are obtained from diseased trunks of the sugar- maple. It is this species which sup- plies the greater part of the maple sugar, though that is also made from the black maple and from the moosewood by the Indians of north- ern Minnesota. The sugar obtained from the sugar-maple is of a some- what better quality, however, than that derived from the other species. Black maples. The black maple is very closely related to the sugar-maple and is possibly only a variety of it. Moosewood maples. ‘The moosewood maple occurs in Min- nesota as a small and bushy tree with red-brown twigs and striped bark of a brown color. The leaves are smooth on both sides, turning yellow in autumn. The flowers open in late spring, the sterile and the fertile being produced on the same plant, but in different clusters. The wood is light and soft. The name “moosewood” is applied from the habit which the Fic. 155. Moosewood maple. After Britton and Brown. moose have of chewing the young twigs on account of their sweet juices. Minnesota Plant Life. a7, Mountain-maples. ‘The mountain-maple in Minnesota is a rather low shrub. ‘The leaves turn scarlet or orange in autumn and the flowers are of two sorts, generally produced in the same cluster, the staminate towards the tips and the pistillate toward the bases. ‘The wood is soft, light, and of little commercial value. Box-elders. ‘he box-elder grows as a small tree, thirty or forty feet in height, though farther south it becomes larger. The bark is of a brown or gray color; the twigs are purplish with a white bloom. The leaves do not show any brilliant autumn coloration. ‘There are two kinds of flowers, staminate and pistillate, always borne on separate trees. The staminate flowers hang in clusters on thread-like stalks, while the pistillate droop in loose ra- cemes. The fruits mature in autumn and often cling to the trees throughout the winter. When they fall in autumn, as they more com- monly do, the stems on which they were produced remain until the succeeding spring, attached to the twigs that bore them. ‘The wood is soft and weak, but is em- ployed in the manufacture of some woodenware and for wood-pulp. This is a favorite shade tree along the streets of Minnesota towns. When grow- ing wild it is to be looked for especially beside streams and in low woods. Buckeyes. ‘The horse-chestnut family is represented in Min- nesota by the buckeye, a plant which is probably introduced into the state by the agency of man and is nowhere abundant, though it occurs as if native in a few southeastern localities. It is a small tree with long-stemmed leaves made up of about five willow-leaf-shaped leaflets. The flowers, borne in terminal panicles, are of a yellow color, not so striking in their appear- ance as those of the horse-chestnut. The fruit is a spiny, spher- Fic. 156. Touch-me-not. After Britton and Brown. 318 Minnesota Plant Life. ical capsule, an inch or so in diameter, becoming smoother with maturity. The seeds, of which one or two are produced in a fruit, are large and have glistening coats. The wood is soft and white and, in Ohio and Indiana where the tree is more abundant than farther northwest, is used in the manufacture of woodenware. Touch-me-nots. ‘There are two species of touch-me-nots in Minnesota. Both of them are shade-loving plants, and grow in swamps, damp woods and ravines, where the light is not too strong. Their stems are translucent and one can see the fibrous threads through the skin. The leaves are very thin, of ovate shape, and with toothed margins. They wilt almost immediately if removed from their stem. The flowers are colored—in one variety, orange speckled with brown, in the other pale yellow— and two-sided, looking a very little like snapdragon flowers, to which, however, they are not related. The fruit is an ob- long or slender capsule of a bright green color and succulent when ripe. If pressed gently between the thumb and finger, or if brushed against, the fruit splits violently into strips which coil together, ejecting the seeds with explosive force. The touch-me-nots are perfect examples of the adaptational group of plants known as shade plants. They are pale in color throughout, with thin, rather large leaves and an abundance of moisture in their tissues. They do not secrete purple coloring substances in marked quantities either in their leaves or in their stems. They are very abundant in Minnesota near rivulets, in wooded ravines, in tamarack swamps and around springs. Chapter I. From Buckthorns to Prickly-pears. 9 The twenty first order includes two families, the buckthorns, of which there are two species, and the vines, with four grape- vines and one Virginia creeper. Dwarf alders. The alder-leafed buckthorn, or dwarf alder, is a shrub found growing in swamps and recognized by its plum-shaped alternate leaves, in the axils of which small flowers arise. ‘There are no petals, and the calyx is urn-shaped with four or five teeth at the margin. The stamens are borne on the calyx between its notches. The fruit is berry-like, contain- ing three nutlets within. The character of the fruit and the structure of the flower easily distinguish this shrub from others which might be mistaken for it. New Jersey teas. Besides the buckthorn, there are two varieties of New Jersey tea or redroot, one of which is pretty abundant throughout the state, while the other is less com- mon. ‘These plants are small shrubs, the two species be- ing distinguished by the shapes of the leaves. One, the American redroot, has ovate, while the other produces lance- head-shaped oblong leaves. In both varieties the flower is very similar to that of the buckthorn. The calyx-parts are fused together at their base and have five notches at the margin. Between these notches the stamens are borne, five in number, while under each stamen arises a curious ladle-shaped petal of a white color. The black fruits are dry and deeply three- grooved, and when mature they separate longitudinally into three hard nutlets. The American redroot is more abundant in dry woods, while the smaller redroot prefers rocky places, barren soil, dry hillsides or bluffs, or the tops of knolls in the rolling prairie. The name, ‘New Jersey tea,” arises from the use of the plant in place of tea by American soldiers during the Revolution. 320 Minnesota Plant Life. Wild grapes. The wild grapes can scarcely be mistaken for any other plants, except, perhaps, the moonseeds, from which they are known at once by their more or less pear-shaped seeds. FiG.-157. _'Tree covered by grape-vine. After photograph by Williams. They are all of them tendril-bearing, climbing, shrubby vines, with characteristic maple-like leaves. ‘The flowers are either altogether separated, or of two sorts on the same plant. It Minnesota Plant Life. 321 is not usual to find among grapes what are known as perfect flowers, with both stamens and pistils. The fruit is a spherical berry of a blue or purplish-black color, edible and containing from two to four seeds. The four varieties of grapes in Min- nesota are the fox-grape, the summer grape, the frost-grape, which is the common one, and the riverside grape, which 1s likewise abundant except along the north shore of Lake Supe- rior. The different grapes may be discriminated from each other by certain structural characters. The fox-grape and the summer grape have leaves with cottony under sides. The other varieties have leaves with smooth, or only slightly hairy under sides. In the fox-grape the berries are rather large, with a strong musky fragrance, and the cotton on the under sides of the leaves is of a brownish color. The summer grape has small berries without the musky fragrance; and the cotton on the under side of mature leaves is almost white. The riverside grape may be distinguished from the other smooth-leafed va- iety by the bloom on its berries and by its trailing or low habit of growth, while the frost-grape climbs high, often swinging itself on the branches of trees, and produces black shining berries, ripening after frost and not possessing the distinct bloom of the riverside grape. In all of these vines the fruits hang in panicles and droop from the weight of the berries. Virginia creepers.. The Virginia creeper or woodbine, is an abundant plant in most sections of the state. The tendrils of this vine often form little sucker-like disks by which they attach themselves to walls or fences, making the plant a desir- able climber in dooryards and about houses. The leaves are composed of from five to seven leaflets, five being much the more common number. The fruits are grape-like, with from one to four seeds, and are borne in forking clusters that stand erect owing to the strong pedicels and smaller weight of the whole as compared with a bunch of grapes. The berries are not edible. The twenty second order includes six families not represented in Minnesota, and in addition to these the basswoods, and the mallows to which the hollyhock of country gardens belongs. Basswoods. One variety of basswood, known also as the American linden or whitewood, is native within the borders of 22 322 Minnesota Plant Life. the state. It is a handsome tree, reaching a height of seventy feet or more, very abundant in the hardwood belt throughout Minnesota, and only less common along streams and on hill- sides in the northern woods. Its range extends to Thunder bay, Lake Superior, and along the international boundary to Lake of the Woods. The trunk is rather slender, not more than two feet in diameter in the northern portions of its range. The leaves are large and broad, unevenly heart-shaped at the base and turning yellow in autumn. The flowers are produced in cymes upon a stem that bears at the base a remarkable Fic. 158. Virginia creeper on tree trunks. After Schneck in Meehan’s Monthly. wing-shaped bract which is coherent until about its middle with the flowering stem. The fruit is a hard berry, and within it are one or more seeds. ‘Two or more of the berries are ma- tured in a cluster and the stem of the cluster with the adher- ent wing-shaped bract separates from the tree. The centre ot eravity of the cluster and the shape of the wing are so exactly coordinated that the whole affair whirls through the atmos- phere, making of itself a little parachute. By this means the berries are often distributed to a considerable distance. The wood is pale brown in color, light, and rather weak. It is Minnesota Plant Life. 32.3 employed principally in the manufacture of wood pulp or paper and in the production of some kinds of furniture and wooden- ware. ‘he inner bark, which is papery, is used by nursery- men to tie buds into scions. The basswood is a very desir- able shade tree and is frequently planted in dooryards and along streets. The European basswood or linden, which gives the name to the famous street “Unter den Linden” of the Ger- man capital, is sometimes planted in the United States, but is not particularly abundant in Minnesota. Unlike the Amer- ican species, it has no scales at the base of the petals in the flower. Mallows. The mallow family includes a little group of herbs, mostly introduced from Europe, such as the hollyhock, the creeping-charley or cheese plant, the velvetleaf, the ketmias or rose-mallows and some others. ‘There are a few native species, none of which 1s very common. Among them are the Callir- rhoe and false mallow of the southwestern corner of the state, the glade-mallow, a rare plant of the southwestern section, and the halberd-leafed rose-mallow, found occasionally along the Mississippi river in the vicinity of the Twin Cities. Mallows may be distinguished from other plants by the devel- opment in the flower of large numbers of stamens all blended together by their bases into a tube which surrounds the fruit- rudiment. The latter has several compartments and encloses one or two seeds in each. The embryo is curved and con- tains albumen. Sometimes the flowers are large and showy, as in the hollyhock, while in other varieties they are rather small. The common round-leafed mallow or creeping-charley, also known as cheese plant, from its disk-shaped little fruit- bodies, sometimes eaten by children, is a common plant in dooryards and waste places. The flower is like that of the hollyhock, only much smaller and of a pale blue color. The high mallow is an erect plant of biennial growth, with fruits quite similar to the creeping variety and leaves shaped like those of currants. The crisp mallow has the margins of the leaves crisped like some varieties of lettuce, while the general shape of the leaves reminds one very much of the high mallow. The Cal- lirrhoes, of which at least one variety, and probably two, are to be found in Minnesota, are known also as poppy-mallows. They 324 Minnesota Plant Life. are herbs of the prairies and should be looked for particularly in the far southwestern portions of the state. One of them is occasionally found along railways as far east and north as Minneapolis. The two varieties of Callirrhoe are distinguished After photograph by Hibbard. FIG. 159. Basswood trees. Shore of Lake Calhoun by the shape of their leaves. The triangular-leafed poppy- mallow has the lower leaves somewhat halberd-shaped, while the other puts forth deep-lobed round leaves. The flowers in each of these varieties are rather large and showy, purple in Minnesota Plant Life. B25 color, verging towards red. The prairie mallow resembles closely in general appearance the poppy-mallows, but may be distinguished by the silvery foliage and the red flowers. ‘The glade-mallow displays rather small white flowers in terminal clusters. The leaves are shaped very much like those of the soft maple, only smaller. ‘The whole plant is an erect, slender herb from four to eight feet in height. It has been found in damp woods in Goodhue county, and occurs in such localities as far west as Mankato. ‘he native rose-mallow is an herb, three to five feet in height, with leaves heart-shaped or three- lobed on the upper side, velvety to the touch. The flowers are large and of a pretty pink tint, growing darker toward the centre. In fruit, the calyx is inflated into a bladdery sheath not unlike that of the ground-cherries. The ketmia is a low herb with deeply-cleft leaves. The flowers are large and yellow, with purplish centre, and remain open but a few hours; hence the plant is also known as the flower-of-an-hour. Like that of the halberd-leafed rose-mallow, the calyx in this variety inflates itself into a little balloon-shaped bag around the fruit. Another name for this plant is black-eyed Susan. It is rather abundant in waste fields and vacant lots in the vicinity of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Velvetleafs. ‘he velvetleaf, which is sometimes encountered in the southern part of the state, is a large herb, often six feet in height, with leaves in size and shape like those of the linden. They are, however, of a soft velvety texture; hence the common name applied to the plant. The flowers are yellow and are borne in the axils of small leaves toward the ends of branches. The twelve or more carpels which make up the fruit are sep- arated from each other by deep longitudinal grooves, and the appearance of the whole fruit-body is something like that of a circle of milk-pitchers set close together with their lips point- ing outward. None of the mallows is of any particular economic impor- tance. The hollyhock and the ketmia are cultivated for orna- ment, and it isin this family that the marshmallow—a plant with mucilaginous root, used in the manufacture of a popular con- fection—is grouped. The twenty third order includes twenty six families of plants without any Minnesota representatives and but three families 326 Minnesota Plant Life. of which Minnesota species are known. Many of the families are small exotic groups of plants, but among them are some important economic varieties. The tea-plant, a member of the tea family, cultivated in Japan, China and Ceylon, is classified here,—also the camphor plant, the maregravias, the tamarisks, the passion-flowers and the begonias. The families represented in Minnesota are the St. John’s-worts, with about a dozen species, the rock-roses, with three or four species, and the vio- lets, with about twenty species. St. John’s-worts. The St. John’s-worts are herbs with oppo- site leaves, which are always marked with glandular dots or small black specks. The flowers are borne in panicles or cymes at the apex of slender stems. In each flower there are five sepals and five petals, with a number of stamens sometimes united into clusters. The ovary is one-chambered, with from three to five interior longitudinal ridges, along which the numerous seed- rudiments are attached. At the top of the capsule, which is generally pyramidal-ovoid in form, from three to six separate stigmas are borne. In some of the Minnesota varieties the longitudinal interior crests of the fruit-rudiment project clear to the centre, thus making a three- to five-chambered capsule. The flowers are regular in appearance. ‘The different varieties of St. John’s-worts may be recognized by their general habit of growth; by the sizes and shapes of the leaves; by the char- acter of the flower-cluster, which, as