This curious flower is 2-lipped; the upper lip is arched, and folded together with a slight notch in the middle of its margin, the lower lip is 3-lobed; the throat is compressed and filled within by woolly hairs. In texture the corolla is smooth and leathery; in color it is dull white, or sometimes tinged faintly with pink. Under the arched upper lip the tips of the dark, wool-covered stamens show. The calyx, formed of 5, distinct, oval, pale green parts, is surrounded by broader leafy bracts. The flowers grow in short, crowded, terminal clusters. The resemblance to the turtle or snake is most apparent in the bud where the reptile-like mouth is quite pronounced. The plant lurks among the sedges of swampy lands, and is generally unattractive, for its foliage is almost always so eaten by insects that a perfect leaf is rarely to be found. [Illustration: TURTLE-HEAD: Chelone glabra.] BROOM-RAPE FAMILY. OROBANCHACEÆ. *Beech-drops.* _Epiphegus Virginiana._ Found growing from the roots of beech trees, in August, through October. The tough, branching stalk, from 6 to 12 inches high, is brown, inclining to reddish. There are no leaves, and only a few dry, and unnoticeable scales occur occasionally on the stalk. The flowers are of two kinds, the upper sterile ones have long, small, 4-notched tubes, and are dull purplish and yellowish-brown in color; the lower seed-bearing flowers appear always as small buds. They are set on short foot-stems, and are irregularly scattered along the branches. This is a parasite, drawing its life from the root of the beech; where it looks like a dry or dead twig sticking up from the ground. It emits a most unpleasant odor. [Illustration: BEECH-DROPS: Epiphegus Virginiana.] VERVAIN FAMILY. VERBENACEÆ. *Blue Vervain.* _Verbena hastata._ Found in dry grounds, waysides and fields, in July and August. The large stalk, from 4 to 6 feet in height, is 4-angled and grooved down the sides; it is stout, roughish, and green. The short-stemmed leaf is long, narrow, and tapering, with a sharply toothed margin, a strongly curved midrib, and a coarse texture, with a roughish surface; in color dark green. The lower leaves are more or less 3-cleft. The arrangement is opposite. The small tubular corolla is 5-parted, and colored a rich dark blue-purple; the green of the calyx is also tinged with purple. The flowers grow in slender spires, which are grouped in an open pyramidal cluster on the top of the stalk.