WOOD BETONY LOUSEWORT BEEFSTEAK PLANT HIGH HEALALL
{Pedicularis Canadensis) Figwort family
Flowers - Greenish yellow and purplish red, in a short dense
spike. Calyx oblique, tubular, cleft on lower side, and with 2 or
3 scallops on upper; corolla about 3/4 in. long, 2-lipped, the
upper lip arched, concave, the
lower 3-lobed; 4 stamens in pairs;
1 pistil. Stems: Clustered, simple, hairy, 6 to 18 in. high.
Leaves: Mostly tufted, oblong lance-shaped in outline, and
pinnately lobed.
Preferred Habitat - Dry, open woods and thickets.
Flowering Season - April-June.
Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Manitoba,
Colorado, and Kansas.
When the Italians wish to extol someone they say, "He has more
virtues than betony," alluding, of course, to the European
species, Betonica officinalis, a plant that was worn about the
neck and cultivated in cemeteries during the Middle Ages as a
charm against evil spirits; and prepared into plasters,
ointments, syrups, and oils, was supposed to cure every ill that
flesh is heir to. Our commonest American species fulfils its
mission in beautifying roadside banks and dry, open woods and
copses with thick, short spikes of bright flowers, that rise
above large rosettes of coarse, hairy, fern-like foliage. At
first, these flowers, beloved of bumblebees, are all greenish
yellow; but as the spike lengthens with increased bloom, the
arched, upper lip of the blossom becomes dark purplish red, the
lower one remains pale yellow, and the throat turns reddish,
while some of the beefsteak color often creeps into stems and
leaves as well.
Farmers once believed that after their sheep fed on the foliage
of this group of plants a skin disease, produced by a certain
tiny louse (pediculus), would attack them - hence our innocent
betony's repellent name.
Previous: SCARLET PAINTED CUP INDIAN PAINTBRUSH
Next: BEECHDROPS
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