has been said, is either flat-topped or panicled; and by the cross section of the fruit, which is, when mature, in all instances a dry capsule—some- times one-chambered, sometimes three-chambered and some- times five-chambered. In all these the leaves are ovate, slender or elongated. One variety, the marsh St. John’s-wort, 1s found only in swamps. It may be recognized by its three-carpeled red capsule. Rock-roses. ‘he rock-roses include three or four plants, of ledges or barren soil, known as frostweeds, Hudsonias, pin- weeds, beach heathers or false heathers. The frostweed, which is a pretty common plant throughout the state, is a woody herb one or two feet in height with two kinds of flowers——some with petals and clustered in terminal cymes, the others much smaller, without petals, almost sessile in the axils of the leaves. The Minnesota Plant Life. 3277 leaves are shaped like small willow leaves and are covered with a gray growth of hairs. The petaled flowers are light yellow, with hoary sepals. The fruit is a capsule ovoid in shape and divided into three chambers, in each of which is a large number of seeds. Beach heathers. The Hudsonia, or beach heather, is a plant of local occurrence in Minnesota, abundant on rocky islands at Rainy lake; on Sable island at Lake of the Woods; on sand dunes in Anoka, Sherburne and Wright counties; and on rock ledges in the Minnesota valley, along the St. Croix and lower Mississippi. It is a densely AQ, tufted herb, with very small, Gh Sion ve oval leaves, covering each BOGS Nee other like shingles on a roof. ANY WAY The flowers are small, yellow @ N \ and sessile, produced in clus- ters towards the ends of the branches. The whole plant has a hoary aspect, from the minute white hairs with which its stems and leaves are cov- ered. It is an abundant dune and crevice plant along the A hoy \ We international boundary, more frequent north than south, but found on high rocks even to the southern border of the ae 160. Beach heather. After Britton and state. Brown. Pinweeds. The pinweeds grow in great abundance along the St. Croix river, in open woods or by the roadside, but are less common elsewhere in the state. Minnesota has one or two varieties, which may be known by their small simple leaves, in most instances less than half an inch in length, and by their large numbers of green or purple flowers gathered in terminal panicles. The common Minnesota variety is about a foot in height, slender and usually unbranched below the region of the flowers. The fruits, when they mature, are capsules with three longitudinal furrows marking the three carpels of which they are constructed. 328 Minnesota Plant Life. Violets. Violets, of which there are several species in Min- nesota, are well-known as flowers of the springtime and are remarkable for a number of structural peculiarities among which may be mentioned the development of their flowers singly upon slender, almost leafless stems; for the upper- and under- sidedness of the flower, which in this respect superficially re- sembles the flowers of larkspurs or of orchids; and for the production in many varieties of small flowers, close to the sur- face of the ground, incapable of opening, and, therefore, pol- linated by their own pollen. The violets of Minnesota may be divided into the stemless and stemmed varieties. Actually they all have stems, but in the so-called stemless sorts the leaves and flower-bearing axes arise from short, erect or prostratewnderground stems, so that the leaves seem tufted at the root, while in the stemmed varieties, so named, there is more or less branching of the above-ground portion of the plant-body. ‘The stemless varieties have, for the most part, purple, lilac or white flowers, whilein the stemmed «7°18 S¥<*t ie ee violets, yellow, white or cream- colored flowers are also to be found. Among the violets of the state, which are abundant and easily distinguished, are the larkspur-leafed or prairie violet, with deeply-cut leaves, appar- ently made up of seven or eight incised leaflets; the meadow violet, with heart-shaped leaves; the arrow-leafed violet, with leaves shaped like arrow-heads; the bird’s-foot violet, similar in general appearance to the prairie violet, but distinguished from it by the beardless petals; the round-leafed violet, with abundant closed flowers, developed later in the year than the open ones; the marsh-violet, with its pale lilac petals marked with darker veins; the sweet violet, with small, white, sweet- Minnesota Plant Life. 329 < scented flowers, abundant in two varieties in the tamarack swamps of the state; the kidney-leafed violet, with leaves of a broad kidney shape and longer than the flowering stem; the lance-leafed violet, with leaves shaped like those of the wil- low. All these belong to the stemless group. Among the stemmed forms are Nuttall’s violet, a prairie variety, with elon- gated, lance-shaped leaves; the halberd-leafed violet, with leaves shaped like arrow-heads and yellow flowers like those of the preceding species. Here, also, is the common yellow violet of the woods, with heart-shaped and kidney-shaped leaves and hairy stems, usually solitary. Very similar to this is the smooth, yellow violet, with narrower heart-shaped leaves, smooth stems and foliage, and clustered growth. Related to these yellow- flowered species is the Canada violet of rich woods, with its violet or whitish flowers and heart-shaped leaves, and the very similar striped violet, with cream-colored, white or blue flowers. Both the latter have stems five to fifteen inches in height and not tufted. The Labrador violet, with smaller heart-shaped leaves and purple or white flowers, may be distinguished by its tufted growth and its production of closed flowers later in the season than the ordinary open ones. ‘The sand violet is known by the strongly notched, slender stipules of the leaves. The flowers are of violet color, the stems are tufted and the leaves are kidney-shaped or heart-shaped, on stems longer than their blades. The long-spurred violet of the Isle Royale and Grand Marais region may be recognized by the slender spur of the flower, in length equaling or exceeding the petals. Besides the native forms the common pansy has escaped from flower- gardens in the southern part of the state and sometimes occurs as a dooryard weed. Violets show in their two-sided flowers an adaptation similar to that seen lower in the series in the two-sided flowers of the pulse family and of the larkspurs, or, still lower, in the flowers of orchids. Prickly-pears. The twenty fourth order includes but a single family, the cacti, to which belong three species of prickly-pears and the purple cactus—rock-plants of southern Minnesota. The cactus family is a very extraordinary group, in which stems have become fleshy and consolidated, while leaves have been 330 Minnesota Plant Life. modified into a defensive armor. These plants indicate a strong adaptation to desert life. Their massive, leafless stems—leaf- less in the sense of producing no ordinary foliage leaves—sug- gest the scantiness of the soil-moisture which they are able to absorb, and because it is so hard to obtain, they have abandoned, as far as possible, their evaporating surfaces. Some of them, like the melon-cacti, have not only lost their foliage, but have shortened their stems into spherical or ovoid melon-shaped bodies. They have large roots, usually extending to a con- siderable distance in all directions from the base of the stem. The strong defensive armor of spines, which most varieties possess, suggests a danger to which the plants of an arid region are exposed, owing to the absence in such districts of abundant forage for herb-eat- ing animals. The three Min- nesota species of prickly-pear are all of them wanderers from the southwestern plains, where they developed their peculiar, characters, and now that they have entered the more favor- able northern region they re- tain the organization best adapted to their original home. They are not infrequent in the Minnesota valley, on ledges of rock near New Ulm and Redwood Falls. One variety occurs at Taylor’s Falls, in the valley of the St. Croix, while two are abundant on the rocks in Pipestone county, in the vicinity of the old Indian quarry. Perhaps the Indians have had some- thing to do with their introduction from the southwest. The Fic. 162. Western prickly-pear cactus. After Britton and Brown. three species may be distinguished by their spines and fruits. The western prickly-pear produces a fleshy edible fruit, free from spines, from one to two inches long, shaped somewhat like a pear, borne upon the flat, sinuous joints of the stem. In this variety the spines on the stem are not numerous. ‘They occur Minnesota Plant Life. aa in groups of from one to four. The flowers are yellow with ared centre. The other two prickly-pears have smaller fruits, covered with spines and drier in texture. The many-spined prickly-pear bears on the flattened stems little masses of bristles in tufts, with from five to twelve spines in a group. They are slender, from half an inch to two inches in length. The brittle prickly-pear produces, on the more egg-shaped joints of the stem, from one to four central spines, varying from a half to one and a half inches in length. Each group of central spines is surrounded by from four to six lateral shorter prongs. The spines in this species are gray, becoming black toward the tips, while in the many-spined prickly-pear the thorns are whitish and not black toward the tips. The purple cactus is known by its almost globular, warty and thorn-covered stem, from one to five inches in height, arising either singly or in tufts. The flowers are terminal and solitary, and are purple or purplish-red. This species is re- ported only from the vicinity of Ortonville, and probably does not grow elsewhere in the state. Chapter XX XIII. From Leatherwoods to Dogwoods. % The twenty fifth order comprises eleven families that are not represented in Minnesota and five that are. Among the exotic species are the pomegranate, the mangrove, the myrtles and eucalypti, the melostomas, the Brazil-nuts and a number of forms peculiar to South Africa. In Minnesota there are found one species of the leatherwood family, three species of buffalo- berries and silverberries, four species of the loosestrife family, eighteen or twenty evening primroses and about six varieties of water-milfoil. Leatherwoods. ‘The leatherwood is a shrub from two to six feet in height, not uncommon along streams in woods and thickets throughout the greater part of the state. It is most abundant from Duluth to Lake of the Woods and is not to be expected in the southwestern portion of the state, although it extends to New Ulm and Blue Earth county. The leather- wood has yellowish-green twigs, with alternate, broadly oval, entire-margined leaves. The flowers are disposed in clusters of three or four, appearing while the leaves are emerging from the bud. The perianth is bell-shaped, with eight stamens borne upon its inner surface and protruding from the mouth. Every alternate stamen of the group is longer, while the intermediate ones are shorter. ‘The fruit is oval in outline, red in color, and about half an inch in length. The bark is poisonous, acting as a violent emetic. This shrub may be known by the yellow- ish color of the flowers and bark, the stamens alternately longer and shorter, and the red stone-fruits. Buffalo-berries. ‘The three species of buffalo-berries are sil- very shrubs, particularly abundant in the Red river valley, in one variety extending as far east as the north shore of Lake Supe- rior. They may all be recognized by the curious scurfy growth ~ Minnesota Plant Life. 333 on the leaves, which gives to them a silvery lustre upon both sides in the silverberry and silver buffalo-berry, but upon the under side alone in the Canada buffalo-berry. In this latter species a few scurfy shield-shaped hairs develop on the upper sides of the leaves. The silverberry has alternate, oblong leaves, while buffalo-berries have opposite oblong leaves. The flowers are bell-shaped, without corolla. The stamens are four or eight in number, borne on the inner surface of the perianth. The silverberry, which is a most attractive and beautiful shrub, is silver-colored, not only with respect to the leaves, but over the young twigs as well. The fruit is oval in shape, silvery in color, with a grooved stone. It ripens in August and 1s edible. The two varieties of buffalo-berries have the same general appearance as the silverberry, but are distinguished by their opposite leaves. In the Canada buffalo-berry the leaves are green on the upper side, silvery below, and the twigs are not thorny. In the silver buffalo-berry the leaves are bright silver- colored on both sides and the twigs are generally thorny. The fruit of the Canada buffalo-berry is harmless, but flat and taste- less, and is either of a red or yellow color. The fruit of the silver buffalo-berry is of a delicious flavor and is used by house- wives in the Red river valley in the manufacture of jellies and preserves. Loosestrifes. The loosestrife family includes some insignifi- cant herbs with opposite leaves and small axillary flowers, soli- tary in the Rotala, aggregated in axillary clusters in the swamp loosestrife, solitary again in the true loosestrife. The Amma- nmias and water-purslanes strongly resemble the water-starworts in their superficial characters, but may be distinguished by their flowers. They are, like the water-starworts, small aquatic or mud-dwelling herbs, with opposite leaves and axillary flowers. The water-purslane, indeed, has often been mistaken for the water-starwort or water-fennel. In the water-purslanes and Ammamnias the calyx is bell-shaped with four notches at the margin, but in the water-starwort there is no perianth what- ever. The fruit of the water-purslane is a globular capsule with two chambers, but that of the water-starwort is flattened and deeply grooved on the flattened surfaces, dividing it into two distinct portions. The Ammanias are larger herbs than the 334 Minnesota Plant Life. water-purslane, but resemble the latter variety in general char- acters. One variety of Ammania occurs in the state, and it may be recognized by the opposite linear leaves, with clasp- ing bases and sharp tips. From one to five flowers, the petals of which soon fall from the bell-shaped calyx, are produced in the axils of each leaf. In the water-purslane the flowers are solitary in the axils of the tiny, opposite, slender leaves and are very small, green and inconspicuous. The Rotala resembles an Ammania in its larger size, varying from two to six inches in height, but has the small axillary flowers of the water-purslane. Unlike those of the water-purslane, they are furnished with four small petals between the four lobes of the bell-shaped calyx. The swamp loosestrife, which occurs in the St. Croix valley, has stems from three feet to ten feet in length and with whorls of willow-shaped leaves. The flowers are nearly an inch in breadth and are clustered in purple cymes in the axils of the whorled leaves. The Lythrum, or purple loosestrife, is a plant of low moist ground, with alternate, stem- less, lance-shaped or oblong pointed leaves and purple flowers, solitary in the upper axils. These plants are not uncommon along low lake shores throughout the southern part of the state. A most remarkable peculiarity of the loosestrifes is the formation of very extraordinary structures in the cells of the outer seed-coats. In some of the varieties each cell of the layer which makes up the surface of the seed is provided with a curious cork-screw-like apparatus, developed in its cavity and capable of being turned out into the ground, where, together with hundreds of other bodies of the same nature, it assists in drawing the seed into the soil. Evening-primroses and fireweeds. The evening-primroses —the family to which the cultivated fuchsia belongs—include two species, known as false loosestrifes, from their resem- blance to the true water-purslanes. They have the same op- posite leaves, axillary flowers and general habits of growth. There are, however, four stamens, and capsules with four com- partments instead of two. These false loosestrifes are rather unusual plants of ditches, swamps and muddy banks in the southern part of the state. To the evening-primrose family belongs also the fireweed or willow-herb, abundant in two va- Minnesota Plant Life. 335 rieties, especially in the northern part of the state on burnt-over tracts. The fireweed is an erect herb, with purple flowers in broad terminal racemes and willow-shaped leaves arranged alter- nately upon the stem. The capsules split into four sections and release the numerous seeds, covered with cottony hairs, by means of which they are distributed abundantly in the wind. Closely related to the fireweeds are three or four species of willow-herbs with slender capsules packed full of small tufted seeds. Here, too, should be classified the evening-primroses and Gauras, with their fuchsia-like yellow flowers. Five or six varieties of evening-primroses occur in different parts of the state. The white evening-primrose