Rose Family (Rosaceæ)
(A) Meadowsweet (Spiræa salicifolia) is a common and beautiful shrub that grows along the edges of woods, swamps, or even roadsides. Its handsome pyramidal clusters of flowers are in evidence during July and August. The stem is straight, slender, woody, and yellowish buff; along it, at close intervals, alternate the lanceolate, toothed, short-stemmed leaves. At the top is a spire-like panicle of fleecy flower clusters. Each flower has five round, white petals and numerous long, pink stamens that give the flowers a feathery appearance and a rosy tint. It ranges from N. Y. to Mo. and southward.
(B) Hardhack; Steeplebush (Spiræa tomentosa) is one of our most beautiful flowering shrubs. The flower spike is more slender and steeple-like than that of Meadowsweet, and the flowers are a beautiful shade of pink. The leaves are more closely alternated and are dark green above and lighter below. Steeplebush grows in low ground from N. B. to Minn. and southward.
(A) Wild Strawberry (Fragraria virginiana). The hairy stems of both leaves and flowers rise directly from the running rootstalk. The flowers, several of which grow on each stem, are wheel-shaped, have five rounded white petals, and narrow lanceolate greenish sepals. After the flowering season, the green center expands, becomes pulpy, and finally turns red on the outer surface; the numerous seeds are in little pits provided for them on the surface of the berry.
The Wild Strawberry is common in fields and pastures throughout our range.
(B) High Bush Blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) is a tall branching shrub with slender brown stems, from three to ten feet long, armed with stout, slightly recurved prickles. It is from this species that the well-known variety was developed. The leaves are divided into three to five ovate, pointed, toothed leaflets, with a ribbed and hairy surface. The flowers have five green sepals alternating with the narrow white petals. This species is very common everywhere.
(A) Common Cinquefoil; Five-finger (Potentilla canadensis). This species is the most common of the Five-fingers. It is often mistaken for the Wild Strawberry, because of a similarity between the leaves of the two species, although those of this species have five divisions while those of the Strawberry have but three. The flowers are shaped like those of the Strawberry, but have bright-yellow petals. It is very common in the United States and southern Canada.
(B) Silvery Cinquefoil (Potentilla argentea) is a common and very handsome species found in dry, barren ground throughout our range, but most abundantly near the coast. It is smaller than the preceding, being from 5 to 12 in. high. The little yellow flowers are clustered at the ends of the branches. The stems and the undersides of the divided and deeply cut leaves are covered with fine, white, silvery wool, contrasting sharply with the dark green of the upper surfaces. This species bloom from May until September.
(A) Agrimony (Agrimonia gryposepala) is a common weed found on the borders of swamps or thickets. It has a tall, hairy, simple stem from two to four feet high.
The flowers are in a long, many-flowered spike at the top of the stalk. Each flower is tiny, has five yellow petals, and numerous orange stamens, giving the spike a bright, golden-yellow appearance. It is a common plant from N. B. to N. C. and westward to Cal.
(B) Marsh Five-finger; Purple Cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris) is in character quite like the foregoing species. It is the only one, however, having purple flowers, and is easily recognized on that account. The flowers are nearly an inch broad, larger than those of the other Cinquefoils.
The stem grows from 6 to 20 inches long and is rather woody at the base. Purple Cinquefoil grows in swamps or cool bogs, from Labrador to Alaska and south to N. J., Pa., Ia., and Cal., flowering during July and August.
(A) Creeping Dalibarda (Dalibarda repens) is a delicate woodland plant, found from N. B. to Manitoba and south to N. J., Ohio, and Mich. It has creeping, densely tufted rootstalks, from which spring numerous heart-shaped leaves on long petioles; these leaves, their stems, and the flower stalks are downy, the former being scallop-edged or toothed.
Dalibarda has two kinds of flowers: The first on long, upright scapes spread about half an inch, have five oval white petals and many stamens. The second are cleistogamous ones (fertilized in the bud) on short curving peduncles from the root. These last flowers are fertile, while many of those with petals are not. Dalibarda blooms from June to September in rich woods.
(B) Yellow Avens (Geum strictum) grows in moist locations in swamps or thickets. The texture of the whole plant, leaves and stems, is rough and coarse. The root leaves are interruptedly pinnate, the segments being wedge-shaped and toothed. The flowers have quite large golden-yellow petals and a downy receptacle. This species is common from Newfoundland to Manitoba and south to N. C. and Mo.
Swamp Rose (Rosa carolina). Wild Roses are very common throughout our range and, of course, are familiar to every one. The Swamp Rose is a very bushy species, growing from one to nine feet high. It is very common on the edges of swamps or streams, and in low ground, throughout our range.
The flowers are two or three inches broad and have numerous yellow stamens radiating from the greenish-white centre. The stem of the Swamp Rose is sparingly armed with stout, wide-based, curved thorns.
Pasture Rose (Rosa humulis) is the most abundant of all our Wild Roses and grows in profusion in all dry, rocky places. It does not grow as high as the Swamp Rose, rarely exceeding three feet in height, but the slender stems are more branching and often grow in large, tangled masses. The flowers are about the same size as those of the Swamp Rose, but are usually solitary at the ends of the branches.
The stem is armed with straight, slender, light brown thorns or prickles, two of which are set oppositely on the stem at its junctions with the leaf stems.
Sweetbrier; Eglantine (Rosa rubiginosa) is a very beautiful species of Wild Rose introduced from Europe. We may find it blooming quite commonly in dry, rocky pastures and waste places during June and July. It is remarkable for and easily identified by the sweet-scented aromatic fragrance of its leaves. The stems are long and arching, growing from 2 to 6 feet in height; they are brown and are armed at frequent intervals with short, decidedly recurved thorns or prickles.
At regular intervals along the stem are close-set, compact clusters of flowers and leaves. The leaves are made up of five or seven very small leaflets, rounded-ovate in form and with the edge finely double-toothed, and covered beneath with fine, sticky, glandular hairs. The flowers are also quite small, especially when compared to the very common Pasture and Swamp Roses, being only from 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Eglantine is found from Nova Scotia to Michigan and southward to Virginia and Tenn.