is limited to the western portion. The shrubby prairie evening-primrose is common over the prairie district. The most abundant is the ordinary evening-primrose of roadsides, known by its yellow flowers, with four large petals and calyx growing up around the fruit- rudiment and adherent to it The Gauras are rare herbs, or half-shrubs, not abundant except in the southwestern districts. They may be known by the fuchsia-like flowers, red in one species—the scarlet Gauwra—and pink in the other. The flow- ers are smaller than those of the evening-primroses, but rather larger than those of the willow-herbs. Enchanter’s nightshades. ‘Two herbs of woodland districts, known as enchanter’s nightshades, are grouped in the evening- primrose family. They are low herbs with the habits and appearance of shade plants. Their leaves are opposite and are more or less triangular. The small white fuchsia-like flow- ers are borne in loose terminal racemes, and the capsules, when they mature, are covered with hooked prickles. The little pear-shaped burs that are found upon one’s clothing after an autumnal ramble in the woods will probably be the fruits of the enchanter’s nightshade. The two varieties of nightshade may be distinguished by their size, one of them varying from a foot to two feet in height, while the other is seldom over five inches tall. Water-milfoils. The plants known as water-milfoils include five or six Minnesota species, of which the so-called mare’s tail or jointweed is the most striking in form. It is a slender, erect, unbranched plant, found growing on wet mud or in the water, 336 Minnesota Plant Life. and has a stem composed of joints like those of the well-known scouring-rushes. At each joint, however, is a whorl of from six to twelve green, lance-shaped leaves. The plant cannot, therefore, be mistaken for a scouring-rush, for it has functional foliage leaves. Another kind of water-milfoil is the mermaid- weed, with two sorts of leaves. If the plant has grown partly submerged, the leaves below the surface of the water will be like feathers, while the leaves above will be oval and only slightly notched. ‘The flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves above the water and the fruit is triangular in cross section, with three deep grooves. The true milfoils are exceedingly abundant in the lakes and ponds of Minnesota. ‘They may be recognized by their jointed pale-reddish stems, with whorls of feather- shaped leaves each with fine thread-like dissected lobes. The flowers are borne in the axils of small, oval leaves, toward the end of the stem, where it emerges from the water. The flow- ering stem protrudes above the surface like the spike of a pond- weed. No pondweed, however, has these whorls of feather- shaped leaves. ‘Three or four different varieties of water-mil- foils occur within the state, and the plants need not be confused. For the most part milfoils prefer deep water and are found grow- ing along with pondweeds outside the lily-pad zone and on bars or sandy bottoms. The twenty sixth order includes three families, each of which is represented by Minnesota forms. These are the ginsengs, the parsleys and the dogwoods. The Minnesota forms of the ginsengs and parsleys are all herbs, while the dogwoods are all of them shrubs—one, the dwarf dogwood or cornel, being only three or four inches high. The others, however, are shrubs of good size. Spikenards, wild sarsaparillas and ginsengs. ‘To the ginseng family belong five Minnesota species—the spikenard, the wild sarsaparilla and wild elder, together with the ginseng or “sang” and the dwarf ginseng or groundnut. ‘The first three are char- acterized by leaves made up of leaflets arranged as in the ash, that is, the leaflets are pinnately grouped. In the last two the that is, pal- mately grouped. The spikenard is a large herb, from three to leaflets are arranged as in the Virginia creeper six feet high, with thick, sweet-scented root. The leaflets, ar- Minnesota Plant Life. 337 ranged in pinnate groups, are developed in such manner as to form one large three-branched leaf, of which there are several upon the branching stem. The flowers are arranged in the kinds of clusters known as umbels, characteristic also of the parsley family. In the spikenard the umbels are massed to- gether into a large panicled inflorescence. The fruits, forming very large and ornamental bunches when ripe, are of a red- purple color, globular in shape and not edible. The wild sarsaparilla is not furnished with an erect, branch- ing stem, but the leaves and flowering axes arise from a long, underground rootstock. The flowers are produced at the apex of the flowering axis in a | group consisting usually of three umbels, arranged so as to form a flat-topped cluster. The fruit is purplish-black, nearly spherical, and long- itudinally grooved. The wild elder has leaves like those of the elder bush. The umbels are numerous and simple, aggregated to- gether in groups towards the end of the leafy, erect stem, and the fruits are dark purple, five-grooved when dry. The whole plant is more or less beset with slender bristles. The two varieties of ginseng may be distinguished by their leaves. In the true ginseng the leaves are made up of five stalked leaflets, while the leaflets in the dwarf ginseng are ses- sile and vary from three to five in number. In both plants the leaves are arranged palmately, and in each there is a swollen root—almost globular inthe dwarf ginseng, and ovoid-tuberous and sometimes branched in the true ginseng. The dwarf gin- seng rarely exceeds six inches in height, but the true ginseng may reach the height of a foot and a half. The flowers and fruits are arranged in small umbels. In the true ginseng the fruit is crimson, while in the dwarf ginseng it is yellow. Gin- seng roots are commercially valuable on account of the use which the Chinese make of the plant in their pharmacopceia. 23 Fic. 168. Ginseng. After Britton and Brown. 338 Minnesota Plant Life. By American or European physicians the plant is not consid- ered to be of any medical value whatever. The parsley family. The parsley family in Minnesota in- cludes about thirty-five species of herbs, very difficult to dis- criminate without a technical examination of their peculiari- ties. In all of them the flowers are produced in compound or simple umbels, with the exception of the curious button- snakeroot, which resembles in its appearance a one seed-leafed plant much more than it does the other members of the pars- ley family. In this the leaves are parallel-veined and grass- like and the flowers are clustered in heads. Among the varie- ties of parsley found in Minnesota are two sorts of pennyworts, two sorts of black snake-roots, the cow-parsnip, the hog- fennel, the cowbane, the water-hemlock, the meadow-parsnips and wa- ter-parsnips, the hone- worts, poison-hemlocks and the sweet cicelys. The plants have in this family, for the most part, compound leaves, but in a few species the leaves are simple, as in the button-snakeroots, the introduced hare’s- ear, the Zizias, and the pennyworts. In most of the forms the leaves are compounded like those of the well-known water- parsnips or wild parsnips. In all the varieties the fruit is dry and consists of two carpels, which are at first united but finally separate from each other along their faces, so as to produce two half-fruits, in each of which a single seed is inclosed. There are usually oil-tubes in the fruit, so that the odor of caraway seeds is a peculiarity of most of the fruits in the family. It is Fic. 164. Water-parsnip. After Britton and Brown. upon the characters of the mature fruit that the specific descrip- tions are based, rather than upon those of the flower or of the vegetative tract; for the flowers, and to some extent the plant- bodies, are very similar throughout great numbers of species and genera. Minnesota Plant Life. 339 In the sweet cicelys the fruits are adapted for animal distri- bution. They are elongated, pointed, armed with barbed hairs and grouped in very loose umbels. These are common plants in the woods throughout the state, and the slender, pointed seed, which attaches itself to one’s clothing during a forest ramble, is generally the half-fruit of one or the other species of Minnesota sweet cicely. The snakeroots form little bur- ] Fic. 165. Wild parsley. After photograph by Williams. like fruits in loose, few-flowered umbels. These are, like those of the sweet cicelys, intended for animal distribution; but most parsley fruits have smooth or ribbed surfaces and do not attach themselves to animals. In some the fruits are winged to a degree, and probably obtain distribution through the agency of the wind. The roots of certain plants of the parsley family are very poisonous, and to children eating those of the poison- 340 Minnesota Plant Life. hemlock or of the wild parsnips or cowbane, they often prove fatal. ‘I'o the parsley family belong some garden vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips. Here, also, are the plants fur- nishing coriander and caraway seeds. ‘The perfume, myrrh, is obtained from a European variety. Dogwoods. ‘There are eight varieties of dogwood in Min- nesota, all of them fees closely related. In dogwoods the flowers are rather incon- spicuous and borne in heads, to be regarded as compact umbels. In some of the varieties about four large white, petal-like leaves are produced just below the head of flowers, so that, as in the sunflower family, the whole head resembles a single flower. Two Minne- sota species have these handsome white leaves be- low the flower heads. One, the dwarf cornel, or bunch- berry, is a little shrub from two to eight inches in height, with the upper part of the stem herbaceous. SA ei" ay We ry 2 ad x) Fic. 166. Water-hemlock. PAGER Chesnut. The above-ground branch, Fogg OS DEES ee: which is generally simple, arises from a prostrate, slender rootstock. The leaves are ovate, with several strong longitudinal ribs, and are clustered in a whorl below the pedicel of the flower-head. In fruit the dwarf cornel produces from each flower a little ovoid or spherical stone-fruit of a scarlet color. The fruits are aggregated in heads as the flowers were, and form characteristic red bunches, giving occasion to one of the common names. The other dogwood, in which conspicuous, white petal-like leaves are clustered below the flowering head, has these leaves very large, an inch or more in length, strongly notched at the tip. Sometimes in this variety, known as the flowering dog- Minnesota Plant Life. 341 wood, the petal-like leaves are pinkish, but more commonly they are white. The bush occurs rather sparingly along the Mississippi river, from Stearns county to the Iowa line. Its fruits are very similar to those of the dwarf cornel, but are a little more elongated. They have the same scarlet color and cherry-like structure. In the rest of the Minnesota dogwoods, including the shrubs known as red osiers and kinnikinics, the flowers are larger and looser, cymose or paniculate, and not pro- vided with the large, petal-like bracts beneath. The shrubs are distinguished from each other by their foliage, the shape of their flower clusters, the color of their twigs and the stones of their fruits. The round-leafed dog- wood, very abundant through- out the state, is a bush from thinee to ten-=feet in height, much branched and furnished with broadly ovate, entire-mar- gined leaves. The fruit is ofa light blue color and has an al- most globular stone. Closely related to the round-leafed dogwood is the silky cornel or kinnikinic, distinguished by its silky-haired twigs, quite differ- ent from the green, smooth twigs of the round-leafed dog- wood. The fruit is of thesame Fie. 167. Dwarf cornel. After Britton and light blue color, but the leaves pene are somewhat slender, approaching in their shape ordinary plum leaves. The rough-leafed dogwood grows a little larger than either of its relatives which have been mentioned and may be recognized by the reddish-brown, hairy twigs, the rough, hairy upper surfaces of the leaves and the spherical, white fruits, in which the stone is but slightly furrowed and not much flattened. Bailey's dogwood is very similar in appearance, but has rather narrower lance-shaped leaves and white fruits, in which the stone is flattened and furrowed along the edge. The red osier or kinnikinic is one of the most frequent varieties through the northern and central portions of the state. It is a shrub from three to fifteen feet in height, with bright red or purple, smooth 342 Minnesota Plant Life. twigs, sometimes slightly hairy towards the tips. The leaves are broadly ovate and the fruits are white, with stones of a generally globose shape. ‘This variety, together with the silky cornel, is utilized by the Indians—under their name of kinniki- nic—as an adulterant of tobacco. The inner bark of the twigs is collected and dried, mixed with the tobacco and believed by the Indians to improve its flavor. It should be mentioned that the Indians apply the same name to other materials which they use in a similar manner, as for example, sumac leaves. The name of the Redwood river is said to be derived from the red osier. The panicled dogwood is, perhaps, the most abundant species in the southern and through the central portions of the state. It is, like its relatives, a branched shrub, and has smooth, gray twigs. The leaves are lance-shaped, with slender tips. The fruits are white in color and have slightly furrowed stones. All the dogwoods which have been described are character- ized by opposite leaves. One other kind, the alternate-leafed cornel, is not uncommon in Minnesota, except in the region of the international boundary. As its name indicates, the leaves are alternate. ‘The fruit is of a blue color and has a channeled stone. In the southern portions of its range this variety some- times becomes a small tree, but in Minnesota it remains of shrubby habit. ‘The wood is heavy, close-grained and of a reddish-brown color. Most of these varieties of dogwood grow best in damp woods or thickets and along the shores of lakes. The dwarf cornel, however, is by preference an inhabitant of tamarack swamps, where it is found along with wintergreens and lady’s-slippers. It is abundant, too, in the pine woods, particularly in shaded places. ‘The dogwoods are exceedingly beautiful shrubs when disposed along broad lake beaches, where they select the back- strand or mid-strand and often form handsome hemispherical plant-bodies ten feet or more in height and fifteen feet in breadth, growing regularly and looking as if they had been trimmed by some careful gardener. ‘Together with certain va- rieties of willows which have the same habit of growth, they are among the most noticeable plants of level lake shores, especially in the northern part of the state. They abound, too, around meadows and in the edges of woods or along streams. Chapter exer Ve High Types and Low Types of Flowers. SF There have now been passed in review the twenty-six orders of two seed-leafed plants which agree in showing no fusions of the petals of the flower into corolla tubes. Indeed, some of them have no petals. But in such forms as produce flowers with petals, the typical honeysuckle tube or morning-glory funnel is not developed. A number of differences in flowers and fruits have been recorded, and it may not be amiss, before passing to the consideration of succeeding orders, to note briefly the general law under which flowers vary from lower types to higher. There is a distinction, pretty clear in the mind of the botanist, between lower or simpler sorts of flowers and higher or more complex kinds. The distinction does not, however, consist in showiness, size, color, perfume or abundance. Con- sidered botanically, some large and beautiful blossoms are lower in type than other tiny, inconspicuous flowers that might almost escape the observation of the amateur. In order to understand the distinctions which have weight with botanists it is necessary to remember from what sort of structures flowers are believed to have developed. A proto- type of all flowers is the pine cone—an aggregate-body is fore- shadowed even among flowerless plants, notably by the club- moss cones. It will be recollected that in club-mosses the ends of many of the stems gathered their leaves more closely together than elsewhere, and on the upper side of each of such leaves was placed a little spore-containing sac. The cone of the club-moss is an axis upon which spore-bearing leaves are distributed. As has already been suggested, in the discussion of the club-mosses, the primitive type of spore-bearing leaf had also, as part of its duty in the plant economy, the starch-making work of an ordinary leaf. But by a division of labor, some 344 Minnesota Plant Life. leaves, especially toward the tips of branches—therefore raised higher from the ground—devoted themselves particularly to spore-manufacture, leaving the starch-making to lower leaves on the stem. Naturally it was more important for the plant to use, for spore-production, those leaves farthest from the ground, because if produced at a height the spores could be distributed over a wider area. When the habit of making two kinds of spores became fixed among the distant ancestors of modern seed-bearing plants, the clusters of spore-bearing leaves or cones came, in the pines and their allies, to be specialized, so that one cone devoted itself to the manufacture of the small-spores while another produced only large-spores in the little cases on its leaves. Thus there originated the very different pollen-bearing and seed-bearing cones, which may be observed in such plants as the white pine, tamaracks and junipers. Probably, however, in some varieties there was not this separation, upon their special axes, of the two sorts of leaves; but one sort arose toward the tip of the axis, while the other appeared lower down, so that mixed cones, with carpels or large-spore-bearing leaves toward the tip, and stamens or small-spore-bearing leaves toward the base of the axis, originated. After the seed-habit had become fixed, it is apparent that the same advantage which club-mosses de- rived from having their spore-producing leaves highest on the stem, would now be derived from having the seed-rudiment- producing leaves, or carpels, highest on the stem. The advan- tage of height above the substratum which was manifest in the distribution of spores would be retained as favorable to the dis- tribution of seeds. The primitive higher flowering plants no doubt had their seeds distributed by the wind, and it was, therefore, important, from the plant’s point of view, that the carpels should stand higher in the flower than the stamens. This will account for the central position of the pistil and the peripheral position of the stamens. The crowding together of the leaves of the flower, which became possible when they abandoned their starch-making functions, may be seen foreshadowed even in the cones of the club-mosses. It becomes still more marked in the pines, while in flowering-plants the great majority have the cone or flower- Minnesota Plant Life. 345 axis so short that it is actually flat or even depressed in the centre, as in roses. ‘To this rule, however, there are a number of important exceptions, as for example, the little mousetail, a member of the crowfoot family, with its elongated axis, upon which the nutlets are produced. The anemones, also, and some of the rose family, like the strawberry, have conical or cylindrical floral axes upon which the carpels are distributed. These elongated axes may not, indeed, in such instances, be really primitive, but may rather be secondarily adaptive. Yet the highest types of flowers do not have such long axes, but are flat, with the carpels central and the stamens in encircling rings. If, now, one can imagine a pine cone, the tip of which is com- posed of seed-bearing scales, while at the base are disposed the pollen-scales or stamens, and then imagine further that the tip of this axis is pressed down with the thumb until the whole becomes flat and saucer-like, it is apparent that the seed-bearing scales will now be at the centre, while the pollen-bearing scales will form a ring around the outside of the saucer. Precisely such change in shape of the ancestral cone is believed to have taken place in the plant world under the slow workings of structural improvements through the ages. Many advantages in flowers might be derived by the passage from the elongated to the flattened type of axis. If, for example, the flower came to depend for pollination upon insects, the flattening of the axis might make the work of the insects surer, or if the flower depended upon its own pollen for pollination, the bringing of the stamens and the stigmas into the same plane would, per- haps, facilitate the process. Of course the ancient prototypes of flowers could not be expected to have these flattened axes, because in them the division of labor between spore-producing and starch-making leaves had not arisen, and each leaf on the axis had to stand in such a position that it could get light for itself from the sun without shading too much the other leaves near by. Elongated flower-axes, like those of the pines, remind one of earlier days, in which such axes had, in addition to their production of spores, also a starch-making work to perform. Any flower which retains in its structure the marks of earlier, less improved conditions, is conceived in this respect to be of lower type than one which has lost these marks, and this is the true 3 46 Minnesota Plant Life, criterion of rank among flowers. Precisely the same thing is apparent in human society, for a civilized man who retains char- acteristics which may have been valuable to the savage but have been outgrown during the progress of civilization, is regarded as of lower grade than his fellows. The flattening of the axis of the flower into a disk is pos- sibly the most fundamental evidence of improvement; that 1s, of passage from a lower to a higher type. Connected with this flattening arose a rearrangement of the parts of the flower. In the pine cone the scales are arranged spirally, just as if they were foliage leaves, but in apples the stamens and carpels are produced in whorls. A spiral arrangement of stamens and carpels, because it is more like the fundamental grouping of foliage leaves upon a stem, is believed to indicate a lower type of flower than when whorls are substituted—a grouping not so common among foliage leaves, but quite unobjectionable for spore-producing leaves. Even among the pines the tendency to gather the leaves of the flower into more compact clusters may be seen in such plants as the junipers and red cedars. Again, as flowers came to be blocked out as definite spore- producing tracts, made up of leaves arranged on a shortened axis, the leaves below the stamens became modified from their proximity to the true floral parts. Thus the area known as perianth came into existence. By a further specialization peri- anth came to consist of outer perianth—that 1s, lower perianth, or calyx, and inner—that is, upper perianth, or corolla. Under such conditions what may be known as a typical flower ap- peared, and such a typical flower may be described as an axis, bearing essential leaves, viz., carpels and stamens, surrounded by the accessory leaves of the calyx and corolla. In all the four regions of the typical flower modifications and improvements are possible. The carpels, for example, may blend together into a single fruit-rudiment or pistil. Thus the fruit of the lily is regarded as made up of three carpels blended together. Such a blending would be regarded as an improve- ment over the separate condition of the scales in the cones of the pine. It 1s certainly farther removed from that primitive arrangement in which, on account of their starch-making duties, the leaves were necessarily separate. After having thus be- Minnesota Plant Life. 347 come blended, conditions might arise, when, by the deep groov- ing of the pistil, the carpels would again be separated and such a secondary separation wou! mark a higher type than the orig- inal blended condition. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether a separation of the carpels is primitive or secondary. In the region of the stamens the separate leaves indicate a primitive type, while the blending of the stamens into a tube, as in the mallows, is regarded as an improvement, and consequently indi- cates a higher type. Likewise the blending of the parts of the calyx into a tube is regarded as a modification of that original condition in which the calyx leaves were separate. Not only may parts of the same group blend with each other, but they may also blend with the group nexttothem. Thus the production, in orchid flowers, of stamens apparently springing from the surface of the pistil is regarded as evidence of the blending together into one body of what were originally sepa- rate stamens and pistils. For this reason the orchid flower, in which such a condition has arisen, is regarded as higher in type than the lily flower, for in the latter the blending of stamens and pistil has not been effected. A great many such blend- ings exist. Sometimes the stamens are produced upon the petals or upon the calyx leaves. Sometimes both the petals and stamens seem to arise from the calyx, indicating a fusion into one body of all three regions of the flower—a condition evidently remote from the primitive type, and, therefore, indica- tive of higher rank. Especially is the blending of the calyx with the surface of the pistil regarded as an improvement over the condition in which these two areas are quite distinct. Apple flowers, for example, develop petals and stamens upon the calyx and the latter is blended with the surface of the carpels, giving an additional protective layer to the seeds and permit- ting the important function of assisting in seed-distribution to be borne by a part of the flower below the essential organs. In willow-herbs, too, or fireweeds, the calyx is blended with the pistil, and when the capsule is mature it consists of two protective layers around the seeds instead of one. All these blendings of parts indicate higher rank. Another way in which flowers become modified from prim- itive forms is by the development of differences between the 348 Minnesota Plant Life. parts of the same area. The violet flower, with one of its petals spurred, is conceived to be higher in rank than the linden flower, in which all the petals are alike. Irregularity of the flower marks some improvement over regularity, and it should always be remembered that the irregular flower is irregular for a pur- pose. The irregularity may be, and usually is, an adaptation to the habits of the insects which effect pollination. There- fore, the strongly irregular flowers of orchids, beautifully adapted to the sizes, shapes, weights and feeding-habits of bees or moths, are improvements over the regular flowers of tulips, blue flags and trilliums. Irregularity may arise in a variety of ways. A very common type is two-sidedness of the flower and the substitution of the two-sided symmetry for the radial sym- metry. Just as man, whose body can be divided into approxi- mately equal halves by only one plane, is on this account a higher structural type than the starfish, the body of which may be divided into several approximately equal portions by planes radially disposed, so the two-sided flower of an orchid, or that of the pea or larkspur, must be regarded as structurally higher than related radially-symmetrical forms, such as lilies, acacias, lindens or buttercups. Along with the development of upper- and under-sidedness in the flower go a number of changes in the shapes, positions, numbers and sizes of the floral organs. Thus in the pea flower, one petal is larger than the others, and forms the so-called standard. The other four petals, grouped in pairs, constitute the so-called wings and keel of the flower. The stamens are blended together into a tube, but one stamen in the plane of symmetry stands distinct from the rest. The carpels, too, in the pea flower become reduced in number and the pod is often flattened in the plane of the symmetry. There should be no difficulty in comprehending how a flower that manifests in its whole structure a great departure from the primitive type should be considered as higher than a flower that approximates in its structure more closely to the early conditions. It must be observed, moreover, that the different orders of flowering plants do not constitute a single series of advancement. One order may show improvement along one path, while another shows improvement in quite a different Minnesota Plant Life. 349 direction. In the same order the lower families may have reg- ular flowers, while the flowers of the higher families have acquired more specialized irregular shapes. The proper ar- rangement of the orders is not one of sequence, but rather the kind of arrangement that is seen in genealogical charts, or in the trunks, main branches, secondary branches and twigs of a tree. Grasses and sedges, for example, represent the perfection of certain lines of development. Orchids represent the per- fection of another line of improvement, and dogwoods occupy relatively another terminal position. Yet it is possible in a general way to regard the plant with two-leafed seedlings as showing a higher type of embryo-structure than the plant with one-leafed seedlings, and when the orders of plants are discussed in sequence, the former group is considered, as a whole, subse- quent to the latter. On this account, however, it should not be supposed that willow flowers are of higher structural type than orchid flowers, for orchids are among the most perfected of plants with the lower type of embryo, while willows are among the least perfected types with the higher kind of embryo. In general, that higher class in which the petals are blended into corolla tubes marks, in this respect, an advance over those plants in which such blending does not exist. But it would be a mistake to suppose that the flower of the cranberry is struc- turally more complicated than the pea or the violet flower. As in the case of the willows and the orchids just compared, the cranberry belongs to one of the lowest orders of corolla- tube-producing plants, while the peas and violets are relatively high types of the generally lower series, in which no corolla tubes are formed. With this explanation of a somewhat difficult point—look- ing toward an answer to the question, why is one flower con- sidered of higher type than another?—there may now be dis- cussed the eight remaining orders of two-seed-leafed plants in which corolla tubes rather than separate petals are almost universally the rule. Chapter 2X22 From Wintergreens to Chaffweeds. i The twenty-seventh order includes six families, two of which, the wintergreens and the heaths, are represented in Minnesota. About twenty two species of heaths are native to the state. Here are classified the huckleberries, cranberries, blueberries, snowberries, bearberries, trailing arbutuses, checkerberries, leatherleafs, Cassiopes, rosemarys, laurels, Menziesias, and Lab- rador teas. To this family belong also the azalias, rhododen- drons and heathers. Wintergreens. The wintergreen family in Minnesota com- prises nine or ten species of true wintergreens; the one-flow- ered wintergreen, two pipsissewas or spotted wintergreens, the pine-drops, the Indian-pipe or corpse-plant, and the pine-sap or false beechdrops. The last three plants named do not exhibit leaf-green but absorb their food from the humus of the forest floor, taking up organic substances and manufacturing no starch of their own. The others are green plants with somewhat the appearance of the heaths, except that they are not so shrubby. The wintergreens, from branched under- ground rootstocks, produce upright stems usually less than a foot in height. The flowers are commonly grouped in a single slim terminal raceme, each flower nodding or erect in the axil of a small bract or scale. In some of the varieties the flow- ers have the stigmas and stigma-stalks bent down, while in others the stigma projects in the centre of the flower. The round-leafed wintergreen, very abundant in pine woods, throughout the northern part of the state, has rounded or broadly oval leaves, of a leathery texture, shining and ever- green, and spreading out at the base of the straight, tall flower- bearing axis. ‘The flowers are white, rather large and sweet- scented and are arranged, eight or ten together, in their ra- Minnesota Plant Life. 351 cemes. The green-flowered strongly resembles the round- leafed wintergreen, except that the leaves are of a dull green color above and the flowers are greenish-white with slight fragrance. ‘The shinleaf, unlike the two preceding species, has papery rather than leathery leaves, and these are broad and rounded with blades rather longer than their stems. The flowers in this variety are greenish-white and very sweet- scented. The bog wintergreen, found in cold peat-bogs, has the leaves of the green-flowered wintergreen—that is to say, they are broadly oval, leathery and of a dull green. The flow- ers, however, are purple, thus easily distinguishing this variety. The pink-flowered or heart-leafed wintergreen is very similar to the bog wintergreen, but may be recognized by the heart-shaped bases of the leaves. ‘The flowers are rose-pink or some- times purple. All the wintergreens mentioned have the stigma depressed towards the under side of the flower. The remaining varieties have central stig- mas. The lesser wintergreen resembles in most of its characters the green-flow- ered, but has the thin leaves of the shin- leaf wintergreen. The stamens do not, as in the previous varieties, diverge from the fruit-rudiment, but close around it in 5 the open flower. The serrate-leafed win- Frc.168. wintergreen plant tergreen has flowers very much like those te Se ra of the lesser wintergreen, but the leaves are almost plum-leaf shape with teeth along the margin. Besides the forms already noted, there are two others that are but slightly different from the typical varieties. The round- leafed wintergreen sometimes produces leaves red-veined or red instead of shining green, and in this form it is known as the red-leafed wintergreen. The serrated wintergreen, which is usually from four to ten inches in height, with a number of flowers in a one-sided raceme, may exist as a low plant, less than four inches high, with from three to eight flowers and rounded leaves. It is then known as the low serrated wintergreen. ‘The leaves of all the species are rather pleasant ( 352 Minnesota Plant Life. to the taste. The fruits they mature are five-grooved spherical capsules which split into five sections to release the small seeds. The one-flowered wintergreen has the same evergreen leaves that characterize the ordinary varieties, but is peculiar for the production at the end of a slender axis of a single, rather large, drooping, white or pink flower, about six inches or less in height. The leaves are almost round, with short stems, and are gathered in tufts at the base of the flowering axis. This variety of wintergreen is limited to the northern portion of the state, where it occurs among the moss in deep balsam, spruce or tamarack woods. Pipsissewas. The two kinds of wintergreen known as pip- sissewas or spotted wintergreens, if they are found in fruit can be distinguished at once from the preceding forms. In the other wintergreens, when the capsules open, the clefts are woolly at their edges, but in the pipsissewas the clefts in the capsules are not at all woolly. The rarer variety of spotted wintergreen may also be known by its more willow-shaped leaves with remote notches in the margins and by the disposition of the white or pinkish flowers in cymes rather than in racemes. The leaves in this variety are spotted with white along the veins, but the commoner pipsissewa has bright, shining leaves without spots, considerably shorter and broader than those of the rarer kind. The flowers are clustered four or five in a group, in a somewhat flat-topped inflorescence at the tip of their axis. Both of these plants prefer drier woods and are sometimes abun- dant under the pines. They appear also in hardwood timber, but rather more sparingly. Pine-drops. ‘The pine-drops is a rare herb of the northern part of the state. It forms an upright, unbranched slender stem from six inches to three or four feet in length. This stem is of a reddish or brown color, with a few scaly leaves which are not green, since they make no starch. At the end of the stem are numerous, nodding, bell-shaped white flowers, each arising in the axil of a little scale. Each seed has a small thin wing on the end. ‘The root area is unusually small. Indian-pipes. The Indian-pipe, otherwise called the corpse- plant, is of very striking appearance. Several stems usually Minnesota Plant Life. 333 grow together in a tuft, and the whole plant-body is commonly of a snow-white color, with yellowish or reddish scales. At the tip of each stem is a single, nodding flower, around which the bracts are white. This variety is not uncommon throughout the state and is to be looked for in deep woods where a rich layer of decaying leaves has collected. Pine-saps. The pine-sap, more abundant in the pine woods and extending south to Gull lake and Taylor’s Falls, resembles the Indian-pipe or corpse-plant in almost all particulars, but it may at once be identified by its having several flowers clustered at the tip of each stem, instead of the single flower of the more common variety. The three plants last mentioned are quite fungus-like in their habits of food-collection. Unlike most flowering plants, they do not produce leaf-green. ‘They may be described as plants which have lost the power of making their own starch, and have learned, through the cooperation of root-fungi, to take their food in complex form from the decaying remains of other vegetation. Structurally they are not very different from the wintergreens, and so must be classed with them rather than with the fungi, which physiologically they resemble. Winter- greens are not the only kind of flowering plants that have given rise to such types of fungus-like forms. Among the orchids it will be remembered that the coralroots showed the same tendency to take their food “ready-made” rather than to manufacture it independently from carbonic-acid gas and water. Labrador teas. An abundant variety of Minnesota heath growing in bogs, especially through the northern part of the state, is the Labrador tea. It is an evergreen shrub with leaves shaped very much like those of the willow, green upon the upper side and covered with a soft, rust-brown wool below. ‘The margins of the leaves are somewhat curled over toward the under side. ‘The flowers, borne in umbels, are white, and each matures a five-chambered, oblong dry capsule, that splits from the base into five segments. The plant abounds especially in spruce swamps and among tamaracks. It is scarcely ab- sent from a single spruce swamp in the state. A form, known as the narrow-leafed Labrador tea, with much slenderer leaves than the common species, grows along the Pigeon river in 24 354 Minnesota Plant Life. Cook county. From this plant, which 1s fragrant if crushed, the oil known as Ledum oil is manufactured. Menziesias. ‘The Menziesia is a small shrub, three or four feet in height, with obovate deciduous leaves and pretty, nodding umbels of bell-shaped, purplish flowers. The calyx and corolla are generally four-lobed and there are eight stamens, while the fruit is a spherical or ovoid capsule, splitting into four segments. Kalmias. ‘The laurel or Kalmia, occurs in cold peat-bogs as far south as Gull lake. It is a little shrub, usually not more Fic. 169. Kalmia flowers. After Atkinson. than eighteen inches high, with opposite, linear, evergreen, pale green leaves. The flowers, borne in terminal umbels, are purple and broadly bowl-shaped, with five marginal notches and ten stamens. ‘The shape of the flower will serve to distinguish this plant from the rosemary, which somewhat resembles it. On the under side the leaves are white. Moss-plants. ‘The Cassiope or “moss-plant,” is found along the palisades north of Duluth, extending, doubtless, to Grand Portage. It looks like a moss, being densely tufted, evergreen, and only from one to three inches in height. The leaves are very small and crowded, and the flowers are borne singly at the ends of leafless pedicels arising from the tips of branches or Minnesota Plant Life. 355 from the axils of the leaves. The flowers are white and nod- ding, and each matures a spherical capsule with a large number of small seeds. No other plant in Minnesota resembles, in general habit, this tiny shrub. Rosemarys. The rosemary, found in cold peat-bogs through- out the northern part of the state, is a shrub one or two feet in height, with few branches. ‘The leaves are slender, willow- shaped, darker above than those of the Kalmia, but with the same white under sides and incurved margins. ‘The flowers, however, are nodding and vase-shaped, rather than erect, spreading and bowl-shaped, as in the Kalmia. The capsule 1s more nearly spherical than that of the Kalmuia. Trailing arbutus. ‘The trailing arbutus is a rare plant in Minnesota, occurring, however, near Duluth and on the Kettle river and in the valley of the Sie roix. It 4s a pros: trate, trailing, branching shrub, with alternate, ob- long, leathery, evergreen, entire leaves. The blos- soms are pink, borne in clusters toward the ends of the branches. They are sweet-scented and mature into spherical, furry, five-cham- bered capsules. Checkerberries. The checkerberry, an abundant plant in the pine woods throughout the northern part of the state— rarely extending, also, as far south as Lake Pepin—is a little shrub with slender, prostrate or underground stems, from which erect branches arise to a height of from two to six inches. Its leaves are oval, slightly toothed, evergreen and shining, dark above and paler beneath. The flowers nod in the axils of the leaves and are white, broadly vase-shaped, and with five mar- ginal teeth. The fruit is bright red and ofa distinctive agreeable flavor. This plant is also known in Minnesota as wintergreen and partridgeberry. Bearberries. The bearberry, growing best on sandy soil, is abundant through the northern part of the state and extends Fic. 170. Moss-plant. After Britton and Brown. 356 Minnesota Plant Life. south very sparingly to Winona county. It is a little trailing shrub, with leathery entire, evergreen, spoon-shaped leaves and a few small, white, vase-shaped flowers in terminal racemes. The berries are red and rather tasteless. Leatherleafs. The leatherleaf occurs in cold bogs from the north shore of Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods, and south into the valley of the St. Croix. It is a branching shrub, usually about two feet in height. The leaves are evergreen, oblong, ovate in shape, and when young provided with scurfy hairs or scales on both sides. The flowers are produced in large numbers towards the ends of the branches. Each flower nods in the axil of a leaf, is white and urn-shaped and produces a spherical, deeply five-grooved fruit. Blueberries and cranberries. The blueberries and cranber- ries, of which there are about eleven varieties in the state, include some well-known forms. Here are to be classified the bog huckleberry, the dwarf bilberry, the thin-leafed bilberry, the tall bilberry, the tall blueberry, the Canada blueberry, the low blueberry, the mountain cranberry or cowberry, the deer- berry, the small and the large cranberry. Most of these are found only in the northern part the state, especially along the international boundary and the north side of Lake Superior, extending, as so many northern plants do, down the valley of the St. Croix, through which in early days Lake Superior drained into the Mississippi river. Blueberries. The different kinds of blueberries or bilberries are to be discriminated by their foliage and by the flavor of the berries. ‘The one most common is the dwarf or low blueberry, gathered in large quantities for the market. Its fruits are blue with a whitish bloom and are of very pleasant flavor, enjoyed alike by the Indians and the whites. The plant is a low shrub, with pale green leaves, not evergreen. Its flowers are vase-shaped, small, and white or pink. The deerberry, which resembles the blueberry in some re- spects, is considerably larger—three or four feet in height. The berries, shaped like the blueberries, are greenish or vellow and not edible. This variety is also called the squaw huckleberry. The Canada blueberry, found growing in much moister soil than the ordinary form, has smaller berries, of a blue color, with Minnesota Plant Life. 5% a bloom. It may be distinguished by the entire margins of the leaves, quite different from the notched margins of the low blueberry. The bog blueberry has pink flowers and small ovate leaves. (The cowberry may be recognized by the sour red berries and the evergreen leaves. The flowers and fruits are in structure altogether similar to those of the blueberries. Cranberries. The two kinds of cranberries found in the state are both bog plants, with very slender creeping stems, having small thick evergreen leaves apparently disposed in two rows ‘along the branches. In the small cran- berry the berry is almost spherical, while in the large cranberry an oblong org ovoid berry is produced. In the flowers the corolla lobes are turned backward toward the stem. By this character the cranberries can be dis- tinguished from the cow- berry, which has a _ bell- shaped flower. Both spe- cies of cranberry are red or spotted, and acid to the taste. Fic. 171. Smallcranberry. After Britton and Snowberries. The snow- oo berry has a plant-body which reminds one of that of the cran- berries, but the flowers are ovoid vase-shaped, and the fruit is of a pure white color. Like the cranberries, they are found in cold peat-bogs and in tamarack swamps. ‘This plant is partic- ularly abundant in the region about Duluth. Huckleberries. One variety of huckleberry is found between the Kettle river, Cass lake, and the international boundary. The plant-body reminds one of the blueberry, but the fruits are black, without a bloom, sweet to the taste and clustered in erect or nodding racemes. Primroses. The twenty-eighth order comprises three fami- lies of plants, of which only one, the primrose family, is repre- sented in the state. Of primroses there are fourteen or fifteen 358 Minnesota Plant Life. Minnesota species, including two varieties of primrose, one An- drosace, one water-pimpernel, two loosestrifes, the curious little sea-milkwort, the poor man’s weather-glass, and the chaffweeds. Besides, there is a plant known as the starflower and another as the shooting-star, both to be classed in this family. The true primroses are found only along the north shore of Lake Superior. They are small plants, with a tuft of rather long, willow-shaped leaves, from the centre of which a stem arises, bearing at the tip a little umbel of pink flowers. The Androsace is a tiny plant, often not more than an inch in height. It is of about the same size as the little whitlow- grass of the mustard family. The leaves are produced in rosettes. From these slender flowering axes arise, usually more than one, and at the end of each of them is an umbel of small white flowers. This plant may be distinguished from the whit- low-grass by its umbels in place of racemes. It is more com- mon on prairies in the western part of the state. The water-pimpernel grows near springs and in the edges of brooks. It is from six to eighteen inches in height, some- what branched, with membranous oval leaves. ‘The flowers are tiny and bell-shaped, produced numerously in loose racemes. The calyx is blended with the base of the fruit-rudiment and the seeds are very small. The loosestrifes and the false loose- strifes grow for the most part in wet places or in fields, and may be recognized by their bright yellow, primrose-like flow- ers. In some of the varieties the leaves are in whorls, while in others they are opposite. The flowers in some sorts are solitary in the axils of the leaves, but in others they are in terminal racemes or flat-topped clusters. In one kind, the tufted loosestrife, a swamp plant abundant throughout the state, the yellow flowers are grouped in dense racemes which stand in the axils of the opposite, willow-shaped leaves. The starflower grows in deep woods along with the dwarf cornel and the wintergreens. It is a little plant with prostrate rootstock from which a slender stem rises to a height of about six inches or less. ‘wo or three white star-shaped flowers are produced from the tip of this stem and directly under them are from five to ten willow-shaped, slender leaves, all standing in a circle. Minnesota Plant Life. 359 The sea-milkwort is found in some saline marshes in the Red river valley. It is a small, branched herb, with opposite, fleshy leaves, in the axils of which small, stemless, pink or white flow- ers are produced. [Each flower is broadly bell-shaped. The poor man’s weather-glass or scarlet pimpernel is intro- duced from Europe, in some waste fields. It has the opposite leaves and open tubular flowers of its family, but the color of the flowers, which are produced singly on the stems in the axils of the leaves, is scarlet or pink with a darker centre. They open only in the sunshine, hence the common name. The chaffweed, to be met with at the Pipestone quarry in Pipestone county and probably elsewhere on rocks in the Min- nesota valley, selects moist depressions and grows as a little branched, insignificant herb with small, alternate entire leaves, in the axils of which little pink, stemless flowers are produced. The capsule, when it matures, splits by a circular cleft, cutting off its upper portion as a lid, recalling the purslanes. The shooting-star may be recognized at once among all the other flowering plants of the state by the curious position which the petals take in the open flowers. The young flowers are erect, but as they grow older the flower is inverted. When they open the petals turn completely back, so that while the stamens point downward, the petals, which are of a purple or whitish color, have their tips directed upward. When this plant begins to set its fruits, the stems of the flowers straighten again, so that the tips of the young capsules point upward. The petals of the open flower are often twisted, giving to the plant a peculiar and characteristic appearance. Chapter XXXVI. From Ash trees to Verbenas. % The twenty-ninth order includes four families, none of which is native to Minnesota. Here are grouped the persimmon trees of the south, the benzoin gum trees, the gutta-perchas and the butter seeds, and the ebony tree, the hard black wood of which is capable of taking a high polish and is much prized. The thirtieth order includes the ashes, the gentians, the dog- banes and the milkweeds, all represented in the Minnesota flora. There are also two other families without Minnesota represent- atives, in one of which is classified the strychnine plant. The ash family, besides the common ash trees, comprises also the lilac panes the olive trees and the jasmines. Lilac bushes, with their handsome panicles of fragrant tubular flowers, are well known as dooryard shrubs throughout the state. They are not, however, natives of North America. Of ashes there are five species in Minnesota, namely, the white, the red, the green, the blue and the black. Ash trees, botanically considered, are noteworthy as being the highest type of trees native to the state. In all of them the leaves are compound, consisting of several leaflets arranged pinnately upon acommon axis. ‘The fruit in all the varieties has a strong terminal wing, by means of which it is distributed in air cur- rents. The different kinds of ashes may be known by the foliage, the character of the wing on the fruit, and the appear- ance of the young twigs. White ashes. The white ash is a tree, reaching under fa- vorable conditions a height of 120 feet, but not growing so strongly in Minnesota. ‘The bark is dark brown and the wood is heavy, firm and tough, universally employed in the manu- facture of tool handles and agricultural machinery. The leaves are composed usually of seven leaflets, somewhat broadly willow- Minnesota Plant Life. 361 shaped, dark green above and light green and often hairy below. The body of the fruit is cylindrical and the wing is terminal, not at all or but very slightly extended down the sides. Green ashes. The green ash is a smaller tree than the white ash, and its wood is somewhat inferior in quality, though strong. The leaflets are similar to those of the white ash, but rather broader. The fruit is commonly winged down the sides. The twigs and the flower stems are smooth or only very slightly hairy. Red ashes. ‘The red ash is a tree of about the same height as the green ash, not exceeding thirty or forty feet in Minne- sota. The twigs and flower stalks are covered with velvety hairs and the fruit is generally winged down the sides. Blue ashes. The blue ash may be recognized by the four- sided young twigs, the smooth foliage and the leaflets—num- bering from seven to eleven,—slender and of a more willow- shaped outline than in the preceding varieties. The fruit is broader, shorter and heavier in appearance than that of the white ash, and is winged down the sides. Black ashes. ‘The black or elder-leafed ash, unlike the oth- ers, is a swamp tree, occasionally growing also in low, wet woods along streams. ‘There are from seven to eleven leaflets in each leaf, but the twigs are cylindrical, not four angled. Both the blue and the black ash are large trees, sometimes reaching a height of a hundred feet or more. The bark in both varieties is of agray color. The wood of the black ash is heavy but not very strong, and the tree is noticeable for the stemless character of the lateral leaflets, in which respect it differs from all the other ashes. This tree is often affected by an insect which pro- duces large “witches-brooms” or galls. Ash flowers are rarely perfect. Usually they are separated, the staminate flowers blooming on one tree and the pistillate on another, though in other instances both separated and per- fect flowers are found on the same tree. The calyx is small, or it may be altogether wanting. The corolla, too, is some- times lacking. ‘There are usually two stamens inserted below the fruit-rudiment, or on the base of the petals when they are present, and the stigma is two-cleft, so that the fruit-rudiment has two chambers, in each of which a couple of seed-rudiments 362 Minnesota Plant Life. are produced. Only one of the seed-rudiments ripens, so that when the fruit is mature it ordinarily contains but a single seed, supplied with albumen, and inclosing the straight embryo plant- let. The flowers are borne in panicled clusters and are of a greenish color. All five varieties, except the blue ash, are pretty common in Minnesota. The white ash and the green ash are the most abundant. The red ash abounds particularly down the upper Mississippi to the White Earth reservation, and on the Rainy river. The blue ash is found only in the far northern portions of the state along the international boundary and near the sources of the Mis- SiSSIpp1. Gentians. The gentian family includes in Minne- sota about ten species of gentian, one spurred gen- tian, one buck-bean and one floating-heart. The two plants last named are either aquatic or denizens of wet bogs, but the others are terrestrial. The gentians proper are noted for their beautiful blue flowers, blooming late in the year. | Two of the ten varieties are Fic. 172. Yellow gentian. After Britton and known as fringed gentians, ae because the edges of the lobes of the corojla tubes are frayed out into a blue fringe. The larger fringed gentian has opposite, stemless, broad-based leaves. The smaller fringed gentian has leaves slender at the base and narrower, of willow-shaped or linear outline. The other gentians are not fringed. In some the flowers open into little blue bells, but in one, known as the closed gentian, the corolla does not open at all, or only by a small pore. Of those that open, the northern gentian may be recognized by the row of ragged threads which arise just below and in- side the notches of the corolla tube. The leaves are oppo- site and lance-shaped. ‘The stiff gentian and the oblong-leafed Minnesota Plant Life. 363 gentian are very similar, but have not the shredded filaments in a circle within the lobes of the corolla. The oblong-leafed gentian has between each of the five notches of the corolla tube a little ragged, toothed appendage. The plant-body is smooth. ‘The downy gentian is quite similar to the oblong- leafed, but may be known by its solitary stems, while those of the oblong-leafed gentian are clustered. In all the sorts that have been mentioned the stamens are distinct and spreading. In the remaining varieties the stamens bend together and co- here by their tips into a ring around the fruit-rudiment. The soapwort gentian is a form with the flowers of the closed gen- tian and opening but slightly at the tip. The leaves are oppo- site, but in the closed gentian they are in whorls around the clustered flowers. The yellow gentian produces its bell-shaped flowers at the ends of stems or in the axils of upper leaves, quite after the mode of the closed gentian, but they are of a greenish or yellowish white instead of blue. The narrow-leafed gentian somewhat resembles the downy variety, but may be distinguished by the coherence of the stamens ina tube. The leaves are slender and willow-shaped. The red-stemmed gen- tian is like this, with broad-based, lance-shaped leaves. Many of the gentians are found in bogs or in moist meadows. In the autumn of the year, together with Parnassias, they form extensive beds in the low wet meadows along river valleys. The spurred gentian has a spur at the base of each of the corolla lobes, making the flower somewhat of the shape of a colum- bine. They are rather smaller, however, and of a purplish or white color. This plant is found along the north shore of Lake Superior and throughout the northern part of the state to Lake of the Woods. Buck-beans. The buck-bean is a pretty common plant on floating bogs and among the reed-grasses along the shores of lakes. From a thick, scaly rootstock stems arise, bearing leaves in shape somewhat Jike large clover leaves and of a pale green color. The flowers are borne in panicles and are white or purple, decidedly attractive in appearance. This plant is fre- quent in the Chisago lakes and generally throughout the state. In the northern lakes it becomes very abundant and is often 364 Minnesota Plant Life. found growing luxuriantly in great beds almost to the exclu- sion of other vegetation. Floating-hearts. The floating-heart is an odd little water plant with a rootstock that creeps in the mud at the bottom of ponds. ‘There are two sorts of leaves. Those which are submerged are grass-like and clustered around the base of the stems, which are thread-like and sometimes ten feet in length. At the surface of the water there is borne a single broadly heart- shaped floating leaf, a little umbel of yellow flowers, and a clus- ter of curious tubers. No other plant in the Minnesota flora is anything like the floating-heart in appearance. The grouping of a bunch of tubers, an umbel of yellow flowers, and a single, broad heart-shaped floating leaf at the end of a slender stem aris- ing from the bottom of a pond will serve at once to designate it. Dogbanes. Three species of dogbanes exist in the state. One of them is known as Indian hemp. All of them have a milky juice, so that they are often mistaken for milkweeds. They may be recognized, however, by their flowers, which are somewhat bell-shaped and do not have the five singular, horn- like appendages of the petals distinctive of most milkweed- flowers, and connected with the remarkable pollination-con- trivance of that family of plants. One of the dogbanes—more abundant in the northern part of the state—has a spread- ing, generally forked stem, with opposite broad leaves, and, in loose terminal cymes, white flowers which mature slender cylindrical pods. In these are enclosed a large number of seeds with tufted flying-hairs at their ends. The Indian hemp sends up erect branches, but not broadly forked at the summit like those of the spreading dogbanes. The flowers are produced in rather thick clusters at the apex, or arise from the axils of the leaves. Still another variety of dogbane, with clasping leaves, occurs in the southern part of the state. Milkweeds. ‘The milkweeds form a family of plants with pods and seeds like those of the dogbanes, but with most extraordi- nary flowers, gathered in most instances in umbels, and fitted for pollination by insects. ‘These are captured by the flowers, as if inatrap, after which pollen masses shaped like the old-fashioned saddle-bags are attached to their legs. In Minnesota there are a dozen species of ordinary milkweeds and five green milkweeds. Minnesota Plant Life. 365 Each milkweed flower consists of a five-parted calyx, usually small. Within, there appear the five corolla lobes, turned back around the pedicel of the flower when it opens. Next are five curious hood-shaped appendages of the corolla, known as the corona. Inside of each hood is a horn-shaped process, while the stamens fuse together into a tube around the central fruit-rudiment. When an insect visits the flower in search of honey, it catches its legs in grooves between the hoods of the corona, and in attempting to escape must drag its feet over a part of the stamen where a viscid forked body is located, and this with a couple of pollen-masses attached to it is pulled out of the flower. By means ofa bit Ns a Ri of silk thread any one can, with Se Lg proper-care, €xtract the: little eas saddle-bag, thus imitating the work which the flower exacts from its insect visitor. Often bees are not strong enough to jerk their legs free from the cleft in which they are caught, and they may sometimes be seen hanging head-downward from the milkweed flower, de- spondent or dead. The different sorts of milk- weeds in Minnesota may be identified by the shapes of Fic. 173. Swamp milkweed. After Britton their leaves, the colors of their sear flowers and the surfaces of their pods. One milkweed, com- mon on prairies, has bright orange flowers, and this sort. 1s known as the butterfly-weed. Its leaves are alternate and hairy and the pods stand erect and are covered with fine hairs. Another group of milkweeds has the flowers purple and the leaves opposite. Here are classified the purple milkweeds, with stout, smooth stems two feet or more in height and leaves of an elongated, pointed oval shape. They are found in dry fields. The swamp milkweed is similar in appearance, but has smaller clusters of flowers and slenderer willow-shaped leaves, usually quite smooth. It is to be looked for in swamps or 365 Minnesota Plant Life. marshes. The hairy milkweed is similar to the swamp milk- weed and is found in similar stations, but has very hairy leaves. In all varieties the umbels of flowers are crowded toward the top of the plant and are erect, as are the pods. Sullivant’s milkweed and the blunt-leafed miikweed are smooth, pale green plants with stout stems and rather broad, blunt leaves. The capsules in Sullivant’s milkweed are borne on straight erect stems, but in the blunt-leafed milkweed the downy, slender capsules stand on stems curved downward like the letter “5S.” The tall milkweed, or poke milkweed, has lance-shaped leaves and the capsules stand erect upon pedicels which grow diagonally downward. ‘The four-leaved milkweed is recognized by the leaves toward the mid- die of the stem, standing in whorls of four. Two milk- weeds, known as the common milkweed and theshowy milk- weed, are dis- tinguished by Fic. 174. Brookside vegetation. Milkweeds in foreground. After the pods the photograph by Williams. , surfaces son which are covered with short, soft, somewhat elongated tufts or warts. ‘The common milkweed has oblong leaves, while the showy milkweed, named on account of the large purplish-green flowers, has broad, ovate leaves. Both these are very prolific in fields along roadsides and in damp places throughout the state. The oval-leafed milkweed is a plant of the southern and western prairies. It is recognized by its smaller, greenish flowers arranged in few or in solitary umbels toward the tip of the stem. The leaves are rather broadly willow-shaped and cottony on both surfaces. When quite mature the upper sur- faces of the leaves become smooth. The whorled milkweed has very narrow leaves in whorls of from three to seven. The pods are slender, two or three inches long, and smooth. Minnesota Plant Life. 367 The green milkweeds may be distinguished by this character: The hoods of the corona do not inclose spur-like projections. Otherwise the flowers, flower-clusters and pods are very much like those of the true milkweeds. Here are classified the broad- leafed green milkweeds, with lance-shaped or broad willow- shaped leaves; the Florida milkweed, with slender, willow- shaped leaves, difficult to distinguish from the two varieties of the broad-leafed form—in one of which the leaves are really egrass-shaped, while in the other they are lance-shaped. The broad-leafed milkweed and its varieties have, however, sessile umbels of flowers, while the Florida milkweed displays each umbel on a stem of its own. Besides the varieties of green milkweed which have been mentioned, there is another known as the woolly green milkweed. It is characterized by a solitary terminal umbel and woolly or hairy leaves, and is found on prairies. The thirty-first order includes a number of families, most of which are represented in Minnesota. Here are the morning- glory family, to which the morning-glories, sweet potatoes and dodders belong; the phloxes; the waterleafs; the borages; the verbenas; the mints; the nightshades, including the ground- cherries, capsicums, potatoes, tomatoes, tobaccos and petunias ; the figworts, with the snapdragons, mulleins, hyssops and fox- gloves; the bignonias, with the catalpa trees; the broom-rapes, a curious group of parasitic plants; the Gesneras, to which the Gloxinias belong; the bladderworts; the Acanthuses; and the lopseeds. Several families, including some of those mentioned, have no species native to Minnesota. The following, however, present Minnesota forms: ‘The morning-glories, phloxes, wa- ter-leafs, borages, verbenas, mints, nightshades, figworts, broom- rapes, bladderworts and lopseeds. Morning-glories. The morning-glory family is represented in Minnesota by three species of morning-glory or bindweeds and five species of dodder. The morning-glories are recog- nized at once by their familiar funnel-shaped flowers. In two of the varieties the stem is twining or trailing, while in the erect morning-glory it stands independently and does not twine, except sometimes very slightly at the tip. One of the climb- ing morning-glories has arrow-head-shaped leaves and pink 368 Minnesota Plant Life. flowers about two inches long. The other variety has ovate, blunt-pointed leaves, often very large and somewhat heart- shaped at the base. The form with the arrow-head-shaped leaves is much more common and is found trailing over shrub- bery in thickets or in the edges of woods. Dodders. Dodders are very curious parasitic plants, closely related to the morning-glories. They may be considered as twining morning-glories which have acquired the habit of suck- ing up their food from the bodies of the: -plamies upon which they climb os sees consequence of this habit their leaves have been reduced to tiny scales, being no more employed in starch-mak- ing, and_ their stems, no longer green, have be- come yellow or white in color. Dodder often produces great intricate tangles Fic. 175. Dodder in flower; the parasite is seen to be clutching ‘ tightly the stem of its host plant. After Atkinson. of threads, like so much yellow yarn, looping over the herbs or shrubs from the tissues of which they extract their nutriment. Another variety of dodder that erows on the stems of sunflowers, goldenrods and asters, looks like three or four turns of rope around the axis of the host plant. The relationship of the dodders to the morning-glories may be seen in their capsules and seeds which strongly bring to mind the well-known pods of the ordinary cultivated morn- ing-glory. In Minnesota the following varieties of dodder may be distinguished: ‘The field dodder, with sepals of the calyx Minnesota Plant Life. 369 united into a tube, sessile flowers, fringed corolla scales and obtuse calyx lobes, the stems pale yellow and thread-like, with the flowers in little clusters; the smartweed dodder, most abun- dant on smartweeds, similar to the field dodder, but with the thread-like stems of an orange-yellow color and the calyx lobes acute; Choisy’s dodder, developing stemmed flowers with dis- tinct corollas, the lobes of which are curved in over the capsule; the hazel dodder, growing mostly upon hazel bushes, with cap- sules capped by the shriveling corolla; the button-bush dodder, with corolla lobes spreading, not curved over the capsules, and the capsule flattened and globular in form; and Gronovius’ dodder, found, like the button-bush dodder, on a variety of herbs and shrubs, but with pointed capsules. In all these dod- ders the flowers are in rather loose clusters, when compared with the remaining variety, known as the massive dodder. In this species, occurring mostly on goldenrods, asters, sunflowers and other herbs of the composite family, the flowers are borne in very large numbers and very close together, quite concealing the stem. The little dodder flower-clusters, therefore, give the appearance of a coil of rope, turned three or four times around the axis of the host-plant. The stems of all the dodders have sucking organs which are driven through the skins of their host-plants and expose their surfaces in the soft tissues. Through them the juices of the host-plant are absorbed for the benefit of the dodder. This kind of parasitism is derived from the habit of twining orig- inated by those prototypes of the dodders, the morning-glories. It is interesting to notice just how the parasitic habit probably arose in this instance, because, in others, parasitism began in quite different ways. Phloxes. The phlox family includes the Greek valerians, phloxes, Gilias and Collomias. In all the Minnesota varieties the flowers are tubular, with the lobes of the corolla spreading. The fruit-rudiments are three-chambered, maturing into three- chambered capsules. Four sorts of phlox occur in Minnesota: The wild sweet-william, the downy, the blue, and the smooth phlox. They are distinguished by the shapes and textures of their leaves and by the colors of the flowers. 25 370 Minnesota Plant Life. In the blue phlox the flowers are blue and each petal lobe is notched at the end. The other phloxes have pink, white or purple flowers. Of them, the downy phlox is soft, velvety, hairy or downy to the touch. The smooth phlox is quite smooth with pink flowers and the lobes of the corolla are longer than the tube. The wild sweet-william, or common phlox, looks like the smooth phlox, but has flowers in which the lobes of the corolla are considerably shorter than the tube. In all the phloxes the leaves are simple, not lobed. The Polemonium has the flowers of a phlox, blue in color; but the leaves are pinnately compound like those of the ash. It is an herb th ITN TeTs Te about a foot high, with weak ascending stem arising from a short rootstock. The Collomia has flowers of the phlox type, ageregated in clusters at the tips -of the stem. —Theyeane purplish or white, but the leaves are alternate, not oppo- site as in the phloxes: fae little Gilia of the western edge of the state, where it is found on high prairies near Lake Benton, is a tufted plant with flowers in dense heads, each provided with a calyx, the Fic. 176. Virginia water-leaf. After Britton Jobes of which are awl-shaped and Brown. and come up around the co- rolla like five stiff bristles. The leaves are small, pinnate and spiny. Waterleafs. ‘The waterleaf family includes two waterleafs, one Ellisia and two Phacelias. The waterleafs are herbs with large, pinnately cleft leaves and violet or purplish flowers devel- oped in umbels or cymes. They are exceedingly abundant on the level, damp floors of woods along streams through the south- ern part of the state. The Virginia waterleaf has the stamens a good deal longer than the corolla and the stamen-stalks are hairy. The other waterleaf, called the appendaged waterleaf, has stamens but very little longer than the corolla. Another Minnesota Plant Life. 371 way of distinguishing the two varieties is by the calyx which in both is five-notched, but in the appendaged waterleaf a little scale grows out of each of the calyx notches, while this scale is absent in the Virginia waterleaf. The Ellisia is an herb, four inches or so in height, with leaves a couple of inches long, deeply pinnately-lobed, shaped some- what like those of the shepherd’s-purse. The flowers are borne singly on their stems, and are white and bell-shaped. In fruit the calyx enlarges and looks like a small paper star, in the middle of which the globular capsule is attached. The two Phacelias, both very rare plants in Minnesota, have leaves some- what like those of the Elhsia, but with purple or blue flowers in clusters. One sort has them in terminal racemes, on both sides of which the flowers are borne. In the other kind the flowers are all grouped on one side of the raceme. Borages. The borage family includes the comfreys, false gromwells, puccoons, lungworts, forget-me-nots, stickseeds, hound’s-tongues and mudworts. Several of the varieties are introduced from Europe. ‘There are, in all, about twenty-five varieties growing wild within the limits of the state. Borage flowers, in outward appearance, are a good deal like those of the phlox, though often very much smaller. The stamens are borne upon the tube o1 the corolla and the fruit-rudiment, made up of two carpels, is deeply grooved, so that when the fruit matures it has the appearance of four one-seeded nutlets stand- ing close together within the calyx. The leaves are generally alternate. The stems are rarely square, but in almost every in- stance cylindrical. The whole plant-body is commonly hairy, sometimes very much so. Plants with the sort of tubular, flaring- topped flowers, found in the sweet-william, and accustomed to ripen four little hard nutlets from each flower, may pretty safely be put down as borages, unless their stems are square, in which instance they should be looked for in the mint family. Hound’s-tongues. The hound’s-tongue is a weed of waste places and woods, with stems from one to three feet in height. The flowers are blue or reddish-purple and occur in somewhat flat-topped clusters. Another sort of hound’s-tongue, with much slenderer, almost willow-shaped leaves, is an immigrant from Europe. Its flowers are arranged, in most instances, in 372 Minnesota Plant Life. one-sided racemes, and these clusters show a tendency to bend over like a shepherd’s crook. Stickseeds. The stickseeds are very abundant plants in the Minnesota woods. Four or five varieties exist, distinguished by the shapes of their leaves and the character of the flower- clusters. In all of them the four nutlets, which constitute each fruit, separate from each other, and on their backs carry a num- ber of barbed hairs, or thorns, by which they attach themselves to the fur of animals, or to the clothing of man, thus obtaining distribution. Among the various little fruits and seeds which anchor themselves to one’s clothing, in the woods, those of the stickseeds may always be known because they are shaped something like the quarter of an apple and come in groups of four. The tip of each of the thorns along the backs of these nutlets is barbed just like a harpoon, so that when the burs affix themselves to clothing it is difficult to remove them. Of the Minnesota varieties, two are very rare and are known to occur only in the extreme northwestern corner of the state. The others, however, are abundant throughout all portions. Lungworts. ‘The lungworts are also called bluebells, but they are not to be confused with the Canterbury-bells, which belong to quite a different family. They are erect, smooth or downy herbs and have blue, bell-shaped flowers with somewhat narrowed tubes. ‘The flowers are borne in large terminal, hemispherical clusters, sometimes flattened out and loose in appearance. The tall lungwort possesses rough leaves, while the Virginia lungwort has its foliage quite smooth. Forget-me-nots. ‘I'wo sorts of forget-me-nots occur in the state. They are little, low, rough-leaved plants, in one variety with small blue flowers, and in the other with white. ‘They are annual or biennial and produce tufts of leaves near the base, from which the leafy flowering stem arises. The flowers are borne in one or two-sided racemes, often bent over like a shep- herd’s crook. Puccoons. ‘The puccoons are known by their yellow flowers, varying towards orange or white. One of the commonest early spring flowers—the hoary puccoon—is classified here. In this plant, at the end of the stem, six inches or more in height, a little cluster of orange yellow flowers is developed. When it Minnesota Plant Life. 373 fruits, four white, hard, smooth and shining nutlets are pro-— duced, protected by the five-lobed, green and hairy calyx. The yellow puccoon, a form that is abundant on prairies, has trum- pet-shaped flowers of a lemon or bright yellow color. Its leaves are slenderer than those of the hoary puccoon and have not the same white-hairy appearance, though they are rough to the touch. ‘This plant, later in the season, produces much smaller, pale yellow, closed flowers, which, after pollination by their own pollen, mature fruits. The broad-leafed puccoon has ovate or ovate-lanceolate leaves and may be thus distinguished. Its flowers are yellowish-white or yellow. The European puc- coon has yellowish-white flow- ers scattered along the ends of its branches, but it matures the same white hard nutlets that characterize its American relatives. False gromwells. The two species of false gromwell may be known by their extra- \) i ordinarily rough and_ hairy foliage, strong-veined leaves and inconspicuous white or greenish flowers, produced in leafy one-sided racemes. ‘There Fic. 177. Blue verbena. After Britton and Brown. are four nutlets begun in the flowers of the false gromwell, but only one of them is likely to mature, so that if ripened fruiting specimens alone were at hand, it would be difficult, at first sight, to include these plants in the borage family. The nutlets are white and hard, like those of the puccoons. Bonesets. The comfrey or boneset has purple or yellow flow- ers, brown nutlets, lance-shaped leaves, hairy foliage and thick roots. Verbenas. The verbena family includes, in Minnesota, six varieties of wild verbena and one variety of fogfruit, or Lippia. These are all herbs, with, ordinarily, opposité leaves and flowers very much like those of the borages, but collected in spikes or 374 Minnesota Plant Life. heads, and not in one-sided racemes. The fogfruits have two- lipped flowers, and it is doubtful whether any of them actually occur in Minnesota. ‘The fruits of the verbenas, when mature, separate into four nutlets, just as do the fruits of the borages. If there is any question whether a plant is a verbena or a borage it may generally be decided by opening the corolla tube and counting the stamens adherent to its inner surface. If there are four, the plant is a verbena; if there are five, it is a borage. Of course there are a great many other kinds of plants with four stamens, but the combination of four stamens on the corolla tube, flowers in racemes, spikes or heads, and fruits consisting of four nutlets, pretty distinctly indicates a verbena. The six verbenas of Minnesota may be distinguished as follows: One of them is a mat plant, growing in waste fields along roadsides and on prairies. The whole plant-body is prostrate and often spreads out over a circle a yard in diameter. ‘The flowers are purplish-blue and borne in spikes. The leaves are of various shapes, but some of them, at least, are likely to be cut, from the margin toward the midrib, by deep notches. The hoary verbena is recognized by the soft, hairy leaves, of an ovate form, almost stemless, with the edges sharply notched. The blue flowers stand in dense leafy spikes. No other verbena has this soft hairy leaf-surface. The nettle- leafed verbena and the wild blue verbena also have ovate or oblong leaves, but in these varieties each leaf has a distinct stem. The nettle-leafed verbena has usually white flowers or pale blue, while the blue verbena, as its name indicates, produces bright blue flowers. The other two verbenas have different foliage from the erect forms that have been mentioned. The narrow-leafed verbena has very slender, or at most, willow- shaped leaves with blue flowers in slender, dense spikes. The European verbena, with an erect habit, has, at least on the lower part of its stem, leaves deeply toothed to the midrib, like those of the prostrate verbena. The flowers are purple or white, produced in numerous, very slender spikes, three to six inches in length. Chapter XXXVII. From Peppermints to Plantains. 9 The mint family in Minnesota includes about forty species, among which are the pennyroyals, mints, peppermints, bugle- weeds, basils, calamints, horse- mints or bergamots, Blephilias, catnips, anise plants, hyssops, dragon’s-heads, skull-caps, hedge-nettles and dead-net- tles. Mints may be recognized by characters as follows: Their stems are almost always four- sided with opposite leaves and aromatic foliage. The flowers are usually strongly two- lipped, though in some Minne- sota varieties they are nearly regular. The stamens, borne en, the inner surface of the corolla tube, are generally four in number, two of them longer than the other two; but sometimes the short ones become reduced to thread-like appendages. The fruit, as in borages and verbenas, consists of four one-seeded nutlets. It 1s almost always possible to identify a mint by rubbing a little of the foliage between the fingers and noticing the fragrant odor, like Fic. 178. Wild mint. Afte: Brittun and Brown. that of catnip or peppermint. The presence of the scent, even if the flowers are regular instead of two-lipped, will serve to indicate the mint, especially if its stem is four-sided. Wood-sages. Among the mints some varieties may be iden- tified by characters not too minute. The wood-sages and 376 Minnesota Plant Life. false pennyroyals have the fruit-rudiment lobed into four sec- tions, but not fairly divided into four nutlets as in the rest of the mints. The wood-sage is a slender herb from one to two feet tall, and is to be looked for in thickets through the southern part of the state and in the Red river valley. The flowers are distinctly two-lipped. The false pennyroyal is of similar habit, six inches or more in height. The flowers are small, blue, almost regular, and disposed in flat-topped clusters arising from the axils of the leaves. Skullcaps. Of those mints which separate their fruit-rudi- ment into four nutlets, the skullcaps may be known by the curious lit- tle bulging pro- tuberance upon the back of each flower. Skull- caps are, for the most part, small herbs, with leaves of vari- ous shapes, and strongly two- lipped flowers, generally of a ie. 179. Clump of horse-mint (in middle of picture). After blue co Maisre photograph by Williams. Four kinds occur in Minnesota. The rest of the mints may be divided into two series. In one the corollas are two-lipped, and the upper lip is con- cave. Here are included the catnips, the dragon’s-heads, the heal-alls, the false dragon’s-heads, the hedge-nettles and hemp-nettles, in all of which there are four stamens with pollen pouches. ‘Tlie sages, horsemints and Blep/ilias have the same kind of corolla but only two of the stamens produce any pollen pouches. ‘The other series of mints includes those forms in which the corolla tube is nearly regular, or, 1f two-lipped, has the upper lip flat or but very little concave. Here are to be Minnesota Plant Life. B77 grouped the pennyroyals, the basils, the hyssops, the mountain- mints, water-hoarhounds and peppermints, in all of which the flowers are clustered in small dense whorls in the axils of the leaves. Sometimes, when many of these whorls arise close to- gether, near the end of the stem, they become confluent into a spike. Horsemints and dragon’s-heads. Of the various mints several are decidedly handsome plants. The horsemint, for example, with its heads of two-lipped flowers, is an abundant and beau- tiful herb of the woods. ‘There are two sorts in Minnesota, one with a yellowish flower and the other with pinkish or purplish heads. The dragon’s- heads, with their light blue flowers in close clusters and the false dragon’s-heads with rose-colored flowers are inter- esting plants of the northern and central portions of the state. The water-mints, found in great abundance in springs and along the edges of brooks, present a variety of forms, many of which, except by mi- nute characters, are difficult to distinguish from each other. Some mint flowers are very interesting mechanisms for the ite tO Ol miscet se tiie: piles a Yio en Me=fe smite Attet Biattoniaad work of pollination. In the ata sages, for example, the two stamens are hung on levers and rest under the arched upper lip of the flower. When a bee visits the flower it stands upon the lower lip and thrusts its bill down towards the base of the flower, as it does so, striking with its head the short arms of the levers. The two long arms bearing the pollen pouches are thus brought down on the back of the insect like hammers, leaving there a couple of patches of pollen spores, several hundred spores in each patch. After this mechanism of the flower has been set in motion by the visit of a bee, the slender stigma-sta!lk of the pistil drops down 378 Minnesota Plant Life. from the hood where it was resting and takes such a position that its end will be dragged across the back of a bee that sub- sequently visits the flower. In this way bees going from flower to flower commonly carry pollen from one plant to stigmas of another. Mint extracts, as is well known, are of considerable excel- lence for a variety of purposes. They are used in perfumery and confectionery, and in some medical preparations. Many of them are gathered as household remedies. Ground-cherries. ‘The nightshade or tobacco family inciudes about fifteen Minnesota varieties, of which only eight are native. Here are the ground-cherries, plants known also as ground tomatoes, and recognized by the much inflated bladdery calyx, which incloses the little tomato-like berry. The name ground- cherry is given because, in the common species, the berry is about the size of an ordinary cherry. Several different kinds occur in Minnesota. ‘The various sorts may be known by the presence or absence of underground stems, by the smoothness or hairiness of the leaves, and also by the shapes of the leaves, by the color and sizes of the flowers, and by the shape of the calyx in fruit. ‘The most common species in Minnesota are the clammy, the leaves of which are clammy and viscid to the touch; the Virginia, with smooth leaves, sometimes more or less hairy ; the prairie; the long-leafed, and the Philadelphia ground-cherry, all of which have underground rootstocks. Besides, there occur the low, and the cut-leafed, in the first of which the leaves are ovate and entire, while in the second the margins are strongly notched. In neither of these plants is there any underground rootstock and the plants are therefore annual, springing up each year from the seed. Nightshades. Besides the ground-cherries there are three varieties of nightshade—herbs with flowers resembling those of the potato and arranged in cymes. The black or deadly nightshade is an annual, smooth, unpleasant-smelling herb, with entire or slightly notched ovate leaves, and black, spherical, smooth berries, without a bloom, hanging on nodding stems. The cut-leafed nightshade, which in its fruits resembles the or- dinary variety, may be known by the pinnately-lobed leaves and the greenish-black or green colored fruits. The prickly night- Minnesota Plant Life. 379 shade, or potato-bug plant, is covered over with prickles both upon the leaves and upon the stem. [ven the berry is very prickly. This plant, having been introduced from the west, is sometimes found along railway tracks, and it has the unen- viable distinction of being the original food of the potato-bug. From it, a few decades ago, when potato cultivation began to be undertaken in Iowa and Nebraska, this destructive insect migrated to the fields. The climbing nightshade has stems from two to eight feet long. The leaves are heart-shaped, often with two leaflets at the base. ‘The flowers are bluish in appear- ance and like those of the potato or tomato, while the berry is red and as large as the end of one’s thumb. Jimson-weeds. The jimson-weeds, which occur sparingly as introduced forms in the southern part of the state, are tall, unpleasant-smelling herbs, usually three or four feet high. The flowers are large, sometimes two inches broad, shaped rather like morning-glory flowers, but more deeply notched along the edge. The capsule, an inch in length, is prickly and bursts irregularly. Wild tobacco. Wild tobacco is found in the vicinity of In- dian reservations, having escaped from their fields. The flow- ers are petunia-like and the leaves are broadly ovate and smooth along the edge. A many-seeded capsule, splitting longitudi- nally into two halves, forms the fruit. Figworts. Nearly fifty different varieties of figworts are known to occur in Minnesota. Here are classified the mulleins, the toad-flaxes, the turtle-heads, the monkeyflowers and snap- dragons, the talse pimpernel, speedwells, Gerardias, Indian pinks, cow-wheats, louseworts and yellow-rattles. Figworts may be dis- tinguished from mints, for which they might be mistaken, by their generally cylindrical stems and their two-chambered, or rare.y cne-chambered capsular fruits, different in appearance from the deeply four-lobed, or four-nutleted fruits of the mints. Mullein fruits are, in their structure, typical of the figwort family. ‘The flowers, however, are, for the most part, strongly two-lipped, recalling those of the mints, but the aromatic, minty odor is absent. Mulleins. Mulleins—common plants in fields and pastures —are well-known on account of their woolly leaves, which 380 Minnesota Plant Life. have much the feeling of flannel. A careful examination of a mullein leaf will show that its surface is covered with little, much-branched hairs, standing close together like so much miniature shrubbery. In the spring of the year the leaves form dense rosettes at the surface of the ground, and later an erect, tall flowering axis is developed, from two to six feet in height. At the end of this a spike of yellow, almost regu- lar flowers is borne. In each flower there are five stamens. Fic. 181. View in Minnesota lake district. Shows in center two mullein plants in character istic positions. After photograph by Williams. The leaves are alternate. In these characters the mulleins differ from the rest of the figworts, in none of which are there five pollen-bearing stamens, and in most of which there are two-lipped flowers and opposite leaves, though the latter char- acter is by no means universal. Toad-flaxes. ‘The toad-flaxes are recognized at once by their snapdragon-shaped yellow or blue flowers, provided with a spur like that of a larkspur flower. The common toad-flax of roadsides and fields blooms in the summer and autumn. Minnesota Plant Life. , 381 The flowers are yellow and are arranged in a dense raceme at the end of the slender stem, not usually more than a foot in height. The leaves in this variety are linear. ‘The Canada toad-flax, not an abundant plant in Minnesota, resembles the ordinary sort except in the color of its flowers, which are bluish or white. Pileworts, turtle-heads and snapdragons. The figwort or pilewort is a tall herb, often five or six feet high, with a large terminal panicle of small purplish, two-lipped flowers of curious shape. ‘There are five stamens, but only four of them produce pollen sacs. The fifth is reduced to a little scale. The stems are somewhat four-sided, but the plant has the typical figwort capsule,with two chambers, open- ing along the partitions. The turtle-head is a swamp plant, with white or pink flowers, large in size and borne in the axils of the upper leaves, or in terminal spikes. The flower is shaped somewhat like a turtle’s head, hence the common name. The seeds in this variety are provided with wings. The snapdragons, known also as beardtongues, and ’ the monkeyflowers have usually bell-shaped or mouth-shaped Fic. 182.. Monkey flower. After Britten Sowers. Several different kinds sud saw: of beard-tongues occur and they are especially abundant on dry banks or high bluffs in the prairie region of the state. The monkeyflowers, of which there are two sorts, have the flowers on distinct stems in the axils of the leaves. Each flower seems to have an upper and lower jaw, closed together like a mouth. One variety has blue flowers and the other has yellow. Both are found in swamps or along streams,—not, however, in peat-bogs or tamarack swamps, or only very sparingly. Hedge-hyssops. The hedge-hyssops are mint-like in their appearance, but lack the fragrance of the mint. There are two or three varieties, one of which occurs in peat-bogs. The flowers are considerably smaller than those of the turtle-head, 382 Minnesota Plant Life. beardtongue or monkeyflower, but have a strongly two-lipped aspect. ‘There are four stamens, in one variety all pollen-bear- ing, and in the others only two with pollen. Speedwells. The speedwells, of which there are several species, have only two stamens. ‘They are usually provided with capsules of a heart shape, caused by the deep lobing of the typical figwort fruit. Many of them are found in wet places along the muddy shores of ponds or in woods. One of them is a tall herb, often six feet in height, with willow- shaped leaves in whorls of from three to nine, and several dense, spike-like racemes of flowers, the central one of which develops first. The flowers are small, and white or blue. In this variety the capsule is not heart-shaped. The plant is common in the edges of woods. Gerardias. The Gerar- dias, with about ten Minne- sota species, are abundant in various localities, but are most often found among sedges along the shores of lakes or on dry prairies. The flowers are not dis- tinctly two-lipped, but are almost bell-shaped, usually of a pink color,. varying towards violet, purple or yellow. The leaves are commonly lin- ear, or at most lance-shaped. The showy flowers, slender leaves FIG. 183. Tousewort. After Britton and Brown. and capsules of the figwort type, half inclosed in the calyx, or almost surrounded by it, will serve to distinguish these plants. Indian pinks. The Indian pinks, or painted-cups, form their two-lipped flowers in leafy spikes. Many of the leaves in each spike are themselves colored scarlet or yellow, giving to the whole structure a much more ornate appearance than would be produced by the flowers alone. One painted-cup has scarlet leaves; another has yellow leaves, while yet another is supplied with green leaves to accompany the flowers. Minnesota Plant Life. 383 Cow-wheats. The cow-wheats, louseworts, yellow-rattles and eyebrights are remarkable for their partial parasitism upon neighboring plants. If a turf containing one of these varieties is dug up and the earth very carefully removed by washing, it will be found that the rootlets of the figwort attach themselves to those of neighboring plants and in this way extract food material from the bodies of their hosts. Such plants are called root-parasites. The dependent habit of these root-parasites is not, however, so thoroughly fixed that they derive the principal part of their nutriment in such an irregular manner \ They are all of them green plants with well developed leaves. The flowers are two- lipped, have strongly con- vex upper lips, and are of various colors—white in the cow-wheat, yellow in the rattlebox, cream colored in the louseworts, and lilac or purplish in the eyebright. Catalpa trees. One tree related to the figworts, and belonging to the bignonia family, is cultivated in Min- nesota, especially in the southern part of the state. This is the catalpa, a very beautiful tree with large leaves shaped somewhat like those of the linden and handsome purple-mottled, bell-shaped, two-lipped flowers, produced in loose clusters. The pods when full-grown are a foot or more in length, cylindrical and slender. In every pod a large number of winged seeds are matured and the wings stand out on each side of the seed like the wings of a bird. Catalpa seeds have their center of gravity very nicely balanced between the wings, so that they lie flat in the air, and if there is a current of wind they soar in circles like hawks, and are often carried to great distances. Ale Que Fic. 184. Bladderwort. After Britton and Brown. 384 Minnesota Plant Life. Bladderworts. Relatives of the figworts are certain very extraordinary aquatic plants known as bladderworts. In Min- nesota all the forms live in the water, except a little plant called the butterwort, which grows upon rocks along the north shore of Lake Superior. In the tropics, however, a number of blad- derworts grow as perching plants upon tree trunks.. For the most part, true bladderworts have no roots, but extend in the water their much-branched, floating body, from which slender stalks arise, bearing yellow, snapdragon-shaped flowers. The leaves of these plants are decidedly compound and consist of thread-like divisions, upon which are produced, usually in large numbers, little, clear, flattened, shrimp-shaped bladders. Each bladder contains generally a bubble of gas along with some liquid, and by aid of the bubbles the plants are enabled to float free in the water. Being surrounded by liquid, they have little need of roots, and have therefore abandoned them. The blad- ders are not, however, employed solely as floats, but each one has an aperture, guarded by a trapdoor, which opens inward but not outward. Small aquatic insects find their way into these bladders, but cannot escape, since the door of the bladder cannot be opened from within. Digestive glands are present on the inner surface of the bladders, and the bodies of the little animals are used by the plant as part of its nutriment. Blad- derwort stems resemble somewhat those of the water-milfoils, but the latter are not free floating plants and are attached to the bottom, nor have they the remarkable shrimp-shaped blad- ders on their leaves. Bladderworts in flower are immediately recognized, for no other free-swimming plants produce two- lipped flowers. Each corolla is provided with a spur like that of the toad-flax flower and is visited by insects which effect pollination. ‘The fruiting capsule is like that of the figworts, with numerous small seeds. In Minnesota there occur five va- rieties of bladderworts—to be discriminated by minute differ- ences in the flowers, leaves and bladders. Butterworts. A close cousin to the bladderworts 1s a curi- ous little plant known as the butterwort. It grows in the crevices of rocks along the north shore of Lake Superior, reach- ing in such stations a height of three or four inches. The leaves are oblong, clustered at the base of an erect axis that Minnesota Plant Life. 385 bears a single nodding, two-lipped violet flower. Each leaf has a greasy feeling and is provided with a viscid secretion in which insects are caught. In the greasy substance digestive ferments are elaborated, and by means of these the bodies of the insects are converted into food for the plant. Through the rennet-like ferments secreted by their leaves butterworts, Fic. 185. Cancerroot. After Jellett in AZeehan’s Monthly. if placed in it, will curdle milk. They are actually thus em- ployed in the domestic cheese-making of Lapland and north- ern Scandinavia. Cancerroots. The broom-rapes, including plants known as cancerroots, beechdrops and squawroots, are represented in Minnesota by three, and probably more species. They may be regarded as derived from the cow-wheats and louseworts, 26 386 Minnesota Plant Life. just as were the dodders from the morning-glories. They are strongly parasitic by their roots and have lost their green color, becoming whitish or pale like the Indian-pipes or corpse-plants. They have not, however, the dead white color of the corpse- plant, and their flowers are bent in the middle and are, in one variety, slightly two-lipped, and in the other two, strongly. The one-flowered cancerroot sends up several slender, erect stems, from three to eight inches high, at the end of each of which a single whitish-violet flower is borne. A few little scales of a pale color appear at the base of the flowering axis. The stem of the plant is subterranean and sends out a number of roots which attach themselves to the j roots of neighboring plants. The clustered cancerroot pushes its main stem out of the ground from two to fourinches. On this several single-flowered axes are developed. The flowers in both varieties are about an inch in length. A third species, the Louisiana broom-rape, may be recognized by the production of numerous short-stemmed flowers in a terminal spike, upon which also several scaly leaves arise. The whole plant stands up from four to eight inches in height. The flowers are purplish, and the stems and scales are of a pale, Fic. 186. Rugel’s plantain. After Brit- ton and Brown. yellowish-green color. Lopseeds. ‘The lopseed family is represented in Minnesota by its only species, a plant with the general aspect of a nettle, but bearing two-lipped flowers in slender spikes from three to six inches long towards the tip of the plant. After the flowers have been pollinated they turn downward and lie flat against the axis upon which they were borne, giving a curious barbed appearance to the spike. From this habit the name ‘‘lopseed” is given. Plantains. ‘The thirty-second order includes but a single family, that of the plantains, one variety of which’ is a common Minnesota Plant Life. 387 and troublesome weed in lawns throughout the state. The stems of the plantains are very short, situated underground, commonly in an erect position.