diff options
Diffstat (limited to '3003.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 3003.txt | 19460 |
1 files changed, 19460 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/3003.txt b/3003.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fc2650 --- /dev/null +++ b/3003.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19460 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Wild Flowers, by Neltje Blanchan + +Also published as "Nature's Garden" + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655 + + +Title: Wild Flowers, An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and + Their Insect Visitors + +Title: Nature's Garden + +Author: Neltje Blanchan + +Release Date: January, 2002 [Etext #3003] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] + +Edition: 10 + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Wild Flowers, by Neltje Blanchan +*****This file should be named 3003.txt or 3003.zip****** + +Etext prepared by Gerry Rising. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +https://gutenberg.org +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01 +or +ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01 + +Or /etext00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +Something is needed to create a future for Project Gutenberg for +the next 100 years. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and will be tax deductible to the extent +permitted by law. + +Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655 [USA] + +We are working with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation to build more stable support and ensure the +future of Project Gutenberg. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +You can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp metalab.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext01, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Gerry Rising. + + + + + +WILD FLOWERS. +An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors + +By Neltje Blanchan + + + + +PREFACE + +Surely a foreword of explanation is called for from one who has +the temerity to offer a surfeited public still another book on +wild flowers. Inasmuch as science has proved that almost every +blossom in the world is everything it is because of its necessity +to attract insect friends or to repel its foes - its form, +mechanism, color, markings, odor, time of opening and closing, +and its season of blooming being the result of natural selection +by that special insect upon which each depends more or less +absolutely for help in perpetuating its species - it seems fully +time that the vitally important and interesting relationship +existing between our common wild flowers and their winged +benefactors should be presented in a popular book. + +Is it enough to know merely the name of the flower you meet in +the meadow? The blossom has an inner meaning, hopes and fears +that inspire its brief existence, a scheme of salvation for its +species in the struggle for survival that it has been slowly +perfecting with some insect's help through the ages. It is not a +passive thing to be admired by human eyes, nor does it waste its +sweetness on the desert air. It is a sentient being, impelled to +act intelligently through the same strong desires that animate +us, and endowed with certain powers differing only in degree, but +not in kind, from those of the animal creation. Desire ever +creates form. + +Do you doubt it? Then study the mechanism of one of our common +orchids or milkweeds that are adjusted with such marvelous +delicacy to the length of a bee's tongue or of a butterfly's leg; +learn why so many flowers have sticky calices or protective +hairs; why the skunk cabbage, purple trillium, and carrion flower +emit a fetid odor while other flowers, especially the white or +pale yellow night bloomers, charm with their delicious breath; +see if you cannot discover why the immigrant daisy already +whitens our fields with descendants as numerous as the sands of +the seashore, whereas you may tramp a whole day without finding a +single native ladies' slipper. What of the sundew that not only +catches insects, but secretes gastric juice to digest them? What +of the bladderwort, in whose inflated traps tiny crustaceans are +imprisoned, or the pitcher plant, that makes soup of its guests? +Why are gnats and flies seen about certain flowers, bees, +butterflies, moths or humming birds about others, each visitor +choosing the restaurant most to his liking? With what infinite +pains the wants of each guest are catered to! How relentlessly +are pilferers punished! The endless devices of the more ambitious +flowers to save their species from degeneracy by close inbreeding +through fertilization with their own pollen, alone prove the +operation of Mind through them. How plants travel, how they send +seeds abroad in the world to found new colonies, might be studied +with profit by Anglo-Saxon expansionists. Do vice and virtue +exist side by side in the vegetable world also? Yes, and every +sinner is branded as surely as was Cain. The dodder, Indian pipe, +broomrape and beech-drops wear the floral equivalent of the +striped suit and the shaved head. Although claiming most +respectable and exalted kinsfolk, they are degenerates not far +above the fungi. In short, this is a universe that we live in; +and all that share the One Life are one in essence, for natural +law is spiritual law. "Through Nature to God," flowers show a way +to the scientist lacking faith. + +Although it has been stated by evolutionists for many years that +in order to know the flowers, their insect relationships must +first be understood, it is believed that "Nature's Garden" is the +first American work to explain them in any considerable number of +species. Dr. Asa Gray, William Hamilton Gibson, Clarence Moores +Weed, and Miss Maud Going in their delightful books or lectures +have shown the interdependence of a score or more of different +blossoms and their insect visitors. Hidden away in the +proceedings of scientific societies' technical papers are the +invaluable observations of such men as Dr. William Trelease of +Wisconsin and Professor Charles Robertson of Illinois. To the +latter especially, I am glad to acknowledge my indebtedness. +Sprengel, Darwin, Muller, Delpino, and Lubbock, among others, +have given the world classical volumes on European flora only, +but showing a vast array of facts which the theory of adaptation +to insects alone correlates and explains. That the results of +illumining researches should be so slow in enlightening the +popular mind can be due only to the technical, scientific +language used in setting them forth, language as foreign to the +average reader as Chinese, and not to be deciphered by the +average student either, without the help of a glossary. These +writings, as well as the vast array of popular books - too many +for individual mention - have been freely consulted after studies +made afield. + +To Sprengel belongs the glory of first exalting flowers above the +level of botanical specimens. After studying the wild geranium he +became convinced, as he wrote in 1787, that "the wise Author of +Nature has not made even a single hair without a definite design. +A hundred years before, one, Nehemias Grew, had said that it was +necessary for pollen to reach the stigma of a flower in order +that it might set fertile seed, and Linnaeus bad to come to his +rescue with conclusive evidence to convince a doubting world that +he was right. Sprengel made the next step forward, but his +writings lay neglected over seventy years because he advanced the +then incredible and only partially true statement that a flower +is fertilized by insects which carry its pollen from its anthers +to its stigma. In spite of his discoveries that the hairs within +the wild geranium protect its nectar from rain for the insect +benefactor's benefit; that most flowers which secrete nectar have +what he termed "honey guides" - spots of bright color, heavy +veining, or some such pathfinder for the visitor on the petals; +that sometimes the male flowers, the staminate ones, are +separated from the seed-bearing or pistillate ones on distinct +plants, he left it to Darwin to show that cross-fertilization by +insects, the transfer of pollen from one blossom to another - not +from anthers to stigma of the same flower - is the great end to +which so much marvelous floral mechanism is adapted. The wind is +a wasteful, uncertain pollen distributor. Insects transfer it +more economically, especially the more highly organized and +industrious ones. In a few instances hummingbirds, as well, +unwittingly do the flower's bidding while they feast now here, +now there. In spite of Sprengel's most patient and scientific +research, that shed great light on the theory of natural +selection a half century before Darwin advanced it, he never knew +that flowers are nearly always sterile to pollen of another +species when carried to them on the bodies of insect visitors, or +that cross-pollenized blossoms defeat the self-pollinated ones in +the struggle for survival. These facts Darwin proved in endless +experiments. + +Because bees depend absolutely upon flowers, not only for their +own food but for that of future generations for whom they labor; +because they are the most diligent of all visitors, and are +rarely diverted from one species of flower to another while on +their rounds collecting, as they must, both nectar and pollen, it +follows they are the most important fertilizing agents. It is +estimated that, should they perish, more than half the flowers in +the world would be exterminated with them! Australian farmers +imported clover from Europe, and although they had luxuriant +fields of it, no seed was set for next year's planting, because +they had failed to import the bumblebee. After his arrival, their +loss was speedily made good. + +Ages before men cultivated gardens, they had tiny helpers they +knew not of. Gardeners win all the glory of producing a Lawson +pink or a new chrysanthemum; but only for a few seasons do they +select, hybridize, according to their own rules of taste. They +take up the work where insects left it off after countless +centuries of toil. Thus it is to the night-flying moth, long of +tongue, keen of scent, that we are indebted for the deep, white, +fragrant Easter lily, for example, and not to the florist; albeit +the moth is in his turn indebted to the lily for the length of +his tongue and his keen nerves: neither could have advanced +without the other. What long vistas through the ages of creation +does not this interdependence of flowers and insects open! + +Over five hundred flowers in this book have been classified +according to color, because it is believed that the novice, with +no knowledge of botany whatever, can most readily identify the +specimen found afield by this method, which has the added +advantage of being the simple one adopted by the higher insects +ages before books were written. Technicalities have been avoided +in the text wherever possible, not to discourage the beginner +from entering upon one of the most enjoyable and elevating +branches of Nature study. The scientific names and classification +follow that method adopted by the International Botanical +Congress which has now superseded all others; nevertheless the +titles employed by Gray, with which older botanists in this +country are familiar, are also indicated where they differ from +the new nomenclature. + +NELTJE BLANCHAN, New York, March, 1900 + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +Preface +List of Illustrations +Blue to Purple Flowers +Magenta to Pink Flowers +White and Greenish Flowers +Yellow and Orange Flowers +Red and Indefinites +Appendices: + Fragrant Flowers or Leaves + Unpleasantly Scented + Plants and Shrubs Conspicuous in Fruit + Plant Families Represented + + +"Let us content ourselves no longer with being mere 'botanists' - +historians of structural facts. The flowers are not mere comely +or curious vegetable creations, with colors, odors, petals, +stamens and innumerable technical attributes. The wonted insight +alike of scientist, philosopher, theologian, and dreamer is now +repudiated in the new revelation. Beauty is not 'its own excuse +for being,' nor was fragrance ever 'wasted on the desert air.' +The seer has at last heard and interpreted the voice in the +wilderness. The flower is no longer a simple passive victim in +the busy bee's sweet pillage, but rather a conscious being, with +hopes, aspirations and companionships. The insect is its +counterpart. Its fragrance is but a perfumed whisper of welcome, +its color is as the wooing blush and rosy lip, its portals are +decked for his coming, and its sweet hospitalities humored to his +tarrying; and as it speeds its parting affinity, rests content +that its life's consummation has been fulfilled." - William +Hamilton Gibson. + + +"I often think, when working over my plants, of what Linnaeus +once said of the unfolding of a blossom: 'I saw God in His glory +passing near me, and bowed my head in worship.' The scientific +aspect of the same thought has been put into words by Tennyson: + + 'Flower in the crannied wall + I pluck you out of the crannies, + I hold you here, root and all in my hand + Little flower, - but if I could understand + What you are, root and all, and all in all, + I should know what God and man is.' + +No deeper thought was ever uttered by poet. For in this world of +plants, which, with its magician, chlorophyll, conjuring with +sunbeams, is ceaselessly at work bringing life out of death, - in +this quiet vegetable world we may find the elementary principles +of all life in almost visible operation." - JOHN FISKE in +"Through Nature to God." + + + +FROM BLUE TO PURPLE FLOWERS + +"If blue is the favorite color of bees, and if bees have so much +to do with the origin of flowers, how is it that there are so few +blue ones? I believe the explanation to be that all blue flowers +have descended from ancestors in which the flowers were green; +or, to speak more precisely, in which the leaves surrounding the +stamens and pistil were green; and that they have passed through +stages of white or yellow, and generally red, before becoming +blue." - Sir John Lubbock in "Ants, Bees, and Wasps." + + +VIRGINIA or COMMON DAY-FLOWER + (Commelina Virginica) Spiderwort family + +Flowers - Blue, 1 in. broad or less, irregular, grouped at end of +stem, and upheld by long leaf-like bracts. Calyx of 3 unequal +sepals; 3 petals, 1 inconspicuous, 2 showy, rounded. Perfect +stamens 3; the anther of 1 incurved stamen largest; 3 +insignificant and sterile stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: Fleshy, +smooth, branched, mucilaginous. Leaves: Lance-shaped, 3 to 5 in. +long, sheathing the stem at base; upper leaves in a spathe-like +bract folding like a hood about flowers. Fruit: A 3-celled +capsule, seed in each cell. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, shady ground. +Flowering Season - June - September. +Distribution - Southern New York to Illinois and Michigan, +Nebraska, Texas, and through tropical America to Paraguay. - +Britton and Browne. + +Delightful Linnaeus, who dearly loved his little joke, himself +confesses to have named the day-flowers after three brothers +Commelyn, Dutch botanists, because two of them - commemorated in +the two showy blue petals of the blossom - published their works; +the third, lacking application and ambition, amounted to nothing, +like the inconspicuous whitish third petal! Happily Kaspar +Commelyn died in 1731, before the joke was perpetrated in +"Species Plantarum." + +In the morning we find the day-flower open and alert-looking, +owing to the sharp, erect bracts that give it support; after +noon, or as soon as it has been fertilized by the female bees, +that are its chief benefactors while collecting its abundant +pollen, the lovely petals roll up, never to open again, and +quickly wilt into a wet, shapeless mass, which, if we touch it, +leaves a sticky blue fluid on our finger-tips. + +The SLENDER DAY-FLOWER (C. erecta), the next of kin, a more +fragile-looking, smaller-flowered, and narrower-leafed species, +blooms from August to October, from Pennsylvania southward to +tropical America and westward to Texas. + + +SPIDERWORT; WIDOW'S or JOB'S TEARS + (Tradescantia Virginiana) Spiderwort family + +Flowers - Purplish blue, rarely white, showy, ephemeral, 1 to 2 +in. broad; usually several flowers, but more drooping buds, +clustered and seated between long blade-like bracts at end of +stern. Calyx of 3 sepals, much longer than capsule. Corolla of 3 +regular petals; 6 fertile stamens, bearded; anthers orange; 1 +pistil. Stem: 8 in. to 3 ft. tall, fleshy, erect, mucilaginous, +leafy. Leaves: Opposite, long, blade-like, keeled, clasping, or +sheathing stem at base. Fruit: 3-celled capsule. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods, thickets, gardens. +Flowering Season - May-August. +Distribution - New York and Virginia westward to South Dakota and +Arkansas. + +As so very many of our blue flowers are merely naturalized +immigrants from Europe, it is well to know we have sent to +England at least one native that was considered fit to adorn the +grounds of Hampton Court. John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I, +for whom the plant and its kin were named, had seeds sent him by +a relative in the Virginia colony; and before long the deep azure +blossoms with their golden anthers were seen in gardens on both +sides of the Atlantic - another one of the many instances where +the possibilities of our wild flowers under cultivation had to be +first pointed out to us by Europeans. + +Like its relative the dayflower, the spiderwort opens for part of +a day only. In the morning it is wide awake and pert; early in +the afternoon its petals have begun to retreat within the calyx, +until presently they become "dissolved in tears," like Job or the +traditional widow. What was flower only a few hours ago is now a +fluid jelly that trickles at the touch. Tomorrow fresh buds will +open, and a continuous succession of bloom may be relied upon for +a long season. Since its stigma is widely separated from the +anthers and surpasses them, it is probable the flower cannot +fertilize itself, but is wholly dependent on the female bees and +other insects that come to it for pollen. Note the hairs on the +stamens provided as footholds for the bees. + +The plant is a cousin of the "Wandering Jew" (T. repens), so +commonly grown either in water or earth in American +sitting-rooms. In a shady lane within New York city limits, where +a few stems were thrown out one spring about five years ago, the +entire bank is now covered with the vine, that has rooted by its +hairy joints, and, in spite of frosts and blizzards, continues to +bear its true-blue flowers throughout the summer. + + +PICKEREL WEED + (Pontederia cordata) Pickerel-weed family + +Flowers - Bright purplish blue, including filaments, anthers, and +style; crowded in a dense spike; quickly fading; unpleasantly +odorous. Perianth tubular, 2-lipped, parted into 6 irregular +lobes, free from ovary; middle lobe of upper lip with 2 yellow +spots at base within. Stamens 6, placed at unequal distances on +tube, 3 opposite each lip. Pistil 1, the stigma minutely toothed. +Stem: Erect, stout, fleshy, to 4 ft. tall, not often over 2 ft. +above water line. Leaves: Several bract-like, sheathing stem at +base; leaf only, midway on flower-stalk, thick, polished, +triangular, or arrow-shaped, 4 to 8 in. long, 2 to 6 in. across +base. +Preferred Habitat - Shallow water of ponds and streams. +Flowering Season - June-October. +Distribution - Eastern half of United States and Canada. + +Grace of habit and the bright beauty of its long blue spikes of +ragged flowers above rich, glossy leaves give a charm to this +vigorous wader. Backwoodsmen will tell you that pickerels lay +their eggs among the leaves; but so they do among the sedges, +arums, wild rice, and various aquatic plants, like many another +fish. Bees and flies, that congregate about the blossoms to feed, +may sometimes fly too low, and so give a plausible reason for the +pickerel's choice of haunt. Each blossom lasts but a single day; +the upper portion, withering, leaves the base of the perianth to +harden about the ovary and protect the solitary seed. But as the +gradually lengthened spike keeps up an uninterrupted succession +of bloom for months, more than ample provision is made for the +perpetuation of the race - a necessity to any plant that refuses +to thrive unless it stands in water. Ponds and streams have an +unpleasant habit of drying up in summer, and often the pickerel +weed looks as brown as a bulrush where it is stranded in the +baked mud in August. When seed falls on such ground, if indeed it +germinates at all, the young plant naturally withers away. + +In the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Mr. W. H. Leggett, +who made a careful study of the flower, tells that three forms +occur, not on the same, but on different plants, being even more +distinctly trimorphic than the purple Loosestrife. As these +flowers set no seed without insects' aid, the provisions made to +secure the greatest benefit from their visits are marvelous. Of +the three kinds of blossoms, one raises its stigma on a long +style reaching to the top of the flower; a second form lifts its +stigma only halfway up, and the third keeps its stigma in the +bottom of the tube. Now, there are two sets of stamens, three in +each set bearing pollen grains of different size and value. +Whenever the stigma is high, the two sets of stamens keep out of +its way by occupying the lowest and middle positions, or just +where the stigmas occur in the two other forms; or, let us say, +whenever the stigma is in one of the three positions, the +different sets of stamens occupy the other two. In a long series +of experiments on flowers occurring in two and three forms - +dimorphic and trimorphic - Darwin proved that perfect fertility +can be obtained only when the stigma in each form is pollenized +with grains carried from the stamens of a corresponding height. +For example, a bee on entering the flower must get his abdomen +dusted with pollen from the long stamens, his chest covered from +the middle-length stamens, and his tongue and chin from the set +in the bottom of the tube nearest the nectary. When he flies off +to visit another flower, these parts of his body coming in +contact with the stigmas that occupy precisely the position where +the stamens were in other individuals, he necessarily brushes off +each lot of pollen just where it will do the most good. Pollen +brought from high stamens, for example, to a low stigma, even +should it reach it, which is scarcely likely, takes little or no +effect. Thus cross-fertilization is absolutely essential, and in +three-formed flowers there are two chances to one of securing it. + + +WILD HYACINTH, SCILLA or SQUILL. QUAMASH + (Quamasia kyacinthina; Scilla Fraseri of Gray) Lily family + +Flowers - Several or many, pale violet blue, or rarely white, in +a long, loose raceme; perianth of 6 equal, narrowly oblong, +widely spreading divisions, the thread-like filaments inserted at +their bases; style thread-like, with 3-lobed stigma. Scape: 1 to +2 ft. high, from egg-shaped, nearly black bulb, 1 to 1 1/2 in. +long. Leaves: Grass-like, shorter than flowering scape, from the +base. Fruit: A 3-angled, oval capsule containing shining black +seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Meadows, prairies, and along banks of +streams. +Flowering Season - April-May. +Distribution - Pennsylvania and Ohio westward to Minnesota, south +to Alabama and Texas. + +Coming with the crocuses, before the snow is off the ground, and +remaining long after their regal gold and purple chalices have +withered, the Siberian scillas sold by seedsmen here deserve a +place in every garden, for their porcelain-blue color is rare as +it is charming; the early date when they bloom makes them +especially welcome; and, once planted and left undisturbed, the +bulbs increase rapidly, without injury from overcrowding. +Evidently they need little encouragement to run wild. +Nevertheless they are not wild scillas, however commonly they may +be miscalled so. Certainly ladies' tresses, known as wild +hyacinth in parts of New England, has even less right to the +name. + +Our true native wild hyacinth, or scilla, is quite a different +flower, not so pure a blue as the Siberian scilla, and paler; yet +in the middle West, where it abounds, there are few lovelier +sights in spring than a colony of these blossoms directed +obliquely upward from slender, swaying scapes among the lush +grass. Their upward slant brings the stigma in immediate contact +with an incoming visitor's pollen-laden body. As the stamens +diverge with the spreading of the divisions of the perianth, to +which they are attached, the stigma receives pollen brought from +another flower, before the visitor dusts himself anew in +searching for refreshment, thus effecting cross-pollination. +Ants, bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles may be seen +about the wild hyacinth, which is obviously best adapted to the +bees. The smallest insects that visit it may possibly defeat +Nature's plan and obtain nectar without fertilizing the flower, +owing to the wide passage between stamens and stigma. In about an +hour, one May morning, Professor Charles Robertson captured over +six hundred insects, representing thirty-eight distinct species, +on a patch of wild hyacinths in Illinois. + +The bulb of a MEDITERRANEAN SCILLA (S. maritima) furnishes the +sourish-sweet syrup of squills used in medicine for bronchial +troubles. + + +The GRAPE HYACINTH (Muscari botrycides), also known as Baby's +Breath, because of its delicate faint fragrance, escapes from +gardens at slight encouragement to grow wild in the roadsides and +meadows from Massachusetts to Virginia and westward to Ohio. Its +tiny, deep-blue, globular flowers, stiffly set around a fleshy +scape that rises between erect, blade-like, channeled leaves, +appear spring after spring wherever the small bulbs have been +planted. On the east end of Long Island there are certain meadows +literally blued with the little runaways. + + +PURPLE TRILLIUM, ILL-SCENTED WAKE-ROBIN or BIRTH-ROOT + (Trillium erectum) Lily-of-the-Valley family + +Flowers - Solitary, dark, dull purple, or purplish red; rarely +greenish, white, or pinkish; on erect or slightly inclined +footstalk. Calyx of 3 spreading sepals, 1 to 1 1/2 in. long, or +about length of 3 pointed, oval petals; stamens 6; anthers longer +than filaments; pistil spreading into 3 short, recurved stigmas. +Stem: Stout, 8 to i6 in. high, from tuber-like rootstock. Leaves: +In a whorl of 3; broadly ovate, abruptly pointed, netted-veined. +Fruit: A 6-angled, ovate, reddish berry. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia westward to Manitoba, southward to +North Carolina and Missouri. + +Some weeks after the jubilant, alert robins have returned from +the South, the purple trillium unfurls its unattractive, +carrion-scented flower. In the variable colors found in different +regions, one can almost trace its evolution from green, white, +and red to purple, which, we are told, is the course all flowers +must follow to attain to blue. The white and pink forms, however +attractive to the eye, are never more agreeable to the nose than +the reddish-purple ones. Bees and butterflies, with delicate +appreciation of color and fragrance, let the blossom alone, since +it secretes no nectar; and one would naturally infer either that +it can fertilize itself without insect aid - a theory which +closer study of its organs goes far to disprove - or that the +carrion-scent, so repellent to us, is in itself an attraction to +certain insects needful for cross-pollination. Which are they? +Beetles have been observed crawling over the flower, but without +effecting any methodical result. One inclines to accept Mr. +Clarence M. Weed's theory of special adaptation to the common +green flesh-flies (Lucilia carnicina), which would naturally be +attracted to a flower resembling in color and odor a raw +beefsteak of uncertain age. These little creatures, seen in every +butcher shop throughout the summer, the flower furnishes with a +free lunch of pollen in consideration of the transportation of a +few grains to another blossom. Absence of the usual floral +attractions gives, the carrion flies a practical monopoly of the +pollen food, which no doubt tastes as it smells. + +The SESSILE-FLOWERED WAKE-ROBIN (T. sessile), whose dark purple, +purplish-red, or greenish blossom, narrower of sepal and petals +than the preceding, is seated in a whorl of three egg-shaped, +sometimes blotched, leaves, possesses a rather pleasant odor; +nevertheless it seems. to have no great attraction for insects. +The stigmas, which are very large, almost touch the anthers +surrounding them; therefore the beetles which one frequently sees +crawling over them to feed on the pollen so jar them, no doubt, +as to self-fertilize the flower; but it is scarcely probable +these slow crawlers often transfer the grains from one blossom to +another. A degraded flower like this has little need of color and +perfume, one would suppose; yet it may be even now slowly +perfecting its way toward an ideal of which we see a part only +complete. In deep, rich, moist woods and thickets the. sessile +trillium blooms in April or May, from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and +Minnesota southward nearly to the Gulf. + + +LARGER BLUE FLAG; BLUE IRIS; FLEUR-DE-LIS; FLOWER-DE-LUCE + (Iris versicolor) Iris family + +Flowers - Several, 2 to 3 in. long, violet-blue variegated with +yellow, green, or white, and purple veined. Six divisions of the +perianth: 3 outer ones spreading, recurved; 1 of them bearded, +much longer and wider than the 3 erect inner divisions; all +united into a short tube. Three stamens under 3 overhanging +petal-like divisions of the style, notched at end; under each +notch is a thin plate, smooth on one side, rough and moist +(stigma) on side turned away from anther. Stem: 2 to 3 ft. high, +stout, straight, almost circular, sometimes branching above. +Leaves: Erect, sword-shaped, shorter than stem, somewhat hoary, +from 1/2 to 1 in. wide, folded, and in a compact flat cluster at +base; bracts usually longer than stem of flower. Fruit: Oblong +capsule, not prominently 3-lobed, and with 2 rows of round, flat +seeds closely packed in each cell. Rootstock: Creeping, +horizontal, fleshy. +Preferred Habitat - Marshes, wet meadows. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Newfoundland and Manitoba to Arkansas and Florida. + +"The fleur-de-lys, which is the flower of chivalry," says Ruskin, +"has a sword for its leaf and a lily for its heart." When that +young and pious Crusader, Louis VII, adopted it for the emblem of +his house, spelling was scarcely an exact science, and the +fleur-de-Louis soon became corrupted into its present form. +Doubtless the royal flower was the white iris, and as li is the +Celtic for white, there is room for another theory as to the +origin of the name. It is our far more regal looking, but truly +democratic blossom, jostling its fellows in the marshes, that is +indeed "born in the purple." + +When Napoleon wished to pose as the true successor of those +ancient French kings whose territory included the half of Europe +- ignoring every Louis who ever sat on the throne, for their very +name and emblem had become odious to the people - he discarded +the fleur-de-lis, to replace it with golden bees, the symbol in +armory for industry and perseverance. It is said some relics of +gold and fine stones, somewhat resembling an insect in shape, had +been found in the tomb of Clovis's father, and on the supposition +that these had been bees, Napoleon appropriated them for the +imperial badge. Henceforth "Napoleonic bees" appeared on his +coronation robe and wherever a heraldic emblem could be employed. + +But even in the meadows of France Napoleon need not have looked +far from the fleurs-de-lis growing there to find bees. Indeed, +this gorgeous flower is thought by scientists to be all that it +is for the bees' benefit, which, of course, is its own also. +Abundant moisture, from which to manufacture nectar - a prime +necessity with most irises - certainly is for our blue flag. The +large showy blossom cannot but attract the passing bee, whose +favorite color (according to Sir John Lubbock) it waves. The bee +alights on the convenient, spreading platform, and, guided by the +dark veining and golden lines leading to the nectar, sips the +delectable fluid shortly to be changed to honey. Now, as he +raises his head and withdraws it from the nectary, he must rub it +against the pollen-laden anther above, and some of the pollen +necessarily falls on the visitor. As the sticky side of the plate +(stigma), just under the petal-like division of the style, faces +away from the anther, which is below it in any case, the flower +is marvelously guarded against fertilization from its own pollen. +The bee, flying off to another iris, must first brush past the +projecting lip of the over-arching style, and leave on the +stigmatic outer surface of the plate some of the pollen brought +from the first flower, before reaching the nectary. Thus +cross-fertilization is effected; and Darwin has shown how +necessary this is to insure the most vigorous and beautiful +offspring. Without this wonderful adaptation of the flower to the +requirements of its insect friends, and of the insect to the +needs of the flower, both must perish; the former from hunger, +the latter because unable to perpetuate its race. And yet man has +greedily appropriated all the beauties of the floral kingdom as +designed for his sole delight + +The name iris, meaning a deified rainbow, which was given this +group of plants by the ancients, shows a fine appreciation of +their superb coloring, their ethereal texture, and the evanescent +beauty of the blossom. + +In spite of the name given to another species, the SOUTHERN BLUE +FLAG (I. hexagona) is really the larger one; its leaves, which +are bright green, and never hoary, often equaling the stem in its +height of from two to three feet. The handsome solitary flower, +similar to that of the larger blue flag, nevertheless has its +broad outer divisions fully an inch larger, and is seated in the +axils at the top of the circular stem. The oblong, cylindric, +six-angled capsule also contains two rows of seeds in each +cavity. From South Carolina and Florida to Kentucky, Missouri, +and Texas one finds this iris blooming in the swamps during April +and May. + +The SLENDER BLUE FLAG (I. prismatica; I. Virginica of Gray), +found growing from New Brunswick to North Carolina, but mainly +near the coast, and often in the same oozy ground with the larger +blue flag, may be known by its grass-like leaves, two or three of +which usually branch out from the slender flexuous stem; by its +solitary or two blue flowers, variegated with white and veined +with yellow, that rear themselves on slender foot-stems; and by +the sharply three-angled, narrow, oblong capsule, in which but +one row of seeds is borne in each cavity. This is the most +graceful member of a rather stiffly stately family. + + +POINTED BLUE-EYED GRASS; EYE-BRIGHT; BLUE STAR + (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) Iris family + +Flowers - From blue to purple, with a yellow center; a Western +variety, white; usually several buds at the end of stem, between +2 erect unequal bracts; about 1/2 in. across; perianth of 6 +spreading divisions, each pointed with a bristle from a notch; +stamens 3, the filaments united to above the middle; pistil 1, +its tip 3-cleft. Stem: 3 to 14 in. tall, pale hoary green, flat, +rigid, 2-edged. Leaves: Grass-like, pale, rigid, mostly from +base. Fruit: 3-celled capsule, nearly globose. +Preferred Habitat - Moist fields and meadows. +Flowering Season - May-August. +Distribution - Newfoundland to British Columbia, from eastern +slope of Rocky Mountains to Atlantic, south to Virginia and +Kansas. + +Only for a day, and that must be a bright one, will this "little +sister of the stately blue flag" open its eyes, to close them in +indignation on being picked; nor will any coaxing but the +sunshine's induce it to open them again in water, immediately +after. The dainty flower, growing in dense tufts, makes up in +numbers what it lacks in size and lasting power, flecking our +meadows with purplish ultramarine blue in a sunny June morning. +Later in the day, apparently there are no blossoms there, for all +are tightly closed, never to bloom again. New buds will unfold to +tinge the field on the morrow. + +Usually three buds nod from between a pair of bracts, the lower +one of which may be twice the length of the upper one but only +one flower opens at a time. Slight variations in this plant have +been considered sufficient to differentiate several species +formerly included by Gray and other American botanists under the +name of S. Bermudiana. + + +LARGE or EARLY, PURPLE-FRINGED ORCHIS + (Habenaria grandiflora; H. fimbriata of Gray) Orchid family + +Flowers - Pink-purple and pale lilac, sometimes nearly white; +fragrant, alternate, clustered in thick, dense spikes from 3 to +15 in. long. Upper sepal and toothed petals erect; the lip of +deepest shade, 1/2 in. long, fan-shaped, 3-parted, fringed half +its length, and prolonged at base into slender, long spur; stamen +united with style into short column; 2 anther sacs slightly +divergent, the hollow between them glutinous, stigmatic. Stem. 1 +to 5 ft. high, angled, twisted. Leaves: Oval, large, sheathing +the stem below; smaller, lance-shaped ones higher up; bracts +above. Root: Thick, fibrous. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist meadows, muddy places, woods. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Ontario; southward to North +Carolina, westward to Michigan. + +Because of the singular and exquisitely unerring adaptations of +orchids as a family to their insect visitors, no group of plants +has greater interest for the botanist since Darwin interpreted +their marvelous mechanism, and Gray, his instant disciple, +revealed the hidden purposes of our native American species, no +less wonderfully constructed than the most costly exotic in a +millionaire's hothouse. + +A glance at the spur of this orchid, one of the handsomest and +most striking of its clan, and the heavy perfume of the flower, +would seem to indicate that only a moth with a long proboscis +could reach the nectar secreted at the base of the thread-like +passage. Butterflies, attracted by the conspicuous color, +sometimes hover about the showy spikes of bloom, but it is +probable that, to secure a sip, all but possibly the very largest +of them must go to the smaller purple-fringed orchis, whose +shorter spur holds out a certain prospect of reward; for, in +these two cases, as in so many others, the flower's welcome for +an insect is in exact proportion to the length of its visitor's +tongue. Doubtless it is one of the smaller sphinx moths, such as +we see at dusk working about the evening primrose and other +flowers deep of chalice, and heavily perfumed to guide visitors +to their feast, that is the great purple-fringed orchid's +benefactor, since the length of its tongue is perfectly adapted +to its needs. Attracted by the showy, broad lower petal, his +wings ever in rapid motion, the moth proceeds to unroll his +proboscis and drain the cup, that is frequently an inch and a +half deep. Thrusting in his head, either one or both of his +large, projecting eyes are pressed against the sticky +button-shaped disks to which the pollen masses are attached by a +stalk, and as he raises his head to depart, feeling that he is +caught, he gives a little jerk that detaches them, and away he +flies with these still fastened to his eyes. + +Even while he is flying to another flower, that is to say, in +half a minute, the stalks of the pollen masses bend downward from +the perpendicular and slightly toward the center, or just far +enough to require the moth, in thrusting his proboscis into the +nectary, to strike the glutinous, sticky stigma. Now, withdrawing +his head, either or both of the golden clubs he brought in with +him will be left on the precise spot where they will fertilize +the flower. Sometimes, but rarely, we catch a butterfly or moth +from the smaller or larger purple orchids with a pollen mass +attached to his tongue, instead of to his eyes; this is when he +does not make his entrance from the exact center - as in these +flowers he is not obliged to do - and in order to reach the +nectary his tongue necessarily brushes against one of the sticky +anther sacs. The performance may be successfully imitated by +thrusting some blunt point about the size of a moth's head, a +dull pencil or a knitting-needle, into the flower as an insect +would enter. Withdraw the pencil, and one or both of the pollen +masses will be found sticking to it, and already automatically +changing their attitude. In the case of the large, round-leaved +orchis, whose greenish-white flowers are fertilized in a similar +manner by the sphinx moth, the anther sacs converge, like little +horns; and their change of attitude while they are being carried +to fertilize another flower is quite as exquisitely exact. + +Usually in wetter ground than we find its more beautiful big +sister growing in, most frequently in swamps and bogs, the +SMALLER PURPLE-FRINGED ORCHIS (H. psycodes) lifts its perfumed +lilac spires. Thither go the butterflies and long-lipped bees to +feast in July and August. Inasmuch as without their aid the +orchid must perish from its inability to set fertile seed, no +wonder it woos its benefactors with a showy mass of color, +charming fringes, sweet perfume, and copious draughts of nectar, +and makes their visits of the utmost value to itself by the +ingenious mechanism described above. Here is no waste of pollen; +that is snugly packed in little bundles, ready to be carried off, +but placed where they cannot come in contact with the adjoining +stigma, since every orchid, almost without exception, refuses to +be deteriorated through self-fertilization. + +>From New Jersey and Illinois southward, particularly in +mountainous regions, if not among the mountains themselves, the +FRINGELESS PURPLE ORCHIS (H. perarnoena) may be found blooming in +moist meadows through July and August. Moisture, from which to +manufacture the nectar that orchids rely upon so largely to +entice insects to work for them, is naturally a prime necessity; +yet Sprengel attempted to prove that many orchids are gaudy shams +and produce no nectar, but exist by an organized system of +deception. "Scheinsaftblumen" he called them. From the number of +butterflies seen hovering about this fringeless orchis and its +more attractive kin, it is small wonder their nectaries are soon +exhausted and they are accused of being gay deceivers. Sprengel's +much-quoted theory would credit moths, butterflies, and even the +highly intelligent bees with scant sense; but Darwin, who +thoroughly tested it, forever exonerated these insects from +imputed stupidity and the flowers from gross dishonesty. He found +that many European orchids secrete their nectar between the outer +and inner walls of the tube, which a bumblebee can easily pierce, +but where Sprengel never thought to look for it. The large lip of +this orchis is not fringed, but has a fine picotee edge. The +showy violet-purple, long-spurred flowers are alternately set on +a stem that is doing its best if it reach a height of two and a +half feet. + + +WATER-SHIELD or WATER TARGET + (Brasenia purpurea; B. peltata of Gray) Water-lily family + +Flowers - Small, dull purplish, about 1/2 in. across, on stout +footstalks from axils of upper leaves; 3 narrow sepals and +petals; stamens 12 to 18; pistils 4 to 18, forming 1 to 3-seeded +pods. Stem: From submerged rootstock; slender, branching, several +feet long, covered with clear jelly, as are footstalks and lower +leaf surfaces. Leaves: On long petioles attached to center of +underside of leaf, floating or rising, oval to roundish, 2 to 4 +in. long, 1 1/2 to 2 in. wide. +Preferred Habitat - Still, rather deep water of ponds and slow +streams. +Flowering Season - All summer. +Distribution - Parts of Asia, Africa, and Australia, Nova Scotia +to Cuba, and westward from California to Puget Sound. + +Of this pretty water plant Dr. Abbott says, in "Wasteland +Wanderings": "I gathered a number of floating, delicate leaves, +and endeavored to secure the entire stem also; but this was too +difficult a task for an August afternoon. The under side of the +stem and leaf are purplish brown and were covered with +translucent jelly, embedded in which were millions of what I took +to be insects' eggs. They certainly had that appearance. I was +far more interested to find that, usually, beneath each leaf +there was hiding a little pike. The largest was not two inches in +length. When disturbed, they swam a few inches, and seemed wholly +'at sea' if there was not another leaf near by to afford them +shelter." + + +EUROPEAN or COMMON GARDEN COLUMBINE + (Aquilegia vulgaris) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Showy, blue, purple, or white, 1 1/2 to 2 in. broad, or +about as broad as long; spurs stout and strongly incurved. +General characteristics of plant resembling wild columbine. +Preferred Habitat - Escaped from gardens to woods and fields in +Eastern and Middle States. Native of Europe. +Flowering Season - May-July. + +A heavier, less graceful flower than either the wild red and +yellow columbine or the exquisite, long-spurred, blue and white +species (A. coerulea) of the Rocky Mountain region; nevertheless +this European immigrant, now making itself at home here, is a +charming addition to our flora. How are insects to reach the well +of nectar secreted in the tip of its incurved, hooked spur? +Certain of the long-lipped bees, large bumblebees, whose tongues +have developed as rapidly as the flower, are able to drain it. +Hummingbirds, partial to red flowers, fertilize the wild +columbine, but let this one alone. Muller watched a female +bumblebee making several vain attempts to sip this blue one. Soon +the brilliant idea of biting a hole through each spur flashed +through her little brain, and the first experiment proving +delightfully successful, she proceeded to bite holes through +other flowers without first trying to suck them. Apparently she +satisfied her feminine conscience with the reflection that the +flower which made dining so difficult for its benefactors +deserved no better treatment. + + +FIELD or BRANCHED LARKSPUR; KNIGHT'S-SPUR; LARK-HEEL + (Delphinium Consoilda) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Blue to pinkish and whitish, 1 to 1 1/2 in. long, hung +on slender stems and scattered along spreading branches; 5 +petal-like sepals, the rear one prolonged into long, slender, +curving spur; 2 petals, united. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 ft. high. +Leaves: Divided into very finely cut linear segments. Fruit: +Erect, smooth pod tipped with a short beak; open on one side. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides and fields. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Naturalized from Europe; from New Jersey +southward, occasionally escaped from gardens farther north. + +Keats should certainly have extolled the larkspurs in his sonnet +on blue. No more beautiful group of plants contributes to the +charm of gardens, woods, and roadsides, where some have escaped +cultivation and become naturalized, than the delphinium, that +take their name from a fancied resemblance to a dolphin +(delphin), given them by Linnaeus in one of his wild flights of +imagination. Having lost the power to fertilize themselves, +according to Muller, they are pollenized by both bees and +butterflies, insects whose tongues have kept pace with the +development of certain flowers, such as the larkspur, columbine, +and violet, that they may reach into the deep recesses of the +spurs where the nectar is hidden from all but benefactors. + +The TALL WILD LARKSPUR (D. urceolatum; D. exaltatum of Gray) +waves long, crowded, downy wands of intense purplish blue in the +rich woods of Western Pennsylvania, southward to the Carolinas +and Alabama, and westward to Nebraska. Its spur is nearly +straight, not to increase the difficulty a bee must have in +pressing his lips through the upper and lower petals to reach the +nectar at the end of it. First, the stamens successively raise +themselves in the passage back of the petals to dust his head; +then, when each has shed its pollen and bent down again, the +pistil takes its turn in occupying the place, so that a +pollen-laden bee, coming to visit the blossom from an earlier +flower; can scarcely help fertilizing it. It is said there are +but two insects in Europe with lips long enough to reach the +bottom of the long horn of plenty hung by the BEE LARKSPUR (D. +elatum), that we know only in gardens here. Its yellowish bearded +lower petals readily deceive one into thinking a bee has just +alighted there. + +>From April to June the DWARF LARKSPUR or STAGGER-WEED (D. +tricorne), which, however, may sometimes grow three feet high, +lifts a loose raceme of blue, rarely white, flowers an inch or +more long, at the end of a stout stem rising from a tuberous +root. Its slightly ascending spur, its three widely spreading +seed vessels, and the deeply cut leaf of from five to seven +divisions are distinguishing characteristics. From Western +Pennsylvania and Georgia to Arkansas and Minnesota it is found in +rather stiff soil. Butterflies, which prefer erect flowers, have +some difficulty to cling while they drain the almost upright +spurs, especially the Papilios, which usually suck with their +wings in motion. But the bees, to which the delphinium are best +adapted, although butterflies visit them quite as frequently, +find a convenient landing place prepared for them, and fertilize +the flower while they sip with ease. + +More slender, downy, and dwarf of stem than the preceding is the +CAROLINA LARKSPUR (D. Carolinianum), whose blue flowers, varying +to white, and its very finely cleft leaves, may be found in the +South, on prairies in the North and West, and in the Rocky +Mountain region. + + +LIVER-LEAF; HEPATICA; LIVERWORT; ROUND-LOBED or KIDNEY +LIVER-LEAF; NOBLE LIVER-WORT; SQUIRREL CUP + (Hepalica Hepatica; H. triloba of Gray) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Blue, lavender, purple, pinkish, or white; +occasionally, not always, fragrant; 6 to 12 petal-like, colored +sepals (not petals, as they appear to be), oval or oblong; +numerous stamens, all bearing anthers; pistils numerous 3 small, +sessile leaves, forming an involucre directly under flower, +simulate a calyx, for which they might be mistaken. Stems: +Spreading from the root, 4 to 6 in. high, a solitary flower or +leaf borne at end of each furry stem. Leaves: 3-lobed and +rounded, leathery, evergreen; sometimes mottled with, or +entirely, reddish purple; spreading on ground, rusty at blooming +time, the new leaves appearing after the flowers. Fruit: Usually +as many as pistils, dry, 1-seeded, oblong, sharply pointed, never +opening. +Preferred Habitat - Woods; light soil on hillsides. +Flowering Season - December-May. +Distribution - Canada to Northern Florida, Manitoba to Iowa and +Missouri. Most common East. + +Even under the snow itself bravely blooms the delicate hepatica, +wrapped in fuzzy furs as if to protect its stems and nodding buds +from cold. After the plebeian skunk cabbage, that ought scarcely +to be reckoned among true flowers - and William Hamilton Gibson +claimed even before it - it is the first blossom to appear. +Winter sunshine, warming the hillsides and edges of woods, opens +its eyes, + + "Blue as the heaven it gates at, + Startling the loiterer in the naked groves + With unexpected beauty; for the time + Of blossoms and green leaves is yet afar." + +"There are many things left for May," says John Burroughs, "but +nothing fairer, if as fair, as the first flower, the hepatica. I +find I have never admired this little firstling half enough. When +at the maturity of its charms, it is certainly the gem of the +woods. What an individuality it has! No two clusters alike; all +shades and sizes.... A solitary blue-purple one, fully expanded +and rising over the brown leaves or the green moss, its cluster +of minute anthers showing like a group of pale stars on its +little firmament, is enough to arrest and hold the dullest eye. +Then,...there are individual hepaticas, or individual families +among them, that are sweet scented. The gift seems as capricious +as the gift of genius in families. You cannot tell which the +fragrant ones are till you try them. Sometimes it is the large +white ones, sometimes the large purple ones, sometimes the small +pink ones. The odor is faint and recalls that of the sweet +violets. A correspondent, who seems to have carefully observed +these fragrant hepaticas, writes me that this gift of odor is +constant in the same plant; that the plant which bears +sweet-scented flowers this year will bear them next." + +It is not evident that insect aid is necessary to transfer the +tiny, hairy spiral ejected from each cell of the antherid, after +it has burst from ripeness, to the canal of the flask-shaped +organ at whose base the germ-cell is located. Perfect flowers can +fertilize themselves. But pollen-feeding flies, and female hive +bees which collect it, and the earliest butterflies trifle about +the blossoms when the first warm days come. Whether they are +rewarded by finding nectar or not is still a mooted question. +Possibly the papillae which cover the receptacle secrete nectar, +for almost without exception the insect visitors thrust their +proboscides down between the spreading filaments as if certain of +a sip. None merely feed on the pollen except the flies and the +hive bee. + +The SHARP-LOBED LIVER-LEAF (Hepatica acuta) differs chiefly from +the preceding in having the ends of the lobes of its leaves and +the tips of the three leaflets that form its involucre quite +sharply pointed. Its range, while perhaps not actually more +westerly, appears so, since it is rare in the East, where its +cousin is so abundant; and common in the West, where the +round-lobed liver-leaf is scarce. It blooms in March and April. +Professor Halsted has noted that this species bears staminate +flowers on one plant and pistillate flowers on another; whereas +the Hepatica Hepatica usually bears flowers of both sexes above +the same root. The blossoms, which close at night to keep warm, +and open in the morning, remain on the beautiful plant for a long +time to accommodate the bees and flies that, in this case, are +essential to the perpetuation of the species. + + +PURPLE VIRGIN'S BOWER + (Atragene Americana) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Showy, purplish blue, about 3 in. across; 4 sepals, +broadly expanded, thin, translucent, strongly veined, very large, +simulating petals; petals small, spoon-shaped; stamens very +numerous ; styles long, persistent, plumed throughout. Stem: +Trailing or partly climbing with the help of leafstalks and +leaflets. Leaves: Opposite, compounded of 3 egg-shaped, pointed +leaflets on slender petioles. +Preferred Habitat - - Rocky woodlands. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Hudson Bay westward, south to Minnesota and +Virginia. + +The day on which one finds this rare and beautiful flower in some +rocky ravine high among the hills or mountains becomes memorable +to the budding botanist. At an elevation of three thousand feet +in the Catskills it trails its way over the rocks, fallen trees, +and undergrowth of the forest, suggesting some of the handsome +Japanese species introduced by Sieboldt and Fortune to Occidental +gardens. No one who sees this broadly expanded blossom could +confuse it either with the thick and bell-shaped purple +LEATHER-FLOWER (C. Viorna), so exquisitely feathery in fruit, +that grows in rich, moist soil from Pennsylvania southward and +westward; or with the far more graceful and deliciously fragrant +purple MARSH CLEMATIS (C. crispa) of our Southern States. The +latter, though bell-shaped also, has thin, recurved sepals, and +its persistent styles are silky, not feathery at seed-time. + + +ORPINE; LIVE-FOREVER; MIDSUMMER-MEN; LIVE-LONG; PUDDING-BAG +PLANT; GARDEN STONECROP; WITCHES' MONEY + (Sedum Telephium) Orpine family + +Flowers - Dull purplish, very pale or bright reddish purple in +close, round, terminal clusters, each flower 1/3 in. or less +across, 5-parted, the petals twice as long as the sepals; 10 +stamens, alternate ones attached to petals; pistils 4 or 5. Stem: +2 ft. high or less, erect, simple, in tufts, very smooth, pale +green, juicy, leafy. Leaves: Alternate, oval, slightly scalloped, +thick, fleshy, smooth, juicy, pale gray green, with stout midrib, +seated on stalk. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, waysides, rocky soil, originally +escaped from gardens. +Flowering Season - June- September. +Distribution - Quebec westward, south to Michigan and Maryland. + +Children know the live-forever, not so well by the variable +flower - for it is a niggardly bloomer - as by the thick leaf +that they delight to hold in the mouth until, having loosened the +membrane, they are able to inflate it like a paper bag. Sometimes +dull, sometimes bright, the flower clusters never fail to attract +many insects to their feast, which is accessible even to those of +short tongues. Each blossom is perfect in itself, i.e., it +contains both stamens and pistils; but to guard against +self-fertilization it ripens its anthers and sheds its pollen on +the insects that carry it away to older flowers before its own +stigmas mature and become susceptible to imported pollen. After +the seed-cases take on color, they might be mistaken for +blossoms. + +As if the plant did not already possess enough popular names, it +needs must share with the European goldenrod and our common +mullein the title of Aaron's rod. Sedere, to sit, the root of the +generic name, applies with rare appropriateness to this entire +group that we usually find seated on garden walls, rocks, or, in +Europe, even on the roofs of old buildings. Rooting freely from +the joints, our plant forms thrifty tufts where there is little +apparent nourishment; yet its endurance through prolonged drought +is remarkable. Long after the farmer's scythe, sweeping over the +roadside, has laid it low, it thrives on the juices stored up in +fleshy leaves and stem until it proves its title to the most +lusty of all folk names. + + +PURPLE or WATER AVENS + (Geum rivale) Rose family + +Flowers - Purple, with some orange chrome, 1 in. broad or less, +terminal, solitary, nodding; calyx 5-lobed, purplish, spreading; +5 petals, abruptly narrowed into claws, forming a cup-shaped +corolla; stamens and pistils of indefinite number; the styles, +jointed and bent in middle, persistent, feathery below. Stem: 1 +to 2 ft. high, erect, simple or nearly so, hairy, from thickish +rootstock. Leaves: Chiefly from root, on footstems; lower leaves +irregularly parted; the side segments usually few and small; the +1 to 3 terminal segments sharply, irregularly lobed; the few +distant stem leaves 3-foliate or simple, mostly seated on stem. +Fruit: A dry, hairy head stalked in calyx. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps and low, wet ground. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Newfoundland far westward, south to Colorado, +eastward to Missouri and Pennsylvania, also northern parts of Old +World. + +Mischievous bumblebees, thrusting their long tongues between the +sepals and petals of these unopened flowers, steal nectar without +conferring any favor in return. Later, when they behave properly +and put their heads inside to feast at the disk on which the +stamens are inserted, they dutifully carry pollen from old +flowers to the early maturing stigmas of younger ones. +Self-fertilization must occur, however, if the bees have not +removed all the pollen when a blossom closes. When the purple +avens opens in Europe, the bees desert even the primrose to feast +upon its abundant nectar. Since water is the prime necessity in +the manufacture of this sweet, and since insects that feed upon +it have so much to do with the multiplication of flowers, it is +not surprising that the swamp, which has been called "nature's +sanctuary," should have its altars so exquisitely decked. This +blossom hangs its head, partly to protect its precious nectar +from rain, and partly to make pilfering well nigh impossible to +the unwelcome crawling insect that may have braved the forbidding +hairy stems. + + +WILD LUPINE; OLD MAID'S BONNETS; WILD PEA; SUN DIAL + (Lupinus perennis) Pea family + +Flowers - Vivid blue, very rarely pink or white, butterfly-shaped +corolla consisting of standard, wings, and keel; about 1/2 in. +long, borne in a long raceme at end of stern; calyx 2-lipped, +deeply toothed. Stem: Erect, branching, leafy, to 2 ft. high. +Leaves: Palmnate, compounded of from 7 to 11 (usually 8) +leaflets. Fruit: A broad, flat, very hairy pod, 1 1/2 in. long, +and containing 4 or 5 seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy places, banks, and hillsides. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - United States east of Mississippi, and eastern +Canada. + +Farmers once thought that this plant preyed upon the fertility of +their soil, as we see in the derivation of its name, from lupus, +a wolf; whereas the lupine contents itself with sterile waste +land no one should grudge it - steep gravelly banks, railroad +tracks, exposed sunny hills, where even it must often burn out +under fierce sunshine did not its root penetrate to surprising +depths. It spreads far and wide in thrifty colonies, reflecting +the vivid color of June skies, until, as Thoreau says, "the earth +is blued with it." + +What is the advantage gained in the pea-shaped blossom? As usual, +the insect that fertilizes the flower best knows the answer. The +corolla has five petals, the upper one called the standard, +chiefly a flaunted advertisement; two side wings, or platforms, +to alight on; and a keel like a miniature boat, formed by the two +lower petals, whose edges meet. In this the pistil, stamens, and +nectar are concealed and protected. The pressure of a bee's +weight as he alights on the wings, light as it must be, is +nevertheless sufficient to depress and open the keel, which is +elastically affected by their motion, and so to expose the pollen +just where the long-lipped bee must rub off some against his +underside as he sucks the nectar. He actually seems to pump the +pollen that has fallen into the forward part of the keel upon +himself, as he moves about. As soon as he leaves the flower, the +elastic wings resume their former position, thus closing the keel +to prevent waste of pollen. Take a sweet pea from the garden, +press down its wings with the thumb and forefinger to imitate the +action of the bee on them; note how the keel opens to display its +treasures, and resumes its customary shape when the pressure is +removed. + +The lupine is another of those interesting plants which go to +sleep at night. Some members of the genus erect one half of the +leaf and droop the other half until it becomes a vertical instead +of the horizontal star it is by day. Frequently the leaflets +rotate as much as 90 degrees on their own axes. Some lupines fold +their leaflets, not at night only, but during the day also there +is more or less movement in the leaves. Sun dial, a popular name +for the wild lupine, has reference to this peculiarity. The leaf +of our species shuts downward around its stem, umbrella fashion, +or the leaflets are erected to prevent the chilling which comes +to horizontal surfaces by radiation, some scientists think. "That +the sleep movements of leaves are in some manner of high +importance to the plants which exhibit them," says Darwin, "few +will dispute who have observed how complex they sometimes are." + + +CANADIAN or SHOWY TICK-TREFOIL + (Meibomia Canadensis; Desmodium Canadense of Gray) Pea family + +Flowers - Pinkish or bluish purple, butterfly-shaped, about 1/2 +in. long, borne in dense, terminal, elongated racemes. Stem; +Erect, hairy, leafy, 2 to 8 ft. high. Leaves: Compounded of 3 +oblong leaflets, the central one largest; upper leaves nearly +seated on stem; bracts, conspicuous before flowering, early +falling off. Fruit: A flat pod, about 1 in. long, jointed, and +covered with minute hooked bristles, the lower edge of pod +scalloped; almost seated in calyx. +Preferred Habitat - Thickets, woods, riverbanks, bogs. Flowering +Season - July-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Northwest Territory, south to +North Carolina, westward to Indian Territory and Dakota. + +As one travels hundreds or even thousands of miles in a +comfortable railway carriage and sees the same flowers growing +throughout the length and breadth of the area, one cannot but +wonder however the plants manage to make the journey. We know +some creep along the ground, or under it, a tortoise pace, but a +winning one; that some send their offspring flying away from +home, like dandelions and thistles; and many others with wings +and darts are blown by the wind. Berries have their seeds dropped +afar by birds. Aquatic plants and those that grow beside running +water travel by river and flood. European species reach our +shores among the ballast. Darwin raised over sixty wild plants +from seed carried in a pellet of mud taken from the leg of a +partridge. So on and so on. The imagination delights to picture +these floral vagabonds, each with its own clever method of +getting a fresh start in the world. But by none of these methods +just mentioned do the tick-trefoils spread abroad. Theirs is +indeed a by hook or by crook system. The scalloped, jointed pod, +where the seeds lie concealed, has minute crooked bristles, which +catch in the clothing of man or beast, so that every herd of +sheep, every dog, every man, woman, or child who passes through a +patch of trefoils gives them a lift. After a walk through the +woods and lanes of late summer and autumn, one's clothes reveal +scores of tramps that have stolen a ride in the hope of being +picked off and dropped amid better conditions in which to rear a +family. + +Only the largest bees can easily "explode" the showy +tick-trefoil. A bumblebee alights upon a flower, thrusts his head +under the base of the standard petal, and forces apart the wing +petals with his legs, in order to dislodge them from the +standard. This motion causes the keel, also connected with the +standard, to snap down violently, thus releasing the column +within and sending upward an explosion of pollen on the under +surface of the bee. Here we see the wing petals acting as +triggers to discharge the flower. Depress them and up flies the +fertilizing dust - once. The little gun will not "go off" twice. +No nectar rewards the visitor, which usually is a +pollen-collecting bee. The highly intelligent and important +bumblebee has the advantage over his smaller kin in being able to +discharge the pollen from both large and smaller flowers. + +The NAKED-FLOWERED TICK-TREFOIL (M. nudiflora; D. nudiflorum of +Gray) lifts narrow, few-flowered panicles of rose-purple blooms +during July and August. The flowers are much smaller than those +of the showy trefoil; however, when seen in masses, they form +conspicuous patches of color in dry woods. Note that there is a +flower stalk which is usually leafless and also a leaf-bearing +stem rising from the base of the plant, the latter with its +leaves all crowded at the top, if you would distinguish this very +common species from its multitudinous kin. The trefoliate leaves +are pale beneath. The two or three jointed pod rises far above +the calyx on its own stalk, as in the next species. + +The POINTED-LEAVED TICK-TREFOIL (M. grandifiora; D. acuminatum of +Gray) has for its distinguishing feature a cluster of leaves high +up on the same stem from which rises a stalk bearing a quantity +of purple flowers that are large by comparison only. The leaves +have leaflets from two to six inches long, rounded on the sides, +but acutely pointed, and with scattered hairs above and below. +This trefoil is found blooming in dry or rocky woods, throughout +a wide range, from June to September. + +Lying outstretched for two to six feet on the dry ground of open +woods and copses east of the Mississippi, the PROSTRATE +TICK-TREFOIL (M. Michauxii; D. rotundifoliurn of Gray) can +certainly be named by its soft hairiness, the almost perfect +roundness of its trefoliate leaves, its rather loose racemes of +deep purple flowers that spring both from the leaf axils and from +the ends of the sometimes branching stem; and by its three to +five jointed pod, which is deeply scalloped on its lower edge and +somewhat indented above, as well. + + +BLUE, TUFTED, or COW VETCH or TARE; CAT PEAS; TINEGRASS + (Vicia Cracca) Pea family + +Flowers - Blue, later purple; 1/2 in. long, growing downward in +1-sided spike, 15 to 40 flowered; calyx oblique, small, with +unequal teeth; corolla butterfly-shaped, consisting of standard, +wings, and keel, all oblong; the first clawed, the second +oblique, and adhering to the shorter keel; 10 stamens, 1 detached +from other 9. Stem: Slender, weak, climbing or trailing, downy, 2 +to 4 ft. long. Leaves: Tendril bearing, divided into 18 to 24 +thin, narrow, oblong leaflets. Fruit: A smooth pod 1 in. long or +less, 5 to 8 seeded. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, fields, wastelands. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - United States from New Jersey, Kentucky, and Iowa +northward and northwestward. Europe and Asia. + +Dry fields blued with the bright blossoms of the tufted vetch, +and roadsides and thickets where the angular vine sends forth +vivid patches of color, resound with the music of happy bees. +Although the parts of the flower fit closely together, they are +elastic, and opening with the energetic visitor's weight and +movement give ready access to the nectary. On his departure they +resume their original position, to protect both nectar and pollen +from rain and pilferers whose bodies are not perfectly adapted to +further the flower's cross-fertilization. The common bumblebee +(Bombus terrestris) plays a mean trick, all too frequently, when +he bites a hole at the base of the blossom, not only gaining easy +access to the sweets for himself, but opening the way for others +less intelligent than he, but quite ready to profit by his +mischief, and so defeat nature's plan. Dr. Ogle observed that the +same bee always acts in the same manner, one sucking the nectar +legitimately, another always biting a hole to obtain it +surreptitiously, the natural inference, of course, being that +some bees, like small boys, are naturally depraved. + +In cultivated fields and waste places farther south and westward +to the Pacific Coast roams the COMMON or PEBBLE VETCH OR TARE (V. +saliva), another domesticated weed that has come to us from +Europe, where it is extensively grown for fodder. Let no reproach +fall on these innocent plants that bear an opprobrious name: the +tare of Scripture is altogether different, the bearded darnel of +Mediterranean regions, whose leaves deceive one by simulating +those of wheat, and whose smaller seeds, instead of nourishing +man, poison him. Only one or two light blue-purple flowers grow +in the axils of the leaves of our common vetch. The leaf, +compounded of from eight to fourteen leaflets, indented at the +top, has a long terminal tendril, whose little sharp tip assists +the awkward vine, like a grappling hook. + +The AMERICAN VETCH or TARE or PEA VINE (V. Americana) boasts +slightly larger bluish-purple flowers than the blue vetch, but +fewer of them; from three to nine only forming its loose raceme. +In moist soil throughout a very broad northerly and westerly +range it climbs and trails its graceful way, with the help of the +tendrils on the tips of leaves compounded of from eight to +fourteen oblong, blunt, and veiny leaflets. + + +BEACH, SEA, SEASIDE, or EVERLASTING PEA + (Lathyrus maritimus) Pea family + +Flowers - Purple, butterfly-shaped, consisting of standard petal, +wings, and keel; 1 in. long or less, clustered in short raceme at +end of slender footstalk from leaf axils; calyx 5-toothed; +stamens 10 (9 and 1); style curved, flattened, bearded on inner +side. Stem: to 2 ft. long, stout, reclining, spreading, leafy. +Leaves: Compounded of 3 to 6 pairs of oblong leaflets somewhat +larger than halberd-shaped stipules at base of leaf; branched +tendrils at end of it. Fruit: A flat, 2-valved, veiny pod, +continuous between the seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Beaches of Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, also +of Great Lakes. +Flowering Season - May-August. Sometimes blooming again in +autumn. +Distribution - New Jersey to Arctic Circle; also Northern Europe +and Asia. + +Sturdy clumps of the beach pea, growing beyond reach of the tide +in the dunes and sandy wastelands back of the beach, afford the +bee the last restaurant where he may regale himself without fear +of drowning. From some members of the pea family, as from the +wild lupine, for example, his weight, as he moves about, actually +pumps the pollen that has fallen into the forward part of the +blossom's keel onto his body, that he may transfer it to another +flower. In some other members his weight so depresses the keel +that the stamens are forced out to dust him over, the flower +resuming its original position to protect its nectar and the +remaining pollen just as soon as the pressure is removed. Other +peas, again, burst at his pressure, and discharge their pollen on +him. Now, in the beach pea, and similarly in the vetches, the +style is hairy on its inner side, to brush out the pollen on the +visitor who sets the automatic sweeper in motion as he alights +and moves about. So perfectly have many members of this +interesting family adapted their structure to the requirements of +insects, and so implicitly do they rely on their automatic +mechanism, that they have actually lost the power to fertilize +themselves. + +In moist or wet ground throughout a northern range from ocean to +ocean, the MARSH VETCHLING (Lathyrus palustris) bears its purple, +butterfly-shaped flowers, that are the merest trifle over half +the size of those of the beach pea. From two to six of these +little blossoms are alternately set along the end of the stalk. +The leaflets, which are narrowly oblong, and acute at the apex, +stand up opposite each other in pairs (from two to four) along +the main leafstalk, that splits at the end to form hooked +tendrils. + + +BUTTERFLY or BLUE PEA + (Clitoria Mariana) Pea family + +Flowers - Bright lavender blue, showy, about 2 in. long; from 1 +to 3 borne on a short peduncle. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed; corolla +butterfly-shaped, consisting of very large, erect standard petal, +notched at rounded apex; 2 oblong, curved wings, and shorter, +acute keel; 10 stamens; style incurved, and hairy along inner +side. Stem: Smooth, ascending or partly twining, 1 to 3 ft. high. +Leaves: Compounded of 3 oblong leaflets, paler beneath, each on +short stalk. Fruit: A few-seeded, acutely pointed pod about 1 in. +long. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - New Jersey to Florida, westward to Missouri, +Texas, and Mexico. + +A beautiful blossom, flaunting a large banner out of all +proportion to the size of its other parts, that it may arrest the +attention of its benefactors the bees. According to Henderson, +the plant, which is found in our Southern States and over the +Mexican border, grows also in the Khasia Mountains of India, but +in no intervening place. Several members of the tropic-loving +genus, that produce large, highly colored flowers, have been +introduced to American hothouses; but the blue butterfly pea is +our only native representative. The genus is thought to take its +name from kleio, to shut up, in reference to the habit these peas +have of seeding long before the flower drops off. + + +WILD or HOG PEANUT + (Falcata comosa; Amphicarpaea monoica of Gray) Pea family + +Flowers - Numerous small, showy ones, borne in drooping clusters +from axils of upper leaves; lilac, pale purplish, or rarely +white, butterfly-shaped, consisting of standard petal partly +enfolding wings and keel. Calyx tubular, 4 or 5 toothed; 10 +stamens (9 and 1); 1 pistil. (Also solitary fertile flowers, +lacking petals, on thread-like, creeping branches from lower +axils or underground). Stem: Twining wiry brownish-hairy, to 8 +ft. long. Leaves: Compounded of 3 thin leaflets, egg-shaped at +base, acutely pointed at tip. Fruit: Hairy pod 1 in. long. Also +1-seeded, pale, rounded, underground peanut. +Preferred Habitat - Moist thickets, shady roadsides. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick westward to Nebraska, south to Gulf +of Mexico. + +Amphicarpaea ("seed at both ends"), the Greek name by which this +graceful vine was formerly known, emphasizes its most interesting +feature, that, nevertheless, seems to many a foolish duplication +of energy on Nature's part. Why should the same plant bear two +kinds of blossoms and seeds? Among the foliage of low shrubbery +and plants in shady lanes and woodside thickets, we see the +delicate, drooping clusters of lilac blossoms hanging where bees +can readily discover them and, in pilfering their sweets, +transfer their pollen from flower to flower. But in case of +failure to intercross these blossoms that are dependent upon +insect help to set fertile seed, what then? Must the plant run +the risk of extinction? Self-fertilization may be an evil, but +failure to produce seed at all is surely the greatest one. To +guard against such a calamity, insignificant looking flowers that +have no petals to open for the enticing of insects, but which +fertilize themselves with their own pollen, produce abundant seed +close to the ground or under it.Then what need of the showy +blossoms hanging in the thicket above? Close inbreeding in the +vegetable world, as in the animal, ultimately produces degenerate +offspring; and although the showy lilac blossoms of the wild +peanut yield comparatively few cross-fertilized seeds, these are +quite sufficient to enable the vine to maintain those desired +features which are the inheritance from ancestors that struggled +in their day and generation after perfection. No plant dares +depend upon its cleistogamous or blind flowers alone for +offspring; and in the sixty or more genera containing these +curious growths, that usually look like buds arrested in +development, every plant that bears them bears also showy flowers +dependent upon cross-pollination by insect aid. + +The boy who + + "Drives home the cows from the pasture + Up through the long shady lane" + +knows how reluctantly they leave the feast afforded by the wild +peanut. Hogs, rooting about in the moist soil where it grows, +unearth the hairy pods that should produce next year's vines; +hence the poor excuse for branding a charming plant with a +repellent folk-name, + + +VIOLETS + (Viola) Violet family + +Lacking perfume only to be a perfectly satisfying flower, the +COMMON, PURPLE, MEADOW, or HOODED BLUE VIOLET (V. obliqua; V. +cucullata of Gray) has nevertheless established itself in the +hearts of the people from the Arctic to the Gulf as no +sweet-scented, showy, hothouse exotic has ever done. Royal in +color as in lavish profusion, it blossoms everywhere - in woods, +waysides, meadows, and marshes, but always in finer form in cool, +shady dells; with longer flowering scapes in meadow bogs; and +with longer leaves than wide in swampy woodlands. The +heart-shaped, saw-edged leaves, folded toward the center when +newly put forth, and the five-petalled, bluish-purple, +golden-hearted blossom are too familiar for more detailed +description. From the three-cornered stars of the elastic +capsules, the seeds are scattered abroad. + +Beards on the spurred lower petal and the two side petals give +the bees a foothold when they turn head downward, as some must, +to suck nectar. This attitude enables them to receive the pollen +dusted on their abdomens, when they jar the flower, at a point +nearest their pollen-collecting hairs. It is also an economical +advantage to the flower which can sift the pollen downward on the +bee instead of exposing it to the pollen-eating interlopers. +Among the latter may be classed the bumblebees and butterflies +whose long lips and tongues pilfer ad libitum. "For the proper +visitors of the bearded violets," says Professor Robertson, "we +must look to the small bees, among which the Osmias are the most +important." + +When science was younger and hair splitting an uncommon +indulgence of botanists, the EARLY BLUE VIOLET (Viola palmata) +was thought to be simply a variety of the common purple violet, +whose heart-shaped leaves frequently show a tendency to divide +into lobes. But the early blue violet, however roundish or +heart-shaped its early leaves may be, has the later ones +variously divided into from three to thirteen lobes, often almost +as much cut on the sides as the leaves of the bird's-foot violet. +In dry soil, chiefly in the woods, this violet may be found from +Southern Canada westward to Minnesota, and south to northern +boundaries of the Gulf States. Only its side petals are bearded +to form footrests for the insects that search for the deeply +secreted nectar. Many butterflies visit this flower. On entering +it a bee must first touch the stigma before any fresh golden +pollen is released from the anther cone, and cross-fertilization +naturally results. + +In shale and sandy soil, even in the gravel of hillsides, one +finds the narrowly divided, finely cut leaves and the bicolored +beardless blossom of the BIRD'S-FOOT VIOLET (V. pedata), pale +bluish purple on the lower petals, dark purple on one or two +upper ones, and with a heart of gold. The large, velvety, +pansy-like blossom and the unusual foliage which rises in rather +dense tufts are sufficient to distinguish the plant from its +numerous kin. This species produces no cleistogamous or blind +flowers. Frequently the bird's-foot violet blooms a second time, +in autumn, a delightful eccentricity of this family. The spur of +its lower petal is long and very slender, and, as might be +expected, the longest-tongued bees and butterflies are its most +frequent visitors. These receive the pollen on the base of the +proboscis. + +The WOOLLY BLUE VIOLET (V. sororia), whose stems and younger +leaves, at least, are covered with hairs, and whose purplish-blue +flowers are more or less bearded within, prefers a shady but dry +situation; whereas its next of kin, the ARROW-LEAVED VIOLET (V. +sagittata), delights in moist but open meadows and marshes. The +latter's long, arrow, or halberd-shaped leaves, usually entire +above the middle, but slightly lobed below it, may rear +themselves nine inches high in favorable soil, or in dry uplands +perhaps only two inches. The flowering scapes grow as tall as the +leaves. All but the lower petal of the large, deep, dark, +purplish-blue flower are bearded. This species produces an +abundance of late cleistogamous flowers on erect stems. These +peculiar greenish flowers without petals, that are so often +mistaken for buds or seed vessels; that never open, but without +insect aid ripen quantities of fertile seed, are usually borne, +if not actually under ground, then not far above it, on nearly +all violet plants. It will be observed that all species which +bear blind flowers rely somewhat on showy, cross-fertilized +blossoms also to counteract degeneracy from close inbreeding. + +The OVATE-LEAVED VIOLET (V. ovata), formerly reckoned as a mere +variety of the former species, is now accorded a distinct rank. +Not all the blossoms, but an occasional clump, has a faint +perfume like sweet clover. The leaf is elongated, but rather too +round to be halberd-shaped; the stems are hairy; and the flowers, +which closely resemble those of the arrow-leaved violet, are +earlier; making these two species, which are popularly mistaken +for one, among the earliest and commonest of their clan. The dry +soil of upland woods and thickets is the ovate-leaved violet's +preferred habitat. + +In course of time the lovely ENGLISH, MARCH, or SWEET VIOLET, (V. +odorata), which has escaped from gardens, and which is now +rapidly increasing with the help of seed and runners on the +Atlantic and the Pacific coasts, may be established among our +wild flowers. No blossom figures so prominently in European +literature. In France, it has even entered the political field +since Napoleon's day. Yale University has adopted the violet for +its own especial flower, although it is the corn-flower, or +bachelor's button (Centaurea cyanus) that is the true Yale blue. +Sprengel, who made a most elaborate study of the violet, +condensed the result of his research into the following questions +and answers, which are given here because much that he says +applies to our own native species, which have been too little +studied in the modern scientific spirit: + +"1. Why is the flower situated on a long stalk which is upright, +but curved downwards at the free end? In order that it may hang +down; which, firstly, prevents rain from obtaining access to the +nectar; and, secondly, places the stamens in such a position that +the pollen falls into the open space between the pistil and the +free ends of the stamens. If the flower were upright, the pollen +would fall into the space between the base of the stamen and the +base of the pistil, and would not come in contact with the bee. + +"2. Why does the pollen differ from that of most other +insect-fertilized flowers? In most of such flowers the insects +themselves remove the pollen from the anthers, and it is +therefore important that the pollen should not easily be detached +and carried away by the wind. In the present case, on the +contrary, it is desirable that it should be looser and dryer, so +that it may easily fall into the space between the stamens and +the pistil. If it remained attached to the anther, it would not +be touched by the bee, and the flower would remain unfertilized. + +"3. Why is the base of the style so thin? In order that the bee +may be more easily able to bend the style. + +"4. Why is the base of the style bent? For the same reason. The +result of the curvature is that the pistil is much more easily +bent than would be the case if the style were straight. + +"5. Finally, why does the membranous termination of the upper +filament overlap the corresponding portions of the two middle +stamens? Because this enables the bee to move the pistil, and +thereby to set free the pollen more easily than would be the case +under the reverse arrangement." + +In high altitudes of New England, Colorado. and northward, where +the soil is wet and cold, the pale lilac, slightly bearded +petals, streaked with darker veins, of the MARSH VIOLET (V. +palustris), with its almost round leaves, may be found from May +to June. All through the White Mountains one finds it abundant. + +A peculiarity of the DOG or RUNNING VIOLET (V. Labradorica) is +that its small, heart-shaped leaves are set along the branching +stem, and its pale purple blossoms rise from their angles, pansy +fashion. From March to May it blooms throughout its wide range in +wet, shady places. Its English prototype, called by the same +invidious name, was given the prefix "dog," because the word, +which is always intended to express contempt in the British mind, +is applied in this case for the flower's lack of fragrance. When +a bee visits this violet, his head coming in contact with the +stigma jars it, thus opening the little pollen box, whose +contents must fall out on his head and be carried away and rubbed +off where it will fertilize the next violet visited. + + +SEA LAVENDER; MARSH ROSEMARY; CANKER-ROOT; INK-ROOT + (Limonium Carolinianum; Statice Limonium of Gray) Plumbago +family + +Flowers - Very tiny, pale, dull lavender, erect, set along upper +side of branches. Calyx 5-toothed, tubular, plaited; corolla of 5 +petals opposite as many stamens; 1 pistil with 5 thread-like +styles. Scape: 1 to 2 ft. high, slender, leafless, much branched +above. Leaves: All from thick, fleshy rootstock, narrowly oblong, +tapering into margined petioles, thick, the edges slightly waved, +not toothed; midrib prominent. +Preferred Habitat - Salt meadows and marshes. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Atlantic coast from Labrador to Florida, +westward along the Gulf to Texas; also in Europe. + +Seen in masses, from a little distance, this tiny flower looks +like blue-gray mist blown in over the meadows from the sea, and +on closer view each plant suggests sea-spray itself. Thrifty +housewives along the coast dry it for winter bouquets, partly for +ornament and partly because there is an old wives' tradition that +it keeps away moths. Statice, from the Greek verb to stop, hence +an astringent, was the generic name formerly applied to the +plants, with whose roots these same old women believed they cured +canker sores. + + +FRINGED GENTIAN + (Gentiana crinita) Gentian family + +Flowers - Deep, bright blue, rarely white, several or many, about +2 in. high, stiffly erect, and solitary at ends of very long +foot-stalk. Calyx of 4 unequal, acutely pointed lobes. Corolla +funnel form, its four lobes spreading, rounded, fringed around +ends, but scarcely on sides. Four stamens inserted on corolla +tube; 1 pistil with 2 stigmas. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. high, usually +branched, leafy. Leaves: Opposite, upper ones acute at tip, +broadening to heart-shaped base, seated on stem. Fruit: A +spindle-shaped, 2-valved capsule, containing numerous scaly, +hairy seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Low, moist meadows and woods. +Flowering Season - September-November. +Distribution - Quebec, southward to Georgia, and westward beyond +the Mississippi. + + "Thou waitest late, and com'st alone + When woods are bare and birds have flown, + And frosts and shortening days portend + The aged year is near his end. + + "Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye + Look through its fringes to the sky, + Blue - blue - as if that sky let fail + A flower from its cerulean wall." + +When we come upon a bed of gentians on some sparkling October +day, we can but repeat Bryant's thoughts and express them +prosaically who attempt description. In dark weather this +sunshine lover remains shut, to protect its nectar and pollen +from possible showers. An elusive plant is this gentian, which by +no means always reappears in the same places year after year, for +it is an annual whose seeds alone perpetuate it. Seating +themselves on the winds when autumn gales shake them from out of +the home wall, these little hairy scales ride afar, and those +that are so fortunate as to strike into soft, moist soil at the +end of the journey, germinate. Because this flower is so rarely +beautiful that few can resist the temptation of picking it, it is +becoming sadly rare near large settlements. + +The special importance of producing a quantity of fertile seed +has led the gentians to adopt proterandry - one of the commonest, +because most successful, methods of insuring it. The anthers, +coming to maturity early, shed their pollen on the bumblebees +that have been first attracted by their favorite color and the +enticing fringes before they crawl half way down the tube where +they can reach the nectar secreted in the walls. After the pollen +has been carried from the early flowers, and the stamens begin to +wither, up rises the pistil to be fertilized with pollen brought +from a newly opened blossom by the bee or butterfly. The late +development of the pistil accounts for the error often stated, +that some gentians have none. No doubt the fringe, which most +scientists regard simply as an additional attraction for winged +insects, serves a double purpose in entangling the feet of ants +and other crawlers that would climb over the edge to pilfer +sweets clearly intended for the bumblebee alone. + +Fifteen species of gentian have been gathered during a half-hour +walk in Switzerland, where the pastures are spread with sheets of +blue. Indeed, one can little realize the beauty of these heavenly +flowers who has not seen them among the Alps. + +The FIVE-FLOWERED or STIFF GENTIAN, or AGUE-WEED (Gentiana +quinquefolia; G. quinqueflora of Gray) has its five-parted, +small, picotee-edged blue flowers arranged in clusters, not +exceeding seven, at the ends of the branches or seated in the +leaf-axils. The slender, branching, ridged stem may rise only two +inches in dry soil; or perhaps two feet in rich, moist, rocky +ground, where it grows to perfection, especially in mountainous +regions. From Canada to Florida and westward to Missouri is its +range, and beginning to bloom in August southward, it may not be +found until September in the Catskills, and in October it is +still in its glory in Ontario. The colorless, bitter juice of +many of the gentian tribe has long been valued as a tonic in +medicine. Evidently the butterflies that pilfer this "ague-weed," +and the bees that are its legitimate feasters, find something +more delectable in its blue walls. + +A deep, intense blue is the CLOSED, BLIND, or BOTTLE GENTIAN (G. +Andrewsii), more truly the color of the "male bluebird's back," +to which Thoreau likened the paler fringed gentian. Rarely some +degenerate plant bears white flowers. As it is a perennial, we +are likely to find it in its old haunts year after year; +nevertheless its winged seeds sail far abroad to seek pastures +new. This gentian also shows a preference for moist soil. Gray +thought that it expanded slightly, and for a short time only in +sunshine, but added that, although it is proterandrous, i.e. it +matures and sheds its pollen before its stigma is susceptible to +any, he believed it finally fertilized itself by the lobes of the +stigma curling backward until they touched the anthers. But Gray +was doubtless mistaken. Several authorities have recently proved +that the flower is adapted to bumblebees. It offers them the last +feast of the season, for although it comes into bloom in August +southward, farther northward - and it extends from Quebec to the +Northwest Territory - it lasts through October. + +Now, how can a bumblebee enter this inhospitable-looking flower? +If he did but know it, it keeps closed for his special benefit, +having no fringes or hairs to entangle the feet of crawling +pilferers, and no better way of protecting its nectar from rain +and marauding butterflies that are not adapted to its needs. But +he is a powerful fellow. Watch him alight on a cluster of +blossoms, select the younger, nectar-bearing ones, that are +distinctly marked white against a light-blue background at the +mouth of the corolla for his special guidance. Old flowers from +which the nectar has been removed turn deep reddish purple, and +the white pathfinders become indistinct. With some difficulty, it +is true, the bumblebee (B. Americanorum) thrusts his tongue +through the valve of the chosen flower where the five plaited +lobes overlap one another; then he pushes with all his might +until his head having passed the entrance most of his body +follows, leaving only his hind legs and the tip of his abdomen +sticking out as he makes the circuit. He has much sense as well +as muscle, and does not risk imprisonment in what must prove a +tomb by a total and unnecessary disappearance within the bottle. +Presently he backs out, brushes the pollen from his head and +thorax into his baskets, and is off to fertilize an older, +stigmatic flower with the few grains of quickening dust that must +remain on his velvety head. + + +WILD BLUE PHLOX + (Phlox divaricata) Phlox family + +Flowers - Pale lilac blue, slightly fragrant, borne on sticky +pedicels, in loose, spreading clusters. Calyx with 5 long, sharp +teeth. Corolla of 5 flat lobes, indented like the top of a heart, +and united into a slender tube; 5 unequal, straight, short +stamens in corolla tube; 1 pistil with 3 stigmas. Stem: to 2 ft. +high, finely coated with sticky hairs above, erect or spreading, +and producing leafy shoots from base. Leaves: Of flowering stem - +opposite, oblong, tapering to a point; of sterile shoots - oblong +or egg-shaped, not pointed, 1 to 2 in. long. +Preferred habitat - Moist, rocky woods. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Eastern Canada to Florida, Minnesota to Arkansas. + +The merest novice can have no difficulty in naming the flower +whose wild and cultivated relations abound throughout North +America, the almost exclusive home of the genus, although it is +to European horticulturists, as usual the first to see the +possibilities in our native flowers, that we owe the gay hybrids +in our gardens. Mr. Drummond, a collector from the Botanical +Society of Glasgow, early in the thirties sent home the seeds of +a species from Texas, which became the ancestor of the gorgeous +annuals, the Drummond phloxes of commerce today; and although he +died of fever in Cuba before the plants became generally known, +not even his kinsman, the author of "Natural Law in the Spiritual +World," has done more to immortalize the family name. + +While the wild blue phlox is sometimes cultivated, it is the +GARDEN PHLOX (P. paniculata), common in woods and thickets from +Pennsylvania to Illinois and southward, that under a gardener's +care bears the large terminal clusters of purple, magenta, +crimson, pink, and white flowers abundant in old-fashioned, hardy +borders. From these it has escaped so freely in many sections of +the North and East as to be counted among the local wildflowers. +Unless the young offshoots are separated from the parent and +given a nook of their own, the flower quickly reverts to the +original type. European cultivators claim that the most brilliant +colors are obtained by crossing annual with perennial phloxes. + +WILD SWEET WILLIAM (P. maculata), another perennial much sought +by cultivators, loves the moisture of low woods and the +neighborhood of streams in the Middle and Western States when it +is free to choose its habitat; but it, too, has so freely escaped +from gardens farther north into dry and dusty roadsides, that +anyone who has passed the ruins of Hawthorne's little red cottage +at Lenox, for example, and seen the way his wife's clump of white +phlox under his study window has spread to cover an acre of +hillside, would suppose it to be luxuriating in its favorite +locality. This variety of the species (var. Candida) lacks the +purplish flecks on stem and lower leaves responsible for the +specific name of the type. Pinkish purple or pink blossoms are +borne in a rather narrow, elongated panicle on the typical Sweet +William. + +Most members of the phlox family resort to the trick of coating +the upper stem and the peduncles immediately below the flowers +with a sticky secretion in which crawling insects, intent on +pilfering sweets, meet their death, just as birds are caught on +limed twigs. Butterflies, for whom phloxes have narrowed their +tubes to the exclusion of most other insects, are their +benefactors; but long-tongued bees and flies often seek their +nectar. Indeed, the number of strictly butterfly-flowers is +surprisingly small. + + +VIRGINIA COWSLIP; TREE or SMOOTH LUNGWORT; BLUE-BELLS + (Mertensia Virginica) Borage family + +Flowers - Pinkish in bud, afterward purplish blue, fading to +light blue; about 1 in. long, tubular, funnel form, the tube of +corolla not crested; spreading or hanging on slender pedicels in +showy, loose clusters at end of smooth stem from 1 to 2 ft. high; +stamens 5, inserted on corolla; 1 pistil; ovary of 4 divisions. +Leaves: Large, entire, alternate, veiny, oblong or obovate, the +upper ones seated on stem; lower very large ones diminishing +toward base into long petioles; at first rich, dark purple, +afterward pale bluish gray. Fruit: 4 seed-like little nuts, +leathery, wrinkled when mature. +Preferred Habitat - Alluvial ground, low meadows, and along +streams. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Southern Canada to South Carolina and Kansas, west +to Nebraska; most abundant in middle West. + +Not to be outdone by its cousins the heliotrope and the +forget-me-not, this lovely and far more showy spring flower has +found its way into the rockwork and sheltered, moist nooks of +many gardens, especially in England, where Mr. W. Robinson, who +has appealed for its wider cultivation in that perennially +charming book, "The English Flower Garden," says of the +Mertensias: "There is something about them more beautiful in form +of foliage and stem, and in the graceful way in which they rise +to panicles of blue, than in almost any other family.... +Handsomest of all is the Virginia cowslip." And yet Robinson +never saw the alluvial meadows in the Ohio Valley blued with +lovely masses of the plant in April. + +A great variety of insects visit this blossom, which, being +tubular, conducts them straight to the ample feast; but not until +they have deposited some pollen brought from another flower on +the stigma in their way. The anthers are too widely separated +from the stigma to make self-fertilization likely. Occasionally +one finds the cowslips perforated by clever bumblebees. As only +the females, which are able to sip far deeper cups, are flying +when they bloom, they must be either too mischievous or too lazy +to drain them in the legitimate manner. Butterflies have only to +stand on a flower, not to enter it, in order to sip nectar from +the four glands that secrete it abundantly. + + +FORGET-ME-NOT; MOUSE-EAR; SCORPION GRASS; SNAKE GRASS; LOVE ME + (Myosotis Palustris) Borage family + +Flowers - Pure blue, pinkish, or white, with yellow eye; flat, +5-lobed, borne in many-flowered, long, often 1-sided racemes. +Calyx 5-cleft; the lobes narrow, spreading, erect, and open in +fruit; 5 stamens inserted on corolla tube; style threadlike; +ovary 4-celled. Stem: Low, branching, leafy, slender, hairy, +partially reclining. Leaves: (Myosotis = mouse-ear) oblong, +alternate, seated on stem, hairy. Fruit: Nutlets, angled and +keeled on inner side. +Preferred Habitat - Escaped from gardens to brooksides, marshes, +and low meadows. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Native of Europe and Asia, now rapidly spreading +from Nova Scotia southward to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and +beyond. + +How rare a color blue must have been originally among our flora +is evident from the majority of blue and purple flowers that, +although now abundant here and so perfectly at home, are really +quite recent immigrants from Europe and Asia. But our dryer, +hotter climate never brings to the perfection attained in England + + "The sweet forget-me-nots + That grow for happy lovers." + +Tennyson thus ignores the melancholy association of the flower in +the popular legend which tells how a lover, when trying to gather +some of these blossoms for his sweetheart, fell into a deep pool, +and threw a bunch on the bank, calling out, as he sank forever +from her sight, "Forget me not." Another dismal myth sends its +hero forth seeking hidden treasure caves in a mountain, under the +guidance of a fairy. He fills his pockets with gold, but not +heeding the fairy's warning to "forget not the best" - i.e., the +myosotis - he is crushed by the closing together of the mountain. +Happiest of all is the folk-tale of the Persians; as told by +their poet Shiraz: "It was in the golden morning of the early +world, when an angel sat weeping outside the closed gates of +Paradise. He had fallen from his high estate through loving a +daughter of earth, nor was he permitted to enter again until she +whom he loved had planted the flowers of the forget-me-not in +every corner of the world. He returned to earth and assisted her, +and together they went hand in hand. When their task was ended, +they entered Paradise together, for the fair woman, without +tasting the bitterness of death, became immortal like the angel +whose love her beauty had won when she sat by the river twining +forget-me-nots in her hair." + +It was the golden ring around the forget-me-not's center that +first led Sprengel to believe the conspicuous markings at the +entrance of many flowers served as pathfinders to insects. This +golden circle also shelters the nectar from rain, and indicates +to the fly or bee just where it must probe between stigma and +anthers to touch them with opposite sides of its tongue. Since it +may probe from any point of the circle, it is quite likely that +the side of the tongue that touched a pollen-laden anther in one +flower will touch the stigma in the next one visited, and so +cross-fertilize it. But forget-me-nots are not wholly dependent +on insects. When these fail, a fully mature flower is still able +to set fertile seed by shedding its own pollen directly on the +stigma. + +The SMALLER FORGET-ME-NOT (M. laxa), formerly accounted a mere +variety of palustris, but now defined as a distinct species, is a +native, and therefore may serve to show how its European relative +here will deteriorate in the dryer atmosphere of the New World. +Its tiny turquoise flowers, borne on long stems from a very loose +raceme, gleam above wet, muddy places from Newfoundland and +Eastern Canada to Virginia and Tennessee. + +Even smaller still are the blue or white flowers of the FIELD +FORGET-ME-NOT, SCORPION GRASS, or MOUSE-EAR (M. arvenis), whose +stems and leaves are covered with bristly hairs. It blooms from +August to July in dry places, even on hillsides, an unusual +locality in which to find a member of this moisture-loving clan. +All the flowers remain long in bloom, continually forming new +buds on a lengthening stem, and leaving behind little empty green +calices. + + +VIPER'S BUGLOSS; BLUE-WEED; VIPER'S HERB or GRASS; SNAKE-FLOWER; +BLUE-THISTLE + (Echium vulgare) Borage family + +Flowers - Bright blue, afterward reddish purple, pink in the bud, +numerous, clustered on short, 1-sided, curved spikes rolled up at +first, and straightening out as flowers expand. Calyx deeply +5-cleft; corolla 1 in. long or less, funnel form, the 5 lobes +unequal, acute; 5 stamens inserted on corolla tube, the filaments +spreading below, and united above into slender appendage, the +anthers forming a cone. 1 pistil with 2 stigmas. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 +ft. high; bristly-hairy, erect, spotted. Leaves: Hairy, rough, +oblong to lance-shaped, alternate, seated on stem, except at base +of plant. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, waste places; roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Virginia, westward to Nebraska; +Europe and Asia. + +In England, from whose gardens this plant escaped long ago, a war +of extermination that has been waged against the vigorous, +beautiful weed by the farmers has at last driven it to the +extremity of the island, where a few stragglers about Penzance +testify to the vanquishing of what must once have been a mighty +army. From England a few refugees reached here in i683, no one +knows how; but they proved to be the vanguard of an aggressive +and victorious host that quickly overran our open, hospitable +country, as if to give vent to revenge for long years of +persecution at the hands of Europeans. "It is a fact that all our +more pernicious weeds, like our vermin, are of Old-World origin," +says.John Burroughs. "...Perhaps the most notable thing about +them, when compared with our native species, is their +persistence, not to say pugnacity. They fight for the soil; they +plant colonies here and there, and will not be rooted out. Our +native weeds are for the most part shy and harmless, and retreat +before civilization.... We have hardly a weed we can call our +own." + +Years ago, when simple folk believed God had marked plants with +some sign to indicate the special use for which each was +intended, they regarded the spotted stem of the bugloss, and its +seeds shaped like a serpent's head, as certain indications that +the herb would cure snake bites. Indeed, the genus takes its name +from Echis, the Greek for viper. + +Because it is showy and offers accessible nectar, a great variety +of insects visit the blue-weed; Muller alone observed sixty-seven +species about it. We need no longer wonder at its fertility. Of +the five stamens one remains in the tube, while the other four +project and form a convenient alighting place for visitors, which +necessarily dust their under sides with pollen as they enter; for +the red anthers were already ripe when the flower opened. Then, +however, the short, immature pistil was kept below. After the +stamens have shed their pollen and there can be no longer danger +of self-fertilization, it gradually elongates itself beyond the +point occupied by them, and divides into two little horns whose +stigmatic surfaces an incoming pollen-laden insect cannot well +fail to strike against. Cross-pollination is so thoroughly +secured in this case that the plant has completely lost the power +of fertilizing itself. Unwelcome visitors like ants, which would +pilfer nectar without rendering any useful service in return, are +warded off by the bristly, hairy foliage. Several kinds of female +bees seek the bugloss exclusively for food for their larvae as +well as for themselves, sweeping up the abundant pollen with +their abdominal brushes as they feast without effort. + + +BLUE VERVAIN; WILD HYSSOP; SIMPLER'S JOY + (Verbena hastala) Vervain family + +Flowers - Very small, purplish blue, in numerous slender, erect, +compact spikes. Calyx 5-toothed; corolla tubular, unequally +5-lobed; 2 pairs of stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: 3 to 7 ft. high, +rough, branched above, leafy, 4-sided. Leaves: Opposite, stemmed, +lance-shaped, saw-edged, rough; lower ones lobed at base. +Preferred Habitat - Moist meadows, roadsides, waste places. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - United States and Canada in almost every part. + +Seeds below, a circle of insignificant purple-blue flowers in the +center, and buds at the top of the vervain's slender spires do +not produce a striking effect, yet this common plant certainly +does not lack beauty. John Burroughs, ever ready to say a kindly, +appreciative word for any weed, speaks of its drooping, knotted +threads, that "make a pretty etching upon the winter snow." Bees, +the vervain's benefactors, are usually seen clinging to the +blooming spikes, and apparently sleep on them. Borrowing the name +of simpler's joy from its European sister, the flower has also +appropriated much of the tradition and folk-lore centered about +that plant which herb-gatherers, or simplers, truly delighted to +see, since none was once more salable. + +EUROPEAN VERVAIN (V. officinalis) HERB-OF-THE-CROSS, BERBINE, +HOLY-HERB, ENCHANTER'S PLANT, JUNO'S TEARS, PIGEON-GRASS, +LIGHTNING PLANT, SIMPLER'S JOY, and so on through a long list of +popular names for the most part testifying to the plant's virtue +as a love-philter, bridal token, and general cure-all, has now +become naturalized from the Old World on the Atlantic and Pacific +Slopes; and is rapidly appropriating waste arid cultivated ground +until, in many places, it is truly troublesome. In general habit +like the blue vervain, its flowers are more purplish than blue, +and are scattered, not crowded, along the spikes. The leaves are +deeply, but less acutely, cut. + +Ages before Christians ascribed healing virtues to the vervain - +found growing on Mount Calvary, and therefore possessing every +sort of miraculous power, according to the logic of simple +peasant folk - the Druids had counted it among their sacred +plants. "When the dog-star arose from unsunned spots" the priests +gathered it. Did not Shakespeare's witches learn some of their +uncanny rites from these reverend men of old? One is impressed +with the striking similarity of many customs recorded of both. +Two of the most frequently used ingredients in witches' cauldrons +were the vervain and the rue. "The former probably derived its +notoriety from the fact of its being sacred to Thor, an honor +which marked it out, like other lightning plants, as peculiarly +adapted for occult uses," says Mr. Thiselton Dyer in his +"Folk-lore of Plants." "Although vervain, therefore, as the +enchanter's plant, was gathered by witches to do mischief in +their incantations, yet, as Aubrey says, it 'hinders witches from +their will,' a circumstance to which Drayton further refers when +he speaks of the vervain as ''gainst witchcraft much avayling.'" +Now we understand why the children of Shakespeare's time hung +vervain and dill with a horseshoe over the door. + +In his eighth Eclogue, Virgil refers to vervain as a charm to +recover lost love. Doubtless this was the verbena, the herba +sacra employed in ancient Roman sacrifices, according to Pliny. +In his day the bridal wreath was of verbena, gathered by the +bride herself. + +NARROW-LEAVED VERVAIN (V. angustifolia), like the blue vervain, +has a densely crowded spike of tiny purple or blue flowers that +quickly give place to seeds, but usually there is only one spike +at the end of a branch. The leaves are narrow, lance-shaped, +acute, saw-edged, rough. From Massachusetts and Florida westward +to Minnesota and Arkansas one finds the plant blooming in dry +fields from June to August, after the parsimonious manner of the +vervain tribe. + +It is curious that the vervain, or verbena, employed by brides +for centuries as the emblem of chastity, should be one of the +notorious botanical examples of a willful hybrid. Generally, the +individuals of distinct species do not interbreed; but verbenas +are often difficult to name correctly in every case because of +their susceptibility to each other's pollen - the reason why the +garden verbena may so easily be made to blossom forth into +whatever hue the gardener wills. His plants have been obtained, +for the most part, from the large-flowered verbena, the beautiful +purple, blue, or white species of our Western States (V. +Canadensis) crossed with brilliant-hued species imported from +South America. + + +MAD-DOG SKULLCAP or HELMET-FLOWER; MAD-WEED; HOODWORT + (Scutellaria lateriflora) Mint family + +Flowers - Blue, varying to whitish; several or many, 1/4 in. +long, growing in axils of upper leaves or in 1-sided spike-like +racemes. Calyx 2-lipped, the upper lip with a helmet-like +protuberance; corolla 2-lipped; the lower, 3-lobed lip spreading; +the middle lobe larger than the side ones. Stamens, 4, in pairs, +under the upper lip; upper pair the shorter; one pistil, the +style unequally cleft in two. Stem: Square, smooth, leafy, +branched, 8 in. to 2 ft. high. Leaves: Opposite, oblong to +lance-shaped, thin, toothed, on slender pedicles, 1 to 3 in. +long, growing gradually smaller toward top of stem. Fruit: 4 +nutlets. +Preferred Habitat - Wet, shady ground. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Uneven throughout United States and the British +Possessions. + +By the helmet-like appendage on the upper lip of the calyx, which +to the imaginative mind of Linnaeus suggested Scutellum (a little +dish), which children delight to spring open for a view of the +four tiny seeds attached at the base when in fruit, one knows +this to be a member of the skullcap tribe, a widely scattered +genus of blue and violet two-lipped flowers, some small to the +point of insignificance, like the present species, others showy +enough for the garden, but all rich in nectar, and eagerly sought +by bees. The wide middle lobe of the lower lip forms a convenient +platform on which to alight; the stamens in the roof of a newly +opened blossom dust the back of the visitor as he explores the +nectary; and as the stamens of an older flower wither when they +have shed their pollen, and the style then rises to occupy their +position, it follows that, in flying from the top of one spike of +flowers to the bottom of another, where the older ones are, the +visitor, for whom the whole scheme of color, form, and +arrangement was planned, deposits on the sticky top of the style +some of the pollen he has brought with him and so +cross-fertilizes the flower. When the seeds begin to form and the +now useless corolla drops off, the helmet-like appendage on the +top of the calyx enlarges and meets the lower lip, so enclosing +and protecting the tiny nutlets. After their maturity, either the +mouth gapes from dryness, or the appendage drops off altogether, +from the same cause, to release the seeds. Old herb doctors, who +professed to cure hydrophobia with this species, are responsible +for its English misnomer. + +Perhaps the most beautiful member of the genus is the SHOWY +SKULLCAP (S. serrata), whose blue corolla, an inch long, has its +narrow upper lip shorter than the spreading lower one. The +flowers are set opposite each other at the end of the smooth +stem, which rises from one to two feet high in the woods +throughout a southerly and westerly range. As several other +skullcaps have distinctly saw-edged leaves, this plant might have +been given a more distinctive adjective, thinks one who did not +have the naming of 200,000 species! + +Above dry, sandy soil from New York and Michigan southward the +HAIRY SKULLCAP (S. pilosa) lifts short racemes of blue flowers +that are only half an inch long, and whose lower lip and lobes at +either side are shorter than the arched upper lip. Most parts of +the plant are covered with down, the lower stem being especially +hairy; and this fact determines the species when connected with +its rather distant pairs of indented, veiny leaves, ranging from +oblong to egg-shaped, and furnished with petioles which grow +gradually shorter toward the top, where pairs of bracts, seated +on the stem, part to let the flowers spring from their axils. + +The LARGER or HYSSOP SKULLCAP (S. integrifolia) rarely has a dent +in its rounded oblong leaves ,which, like the stem, are covered +with fine down. Its lovely, bright blue flowers, an inch long, +the lips of about equal length, are grouped opposite each other +at the top of a stem that never lifts them higher than two feet; +and so their beauty is often concealed in the tall grass of +roadsides and meadows and the undergrowth of woods and thickets, +where they bloom from May to August, from southern New England to +the Gulf of Mexico, westward to Texas. + +This tribe of plants is almost exclusively North American, but +the hardy MARSH SKULLCAP or HOODED WILLOW-HERB (S. galericulata), +at least, roams over Europe, and Asia also, with the help of +runners, as well as seeds that, sinking into the soft earth of +swamps and the borders of brooks, find growth easy. The blue +flowers which grow singly in the axils of the upper leaves are +quite as long as those of the larger and the showy skullcaps; the +oblong, lance-shaped leaves, which are mostly seated on the +branching stem, opposite each other, have low teeth. Why do +leaves vary as they do, especially in closely allied species? +"The causes which have led to the different forms of leaves have +been, so far as I know," says Sir John Lubbock, "explained in +very few cases: those of the shapes and structure of seeds are +tolerably obvious in some species, but in the majority they are +still entirely unexplained; and, even as regards the blossoms +themselves, in spite of the numerous and conscientious labors of +so many eminent naturalists, there is as yet no single species +thoroughly known to us." + + +GROUND IVY or JOY; GILL-OVER-THE-GROUND; FIELD BALM; CREEPING +CHARLIE + (Glecoma hederacea; Nepeta Glechoma of Gray) Mint family + +Flowers - Light bluish purple, dotted with small specks of +reddish violet; growing singly or in clusters along stem, seated +in leaf axils; calyx hairy, with 5 sharp teeth; corolla tubular, +over 1/2 in. long, 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip +with 3 spreading lobes, middle one largest; 4 stamens in pairs +under upper lip; the anther sacs spreading; pistil with 2-lobed +style. Stem: Trailing, rooting at intervals, sometimes 18 in. +long, leafy, the branches ascending. Leaves: From 1/2 to 1 1/2 +in. across; smooth, rounded, kidney-shaped, scallop-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Waste places, shady ground. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Eastern half of Canada and the United States, from +Georgia and Kansas northward. + +Besides the larger flowers, containing both stamens and pistils, +borne on this little immigrant, smaller female flowers, +containing a pistil only, occur just as they do in thyme, mint, +marjoram, and doubtless other members of the great family to +which all belong. Muller attempted to prove that these small +flowers, being the least showy, are the last to be visited by +insects, which, having previously dusted themselves with pollen +from the stamens of the larger flowers when they first open, are +in a condition to make cross-fertilization certain. So much for +the small flower's method of making insects serve its end; the +larger flowers have another way. At first they are male; that is, +the pistil is as yet undeveloped and the four stamens are mature, +ready to shed pollen on any insect alighting on the lip. Later, +when the stamens are past maturity, the pistil elongates itself +and is ready for the reception of pollen brought from younger +flowers. Many blossoms are male on the first day of opening, and +female later, to protect themselves against self-fertilization. + +In Europe, where the aromatic leaves of this little creeper were +long ago used for fermenting and clarifying beer, it is known by +such names as ale-hoof and gill ale-gill, it is said, being +derived from the old French word, guiller, to ferment or make +merry. Having trailed across Europe, the persistent hardy plant +is now creeping its way over our continent, much to the disgust +of cattle, which show unmistakable dislike for a single leaf +caught up in a mouthful of herbage. + +Very closely allied to the ground ivy is the CATMINT or CATNIP +(Nepela Cataria) ,whose pale-purple, or nearly white flowers, +dark-spotted, may be most easily named by crushing the coarsely +toothed leaves in one's hand. It is curious how cats will seek +out this hoary-hairy plant in the waste places where it grows and +become half-crazed with delight over its aromatic odor. + + +SELF-HEAL; HEAL-ALL; BLUE CURLS; HEART-OF-THE-EARTH; BRUNELLA +(Prunella vulgaris) Mint family + +Flowers - Purple and violet, in dense spikes, somewhat resembling +a clover head; from 1/2 to 1 in. long in flower, becoming 4 times +the length in fruit. Corolla tubular, irregularly 2-lipped, the +upper lip darker and hood-like; the lower one 3-lobed, spreading, +the middle and largest lobe fringed; 4 twin-like stamens +ascending under upper lip; filaments ofthe lower and longer pair +2-toothed at summit, one of the teeth bearing an anther, the +other tooth sterile; style thread-like, shorter than stamens, and +terminating in a 2-cleft stigma. Calyx 2-parted, half the length +of corolla, its teeth often hairy on edges. Stem: 2 in. to 2 ft. +high, erect or reclining, simple or branched. Leaves: Opposite, +oblong. Fruit: 4 nutlets, round and smooth. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, roadsides, waste places. +Flowering Season - May-October. +Distribution - North America, Europe, Asia. + +This humble, rusty green plant, weakly lopping over the +surrounding grass, so that often only its insignificant purple, +clover-like flower heads are visible, is another of those +immigrants from the old countries which, having proved fittest in +the fiercer struggle for existence there, has soon after its +introduction here exceeded most of our more favored native +flowers in numbers. Everywhere we find the heal-all, sometimes +dusty and stunted by the roadside, sometimes truly beautiful in +its fresh purple, violet, and white when perfectly developed +under happy conditions. In England, where most flowers are deeper +hued than with us, the heal-all is rich purple. What is the +secret of this flower's successful march across three continents? +As usual, the chief reason is to be found in the facility it +offers insects to secure food; and the quantity of fertile seed +it is therefore able to ripen as the result of their visits is +its reward. Also, its flowering season is unusually long, and it +is a tireless bloomer. It is finical in no respect; its sprawling +stems root easily at the joints, and it is very hardy. + +Several species of bumblebees enter the flower, which being set +in dense clusters enables them to suck the nectar from each with +the minimum loss of time, the smaller bee spending about two +seconds to each. After allowing for the fraction of time it takes +him to sweep his eyes and the top of his head with his forelegs +to free them from the pollen which must inevitably be shaken from +the stamen in the arch of the corolla as he dives deeply after +the nectar in the bottom of the throat, and to pass the pollen, +just as honeybees do, with the most amazing quickness, from the +forelegs to the middle ones, and thence to the hairy "basket" on +the hind ones - after making all allowances for such delays, this +small worker is able to fertilize all the flowers in the fullest +cluster in half a minute! When the contents of the baskets of two +different species of bumblebees caught on this blossom were +examined under the microscope, the pollen in one case proved to +be heal-all, with some from the goldenrod, and a few grains of a +third kind not identified; and in the other case; heal-all pollen +and a small proportion of some unknown kind. Bees that are +evidently out for both nectar and pollen on the same trip have +been detected visiting white and yellow flowers on their way from +one heal-all cluster to another; and this fact, together with the +presence of more than one kind of pollen in the basket, shows +that the generally accepted statement that bees confine +themselves to flowers of one kind or color during a trip is not +always according to fact. + +The older name of the plant, Brunella, and the significant one, +altered by Linnaeus into the softer sound it now bears, is +doubtless derived from the German word, braune, the quinsy. +Quaint old Parkinson reads: "This is generally called prunella +and brunella from the Germans who called it brunellen, because it +cureth that disease which they call die bruen, common to soldiers +in campe, but especially in garrison, which is an inflammation of +the mouth, throat, and tongue." Among the old herbalists who +pretended to cure every ill that flesh is heir to with it, it was +variously known as carpenter's herb, sicklewort, hook-heal, +slough-heal, and brownwort. + + +AMERICAN or MOCK PENNYROYAL; TICKWEED; SQUAW MINT + (Hedeoma pulegioides) Mint family + +Flowers - Very small, bluish purple, clustered in axils of upper +leaves. Calyx tubular, unequally 5-cleft; teeth of upper lip +triangular, hairy in throat. Corolla 2-lipped, upper lip erect, +notched; lower one 3-cleft, spreading; 2 anther-bearing stamens +under upper lip; 2 sterile but apparent; 1 pistil with 2-cleft +style. Stem: Low, erect, branched, square, hairy, 6 to 18 in. +high. Leaves: Small, opposite, ovate to oblong, scantily toothed, +strongly aromatic, pungent. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, open woodland. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Cape Breton Island westward to Nebraska, south to +Florida. + +However insignificant its flower, this common little plant +unmistakably proclaims its presence throughout the neighborhood. +So powerful is the pungent aroma of its leaves that dog doctors +sprinkle them about freely in the kennels to kill fleas, a pest +by no means exterminated in Southern Europe, however, where the +true pennyroyal of commerce (Mentha Pulegium) is native. Herb +gatherers who collect our pennyroyal, that is so similar to the +European species it is similarly employed in medicine, say they +can scent it from a greater distance than any other plant. + +BASTARD PENNYROYAL, which, like the Self-heal, is sometimes +called BLUE CURLS (Trichostema dichotomum), chooses dry fields, +but preferably sandy ones, where we find its abundant, tiny blue +flowers, that later change to purple, from July to October. Its +balsam-like odor is not agreeable, neither has the plant beauty +to recommend it; yet where it grows, from Maine to Florida, and +west to Texas, it is likely to be so common we cannot well pass +it unnoticed. The low, stiff, slender, much-branched, and rather +clammy stem bears opposite, oblong, smooth-edged leaves narrowed +into petioles. One, two, or three flowers, borne at the tips of +the branches, soon fall off, leaving the 5-cleft calyx to cradle +four exposed nutlets. + +>From the five-lobed tubular corolla protrude four very long, +curling, blue or violet stamens - hair stamens the Greek generic +title signifies - and the pretty popular name of blue curls also +has reference to these conspicuous filaments that are spirally +coiled in the bud. + +In general habit like the two preceding plants, the FALSE +PENNYROYAL (Isanthus brachiatus) nevertheless prefers that its +sandy home should be near streams. From Quebec to Georgia, +westward to Minnesota and Texas, it blooms in midsummer, lifting +its small, tubular, pale blue flowers from the axils of pointed, +opposite leaves. An unusual characteristic in one of the mint +tribe is that the five sharp lobes of its bell-shaped calyx, and +the five rounded, spreading lobes of the corolla, are of equal +length, hence its Greek name signifying an equal flower. + + +WILD or CREEPING THYME + (Thymus Serpyllum) Mint family + +Flowers - Very small purple or pink purple, fragrant, clustered +at ends of branches or in leaf axils. Hairy calyx and corolla +2-lipped, the latter with lower lip 3-cleft; stamens 4; style +2-cleft. Leaves: Oblong, opposite, aromatic. Stem: 4 to 12 in. +long) creeping, woody, branched, forming dense cushions. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, dry banks, and waste places. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Naturalized from Europe. Nova Scotia to Middle +States. + + "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, + Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows; + Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, + With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine." + - A Midsummer Night's Dream. + +According to Danish tradition, anyone waiting by an elder-bush on +Midsummer Night at twelve o'clock will see the king of fairyland +and all his retinue pass by and disport themselves in favorite +haunts, among others the mounds of fragrant wild thyme. How well +Shakespeare knew his folklore! + +Thyme is said to have been one of the three plants which made the +Virgin Mary's bed. Indeed, the European peasants have as many +myths as there are quotations from the poets about this classic +plant. Its very name denotes that it was used as an incense in +Greek temples. No doubt it was the Common Thyme (T. vulgaris), an +erect, tall plant cultivated in gardens here as a savory, that +Horace says the Romans used so extensively for bee culture. + +Dense cushions of creeping thyme usually contain two forms of +blossoms on separate plants - hermaphrodite (male and female +which are much the commoner; and pistillate, or only female, +flowers, in which the stamens develop no pollen. The latter are +more fertile; none can fertilize itself. But blossoms so rich in +nectar naturally attract quantities of insects - bees and +butterflies chiefly. A newly opened hermaphrodite flower, male on +the first day, dusts its visitors as they pass the ripe stamens. +This pollen they carry to a flower two days old, which, having +reached the female stage, receives it on the mature two-cleft +stigma, now erect and tall, whereas the stamens are past +maturity. + + +GARDEN, SPEAR, or MACKEREL MINT + (Mentha spicata; M. viridis of Gray) Mint family + +Flowers - Small, pale bluish, or pinkish purple, in whorls, +forming terminal, interrupted, narrow spikes, 2 to 4 in. long in +fruit, the central one surpassing lateral ones. Calyx +bell-shaped, toothed; corolla tubular, 4-cleft. Stamens 4; style +2-cleft. Stem: Smooth, 1 to 1 1/2 ft. high, branched. Leaves: +Opposite, narrowly oblong, acute, saw-edged, aromatic. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Eastern half of Canada and United States. Also +Europe and Asia. + +The poets tell us that Proserpine, Pluto's wife, in a fit of +jealousy changed a hated rival into the mint plant, whose name +Mentha, in its Latin form, or Minthe, the Greek equivalent, is +still that of the metamorphosed beauty, a daughter of Cocytus, +who was also Pluto's wife. Proserpine certainly contrived to keep +her rival's memory fragrant. But how she must delight in seeing +her under the chopping-knife and served up as sauce! + +It is a curious fact that among the Labiates, or two-lipped +blossoms to which thymes and mints belong, there very frequently +occur species bearing flowers that are male on the first day +(staminate) and female, or pistillate, on the second day, and +also smaller female flowers on distinct plants. Muller believed +this plan was devised to attract insects, first by the more showy +hermaphrodite flower, that they might carry its pollen to the +less conspicuous female flower, which they would naturally visit +last; but this interesting theory has yet to be proved. Nineteen +species of flies, to which the mints are specially adapted, have +been taken in the act of transferring pollen. Ten varieties of +the lower hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and others) commonly resort +to the fragrant spikes of bloom. + +PEPPERMINT (M. piiterita), similar in manner of growth to the +preceding, is another importation from Europe now thoroughly at +home here in wet soil. The volatile oil obtained by distilling +its leaves has long been an important item of trade in Wayne +County, New York. One has only to crush the leaves in one's hand +to name the flower. + +Our native WILD MINT (M. Canadensis), common along brook-sides +and in moist soil from New Brunswick to Virginia and far +westward, has its whorls of small purplish flowers seated in the +leaf axils. Its odor is like pennyroyal. The true PENNYROYAL, not +to be confused with our spurious woodland annual, is M. Pulegium, +a native of Europe, whence a number of its less valuable +relatives, all perennials, have traveled to become naturalized +Americans. + +In dry open woods and thickets and by the roadside, from late +August throughout September, we find blooming the aromatic +fragrant STONE MINT, SWEET HORSE-MINT, or AMERICAN DITTANY +(Cunila origanoides; C. Mariana of Gray). Its small pink-purple, +lilac, or whitish flowers, that are only about half as long as +the protruding pair of stamens, are borne in loose terminal +clusters at the ends of the stiff, branched, slender, sometimes +reddish, stem. A pair of rudimentary, useless stamens remain +within the two-lipped tube; the exserted pair, affording the most +convenient alighting place for the visiting flies, dust their +undersides with pollen the first day the flower opens; on the +next, the stigma will be ready to receive pollen carried from +young flowers. + + +NIGHTSHADE; BLUE BINDWEED; FELONWORT; BITTERSWEET; SCARLET or +SNAKE BERRY; POISON-FLOWER; WOODY NIGHTSHADE + (Solanum Dulcamara) Potato family + +Flowers - Blue, purple, or, rarely, white with greenish spots on +each lobe; about 1/2 in. broad, clustered in slender, drooping +cymes. Calyx 5-lobed, oblong, persistent on the berry; corolla +deeply, sharply 5-cleft, wheel-shaped, or points curved backward; +5 stamens inserted on throat, yellow, protruding, the anthers +united to form a cone; stigma small. Stem: Climbing or +straggling, woody below, branched, 2 to 8 ft. long. Leaves: +Alternate, 2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 2 1/2 in. wide, pointed at the +apex, usually heart-shaped at base; some with 2 distinct leaflets +below on the petiole, others have leaflets united with leaf like +lower lobes or wings. Fruit: A bright red, oval berry. +Preferred Habitat - Moist thickets, fence rows. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - United States east of Kansas, north of New Jersey. +Canada, Europe, and Asia. + +More beautiful than the graceful flowers are the drooping cymes +of bright berries, turning from green to yellow, then to orange +and scarlet, in the tangled thicket by the shady roadside in +autumn, when the unpretending, shrubby vine, that has crowded its +way through the rank midsummer vegetation, becomes a joy to the +eye. Another bittersweet, so-called, festoons the hedgerows with +yellow berries which, bursting, show their scarlet-coated seeds. +Rose hips and mountain-ash berries, among many other conspicuous +bits of color, arrest attention, but not for us were they +designed. Now the birds are migrating, and, hungry with their +long flight, they gladly stop to feed upon fare so attractive. +Hard, indigestible seeds traverse the alimentary canal without +alteration and are deposited many miles from the parent that bore +them. Nature's methods for widely distributing plants cannot but +stir the dullest imagination. + +The purple pendent flowers of this nightshade secrete no nectar, +therefore many insects let them alone; but it is now believed +that no part of the plant is poisonous. Certainly one that claims +the potato, tomato, and eggplant among its kin has no right to be +dangerous. The BLACK, GARDEN, or DEADLY NIGHTSHADE, also called +MOREL (S. nigrum), bears jet-black berries that are alleged to be +fatal. Nevertheless, female bumblebees, to which its white +flowers are specially adapted, visit them to draw out pollen from +the chinks of the anthers with their jaws, just as they do in the +case of the wild, sensitive plant, and with no more disastrous +result. It has been well said that the nightshades are a blessing +both to the sick and to the doctors. The present species takes +its name from dulcis, sweet, and amaras, bitter, referring to the +taste of the juice; the generic name is derived from solamen, +solace or consolation, referring to the relief afforded by the +narcotic properties of some of these plants. + + +BLUE or WILD TOADFLAX; BLUE LINARIA + (Linaria Canadensis) Figwort family + +Flowers - Pale blue to purple, small, irregular, in slender +spikes. Calyx 5-pointed; corolla 2-lipped, with curved spur +longer than its tube, which is nearly closed by a white, 2-ridged +projection or palate; the upper lip erect, 2-lobed; lower lip +3-lobed, spreading. Stamens 4, in pairs, in throat; 1 pistil. +Stem: Slender, weak, of sterile shoots, prostrate; flowering +stem, ascending or erect, 4 in. to 2 ft. high. Leaves: Small, +linear, alternately scattered along stem, or oblong in pairs or +threes on leafy sterile shoots. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, gravel, or sand. +Flowering Season - May-October. +Distribution - North, Central, and South Americas. + +Sometimes lying prostrate in the dust, sometimes erect, the +linaria's delicate spikes of bloom wear an air of injured +innocence, yet the plant, weak as it looks, has managed to spread +over three Americas from ocean to ocean. More beautiful than the +rather scrawny flowers are the tufts of cool green foliage made +by the sterile shoots that take complete possession of a wide +area around the parent plants. + +Unlike its relative butter-and-eggs, the corolla of this toadflax +is so contracted that bees cannot enter it; but by inserting +their long tongues, they nevertheless manage to drain it. Small, +short-tongued bees contrive to reach only a little nectar. The +palate, so valuable to the other linaria, has in this one lost +its function; and the larger flies, taking advantage of the +flower's weakness, pilfer both sweets and pollen. Butterflies, to +which a slender spurred flower is especially attractive, visit +this one in great numbers, and as they cannot regale themselves +without touching the anthers and stigma, they may be regarded as +the legitimate visitors. + +Wolf, rat, mouse, sow, cow, cat, snake, dragon, dog, toad, are +among the many animal prefixes to the names of flowers that the +English country people have given for various and often most +interesting reasons. Just as dog, used as a prefix, expresses an +idea of worthlessness to them, so toad suggests a spurious plant; +the toadflax being made to bear what is meant to be an odious +name because before flowering it resembles the true flax, linum, +from which the generic title is derived. + + +MARYLAND FIGWORT; BEE PLANT; KNOTTED FIGWORT; HEAL-ALL; PILEWORT + (Scrophularia Marylandica; S. nodosa of Gray) Figwort family + +Flowers - Very small, dull green on outside; vivid, shining +brownish purple within; borne in almost leafless terminal +clusters on slender stems; Calyx 5-parted.; corolla of 5 rounded +lobes, the 2 upper ones erect, side ones ascending, lower one +bent downward; 5 staroens, 4 of them twin-like and bearing +anthers, the fifth sterile, a mere scale on roof of the globular +corolla tube; style with knot-like stigma. Stem: From 3 to 10 ft. +high, square, with grooved sides, widely. branching. Leaves: From +3 to 12 in. long, oblong, pointed, coarsely toothed, on slender +stems, strong smelling. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, shady ground. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - New York to the Carolinas, westward to Tennessee +and Kansas; possibly beyond. + +An insignificant little flower by itself, conspicuous only +because it rears itself in clusters on a level with one's eyes, +lacking beauty, perfume, and all that makes a blossom charming to +the human mind - why has it been elevated by the botanists to the +dignity of lending its name to a large and important family, and +why is it mentioned at all in a popular flower book beside the +more showy ornaments of nature's garden? Both questions have the +same answer: Because it is the typical flower of the family, and +therefore serves as an illustration of the manner in which many +others are fertilized. Beautiful blossoms are by no means always +the most important ones. + +It well repays one to observe the relative times of maturing +anthers and stigmas in the flowers, as thereby hangs a tale in +which some insect plays an interesting role. The figwort matures +its stigma at the lip of the style before its anthers have +ripened their pollen. Why? By having the stigma of a newly opened +flower thrust forward to the mouth of the corolla, an insect +alighting on the lip, which forms his only convenient landing +place, must brush against it and leave upon it some pollen +brought from an older flower, whose anthers are already matured. +At this early stage of the flower's development its stamens lie +curved over in the tube of the corolla; but presently, as the +already fertilized style begins to wither, and its stigma is dry +and no longer receptive to pollen, then, since there can be no +longer any fear of self-pollination - the horror of so many +flowers - the figwort uncurls and elevates its stamens. The +insect visitor in search of nectar must get dusted with pollen +from the late maturing anthers now ready for him. By this +ingenious method the flower becomes cross-fertilized and wastes +the least pollen. + +Bees and wasps evidently pursue opposite routes in going to work, +the former beginning at the bottom of a spike or raceme, where +the older, more mature flowers are, and working upward; the wasps +commencing at the top, among the newly opened ones. In spite of +the fact that we usually see hive bees about this plant, +pilfering the generous supply of nectar in each tiny cup, it is +undoubtedly the wasp that is the flower's truest benefactor, +since he carries pollen from the older blossoms of the last +raceme visited to the projecting stigmas of the newly opened +flowers at the top of the next cluster. Manifestly no flower, +even though it were especially adapted to wasps, as this one is, +could exclude bees. About one-third of all its visitors are +wasps. + + +HAIRY BEARD-TONGUE + (Pentstemon hirsutus; P. pubescens of Gray) Figwort family + +Flowers - Dull violet or lilac and white, about 1 in. long, borne +in a loose spike. Calyx 5-parted, the sharply pointed sepals +overlapping; corolla, a gradually inflated tube widening where +the mouth divides into a 2-lobed upper lip and a 3-lobed lower +lip; the throat nearly closed by hairy palate at base of lower +lip; sterile fifth stamen densely bearded for half its length; 4 +anther-bearing stamens, the anthers divergent. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. +high, erect, downy above. Leaves: Oblong to lance shape, upper +ones seated on stem; lower ones narrowed into petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Dry or rocky fields, thickets, and open +woods. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Ontario to Florida, Manitoba to Texas. + +It is the densely bearded, yellow, fifth stamen (pente =five, +stemon = a stamen) which gives this flower its scientific name +and its chief interest to the structural botanist. From the fact +that a blossom has a lip in the center of the lower half of its +corolla, that an insect must use as its landing place, comes the +necessity for the pistil to occupy a central position. Naturally, +a fifth stamen would be only in its way, an encumbrance to be +banished in time. In the figwort, for example, we have seen the +fifth stamen reduced, from long sterility, to a mere scale on the +roof of the corolla tube in other lipped flowers, the useless +organ has disappeared; but in the beard-tongue, it goes through a +series of curious curves from the upper to the under side of the +flower to get out of the way of the pistil. Yet it serves an +admirable purpose in helping close the mouth of the flower, which +the hairy lip alone could not adequately guard against pilferers. +A long-tongued bee, thrusting in his head up to his eyes only, +receives the pollen in his face. The blossom is male (staminate) +in its first stage and female (pistillate) in its second. + +While this is the beard-tongue commonly found in the Eastern +United States, particularly southward, and one of the most +beautiful of its clan, the western species have been selected by +the gardeners for hybridizing into those more showy, but often +less charming, flowers now quite extensively cultivated. Several +varieties of these, having escaped from gardens in the East, are +locally common wild. + +The LARGE-FLOWERED BEARD-TONGUE (P. grandiflorus), one of the +finest prairie species, whose lavender-blue, bell-shaped corolla +is abruptly dilated above the calyx, measures nearly two inches +long. Its sterile filament, curved over at the summit, is bearded +there only. + +Handsomest of all is the COBEA BEARD-TONGUE, a native of the +Southwest, with a broadly rounded, bell-shaped corolla, hairy +without, like the leaves, but smooth within. The pale purple +blossom, delicately suffused with yellow, and pencilled with red +lines - pathfinders for the bees - has the base of its tube +creamy white. Few flowers hang from each stout clammy spike. + +The more densely crowded spikes of the large SMOOTH BEARD-TONGUE +(P. glaber), a smaller blue or purple flowered, narrower-leaved +species, that shows an unusual preference for moist soil +throughout its range, is, like the other beard-tongues mentioned, +better known to the British gardener, perhaps, than to Americans, +who have yet to learn the value of many of their wild flowers +under cultivation. + +The tall FOXGLOVE BEARD-TONGUE (P. digitalis), with large, showy +white blossoms tinged with purple, the one most commonly grown in +gardens here, escapes on the slightest encouragement to run wild +again from Maine to Virginia, west to Illinois and Arkansas. +Small bees crawl into the broad tube, and butterflies drain the +nectar evidently secreted for long-tongued bees, but without +certainly transferring pollen. To insure cross-fertilization, the +flower first develops its anthers, whose saw-edges grating +against the visitors thorax, aid in sifting out the dry pollen; +and later the style, which when immature clung to the top of the +corolla, lowers its receptive stigma to oppose the bee's +entrance. Professor Robertson has frequently detected the common +wasp nipping holes with her sharp jaws in the base of the tube. +With remarkable intelligence she invariably chose to insert her +tongue at the precise spots where the nectar is stored on either +side of the sterile filament. + + +BLUE-EYED MARY; INNOCENCE; BROAD-LEAVED COLLINSIA + (Collinsia verna) Figwort family + +Flowers - On slender, weak stalks; whorled in axils of upper +leaves. Blue on lower lip of corolla, its middle lobe folded +lengthwise to enclose 4 adhering stamens and pistil; upper lip +white, with scalloped margins; corolla from 1/2 to 3/4 in. long, +its throat about equaling the deeply 5-cleft calyx. Stem: Hoary, +slender, simple or branched, from 6 in. to 2 ft. high. Leaves: +Thin, opposite; upper and more acute ones clasping the stem; +lower, ovate ones on short petioles. Fruit: A round capsule to +which the enlarged calyx adheres. +Preferred Habitat - Moist meadows, woods, and thickets. Flowering +Season - April-June. +Distribution - Western New York and Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, +Kentucky, and Indian Territory. + +Next of kin to the great Paulonia tree, whose deliciously sweet, +vanilla-scented, trumpet-shaped violet flowers are happily fast +becoming as common here as in their native Japan, what has this +fragile, odorless blossom of the meadows in common with it? +Apparently nothing; but superficial appearances count for little +or nothing among scientists, to whom the structure of floral +organs is of prime importance; and analysis instantly shows the +close relationship between these dissimilar-looking cousins. Even +without analysis one can readily see that the monkey flower is +not far removed. + +Because few writers have arisen as yet in the newly settled +regions of the middle West and Southwest, where blue-eyed Mary +dyes acres of meadow land with her heavenly color, her praises +are little sung in the books, but are loudly buzzed by myriads of +bees that are her most devoted lovers. "I regard the flower as +especially adapted to the early flying bees with abdominal +collecting brushes for pollen - i.e., species of Osmia - and +these bees," says Professor Robertson of Illinois, "although not +the exclusive visitors, are far more abundant and important than +all the other visitors together." For them are the brownish marks +on the palate provided as pathfinders. At the pressure of their +strong heads the palate yields to give them entrance, and at +their removal it springs back to protect the pollen against the +inroads of flies, mining bees, and beetles. As the longer stamens +shed their pollen before the shorter ones mature theirs, bees +must visit the flower several times to collect it all. + + +MONKEY-FLOWER + (Minulus ringens) Figwort family + +Flowers - Purple, violet, or lilac, rarely whitish; about 1 in. +long, solitary, borne on slender footstems from axils of upper +leaves. Calyx prismatic, 5-angled, 5-toothed; corolla irregular, +tubular, narrow in throat, 2-lipped; upper lip 2-lobed, erect; +under lip 3-lobed, spreading; 4 stamens, a long and a short pair, +inserted on corolla tube; pistil with 2-lobed, plate-like stigma. +Stem: Square, erect, usually branched, 1 to 3 ft. high. Leaves: +Opposite, oblong to lance-shaped, saw-edged, mostly seated on +stem. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, beside streams and ponds. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Manitoba, Nebraska, and Texas, eastward to +Atlantic Ocean. + +No wader is the square-stemmed Monkey-flower whose grinning +corolla peers at one from grassy tuffets in swamps, from the +brookside, the springy soil of low meadows, and damp hollows +beside the road; but moisture it must have to fill its nectary +and to soften the ground for the easier transit of its creeping +rootstock. Imaginative eyes see what appears to them the gaping +(ringens) face of a little ape or buffoon (mimulus) in this +common flower whose drolleries, such as they are, call forth the +only applause desired - the buzz of insects that become +pollen-laden during the entertainment. + +Now the advanced stigma of this flower is peculiarly irritable, +and closes up on contact with an incoming visitor's body, thus +exposing the pollen-laden anthers behind it, and, except in rare +cases, preventing self-fertilization. Delpino was the first to +guess what advantage so sensitive a stigma might mean. Probably +the smaller bees find the tube too long for their short tongues. +The yellow palate, which partially guards the entrance to the +nectary from pilferers, of course serves also as a pathfinder to +the long-tongued bees. + + +AMERICAN BROOKLIME + (Veronica Americana) Figwort family + +Flowers - Light blue to white, usually striped with deep blue or +purple structure of flower similar to that of V. officinalis, but +borne in long, loose racemes branching outward on stems that +spring from axils of most of the leaves. Stem: Without hairs, +usually branched, 6 in. to 3 ft. long, lying partly on ground and +rooting from lower joints. Leaves: Oblong, lance-shaped, +saw-edged, opposite, petioled, and lacking hairs; 1 to 3 in. +long, 1/4 to 1 in. wide. Fruit: A nearly round, compressed, but +not flat, capsule with flat seeds in 2 cells. +Preferred Habitat - In brooks, ponds, ditches, swamps. +Flowering Season - April-September. +Distribution - From Atlantic to Pacific, Alaska to California and +New Mexico, Quebec to Pennsylvania. + +This, the perhaps most beautiful native speedwell, whose sheets +of blue along the brookside are so frequently mistaken for masses +of forget-me-nots by the hasty observer, of course shows marked +differences on closer investigation; its tiny blue flowers are +marked with purple pathfinders, and the plant is not hairy, to +mention only two. But the poets of England are responsible for +most of whatever confusion stills lurks in the popular mind +concerning these two flowers. Speedwell, a common medieval +benediction from a friend, equivalent to our farewell or adieu, +and forget - me-not of similar intent, have been used +interchangeably by some writers in connection with parting gifts +of small blue flowers. It was the germander speedwell that in +literature and botanies alike was most commonly known as the +forget-me-not for over two hundred years, or until only fifty +years ago. When the "Mayflower" and her sister ships were +launched; "Speedwell" was considered a happier name for a vessel +than it proved to be. + +The WATER SPEEDWELL, or PIMPERNEL (V. Anagallis-aquatica), +differs from the preceding chiefly in having most of its leaves +seated on the stalk, only the lower ones possessing stems, and +those short ones. In autumn the increased growth of sterile +shoots from runners produce almost circular leaves, often two +inches broad, a certain aid to identification. + +Another close relation, the MARSH or SKULLCAP SPEEDWELL (V. +scutellata), on the other hand, has long, very slender, acute +leaves, their teeth far apart; and as these three species are the +only members of their clan likely to be found in watery places +within our limits, a close examination of the leaves of any +water-loving plant bearing small four-lobed blue flowers, usually +marked with lines of a deeper blue or purple, should enable one +to correctly name the species. None of these blossoms can be +carried far after being picked; they have a tantalizing habit of +dropping off, leaving a bouquet of tiny green calices chiefly. + +Many kinds of bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies fertilize all +these little flowers, which are first staminate, then pistillate, +simply by crawling over them in search of nectar. + + +COMMON SPEEDWELL; FLUELLIN; PAUL'S BETONY; GROUND-HELE + (Veronica officinalis) Figwort family + +Flowers - Pale blue, very small, crowded on spike-like racemes +from axils of leaves, often from alternate axils. Calyx 4-parted; +corolla of 4 lobes, lower lobe commonly narrowest ; 2 divergent +stamens inserted at base and on either side of upper corolla lobe +; a knob-like stigma on solitary pistil. Stem: From 3 to 10 in. +long, hairy, often prostrate, and rooting at joints. Leaves: +Opposite, oblong, obtuse, saw-edged, narrowed at base. Fruit: +Compressed heart-shaped capsule, containing numerous flat seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, uplands, open woods. +Flowering Season - May-August. +Distribution - From Michigan and Tennessee eastward, also from +Ontario to Nova Scotia. Probably an immigrant from Europe and +Asia. + +An ancient tradition of the Roman Church relates that when Jesus +was on His way to Calvary, He passed the home of a certain Jewish +maiden, who, when she saw the drops of agony on His brow, ran +after Him along the road to wipe His face with her kerchief. This +linen, the monks declared, ever after bore the impress of the +sacred features - vera iconica, the true likeness. When the +Church wished to canonize the pitying maiden, an abbreviated form +of the Latin words was given her, St. Veronica, and her kerchief +became one of the most precious relics at St. Peter's, where it +is said to be still preserved. Medieval flower lovers, whose +piety seems to have been eclipsed only by their imaginations, +named this little flower from a fancied resemblance to the relic. +Of course, special healing virtue was attributed to the square of +pictured linen, and since all could not go to Rome to be cured by +it, naturally the next step was to employ the common, wayside +plant that bore the saint's name. Mental healers will not be +surprised to learn that because of the strong popular belief in +its efficacy to cure all fleshly ills, it actually seemed to +possess miraculous powers. For scrofula it was said to be the +infallible remedy, and presently we find Linnaeus grouping this +flower, and all its relatives under the family name of +Scrofulariaceae. "What's in a name?" Religion, theology, +medicine, folk-lore, metaphysics, what not? + +One of the most common wild flowers in England is this same +familiar little blossom of that lovely shade of blue known by +Chinese artists as "the sky after rain." "The prettiest of all +humble roadside flowers I saw," says Burroughs, in "A Glance at +British Wild Flowers." "It is prettier than the violet, and +larger and deeper colored than our houstonia. It is a small and +delicate edition of our hepatica, done in indigo blue, and wonted +to the grass in the fields and by the waysides. + + 'The little speedwell's darling blue' + +sings Tennyson. I saw it blooming with the daisy and buttercup +upon the grave of Carlyle. The tender human and poetic element of +his stern, rocky nature was well expressed by it." + +Only as it grows in masses is the speedwell conspicuous - a +sufficient reason for its habit of forming colonies and of +gathering its insignificant blossoms together into dense spikes, +since by these methods it issues a flaunting advertisement of its +nectar. The flower that simplifies dining for insects has its +certain reward in rapidly increased and vigorous descendants. To +save repetition, the reader interested in the process of +fertilization is referred to the account of the Maryland figwort, +since many members of the large family to which both belong +employ the same method of economizing pollen and insuring fertile +seed. In this case visitors have only to crawl over the tiny +blossoms. + +>From Labrador to Alaska, throughout almost every section of the +United States, in South America, Europe, and Asia, roams the +THYME-LEAVED SPEEDWELL (V. serpyllifolia), by the help of its +numerous flat seeds, that are easily transported on the wind, and +by its branching stem, that lies partly on the ground, rooting +where the joints touch earth. The small oval leaves, barely half +an inch long, grow in pairs. The tiny blue, or sometimes white, +flowers, with dark pathfinders to the nectary, are borne on +spike-like racemes at the ends of the stem and branches that rear +themselves upward in fields and thickets to display their bloom +before the passing bee. + + +PALE, or NAKED, or ONE-FLOWERED BROOM-RAPE + (Thalesia uniflora; Aphyllon uniflorum of Gray) Broom-rape +family + +Flowers - Violet, rarely white, delicately fragrant, solitary at +end of erect, glandular peduncles. Calyx hairy, bell-shaped, +5-toothed, not half the length of corolla, which is 1 in. or less +long, with curved tube spreading into 2 lips, 5-lobed, +yellow-bearded within; 4 stamens, in pairs, inserted on tube of +corolla ; 1 pistil. Stem: About 1 in. long, scaly, often entirely +underground; the 1 to 4 brownish scape-like peduncles, on which +flowers are borne, from 3 to 8 in. high. Leaves: None. Fruit: An +elongated, egg-shaped, 1-celled capsule containing numerous +seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Damp woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - British Possessions and United States from coast +to coast, southward to Virginia, and Texas. + +A curious, beautiful parasite, fastened on the roots of honest +plants from which it draws its nourishment. The ancestors of this +species, having deserted the path of rectitude ages ago to live +by piracy, gradually lost the use of their leaves, upon which +virtuous plants depend as upon a part of their digestive +apparatus; they grew smaller and smaller, shriveled and dried, +until now that the one-flowered broom-rape sucks its food, +rendered already digestible through another's assimilation, no +leaves remain on its brownish scapes. Disuse of any talent in the +vegetable kingdom, as in the spiritual, leads to inevitable loss: +"Unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath +not, even that he hath shall be taken away." + + +HAIRY RUELLIA + (Ruellia ciliosa) Acanthus family + +Flowers - Pale violet blue, showy, about 2 in. long, solitary or +clustered in the axils or at the end of stem. Calyx of 5 +bristle-shaped hairy segments; corolla with very slender tube +expanding above in 5 nearly equal obtuse lobes; stamens 4; pistil +with recurved style. Stem: Hairy, especially above, erect, 1 to 2 +1/2 ft. high. Leaves: Opposite, oblong, narrowed at apex, entire, +covered with soft white hairs. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - New Jersey southward to the Gulf and westward to +Michigan and Nebraska. + +Many charming ruellias from the tropics adorn hothouses and +window gardens in winter; but so far north as the New Jersey pine +barrens, and westward where killing frosts occur, this perennial +proves to be perfectly hardy. In addition to its showy blossoms, +which so successfully invite insects to transfer their pollen, +thereby counteracting the bad effects of close inbreeding, the +plant bears inconspicuous cleistogamous or blind ones also. These +look like arrested buds that never open; but, being fertilized +with their own pollen, ripen abundant seed nevertheless. + +One frequently finds holes bitten in these flowers, as in so many +others long of tube or spur. Bumblebees, among the most +intelligent and mischievous of insects, are apt to be the chief +offenders; but wasps are guilty too, and the female carpenter +bee, which ordinarily slits holes to extract nectar, has been +detected in the act of removing circular pieces of the corolla +from this ruellia with which to plug up a thimble-shaped tube in +some decayed tree. Here she deposits an egg on top of a layer of +baby food, consisting of a paste of pollen and nectar, and seals +up the nursery with another bit of leaf or flower, repeating the +process until the long tunnel is filled with eggs and food for +larvae. Then she dies, leaving her entire race apparently +extinct, and living only in embryo for months. This is the bee +which commonly cuts her round plugs from rose leaves. + +The SMOOTH RUELLIA (R. strepens), an earlier bloomer than the +preceding, and with a more southerly range, has a shorter, +thicker tube to its handsome blue flower, and lacks the hairs +which guard its relative from crawling pilferers. + + +BLUETS; INNOCENCE; HOUSTONIA; QUAKER LADIES; QUAKER BONNETS; +VENUS' PRIDE + (Houstonia caerulea) Madder family + +Flowers - Very small, light to purplish blue or white, with +yellow center, and borne at end of each erect slender stem that +rises from 3 to 7 in. high. Corolla funnel-shaped, with 4 oval, +pointed, spreading lobes that equal the slender tube in length; +rarely the corolla has more divisions; 4 stamens inserted on tube +of corolla; 2 stigmas; calyx 4-lobed. Leaves: Opposite, seated on +stem, oblong, tiny; the lower ones spatulate. Fruit: A 2-lobed +pod, broader than long, its upper half free from calyx; seeds +deeply concave. Root stock: Slender, spreading, forming dense +tufts. +Preferred Habitat - Moist meadows, wet rocks and banks. +Flowering Season - April-July, or sparsely through summer. +Distribution - Eastern Canada and United States west to Michigan, +south to Georgia and Alabama. + +Millions of these dainty wee flowers, scattered through the grass +of moist meadows and by the wayside, reflect the blue and the +serenity of heaven in their pure, upturned faces. Where the white +variety grows, one might think a light snowfall had powdered the +grass, or a milky way of tiny floral stars had streaked a +terrestrial path. Linnaeus named the flower for Dr. Houston, a +young English physician, botanist, and collector, who died in +South America in 1733, after an exhausting tramp about the Gulf +of Mexico. + +To secure cross-fertilization, the object toward which so much +marvelous floral organism is directed, this little plant puts +forth two forms of blossoms - one with the stamens in the lower +portion of the corolla tube, and the stigmas exserted; the other +form with the stigmas below, and the stamens elevated to the +mouth of the corolla. But the two kinds do not grow in the same +patch, seed from either producing after its kind. Many insects +visit these blossoms, but chiefly small bees and butterflies. +Conspicuous among the latter is the common little meadow +fritillary (Brenthis bellona), whose tawny, dark-speckled wings +expand and close in apparent ecstasy as he tastes the tiny drop +of nectar in each dainty enameled cup. Coming to feast with his +tongue dusted from anthers nearest the nectary, he pollenizes the +large stigmas of a short-styled blossom without touching its tall +anthers. But it is evident that he could not be depended on to +fertilize the long-styled form, with its smaller stigma, because +of this ability to insert his slender tongue from the side where +it avoids contact. Flies and beetles enter the blossoms, but +small bees are best adapted as all-round benefactors. This +simple-looking blossom, that measures barely half an inch across, +is clever enough to multiply its lovely species a thousand fold, +while many a larger, and therefore one might suppose a wiser, +flower dwindles toward extinction. + +John Burroughs found a single bluet in blossom one January, near +Washington, when the clump of earth on which it grew was frozen +solid. A pot of roots gathered in autumn and placed in a sunny +window has sent up a little colony of star-like flowers +throughout a winter. + + +WILD, COMMON, or CARD TEASEL; GYPSY COMBS + (Dipsacus sylvestris) Teasel family + +Flowers - Purple or lilac, small, packed in dense, cylindric +heads, 3 to 4 in. long; growing singly on ends of footstalks, the +flowers set among stiffly pointed, slender scales. Calyx +cup-shaped, 4-toothed. Corolla 4-lobed; stamens 4; leaves of +involucre, slender, bristled, curved upward as high as +flower-head or beyond. Stems: 3 to 6 ft. high, stout, branched, +leafy, with numerous short prickles. Leaves: Opposite, +lance-shaped, seated on stem, with bristles along the stout +midrib. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides and waste places. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Maine to Virginia, westward to Ontario and the +Mississippi. Europe and Asia. + +Manufacturers find that no invention can equal the natural teasel +head for raising a nap on woolen cloth, because it breaks at any +serious obstruction, whereas a metal substitute, in such a case, +tears the material. Accordingly, the plant is largely cultivated +in the west of England, and quantities that have been imported +from France and Germany may be seen in wagons on the way to the +factories in any of the woolen-trade towns. After the +flower-heads wither, the stems are cut about eight inches long, +stripped of prickles, to provide a handle, and after drying, the +natural tool is ready for use. + +Bristling with armor, the teasel is not often attacked by +browsing cattle. Occasionally even the upper leaf surfaces are +dotted over with prickles enough to tear a tender tongue. This is +a curious feature, for prickles usually grow out of veins. In the +receptacle formed where the bases of the upper leaves grow +together, rain and dew are found collected - a certain cure for +warts, country people say. Venus' Cup, Bath, or Basin, and Water +Thistle, are a few of the teasel's folk names earned by its +curious little tank. In it many small insects are drowned, and +these are supposed to contribute nourishment to the plant; for +Mr. Francis Darwin has noted that protoplasmic filaments reach +out into the liquid. + +Owing to the stiff spines which radiate from the flower cluster, +the bumblebees, which principally fertilize it, can reach the +florets only with their heads, and not pollenize them by merely +crawling over them as in the true compositae. But by first +maturing its anthers, then when they have shed their pollen, +elevating its stigmas, the teasel prevents self-fertilization. + + +HAREBELL or HAIRBELL; BLUE BELLS of SCOTLAND; LADY'S THIMBLE + (Campanula rotundifolia) Bellflower family + +Flowers - Bright blue or violet blue, bell-shaped, 1/2 in. long +or over, drooping from hair-like stalks. Calyx of 5-pointed, +narrow, spreading lobes; slender stamens alternate with lobes of +corolla, and borne on summit of calyx tube, which is adherent to +ovary; pistil with 3 stigmas in maturity only. Stem: Very +slender, 6 in. to 3 ft. high, often several from same root; +simple or branching. Leaves: Lower ones nearly round, usually +withered and gone by flowering season; stem leaves narrow, +pointed, seated on stem. Fruit: An egg-shaped, pendent, 3-celled +capsule with short openings near base; seeds very numerous, tiny. +Preferred Habitat - Moist rocks, uplands. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and America; +southward on this continent, through Canada to New Jersey and +Pennsylvania; westward to Nebraska, to Arizona in the Rockies, +and to California in the Sierra Nevadas. + +The inaccessible crevice of a precipice, moist rocks sprayed with +the dashing waters of a lake or some tumbling mountain stream, +wind-swept upland meadows, and shady places by the roadside may +hold bright bunches of these hardy bells, swaying with exquisite +grace on tremulous, hair-like stems that are fitted to withstand +the fiercest mountain blasts, however frail they appear. How +dainty, slender, tempting these little flowers are! One gladly +risks a watery grave or broken bones to bring down a bunch from +its aerial cranny. + +It was a long stride forward in the evolutionary scale when the +harebell welded its five once separate petals together; first at +the base, then farther and farther up the sides, until a solid +bell-shaped structure resulted. This arrangement which makes +insect fertilization a more certain process because none of the +pollen is lost through apertures, and because the visitor must +enter the flower only at the vital point where the stigmas come +in contact with his pollen-laden body, has given to all the +flowers that have attained to it, marked ascendency. + +Like most inverted blossoms, the harebell hangs its head to +protect its nectar and pollen, not only from rain, but from the +intrusion of undesirable crawling insects which would simply +brush off its pollen in the grass before reaching the pistil of +another flower, and so defeat cross-fertilization, the end and +aim of so many blossoms. Advertising for winged insects by its +bright color, the harebell attracts bees, butterflies, and many +others. These visitors cannot well walk on the upright petals, +and sooner or later must clasp the pistil if they would secure +the nectar secreted at the base. In doing so, they will dust +themselves and the immature pistil with the pollen from the +surrounding anthers; but a newly opened flower is incapable of +fertilization. The pollen, although partially discharged in the +unopened bud, is prevented from falling out by a coat of hairs on +the upper part of the style. By the time all the pollen has been +removed by visitors, however, and the stamens which matured early +have withered, the pistil has grown longer, until it looks like +the clapper in a bell; the stigma at its top has separated into +three horizontal lobes which, being sticky on the under side, a +pollen-laden insect on entering the bell must certainly brush +against them and render them fertile. But bumblebees, its chief +benefactors, and others may not have done their duty by the +flower; what then? Why, the stigmas in that case finally bend +backward to reach the left over pollen, and fertilize themselves, +obviously the next best thing for them to do. How one's reverence +increases when one begins to understand, be it ever so little of, +the divine plan! + +"Probably the most striking blue and purple wild flowers we +have," says John Burroughs, "are of European origin. These +colors, except with the fall asters and gentians, seem rather +unstable in our flora." This theory is certainly borne out in the +case of the RAMPION, EUROPEAN, or CREEPING BELLFLOWER (C. +rapunculoides), now detected in the act of escaping from gardens +from New Brunswick to Ontario, Southern New York, Pennsylvania, +and Ohio, and making itself very much at home in our fields and +along the waysides. Compared with the delicate little harebell, +it is a plant of rank, rigid habit. Its erect, rather stout stem, +set with elongated oval, hairy, alternate leaves, and crowned +with a one-sided raceme of widely expanded, purple-blue bells +rising about two feet above the ground, has little of the +exquisite grace of its cousin. It blooms from July to September. +This is the species whose roots are eaten by the omnivorous +European peasant. + +One of the few native campanulas, the TALL BELLFLOWER (C. +Americana), waves long, slender wands studded with blue or +sometimes whitish flowers high above the ground of moist thickets +and woods throughout the eastern half of this country, but rarely +near the sea. Doubtless the salt air, which intensifies the color +of so many flowers, would brighten its rather slatey blue. The +corolla, which is flat, round, about an inch across, and deeply +cleft into five pointed petals, has the effect of a miniature +pinwheel in motion. Mature flowers have the style elongated, bent +downward, then curved upward, that the stigmas may certainly be +in the way of the visiting insect pollen-laden from an earlier +bloomer, and be cross-fertilized. The larger bees, its +benefactors, which visit it for nectar, touch only the upper side +of the style, on which they must alight; but the anthers waste +pollen by shedding it on all sides. No insect can take shelter +from rain or pass the night in this flower, as he frequently does +in its more hospitable relative, the harebell. English gardeners, +more appreciative than our own of our native flora, frequently +utilize this charming plant in their rockwork, increasing their +stock by a division of the dense, leafy rosettes. + + +VENUS' LOOKING-GLASS; CLASPING BELLFLOWER + (Legouzia perfoliata; Specularia perfoliata of Gray) +Bellflower family + +Flowers - Violet blue, from 1/2 to 3/4 in. across; solitary or 2 +or 3 together, seated, in axils of upper leaves. Calyx lobes +varying from 3 to 5 in earlier and later flowers, acute, rigid; +corolla a 5-spoked wheel; 5 stamens; pistil with 3 stigmas. Stem: +6 in. to 2 ft. long, hairy, densely leafy, slender, weak. Leaves: +Round, clasped about stem by heart-shaped base. +Preferred Habitat - Sterile waste places, dry woods. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - From British Columbia, Oregon, and Mexico, east to +Atlantic Ocean. + +At the top of a gradually lengthened and apparently overburdened +leafy stalk, weakly leaning upon surrounding vegetation, a few +perfect blossoms spread their violet wheels, while below them +insignificant earlier flowers, which, although they have never +opened, nor reared their heads above the hollows of the little +shell-like leaves where they lie secluded, have, nevertheless, +been producing seed without imported pollen while their showy +sisters slept. But the later blooms, by attracting insects, set +cross-fertilized seed to counteract any evil tendencies that +might weaken the species if it depended upon self-fertilization +only. When the European Venus' looking-glass used to be +cultivated in gardens here, our grandmothers tell us it was +altogether too prolific, crowding out of existence its less +fruitful, but more lovely, neighbors. + +The SMALL VENUS' LOOKING-GLASS (L. biflora), of similar habit to +the preceding, but with egg-shaped or oblong leaves seated on, +not clasping, its smooth and very slender stem, grows in the +South and westward to California. + + +GREAT LOBELIA; BLUE CARDINAL-FLOWER + (Lobelia syphilitica) Bellflower family + +Flowers - Bright blue, touched with white, fading to pale blue, +about 1 in. long, borne on tall, erect, leafy spike. Calyx +5-parted, the lobes sharply cut, hairy. Corolla tubular, open to +base on one side, 2-lipped, irregularly 5-lobed, the petals +pronounced at maturity only. Stamens 5, united by their hairy +anthers into a tube around the style; larger anthers smooth. +Stem: 1 to 3 ft. high, stout, simple, leafy, slightly hairy. +Leaves: Alternate, oblong, tapering, pointed, irregularly +toothed, 2 to 6 in. long, 1/2 to 2 in. wide. +Preferred Habitat - Moist or wet soil; beside streams. +Flowering Season - July-October +Distribution - Ontario and northern United States west to Dakota, +south to Kansas and Georgia. + +To the evolutionist, ever on the lookout for connecting links, +the lobelias form an interesting group, because their corolla, +slit down the upper side and somewhat flattened, shows the +beginning of the tendency toward the strap or ray flowers that +are nearly confined to the composites of much later development, +of course, than tubular single blossoms. Next to massing their +flowers in showy heads, as the composites do, the lobelias have +the almost equally advantageous plan of crowding theirs along a +stem so as to make a conspicuous advertisement to attract the +passing bee and to offer him the special inducement of numerous +feeding places close together. + +The handsome GREAT LOBELIA, constantly and invidiously compared +with its gorgeous sister the cardinal flower, suffers unfairly. +When asked what his favorite color was, Eugene Field replied: +"Why, I like any color at all so long as it's red!" Most men, at +least, agree with him, and certainly hummingbirds do; our +scarcity of red flowers being due, we must believe, to the +scarcity of hummingbirds, which chiefly fertilize them. But how +bees love the blue blossoms! + +There are many cases where the pistil of a flower necessarily +comes in contact with its own pollen, yet fertilization does not +take place, however improbable this may appear. Most orchids, for +example, are not susceptible to their own pollen. It would seem +as if our lobelia, in elevating its stigma through the ring +formed by the united anthers, must come in contact with some of +the pollen they have previously discharged from their tips, not +only on the bumblebee that shakes it out of them when he jars the +flower, but also within the tube. But when the anthers are +mature, the two lobes of the still immature stigma are pressed +together, and cannot be fertilized. Nevertheless, the hairy tips +of some of the anthers brush off the pollen grains that may have +lodged on the stigma as it passes through the ring in its ascent, +thus making surety doubly sure. Only after the stigma projects +beyond the ring of anthers does it expand its lobes, which are +now ready to receive pollen brought from another later flower by +the incoming bumblebee to which it is adapted. + +Linnaeus named this group of plants for Matthias de l'Obel, a +Flemish botanist, or herbalist more likely, who became physician +to James I. of England. + +Preferably in dry, sandy soil or in meadows, and over a wide +range, the slender, straight shoots of PALE SPIKED LOBELIA (L. +spicata) bloom early and throughout the summer months, the +inflorescence itself sometimes reaching a height of two feet. At +the base of the plant there is usually a tuft of broadly oblong +leaves; those higher up narrow first into spoon-shaped, then into +pointed, bracts, along the thick and gradually lengthened spike +of scattered bloom. The flowers are oft en pale enough to be +called white. Like their relatives, they first ripen their +anthers to prevent self-fertilization. + +The lithe, graceful little BROOK LOBELIA (L. Kalmii), whose +light-blue flowers, at the end of thread-like footstems, form a +loose raceme, sways with a company of its fellows among the grass +on wet banks, beside meadow runnels and brooks, particularly in +limestone soil, from Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territory and +southward to New Jersey. It bears an insignificant capsule, not +inflated like the Indian tobacco's; and long, narrow, +spoon-shaped leaves. Twenty inches is the greatest height this +little plant may hope to attain. + +Not only beside water, and in it, but often totally immersed, +grows the WATER LOBELIA or GLADIOLE (L. Dortmanna). The slender, +hollow, smooth stem rises from a submerged tuft of round, hollow, +fleshy leaves longitudinally divided by a partition, and bears at +the top a scattered array of pale-blue flowers from August to +September. + + +INDIAN or WILD TOBACCO; GAG-ROOT; ASTHMA-WEED; BLADDER-POD +LOBELIA + (Lobelia inflata) Bellflower family + +Flowers - Pale blue or violet, small, borne at short intervals in +spike-like leafy racemes. Calyx 5-parted, its awl-shaped lobes +1/4 in. long, or as long as the tubular, 2-lipped, 5-cleft, +corolla that opens to base of tube on upper side. Stamens, 5 +united by their hairy anthers into a ring around the 2-lobed +style. Stem: From 1 to 3 feet high, hairy, very acrid, much +branched, leafy. Leaves: Alternate, oblong or ovate, toothed, the +upper ones acute, seated on stem; lower ones obtuse, petioled, to +2 1/2 in. long. Fruit: A much inflated, rounded, ribbed, many +seeded capsule. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields and thickets; poor soil. +Flowering Season - July-November. +Distribution - Labrador westward to the Missouri River, south to +Arkansas and Georgia. + +The most stupid of the lower animals knows enough to let this +poisonous, acrid plant alone; but not so man, who formerly made a +quack medicine from it in the days when a drug that set one's +internal organism on fire was supposed to be especially +beneficial. One taste of the plant gives a realizing sense of its +value as an emetic. How the red man enjoyed smoking and chewing +the bitter leaves, except for the drowsiness that followed, is a +mystery. + +On account of the smallness of its flowers and their scantiness, +the Indian tobacco is perhaps the least attractive of the +lobelias, none of which has so inflated a seed vessel, the +distinguishing characteristic of this common plant. + + +CHICORY; SUCCORY; BLUE SAILORS; BUNK + (Cichorium Intybus) Chicory family + +Flower-head - Bright, deep azure to gray blue, rarely pinkish or +white, 1 to 1 1/2 in. broad, set close to stem, often in small +clusters for nearly the entire length; each head a composite of +ray flowers only, 5-toothed at upper edge, and set in a flat +green receptacle. Stem: Rigid, branching, to 3 ft. high. Leaves: +Lower ones spreading on ground, 3 to 6 in. long, spatulate, with +deeply cut or irregular edges, narrowed into petioles, from a +deep tap-root; upper leaves of stem and branches minute, +bract-like. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, waste places, fields. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribuition - Common in Eastern United States and Canada, south +to the Carolinas; also sparingly westward to Nebraska. + +At least the dried and ground root of this European invader is +known to hosts of people who buy it undisguised or not, according +as they count it an improvement to their coffee or a disagreeable +adulterant. So great is the demand for chicory that, +notwithstanding its cheapness, it is often in its turn +adulterated with roasted wheat, rye, acorns, and carrots. Forced +and blanched in a warm, dark place, the bitter leaves find a +ready market as a salad known as "barbe de Capucin" by the +fanciful French. Endive and dandelion, the chicory's relatives, +appear on the table too, in spring, where people have learned the +possibilities of salads, as they certainly have in Europe. + +>From the depth to which the tap-root penetrates, it is not +unlikely the succory derived its name from the Latin succurrere = +to run under. The Arabic name chicourey testifies to the almost +universal influence of Arabian physicians and writers in Europe +after the Conquest. As chicoree, achicoria, chicoria, cicorea, +chicorie, cichorei, cikorie, tsikorei, and cicorie the plant is +known respectively to the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, +Germans, Dutch, Swedes, Russians, and Danes. + +On cloudy days or in the morning only throughout midsummer the +"peasant posy" opens its "dear blue eyes" + + "Where tired feet + Toil to and fro; + Where flaunting Sin + May see thy heavenly hue, + Or weary Sorrow look from thee + Toward a tenderer blue!" + - Margaret Deland. + +In his "Humble Bee" Emerson, too, sees only beauty in the +"Succory to match the sky;" but, mirabile dictu, Vergil, rarely +caught in a prosaic, practical mood, wrote, "And spreading +succ'ry chokes the rising field." + + +IRON-WEED; FLAT TOP + (Vernonia Noveboracensis) Thistle family. + +Flower-head - Composite of tubular florets only, intense +reddish-purple thistle-like heads, borne on short, branched +peduncles and forming broad, flat clusters; bracts of involucre, +brownish purple, tipped with awl-shaped bristles. Stem: 3 to 9 +ft. high, rough or hairy, branched. Leaves: Alternate, narrowly +oblong or lanceolate, saw-edged, 3 to 10 in. long, rough. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil, meadows, fields. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Massachusetts to Georgia, and westward to the +Mississippi. + +Emerson says a weed is a plant whose virtues we have not yet +discovered; but surely it is no small virtue in the iron-weed to +brighten the roadsides and low meadows throughout the summer with +bright clusters of bloom. When it is on the wane, the asters, for +which it is sometimes mistaken, begin to appear, but an instant's +comparison shows the difference between the two flowers. After +noting the yellow disk in the center of an aster, it is not +likely the iron-weed's thistle-like head of ray florets only will +ever again be confused with it. Another rank-growing neighbor +with which it has been confounded by the novice is the Joe Pye +weed, a far paler, pinkish flower. + +To each tiny floret, secreting nectar in its tube, many insects, +attracted by the bright color of the iron-weed standing high +above surrounding vegetation, come to feast. Long-lipped bees and +flies rest awhile for refreshment, but butterflies of many +beautiful kinds are by far the most abundant visitors. Pollen +carried out by the long, hairy styles as they extend to maturity +must attach itself to their tongues. The tiger swallow-tail +butterfly appears to have a special preference for this flower. +(See Self-Heal.) + + +COMMON or SCALY BLAZING STAR; COLIC-ROOT; RATTLESNAKE MASTER; +BUTTON SNAKEROOT + (Lacinaria squarrosa; Liatris squarrosa of Gray) Thistle +family + +Flower-heads - Composite, about 1 in. long, bright purple or rose +purple, of tubular florets only, from an involucre of +overlapping, rigid, pointed bracts; each of the few flower-heads +from the leaf axils along a slender stem in a wand-like raceme. +Stem: 1/2 to 2 ft. high. Leaves: Alternate, narrow, entire. +Preferred habitat - Dry, rich soil. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to +Nebraska. + +Beginning at the top, the apparently fringed flower-heads open +downward along the wand, whose length depends upon the richness +of the soil. All of the flowers are perfect and attract +long-tongued bees and flies (especially Exoprosopa fasciata) and +butterflies, which, as they sip from the corolla tube, receive +the pollen carried out and exposed on the long divisions of the +style. Some people have pretended to cure rattlesnake bites with +applications of the globular tuber of this and the next species. + +The LARGE BUTTON SNAKEROOT, BLUE BLAZING STAR, or GAY FEATHER (L. +scariosa), may attain six feet, but usually not more than half +that height; and its round flower-heads normally stand well away +from the stout stem on foot-stems of their own. The bristling +scales of the involucre, often tinged with purple at the tips, +are a conspicuous feature. With much the same range and choice of +habitat as the last species, this Blazing Star is a later +bloomer, coming into flower in August, and helping the goldenrods +and asters brighten the landscape throughout the early autumn. +The name of gay feather, miscellaneously applied to several +blazing stars, is especially deserved by this showy beauty of the +family. + +Unlike others of its class, the DENSE BUTTON SNAKEROOT, DEVIL'S +BIT, ROUGH or BACKACHE ROOT, PRAIRIE PINE or THROATWORT (L. +spicata), the commonest species we have, chooses moist soil, even +salt marshes near the coast, and low meadows throughout a range +nearly corresponding with that of the scaly blazing star. +Resembling its relatives in general manner of growth, we note +that its oblong involucre, rounded at the base, has blunt, not +sharply pointed, bracts; that the flower-heads are densely set +close to the wand for from four to fifteen inches; that the five +to thirteen bright rose-purple florets which compose each head +occasionally come white; that its leaves are long and very +narrow, and that October is not too late to find the plant in +bloom. + + +BLUE and PURPLE ASTERS or STARWORTS + Thistle family + +Evolution teaches us that thistles, daisies, sunflowers, asters, +and all the triumphant horde of composites were once very +different flowers from what we see today. Through ages of natural +selection of the fittest among their ancestral types, having +finally arrived at the most successful adaptation of their +various parts to their surroundings in the whole floral kingdom, +they are now overrunning the earth. Doubtless the aster's remote +ancestors were simple green leaves around the vital organs, and +depended upon the wind, as the grasses do - a most extravagant +method - to transfer their pollen. Then some rudimentary flower +changed its outer row of stamens into petals, which gradually +took on color to attract insects and insure a more economical +method of transfer. Gardeners today take advantage of a blossom's +natural tendency to change stamens into petals when they wish to +produce double flowers. As flowers and insects developed side by +side, and there came to be a better and better understanding +between them of each other's requirements, mutual adaptation +followed. The flower that offered the best advertisement, as the +composites do, by its showy rays; that secreted nectar in tubular +flowers where no useless insect could pilfer it; that fastened +its stamens to the inside wall of the tube where they must dust +with pollen the underside of every insect, unwittingly +cross-fertilizing the blossom as he crawled over it; that massed +a great number of these tubular florets together where insects +might readily discover them and feast with the least possible +loss of time - this flower became the winner in life's race. +Small wonder that our June fields are white with daisies and the +autumn landscape is glorified with goldenrod and asters! + +Since North America boasts the greater part of the two hundred +and fifty asters named by scientists, and as variations in many +of our common species frequently occur, the tyro need expect no +easy task in identifying every one he meets afield. However, the +following are possible acquaintances to everyone: + +In dry, shady places the LARGE or BROAD-LEAVED ASTER (A. +macrophyllus), so called from its three or four conspicuous, +heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, in a clump next the ground, +may be more easily identified by these than by the pale lavender +or violet flower-heads of about sixteen rays each which crown its +reddish angular stem in August and September. The disk turns +reddish brown. + +In prairie soil, especially about the edges of woods in western +New York, southward and westward to Texas and Minnesota, the +beautiful SKY-BLUE ASTER (A. azureus) blooms from August till +after frost. Its slender, stiff, rough stem branches above to +display the numerous bright blue flowers, whose ten to twenty +rays measure only about a quarter of an inch in length. The upper +leaves are reduced to small flat bracts; the next are linear; and +the lower ones, which approach a heart shape, are rough on both +sides, and may be five or six inches long. + +Much more branched and bushy is the COMMON BLUE, BRANCHING, WOOD, +or HEART-LEAVED ASTER (A. cordifolius), whose generous masses of +small, pale lavender flower-heads look like a mist hanging from +one to five feet above the earth in and about the woods and shady +roadsides from September even to December in favored places. + +The WAVY or VARIOUS-LEAVED ASTER or SMALL FLEABANE (A. undulatus) +has a stiff, rough, hairy, widely branching stalk, whose thick, +rough lowest leaves are heart-shaped and set on long foot-stems; +above these, the leaves have shorter stems, dilating where they +clasp the stalk; the upper leaves, lacking stems, are seated on +it, while those of the branches are shaped like tiny awls. The +flowers, which measure less than an inch across, often grow along +one side of an axis as well as in the usual raceme. Eight to +fifteen pale blue to violet rays surround the disks which, yellow +at first, become reddish brown in maturity. We find the plant in +dry soil, blooming in September and October. + +By no means tardy, the LATE PURPLE ASTER, so-called, or PURPLE +DAISY (A. patens), begins to display its purplish-blue, +daisy-like flower-heads early in August, and farther north may be +found in dry, exposed places only until October. Rarely the +solitary flowers, that are an inch across or more, are a deep, +rich violet. The twenty to thirty rays which surround the disk, +curling inward to dry, expose the vase-shaped, green, shingled +cups that terminate each little branch. The thick, somewhat +rigid, oblong leaves, tapering at the tip, broaden at the base to +clasp the rough, slender stalk. Range similar to the next +species. + +Certainly from Massachusetts, northern New York, and Minnesota +southward to the Gulf of Mexico one may expect to find the NEW +ENGLAND ASTER or STARWORT (A. Novae-Angliae) one of the most +striking and widely distributed of the tribe, in spite of its +local name. It is not unknown in Canada. The branching clusters +of violet or magenta-purple flower-heads, from one to two inches +across - composites containing as many as forty to fifty purple +ray florets around a multitude of perfect five-lobed, tubular, +yellow disk florets in a sticky cup - shine out with royal +splendor above the swamps, moist fields, and roadsides from +August to October. The stout, bristle-hairy stem bears a quantity +of alternate lance-shaped leaves lobed at the base where they +clasp it. + +In even wetter ground we find the RED-STALKED, PURPLE-STEMMED, or +EARLY PURPLE ASTER, COCASH, SWANWEED, or MEADOW SCABISH (A. +puniceus) blooming as early as July or as late as November. Its +stout, rigid stem, bristling with rigid hairs, may reach a height +of eight feet to display the branching clusters of pale violet or +lavender flowers. The long, blade-like leaves, usually very rough +above and hairy along the midrib beneath, are seated on the stem. +The lovely SMOOTH or BLUE ASTER (A. laevis), whose sky-blue or +violet flower-heads, about one inch broad, are common through +September and October in dry soil and open woods, has strongly +clasping, oblong, tapering leaves, rough margined, but rarely +with a saw-tooth, toward the top of the stem, while those low +down on it gradually narrow into clasping wings. + +In dry, sandy soil, mostly near the coast, from Massachusetts to +Delaware, grows one of the loveliest of all this beautiful clan, +the LOW, SHOWY, or SEASIDE PURPLE ASTER (A. spectabilis). The +stiff, usually unbranched stem does its best in attaining a +height of two feet. Above, the leaves are blade-like or narrowly +oblong, seated on the stem, whereas the tapering, oval basal +leaves are furnished with long footstems, as is customary with +most asters. The handsome, bright, violet-purple flower-heads, +measuring about an inch and a half across, have from fifteen to +thirty rays, or only about half as many as the familiar New +England aster. Season August to November. + +The low-growing BOG ASTER (A. nemoralis), not to be confused with +the much taller Red-stalked species often found growing in the +same swamp, and having, like it, flower-heads measuring about an +inch and a half across, has rays that vary from light violet +purple to rose pink. Its oblong to lance-shaped leaves, only two +inches long at best, taper to a point at both ends, and are +seated on the stem. We look for this aster in sandy bogs from New +Jersey northward and westward during August and September. + +The STIFF or SAVORY-LEAVED ASTER, SANDPAPER, or PINE STARWORT +(Ionactis linariifolius), now separated from the other asters +into a genus by itself, is a low, branching little plant with no +basal leaves, but some that are very narrow and blade-like, +rigid, entire and one-nerved, ascending the stiff stems. The +leaves along the branches are minute and awl-shaped, like those +on a branch of pine. Only from ten to fifteen violet ray flowers +(pistillate) surround the perfect disk florets. From Quebec to +the Gulf of Mexico, and westward beyond the Mississippi this prim +little shrub grows in tufts on dry or rocky soil, and blooms from +July to October. + + +ROBIN'S, or POOR ROBIN'S, or ROBERT'S PLANTAIN; BLUE SPRING +DAISY; DAISY-LEAVED FLEABANE + (Erigeron pulchellus; E. bellifolium of Gray) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Composite, daisy-like, 1 to 1/2 in. across; the +outer circle of about 50 pale bluish-violet ray florets; the disk +florets greenish yellow. Stem: Simple, erect, hairy, juicy, +flexible, from 10 in. to 2 ft. high, producing runners and +offsets from base. Leaves: Spatulate, in a flat tuft about the +root; stem leaves narrow, more acute, seated, or partly clasping. +Preferred Habitat - Moist ground, hills, banks, grassy fields. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - United States and Canada, east of the Mississippi. + +Like an aster blooming long before its season, Robin's plantain +wears a finely cut lavender fringe around a yellow disk of minute +florets; but one of the first, not the last, in the long +procession of composites has appeared when we see gay companies +of these flowers nodding their heads above the grass in the +spring breezes as if they were village gossips. + +Doubtless it was the necessity for attracting insects which led +the Robin's plantain and other composites to group a quantity of +minute florets, each one of which was once an independent, +detached blossom, into a common head. In union there is strength. +Each floret still contains, however, its own tiny drop of nectar, +its own stamens, its own pistil connected with embryonic seed +below; therefore, when an insect alights where he can get the +greatest amount of nectar for the least effort, and turns round +and round to exhaust each nectary, he is sure to dust the pistils +with pollen, and so fertilize an entire flower-head in a trice. +The lavender fringe and the hairy involucre and stem serve the +end of discouraging crawling insects, which cannot transfer +pollen from plant to plant, from pilfering sweets that cannot be +properly paid for. Small wonder that, although the composites +have attained to their socialistic practices at a comparatively +recent day as evolutionists count time, they have become as +individuals and as species the most numerous in the world; the +thistle family, dominant everywhere, containing not less than ten +thousand members. + +COMMON or PHILADELPHIA FLEABANE, or SKEVISH (E. Philadelphicus), +a smaller edition of Robin's plantain, with a more findely cut +fringe, its reddish-purple ray florets often numbering one +hundred and fifty, may be found in low fields and woods +throughout North America, except in the circumpolar regions. + + +THISTLES + (Carduus) Thistle family + +Is land fulfilling the primal curse because it brings forth +thistles? So thinks the farmer, no doubt, but not the goldfinches +which daintily feed among the fluffy seeds, nor the bees, nor the +"painted lady," which may be seen in all parts of the world where +thistles grow, hovering about the beautiful rose-purple flowers. +In the prickly cradle of leaves, the caterpillar of this thistle +butterfly weaves a web around its main food store. + +When the Danes invaded Scotland, they stole a silent night march +upon the Scottish camp by marching barefoot; but a Dane +inadvertently stepped on a thistle, and his sudden, sharp cry, +arousing the sleeping Scots, saved them and their country: hence +the Scotch emblem. + +>From July to November blooms the COMMON, BURR, SPEAR, PLUME, +BANK, HORSE, BULL, BLUE, BUTTON, BELL, or ROADSIDE THISTLE +(C. lanceolatus or Circium lanceolatum of Gray), a native of +Europe and Asia, now a most thoroughly naturalized American from +Newfoundland to Georgia, westward to Nebraska. Its violet +flower-heads, about an inch and a half across, and as high as +wide, are mostly solitary at the ends of formidable branches, up +which few crawling creatures venture. But in the deep tube of +each floret there is nectar secreted for the flying visitor who +can properly transfer pollen from flower to flower. Such a one +suffers no inconvenience from the prickles, but, on the contrary, +finds a larger feast saved for him because of them. Dense, +matted, wool-like hairs, that cover the bristling stems of most +thistles, make climbing mighty unpleasant for ants, which ever +delight in pilfering sweets. Perhaps one has the temerity to +start upward. + + "Fain would I climb, yet fear to fall." + "If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all," + +might be the ant's passionate outburst to the thistle, and the +thistle's reply, instead of a Sir Walter and Queen Elizabeth +couplet. Long, lance-shaped, deeply cleft, sharply pointed, and +prickly dark green leaves make the ascent almost unendurable; +nevertheless the ant bravely mounts to where the bristle-pointed, +overlapping scales of the deep green cup hold the luscious +flowers. Now his feet becoming entangled in the cottony fibers +wound about the scaly armor, and a bristling bodyguard thrusting +spears at him in his struggles to escape, death happily releases +him. All this tragedy to insure the thistle's cross-fertilized +seed that, seated on the autumn winds, shall be blown far and +wide in quest of happy conditions for the offspring! + +Sometimes the PASTURE or FRAGRANT THISTLE (C. odoratus or C. +pumilum of Gray) still further protects its beautiful, odorous +purple or whitish flower-head, that often measures three inches +across, with a formidable array of prickly small leaves just +below it. In case a would-be pilferer breaks through these lines, +however, there is a slight glutinous strip on the outside of the +bracts that compose the cup wherein the nectar-filled florets are +packed; and here, in sight of Mecca, he meets his death, just as +a bird is caught on limed twigs. The pasture thistle, whose range +is only from Maine to Delaware, blooms from July to September. + +Even gentle Professor Gray hurls anathema at the CANADA THISTLE; +"a vile pest" he calls it. As CURSED, CORN, HARD, and CREEPING +THISTLE it is variously known here and in Europe, whence it came +to overrun our land from Newfoundland to Virginia, westward to +Nebraska. By horizontal rootstocks it creeps and forms patches +almost impossible to eradicate. The small reddish-purple +flower-heads, barely an inch across, usually contain about a +hundred florets each. In their tubes the abundant nectar rises +high, so that numerous insects, even with the shortest tongues, +are able to enjoy it. Not only bees and butterflies, but wasps, +flies, and beetles feast diligently. When a floret opens, a +quantity of pollen emerges at the upper end of the anther +cylinder, pressed up by the growing style. Owing to their slight +stickiness and the sharp processes over their entire surface, the +pollen grains, which readily cling to the hairs of insects, are +transported to the two-branched, hairy stigma of an older floret. +But even should insects not visit the flower (and in fine weather +they swarm about it), it is marvelously adapted to fertilize +itself. Farmers may well despair of exterminating a plant so +perfectly equipped in every part; to win life's battles. + + +"The colour of purple...was, amongst the ancients, typical of +royalty. It was a kind of red richly shot with blue, and the dye +producing it was attained from a shell found in considerable +numbers off the coast of Tyre, and on the shore near the site of +that ancient city, great heaps of such shells are still to be +found. The production of the true royal purple dye was a very +costly affair, and therefore it was often imitated with a mixture +of cochineal and indigo..." - J. JAMES TISSOT. + +As many so-called purple flowers are more strictly magenta, the +reader is referred to the next group if he has not found the +flower for which he is in search here. Also to the "White and +Greenish" section since many colored flowers show a tendency to +revert to the white type from which, doubtless, all were evolved. +He should remember that all flowers are more or less variable in +shade, according to varying conditions. + + + +MAGENTA TO PINK FLOWERS + +"Botany is a sequel of murder and a chronicle of the dead." - +JULIAN HAWTHORNE. + +"A plant is not to be studied as an absolutely dead thing, but +rather as a sentient being.... To measure petals, to count +stamens, to describe pistils without reference to their +functions, or the why and wherefore of their existence, is to +content one's self with husks in the presence of a feast of +fatness - to listen to the rattle of dry bones rather than the +heavenly harmonies of life. We have reason to be profoundly +thankful for the signs to be seen on every side, that the dreary +stuff which was called botany in the teaching of the past will +soon cease to masquerade in its stolen costume, and that our +children and our children's children will study not dried +specimens or drier books, but the living things which Nature +furnishes in such profusion.... + +"The reason of this radical change is not far to seek. Since man +has learned that the universal brotherhood of life includes +himself as the highest link in the chain of organic creation, his +interest in all things that live and move and have a being has +greatly increased. The movements of the monad now appeal to him +in a way that was impossible under the old conceptions. He sees +in each of the millions of living forms with which the earth is +teeming, the action of many of the laws which are operating in +himself; and has learned that to a great extent his welfare is +dependent on these seemingly insignificant relations; that in +ways undreamed of a century ago they affect human progress." - +CLARENCE MOORES WEED. + + +MAGENTA TO PINK FLOWERS + +SESSILE-LEAVED TWISTED-STALK + (Streptopus roseus) Lily-of-the-Valley family + +Flowers - Dull, purplish pink, 1/2 in. long or less, solitary, on +threadlike, curved footstalks longer than the small flower +itself, nodding from leaf-axils. Perianth bill-shaped, of 6 +spreading segments; stamens 6, 2-horned; style spreading into 3 +branches, stigmatic on inner side. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 ft. high, +simple or forked. Leaves: Thin, alternate, green on both sides, +many nerved, tapering at end, rounded at base, where they are +seated on stem. Fruit: A round, red, many-seeded berry. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - North America east and west, southward to Georgia +and Oregon. + +As we look down on this graceful plant, no blossoms are visible; +but if we bend the zig-zagged stem backward, we shall discover +the little rosy bells swaying from the base of the leaves on +curved footstalks (streptos = twisted, pous = a foot or stalk) +very much as the plant's relatives the Solomon's seals grow. In +the confident expectation of having its seeds dropped far and +wide, it bears showy red berries in August for the birds now +wandering through the woods with increased, hungry families. + +The CLASPING-LEAVED TWISTED-STALK (S. amplexifolius), which has +one or two greenish-white bells nodding from its axils, may be +distinguished when not in flower by its leaves, which are hoary - +not green - on the under side, or by its oval berry. Indeed most +plants living in wet soil have a coating of down on the under +sides of their leaves to prevent the pores from clogging with +rising vapors. + + +MOCCASIN FLOWER; PINK, VENUS', or STEMLESS LADY'S SLIPPER + (Cypripedium acaule) Orchid family + +Flowers - Fragrant, solitary, large, showy, drooping from end of +scape, 6 to 12 in. high. Sepals lance-shaped, spreading, greenish +purple, 2 in. long or less; petals narrower and longer than +sepals. Lip an inflated sac, often over 2 in. long, slit down the +middle, and folded inwardly above, pale magenta, veined with +darker pink upper part of interior crested with long white hairs. +Stamens united with style into unsymmetrical declined column, +bearing an anther on either side, and a dilated triangular +petal-like sterile stamen above, arching over the broad concave +stigma. Leaves: 2, from the base; elliptic, thick, 6 to 8 in. +long. +Preferred Habitat - Deep, rocky, or sandy woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Canada southward to North Carolina, westward to +Minnesota and Kentucky. + +Because most people cannot forbear picking this exquisite flower +that seems too beautiful to be found outside a millionaire's +hothouse, it is becoming rarer every year, until the finding of +one in the deep forest, where it must now hide, has become the +event of a day's walk. Once it was the commonest of the orchids. + +"Cross-fertilization," says Darwin, "results in offspring which +vanquish the offspring of self-fertilization in the struggle for +existence." This has been the motto of the orchid family for +ages. No group of plants has taken more elaborate precautions +against self-pollination or developed more elaborate and +ingenious mechanism to compel insects to transfer their pollen +than this. + +The fissure down the front of the pink lady's slipper is not so +wide but that a bee must use some force to push against its +elastic sloping sides and enter the large banquet chamber where +he finds generous entertainment secreted among the fine white +hairs in the upper part. Presently he has feasted enough. Now one +can hear him buzzing about inside, trying to find a way out of +the trap. Toward the two little gleams of light through apertures +at the end of a passage beyond the nectary hairs, he at length +finds his way. Narrower and narrower grows the passage until it +would seem as if he could never struggle through; nor can he +until his back has rubbed along the sticky, overhanging stigma, +which is furnished with minute, rigid, sharply pointed papillae, +all directed forward, and placed there for the express purpose of +combing out the pollen he has brought from another flower on his +back or head. The imported pollen having been safely removed, he +still has to struggle on toward freedom through one of the narrow +openings, where an anther almost blocks his way. + +As he works outward, this anther, drawn downward on its hinge, +plasters his back with yellow granular pollen as a parting gift, +and away he flies to another lady's slipper to have it combed out +by the sticky stigma as described above. The smallest bees can +squeeze through the passage without paying toll. To those of the +Andrena and Halictus tribe the flower is evidently best adapted. +Sometimes the largest bumblebees, either unable or unwilling to +get out by the legitimate route, bite their way to liberty. +Mutilated sacs are not uncommon. But when unable to get out by +fair means, and too bewildered to escape by foul, the large bee +must sometimes perish miserably in his gorgeous prison. + + +SHOWY, GAY, or SPRING ORCHIS + (Orchis spectabilis) Orchid family + +Flowers - Purplish pink, of deeper and lighter shade, the lower +lip white, and thick of texture; from 3 to 6 on a spike; +fragrant. Sepals pointed, united, arching above the converging +petals, and resembling a hood; lip large, spreading, prolonged +into a spur, which is largest at the tip and as long as the +twisted footstem. Sterm: 4 to 12 in. high, thick, fleshy, +5-sided. Leaves: 2 large, broadly ovate, glossy green, silvery on +under side, rising from a few scales from root. Fruit: A sharply +angled capsule, 1 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods, especially under hemlocks. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - From New Brunswick and Ontario southward to our +Southern States, westward to Nebraska. + +Of the six floral leaves which every orchid, terrestrial or +aerial, possesses, one is always peculiar in form, pouch-shaped, +or a cornucopia filled with nectar, or a flaunted, fringed +banner, or a broad platform for the insect visitors to alight on. +Some orchids look to imaginative eyes as if they were +masquerading in the disguise of bees, moths, frogs, birds, +butterflies. A number of these queer freaks are to be found in +Europe. Spring traps, adhesive plasters, and hair-triggers +attached to explosive shells of pollen are among the many devices +by which orchids compel insects to cross-fertilize them, these +flowers as a family showing the most marvelous mechanism adapted +to their requirements from insects in the whole floral kingdom. +No other blossoms can so well afford to wear magenta, the ugliest +shade nature produces, the "lovely rosy purple" of Dutch bulb +growers, a color that has an unpleasant effect on not a few +American stomachs outside of Hoboken. + +But an orchid, from the amazing cleverness of its operations, is +attractive under any circumstances to whomever understands +it. This earliest member of the family to appear charms the +female bumblebee, to whose anatomy it is especially adapted. The +males, whose faces are hairy where the females' are bare, and +therefore not calculated to retain the sticky pollen masses, are +not yet flying when the showy orchis blooms. Bombus Americanorum, +which can drain the longest spurs, B. separatus, B. terricola, +and, rarely, butterflies as well, have been caught with its +pollen masses attached. The bee alights on the projecting lip, +pushes her head into the mouth of the corolla, and, as she sips +the nectar from the horn of plenty, ruptures by the slight +pressure a membrane of the pouch where two sticky buttons, to +which two pollen masses are attached, lie imbedded. Instantly +after contact these adhere to the round bare spots on her face, +the viscid cement hardening before her head is fairly withdrawn. +Now the diverging pollen masses, that look like antennae, fall +from the perpendicular, by remarkable power of contraction, to a +horizontal attitude, that they may be in the precise position to +fertilize the stigma of the next flower visited - just as if they +possessed a reasoning intelligence! Even after all the pollen has +been deposited on the sticky stigmas of various blossoms, +stump-like caudicles to which the two little sacs were attached +have been found still plastered on a long-suffering bee. But so +rich in nectar are the moisture-loving orchids that, to obtain a +draught, the sticky plasters which she must carry do not seem too +dear a price to pay. In this showy orchis the nectar often rises +an eighth of an inch in the tube, and sufficient pressure to +cause a rupture will eject it a foot. + + +ROSE or SWEET POGONIA; SNAKE-MOUTH + (Pogonia ophioglossoides) Orchid family + +Flowers - Pale rose pink, fragrant, about 1 in. long, usually +solitary at end of stem 8 to 15 in. high, and subtended by a +leaf-like bract. Sepals and petals equal, oval, about 1/2 in. +long, the lip spoon-shaped, crested, and fringed. Column shorter +than petals, thick, club-shaped. Anther terminal, attached to +back of column, pollen mass in each of its 2 sacs. Stigma a +flattened disk below anther. Leaves: 1 to 3, erect, lance-oblong, +sometimes one with long footstem from fibrous root. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps and low meadows. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Canada to Florida, westward to Kansas. + +Rearing its head above the low sedges, often brightened with +colonies of the grass pink at the same time, this shy recluse of +the swamps woos the passing bee with lovely color, a fragrance +like fresh red raspberries, an alluring alighting place all +fringed and crested, and with the prospect of hospitable +entertainment in the nectary beyond. So in she goes, between the +platform and the column overhead, pushing first her head, then +brushing her back against the stigma just below the end of the +thick column that almost closes the passage. Any powdery pollen +she brought on her back from another pogonia must now be brushed +off against the sticky stigma. Her feast ended, out she backs. +And now a wonderful thing happens. The lid of the anther which is +at the end of the column, catching in her shoulders, swings +outward on its elastic hinge, releasing a little shower of golden +dust, which she must carry on the hairs of her head or back until +the sticky stigma of the next pogonia entered kindly wipes it +off! This is one of the few orchids whose pollen, usually found +in masses, is not united by threads. Without the bee's aid in +releasing it from its little box, the lovely species would +quickly perish from the face of the earth. + + +ARETHUSA; INDIAN PINK + (Arethusa bulbosa) Orchid family + +Flowers - 1 to 2 in. long, bright purple pink, solitary, violet +scented, rising from between a pair of small scales at end of +smooth scape from 5 to 10 in. high. Lip dropping beneath sepals +and petals, broad, rounded, toothed, or fringed, blotched with +purple, and with three hairy ridges down its surface. Leaf: +Solitary, hidden at first, coming after the flower, but attaining +length of 6 in. Root: Bulbous. Fruit: A 6-ribbed capsule, 1 in. +long, rarely maturing. +Preferred Habitat - Northern bogs and swamps. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - From North Carolina and Indiana northward to the +Fur Countries. + +One flower to a plant, and that one rarely maturing seed; a +temptingly beautiful prize which few refrain from carrying home, +to have it wither on the way pursued by that more persistent +lover than Alpheus, the orchid-hunter who exports the bulbs to +European collectors - little wonder this exquisite orchid is +rare, and that from certain of those cranberry bogs of Eastern +New England, which it formerly brightened with its vivid pink, it +has now gone forever. Like Arethusa, the nymph whom Diana changed +into a fountain that she might escape from the infatuated river +god, Linnaeus fancied this flower a maiden in the midst of a +spring bubbling from wet places where presumably none may follow +her. + +But the bee, our Arethusa's devoted lover, although no villain, +still pursues her. He knows that moisture-loving plants secrete +the most nectar. When the head of the bee enters the flower to +sip, nothing happens; but as he raises his head to depart, it +cannot help lifting the lid of the helmet-shaped anther and so +letting fall a few soft pellets of pollen on it. Now, after he +has drained the next arethusa, his pollen-laden head must rub +against the long sticky stigma before it touches the helmet-like +anther lid and precipitates another volley of pollen. In some +such manner most of our orchids compel insects to work for them +in preventing self-fertilization. + +Another charming, but much smaller, orchid, that we must don our +rubber boots to find where it hides in cool, peaty bogs from +Canada and the Northern United States to California, and +southward in the Rockies to Arizona, is the CALYPSO (Calypso +bulbosa). It is a solitary little flower, standing out from the +top of a jointed scape that never rises more than six inches from +the solid bulb, hidden in the moss, nor boasts more than one +nearly round leaf near its base. The blossom itself suggests one +of the lady's slipper orchids, with its rosy purple, narrow, +pointed sepals and petals clustered at the top above a large, +sac-shaped, whitish lip. The latter is divided into two parts, +heavily blotched with cinnamon brown, and woolly with a patch of +yellow hairs near the point of the division. May - June. + + +CALOPOGON; GRASS PINK + (Limodorum tuberosum; Calopogon pulchellus of Gray) Orchid +family + +Flowers - Purplish pink, 1 in. long, 3 to 15 around a long, loose +spike. Sepals and petals similar, oval, acute; the lip on upper +side of flower is broad at the summit, tapering into a claw, +flexible as if hinged, densely bearded on its face with white, +yellow, and magenta hairs (Calopogon = beautiful beard). Column +below lip (ovary not twisted in this exceptional case); sticky +stigma at summit of column, and just below it a 2-celled anther, +each cell containing 2 pollen masses, the grain lightly connected +by threads. Scape: 1 to 1 1/2 ft. high, slender, naked. Leaf: +Solitary, long, grass-like, from a round bulb arising from bulb +of previous year. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, cranberry bogs, and low meadows. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Florida, and westward to the +Mississippi. + +Fortunately this lovely orchid, one of the most interesting of +its highly organized family, is far from rare, and where we find +the rose pogonia and other bog-loving relatives growing, the +calopogon usually outnumbers them all. Limodorum translated reads +meadow-gift; but we find the flower less frequently in grassy +places than those who have waded into its favorite haunts could +wish. + +Owing to the crested lip being oddly situated on the upper part +of the flower, which appears to be growing upside down in +consequence, one might suppose a visiting insect would not choose +to alight on it. The pretty club-shaped, vari-colored hairs, +which he may mistake for stamens, and which keep his feet from +slipping, irresistibly invite him there, however, when, presto! +down drops the fringed lip with startling suddenness. Of course, +the bee strikes his back against the column when he falls. Now, +there are two slightly upturned little wings on either side of +the column, which keep his body from slipping off at either side +and necessitate its exit from the end where the stigma smears it +with viscid matter. The pressure of the insect on this part +starts the pollen masses from their pocket just below; and as the +bee slides off the end of the column, the exposed, cobwebby +threads to which the pollen grains are attached cling to his +sticky body. The sticky substance instantly hardening, the pollen +masses, which are drawn out from their pocket as he escapes, are +cemented to his abdomen in the precise spot where they must +strike against the stigma of the next calopogon he tumbles in; +hence cross-fertilization results. What recompense does the bee +get for such rough handling? None at all, so far as is known. The +flower, which secretes no nectar, is doubtless one of those gay +deceivers that Sprengel named "Scheinsaftblumen," only it leads +its visitors to look for pollen instead of nectar, on the +supposition that the club-shaped hairs on the crests are stamens. +The wonder is that the intelligent little bees (a species of +Andrenidae), which chiefly are its Victims, have not yet learned +to boycott it. + +"Calopogon," says Professor Robertson, who knows more about the +fertilization of American wild flowers by insects than most +writers, "is one of a few flowers which move the insect toward +the stigma.... There is no expenditure in keeping up a supply of +nectar, and the flower, although requiring a smooth insect of a +certain size and weight, suffers nothing from the visits of those +it cannot utilize. Then, there is no delay caused by the insect +waiting to suck; but as soon as it alights it is thrown down +against the stigma. This occurs so quickly that, while standing +net in hand, I have seen insects effect pollination and escape +before I could catch them. So many orchids fasten their pollinia +upon the faces and tongues of insects that it is interesting to +find one which applies them regularly to the first abdominal +segment. Mr. Darwin has observed that absence of hair on the +tongues of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and on the faces +of Hymenoptera (bees; wasps, etc.) has led to the more usual +adaptations, and sparseness of hair has its influence in this +case. Species of Augochlora are the only insects on which I found +pollinia. These bees are very smooth, depending for ornament on +the metallic sheen of their bodies. An Halictus repeatedly pulled +down the labella (lips) of flowers from which pollinia had not +been removed; and the only reason I can assign for its failure to +extract pollinia is that it is more hairy than the Augochlora. + + +COMMON PERSICARIA, PINK KNOTWEED, or JOINT-WEED; SMARTWEED + (Polygonum Pennsylvanicum) Buckwheat family + +Flowers - Very small, pink, collected in terminal, dense, narrow, +obtuse spikes, 1 to 2 in. long. Calyx pink or greenish, 5-parted, +like petals; no corolla; stamens 8 or less; style 2-parted. Stem: +1 to 3 ft. high, simple or branched, often partly red, the joints +swollen and sheathed; the branches above, and peduncles +glandular. Leaves: Oblong, lance-shaped, entire edged, 2 to 11 +in. long, with stout midrib, sharply tapering at tip, rounded +into short petioles below. +Preferred Habitat - Waste places, roadsides, moist soil. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico; westward to +Texas and Minnesota. + +Everywhere we meet this commonest of plants or some of its +similar kin, the erect pink spikes brightening roadsides, rubbish +heaps, fields, and waste places, from midsummer to frost. The +little flowers, which open without method anywhere on the spike +they choose, attract many insects, the smaller bees (Andrena) +conspicuous among the host. As the spreading divisions of the +perianth make nectar-stealing all too easy for ants and other +crawlers that would not come in contact with anthers and stigma +where they enter a flower near its base, most buckwheat plants +whose blossoms secrete sweets protect themselves from theft by +coating the upper stems with glandular hairs that effectually +discourage the pilferers. Shortly after fertilization, the little +rounded, flat-sided fruit begins to form inside the persistent +pink calyx. At any time the spike-like racemes contain more +bright pink buds and shining seeds than flowers. Familiarity +alone breeds contempt for this plant, that certainly possesses +much beauty. + +The LADY'S THUMB (P. Persicaria), often a troublesome weed, roams +over the whole of North America, except at the extreme north - +another illustration of the riotous profusion of European floral +immigrants rejoicing in the easier struggle for existence here. +Its pink spikes are shorter and less slender than those of the +preceding taller, but similar species, and its leaves, which are +nearly seated on the stem, have dark triangular or lunar marks +near the center in the majority of cases. + +An insignificant little plant, found all over our continent, +Europe, and Asia, is the familiar KNOT-GRASS or DOORWEED (P. +aviculare), often trailing its leafy, jointed stems over the +ground, but at times weakly erect, to display its tiny greenish +or white pink-edged flowers, clustered in the axils of oblong, +bluish-green leaves that are considerably less than an inch long. +Although in bloom from June to October, insects seldom visit it, +for it secretes very little, if any, nectar. As might be expected +in such a case, its stem is smooth. + +When the amphibious WATER PERSICARIA (P. amphibium) lifts its +short, dense, rose-colored ovoid or oblong club of bloom above +ponds and lakes, it is sufficiently protected from crawling +pilferers, of course, by the water in which it grows. But suppose +the pond dries up and the plant is left on dry ground, what then? +Now, a remarkable thing happens: protective glandular, sticky +hairs appear on the epidermis of the leaves and stems, which were +perfectly smooth when the flowers grew in water. Such small +wingless insects as might pilfer nectar without bringing to their +hostess any pollen from other blossoms are held as fast as on +bird-lime. The stem, which sometimes floats, sometimes is +immersed, may attain a length of twenty feet; the rounded, +elliptic, petioled leaves may be four inches long or only half +that size. From Quebec to New Jersey, and westward to the +Pacific, the solitary, showy inflorescence, which does well to +attain a height of an inch, may be found during July and August. + +Throughout the summer, narrow, terminal, erect, spike-like +racemes of small, pale pink, flesh-colored, or greenish flowers +are sent upward by the MILD WATER PEPPER (P. hydropiperoides). It +is like a slender, pale variety of the common pink persicaria. +One finds its inconspicuous, but very common, flowers from June +to September. The plant, which grows in shallow water, swamps, +and moist places throughout the Union and considerably north and +south of it, rises three feet or less. The cylindric sheaths +around the swollen joints of the stem are fringed with long +bristles - a clue to identification. Another similar WATER PEPPER +or SMARTWEED (P. hydropiper) is so called because of its acrid, +biting juice. + +The CLIMBING FALSE BUCKWHEAT (P. scandens) straggles over bushes +in woods, thickets, and by the waysides throughout a very wide +range; yet its small, dull, greenish-yellow and pinkish flowers, +loosely clustered in long pedicelled racemes, are so +inconspicuous during August and September, when the showy +composites are in their glory, that we give them scarcely a +glance. The alternate leaves, which are heart-shaped at the base +and pointed at the lip, suggesting those of the morning glory, +are on petioles arising from sheaths over the enlarged joints +which, in this family, are always a most prominent characteristic +- (Poly = many, gonum = a knee). The three outer sepals, keeled +when in flower, are irregularly winged when the three-angled, +smooth achene hangs from the matured blossom in autumn, the +season at which the vine assumes its greatest attractiveness. + +The ARROW-LEAVED TEAR THUMB (P. sagittatum), found in ditches and +swampy wet soil, weakly leans on other plants, or climbs over +them with the help of the many sharp, recurved prickles which arm +its four-angled stem. Even the petioles and underside of the +leaf's midrib are set with prickles. The light green leaves, that +combine the lance and the arrow shapes, take on a beautiful +russet-red tint in autumn. The little, five-parted rose-colored +or greenish-white flowers grow in small, close terminal heads +from July to September from Nova Scotia to the Gulf and far +westward. + +SEASIDE or COAST JOINTWEED or KNOT-GRASS (Polygonella articulata; +Polygonum articulatum of Gray) a low, slender, wiry, diffusely +spreading little plant, with thread-like leaves seated on its +much-jointed stem, rises cleanly from out the sand of the coast +from Maine to Florida, and the shores of the Great Lakes. Very +slender racemes of tiny, nodding, rose-tinted white flowers, with +a dark midrib to each of the five calyx segments, are +insignificant of themselves; but when seen in masses, from July +to October, they tinge the upper beaches and sandy meadows with a +pink blush that not a few artists have transferred to the +foreground of their marine pictures. + + +CORN COCKLE; CORN ROSE; CORN or RED CAMPION; CROWN-OF-THE-FIELD + (Agrostemma Githago; Lychnis Githago of Gray) Pink family + +Flowers - Magenta or bright purplish crimson, to 3 in. broad, +solitary at end of long, stout footstem; 5 lobes of calyx +leaf-like, very long and narrow, exceeding petals. Corolla of 5 +broad, rounded petals; 10 stamens; 5 styles alternating with +calyx lobes, opposite petals. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. high, erect, with +few or no branches, leafy, the plant covered with fine white +hairs. Leaves: Opposite, seated on stem, long, narrow, pointed, +erect. Fruit: a 1-celled, many-seeded capsule. +Preferred Habitat - Wheat and other grain fields; dry, waste +places. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - United States at large; most common in Central and +Western States. Also in Europe and Asia. + +"Allons! allons! sow'd cockle, reap'd no corn," exclaims Biron in +"Love's Labor Lost." Evidently the farmers even in Shakespeare's +day counted this brilliant blossom the pest it has become in many +of our own grain fields just as it was in ancient times, when +Job, after solemnly protesting his righteousness, called on his +own land to bear record against him if his words were false. "Let +thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley," he +cried, according to James the First's translators; but the +"noisome weeds" of the original text seem to indicate that these +good men were more anxious to give the English people an adequate +conception of Job's willingness to suffer for his honor's sake +than to translate literally. Possibly the cockle grew in Southern +Asia in Job's time : today its range is north. + +Like many another immigrant to our hospitable shores, this +vigorous invader shows a tendency to outstrip native blossoms in +life's race. Having won in the struggle for survival in the old +country, where the contest has been most fiercely waged for +centuries, it finds life here easy, enjoyable. What are its +methods for insuring an abundance of fertile seed? We see that +the tube of the flower is so nearly closed by the stamens and +five-styled pistil as to be adapted only to the long, slender +tongues of moths and butterflies, for which benefactors it became +narrow and deep to reserve the nectar. "A certain night-flying +moth (one of the Dianthaecia) fertilizes flowers of this genus +exclusively, and its larvae feed on their unripe seeds as a +staple. Bees and some long-tongued flies seen about the corn +cockle doubtless get pollen only; but there are few flowers so +deep that the longest-tongued bees cannot sip them. Butterflies, +attracted by the bright color of the flower - and to them color +is the most catchy of advertisements - are guided by a few dark +lines on the petals to the nectary. + +Soon after the blossom opens, five of the stamens emerge from the +tube and shed their pollen on the early visitor. Later, the five +other stamens empty the contents of their anthers on more tardy +comers. Finally, when all danger of self-fertilization is past, +the styles stretch upward, and the butterfly, whose head is +dusted with pollen brought from earlier flowers, necessarily +leaves some on their sticky surfaces as he takes the leavings in +the nectary. + +So much cross-fertilized seed as the plant now produces and +scatters through the grain fields may well fill the farmer's +prosaic mind with despair. To him there is no glory in the +scarlet of the poppy comparable with the glitter of a silver +dollar; no charm in the heavenly blue of the corn-flower, that +likewise preys upon the fertility of his soil; the vivid flecks +of color with which the cockle lights up his fields mean only +loss of productiveness in the earth that would yield him greater +profit without them. Moreover, seeds of this so-called weed not +only darken his wheat when they are threshed out together, but +are positively injurious if swallowed in any quantity. Emerson +said every plant is called a weed until its usefulness is +discovered. Linnaeus called this flower Agrostemma = the +crown-of-the-field. Agriculturalists never realize that beauty is +in itself a sufficient plea for respected existence. Not a few of +the cockle's relatives adorn men's gardens. + + +WILD PINK or CATCHFLY + (Silene Caroliniana; S. Pennsylvanica of Gray) Pink family + +Flowers - Rose pink, deep or very pale; about inch broad, on +slender footstalks, in terminal clusters. Calyx tubular, +5-toothed, much enlarged in fruit, sticky; 5 petals with claws +enclosed in calyx, wedged-shaped above, slightly notched. Stamens +10; pistil with 3 styles. Stem: 4 to 10 in. high, hairy, sticky +above, growing in tufts. Leaves: Basal ones spatulate; 2 or 3 +pairs of lance-shaped, smaller leaves seated on stem. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, gravelly, sandy, or rocky soil. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - New England, south to Georgia, westward to +Kentucky. + +Fresh, dainty, and innocent-looking as Spring herself are these +bright flowers. Alas, for the tiny creatures that try to climb up +the rosy tufts to pilfer nectar, they and their relatives are not +so innocent as they appear! While the little crawlers are almost +within reach of the cup of sweets, their feet are gummed to the +viscid matter that coats it, and here their struggles end as +flies' do on sticky fly-paper, or birds' on limed twigs. A +naturalist counted sixty-two little corpses on the sticky stem of +a single pink. All this tragedy to protect a little nectar for +the butterflies which, in sipping it, transfer the pollen from +one flower to another, and so help them to produce the most +beautiful and robust offspring. + +The pink, which has two sets of stamens of five each, elevates +first one set, then the other, for economy's sake and to run less +risk of failure to get its pollen transferred in case of rain +when its friends are not flying. After all the golden dust has +been shed, however, up come the three recurved styles from the +depth of the tube to receive pollen brought by butterflies from +younger flowers. There are few cups so deep that the largest +bumblebees cannot suck them. Flies which feed on the pink's +pollen only, sometimes come by mistake to older blossoms in the +stigmatic stage, and doubtless cross-fertilize them once in a +while. + +In waste places and woods farther southward and westward, and +throughout the range of the Wild Pink as well, clusters of the +SLEEPY CATCHFLY (S. antirrhina) open their tiny pink flowers for +a short time only in the sunshine. At any stage they are mostly +calyx, but in fruit this part is much expanded. Swollen, sticky +joints are the plant's means of defense from crawlers. Season: +Summer. + +When moths begin their rounds at dusk, the NIGHT-FLOWERING +CATCHFLY (S. noctiflora) opens its pinkish or white flowers to +emit a fragrance that guides them to a feast prepared for them +alone. Day-blooming catchflies have no perfume, nor do they need +it; their color and markings are a sufficient guide to the +butterflies. Sticky hairs along the stems of this plant +ruthlessly destroy, not flies, but ants chiefly, that would +pilfer nectar without being able to render the flower any +service. Yet the calyx is beautifully veined, as if to tantalize +the crawlers by indicating the path to a banquet hail they may +never reach. Only a very few flowers, an inch across or less, are +clustered at the top of the plant, which blooms from July to +September in waste places east of the Mississippi and in Canada. + + +SOAPWORT; BOUNCING BET; HEDGE PINK; BRUISEWORT; OLD MAID'S PINK; +FULLER'S HERB + (Saponaria officinalis) Pink family + +Flowers - Pink or whitish, fragrant, about 1 inch broad, loosely +clustered at end of stem, also sparingly from axils of upper +leaves. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, about 3/4 in. long; 5 petals, +the claws inserted in deep tube. Stamens 10, in 2 sets; 1 pistil +with 2 styles. Flowers frequently double. Stem: to 2 ft. high, +erect, stout, sparingly branched, leafy. Leaves: Opposite, +acutely oval, 2 to 3 in. long, about 1 in. wide, 3 to 5 ribbed. +Fruit: An oblong capsule, shorter than calyx, opening at top by 4 +short teeth or valves. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, banks, and waste places. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Generally common. Naturalized from Europe. + +A stout, buxom, exuberantly healthy lassie among flowers is +bouncing Bet, who long ago escaped from gardens whither she was +brought from Europe, and ran wild beyond colonial farms to +roadsides, along which she has traveled over nearly our entire +area. Underground runners and abundant seed soon form thrifty +colonies. This plant, to which our grandmothers ascribed healing +virtues, makes a cleansing, soap-like lather when its bruised +leaves are agitated in water. + +Butterflies, which delight in bright colors and distinct +markings, find little to charm them here; but the pale shade of +pink or white, easily distinguished in the dark, and the +fragrance, strongest after sunset, effectively advertise the +flower at dusk when its benefactors begin to fly. The sphinx +moth, a frequent visitor, works as rapidly in extracting nectar +from the deep tube as any hawk moth, so frequently mistaken for a +hummingbird. The little cliff-dwelling bees (Halictus), among +others, visit the flowers by day for pollen only. At first five +outer stamens protrude slightly from the flower and shed their +pollen on the visitor, immediately over the entrance. Afterward, +having spread apart to leave the entrance free, the path is clear +for the five inner stamens to follow the same course. Now the +styles are still enclosed in the tube but when there is no longer +fear of self-fertilization - that is to say, when the pollen has +all been carried off, and the stamens have withered - up they +come and spread apart to expose their rough upper surfaces to +pollen brought from younger flowers by the moths. + + +DEPTFORD PINK + (Dianthus Armeria) Pink family + +Flowers - Pink, with whitish dots, small, borne in small clusters +at end of stem. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, with several bract-like +leaves at base; 5 petals with toothed edges, clawed at base +within deep calyx; 10 stamens; 1 pistil with 2 styles. Stem: 6 to +18 in. high, stiff, erect, finely hairy, few branches. Leaves: +Opposite, blade-shaped, or lower ones rounded at end. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Southern Ontario, New England, south to Maryland, +west to Michigan. + +The true pinks of Europe, among which are the SWEET WILLIAM or +BUNCH PINK (D. barbatus) of our gardens, occasionally wild here, +and the deliciously spicy CLOVE PINK (D. Carophyllus), ancestor +of the superb carnations of the present day, that have reached a +climax in the Lawson pink of newspaper fame, were once held +sacred to Jupiter, hence Dianthus = Jove's own flower. The +Deptford pink, a rather insignificant little European immigrant, +without fragrance, has a decided charm, nevertheless, when seen +in bright patches among the dry grass of early autumn, with small +butterflies, that are its devoted admirers, hovering above. + + +PINK OR PALE CORYDALIS + (Capnoides sempervirens; Corydalis glauca of Gray) Poppy +family + +Flowers - Pink, with yellow tip, about 1/2 in. long, a few borne +in a loose, terminal raceme. Calyx of 2 small sepals; corolla +irregular, of 4 erect, closed, and flattened petals joined, 1 of +outer pair with short rounded spur at base, the interior ones +narrow and keeled on back. Stamens 6, in 2 sets, Opposite outer +petals; 1 pistil. Stem: Smooth, curved, branched, 1 to 2 feet +high. Leaves: Pale grayish green, delicate, divided into +variously and finely cut leaflets. Fruit: Very narrow, erect pod, +1 to 2 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky, rich, cool woods. +Flowering Season - April-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia westward to Alaska, south to Minnesota +and North Carolina. + +Dainty little pink sacs, yellow at the mouth, hang upside down +along a graceful stem, and instantly suggest the Dutchman's +breeches, squirrel corn, bleeding heart, and climbing fumitory, +to which the plant is next of kin. Because the lark (Korydalos) +has a spur, the flower, which boasts a small one also, borrows +its Greek name. + +Hildebrand proved by patient experiments that some flowers of +this genus have not only lost the power of self-fertilization, +but that they produce fertile seed only when pollen from another +plant is carried to them. Yet how difficult they make dining for +their benefactors! The bumblebee, which can reach the nectar, but +not lap it conveniently, often "gets square" with the secretive +blossom by nipping holes through its spur, to which the hive bees +and others hasten for refreshment. We frequently find these +punctured flowers. But hive and other bees visiting the blossom +for pollen, some rubs off against their breast when they depress +the two middle petals, a sort of sheath that contains pistil and +stamens. + + +HARDHACK; STEEPLE BUSH + (Spiraea tomentosa) Rose family + +Flowers - Pink or magenta, rarely white, very small, in dense, +pyramidal clusters. Calyx of 5 sepals; corolla of 5 rounded +petals; stamens, 20 to 60; usually 5 pistils, downy. Stem: 2 to 3 +ft. high, erect, shrubby, simple, downy. Leaves: Dark green +above, covered with whitish woolly hairs beneath; oval, +saw-edged, 1 to 2 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Low moist ground, roadside ditches, swamps. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia westward, and southward to Georgia and +Kansas. + +These bright spires of pink bloom attract our attention no less +than the countless eyes of flies, beetles, and bees, ever on the +lookout for food to be eaten on the spot or stored up for future +progeny. Pollen-feeding insects such as these, delight in the +spireas, most of which secrete little or no nectar, but yield an +abundance of pollen, which they can gather from the crowded +panicles with little loss of time, transferring some of it to the +pistils, of course, as they move over the tiny blossoms. But most +spireas are also able to fertilize themselves, insects failing +them. + +An instant's comparison shows the steeple bush to be closely +related to the fleecy, white meadow-sweet, often found growing +near. The pink spires, which bloom from the top downward, have +pale brown tips where the withered flowers are, toward the end of +summer. + +Why is the under side of the leaves so woolly? Not as a +protection against wingless insects crawling upward, that is +certain; for such could only benefit these tiny clustered +flowers. Not against the sun's rays, for it is only the under +surface that is coated. When the upper leaf surface is hairy, we +know that the plant is protected in this way from perspiring too +freely. Doubtless these leaves of the steeple bush, like those of +other plants that choose a similar habitat, have woolly hairs +beneath as an absorbent to protect their pores from clogging with +the vapors that must rise from the damp ground where the plant +grows. If these pores were filled with moisture from without, how +could they possibly throw off the waste of the plant? All plants +are largely dependent upon free perspiration for health, but +especially those whose roots, struck in wet ground, are +constantly sending up moisture through the stem and leaves. + + +PURPLE-FLOWERING OR VIRGINIA RASPBERRY + (Rubus odoratus) Rose family + +Flowers - Royal purple or bluish pink, showy, fragrant, 1 to 2 +in. broad, loosely clustered at top of stem. Calyx sticky-hairy, +deeply 5-parted, with long pointed tips; corolla of 5 rounded +petals; stamens and pistils very numerous. Stem: 3 to 5 ft. high, +erect, branched, shrubby, bristly, not prickly. Leaves: +Alternate, petioled, 3 to 5 lobed, middle lobe largest, and all +pointed; saw-edged lower leaves immense. Fruit: A depressed red +berry, scarcely edible. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky woods, dells, shady roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Northern Canada south to Georgia, westward to +Michigan and Tennessee. + +To be an unappreciated, unloved relative of the exquisite wild +rose, with which this flower is so often likened, must be a +similar misfortune to being the untalented son of a great man, or +the unhappy author of a successful first book never equaled in +later attempts. But where the bright blossoms of the Virginia +raspberry burst forth above the roadside tangle and shady +woodland dells, even those who despise magenta see beauty in them +where abundant green tones all discordant notes into harmony. +Purple, as we of today understand the color, the flower is not; +but rather the purple of ancient Orientals. On cool, cloudy days +the petals are a deep, clear purplish rose, that soon fades and +dulls with age, or changes into pale, bluish pink when the sun is +hot. + +Many yellow stamens help conceal the nectar secreted in a narrow +ring between the filaments and the base of the receptacle. +Bumblebees, the principal and most efficient visitors, which can +reach sweets more readily than most insects, although numerous +others help to self-fertilize the flower, bring to the mature +stigmas of a newly opened blossom pollen carried on their +undersides from the anthers of a flower a day or two older. When +the inner row of anthers shed their pollen, some doubtless falls +on the stigmas below them, and so spontaneous self-fertilization +may occur. Fruit sets quickly; nevertheless the shrub keeps on +flowering nearly all summer. Children often fold the lower +leaves, which sometimes measure a foot across, to make +drinking-cups. + + +QUEEN-OF-THE-PRAIRIE + (Ulmaria rubra; Spirea lobata of Gray) Rose family + +Flowers - Deep pink, like the peach blossom, fragrant, about 1/3 +in. across, clustered in large cymose panicles on a long +footstalk. Calyx 5-lobed; 5-clawed, rose-like petals; stamens +numerous; pistils 5 to 15, usually 10. Stem: 2 to 8 ft. tall, +smooth, grooved, branched. Leaves: Mostly near the ground, large, +rarely measuring 3 ft. long, compounded of from 3 to 7 leaflets; +end leaflet, of 7 to 9 divisions, much the largest; side leaflets +opposite, seated on stem, 3 to 5 lobed or parted; all lobes +acute, and edges unequally incised. Prominent kidney-shaped +stipules. +Preferred Habitat - Moist meadows and prairies. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Western Pennsylvania to Michigan and Iowa, and +southward. + +A stately, beautiful native plant, seen to perfection where it +rears bright panicles of bloom above the ranker growth in the low +moist meadows of the Ohio Valley. When we find it in the East, it +has only recently escaped from man's gardens into Nature's. +Butterflies and bees pay grateful homage to this queen. Indeed, +butterflies appear to have a special fondness for pink, as bees +have for blue flowers. Cattle delight to chew the leaves, which, +when crushed, give out a fragrance like sweet birch. + + +WILD ROSES + (Rosa) Rose family + +Just as many members of the lily tribe show a preference for the +rule of three in the arrangements of their floral parts, so the +wild roses cling to the quinary method of some primitive +ancestor, a favorite one also with the buttercup and many of its +kin, the geraniums, mallows, and various others. Most of our +fruit trees and bushes are near relatives of the rose. Five +petals and five sepals, then, we always find on roses in a state +of nature; and although the progressive gardener of today has +nowhere shown his skill more than in the development of a +multitude of petals from stamens in the magnificent roses of +fashionable society, the most highly cultivated darling of the +greenhouses quickly reverts to the original wild type, setting +his work of years at naught, if once it regain its natural +liberties through neglect. + +To protect its foliage from being eaten by hungry cattle, the +rose goes armed into the battle of life with curved, sharp +prickles, not true thorns or modified branches, but merely +surface appliances which peel off with the bark. To destroy +crawling pilferers of pollen, several species coat their calices, +at least, with fine hairs or sticky gum; and to insure wide +distribution of offspring, the seeds are packed in the +attractive, bright red calyx tube or hip, a favorite food of many +birds, which drop them miles away. When shall we ever learn that +not even a hair has been added to or taken from a blossom without +a lawful cause, and study it accordingly? Fragrance, abundant +pollen, and bright-colored petals naturally attract many insects; +but roses secrete no nectar. Some species of bees, and a common +beetle (Trichius piger) for example, seem to depend upon certain +wild roses exclusively for pollen to feed themselves and their +larvae. Bumblebees, to which roses are adapted, require a firmer +support than the petals would give, and so alight on the center +of the flower, where the pistil receives pollen carried by them +from other roses. Although the numerous stamens and the pistils +mature simultaneously, the former are usually turned outward, +that the incoming pollen-laden insect may strike the stigma +first. When the large bees cease their visits as they may in +long-continued dull or rainy weather, the rose, turning toward +the sun, stands more or less obliquely, and some of the pollen +must fall on its stigma. Occasional self-fertilization matters +little. + +If plants have insect benefactors, they have their foes as well +and hordes of tiny aphids, commonly known as green flies or plant +lice, moored by their sucking tubes to the tender sprays of +roses, wild and cultivated, live by extracting their juices. A +curious relationship exists between these little creatures and +the ants, which "milk" them by stroking and caressing them with +their antennae until they emit a tiny drop of sweet, white fluid. +The yellow ant, that lives an almost subterranean life, actually +domesticates flocks and herds of root-feeding aphids; the brown +ant appropriates those that live among the bark of trees; and the +common black garden ant (Lasius niger), devoting itself to the +aphis of the rose bushes, protects it in extraordinary ways, +delightfully described by the author of "Ants, Bees, and Wasps." + +In literature, ancient and modern, sacred and profane, no flower +figures so conspicuously as the rose. To the Romans it was most +significant when placed over the door of a public or private +banquet hall. Each who passed beneath it bound himself thereby +not to disclose anything said or done within; hence the +expression sub rosa, common to this day. + +The PRAIRIE, CLIMBING, or MICHIGAN ROSE (R. setigera) lifts +clusters of deep, bright pink flowers, that after a while fade +almost white, above the thickets and rich prairie soil, from +southern Ontario and Wisconsin to the Gulf, as far eastward as +Florida. Its distinguishing characteristics are: Stout, widely +separated prickles along the stem, that grows several feet long; +leaves compounded of three, rarely five, oval leaflets, acute or +obtuse at the apex; stalks and calyx often glandular; odorless +flowers that, opening in June and July, measure about two and a +half inches across, their styles cohering in a smooth column on +which bees are tempted to alight; and a round hip, or seed +vessel, formed by the fruiting calyx, which is more or less +glandular. From this parent stock several valuable +double-flowering roses have been derived, among others the Queen +and the Gem of the Prairies, but it is our only native rose that +has ever passed into cultivation. + +The SMOOTH, EARLY, or MEADOW ROSE (R. blanda), found blooming in +June and July in moist, rocky places from Newfoundland to New +Jersey and a thousand miles westward, has a trifle larger and +slightly fragrant flowers, at first pink, later pure white. Their +styles are separate, not cohering in a column nor projecting as +in the climbing rose. This is a leafy, low bush mostly less than +three feet high; it is either entirely unarmed, or else provided +with only a few weak prickles; the stipules are rather broad, and +the leaf is compounded of from five to seven oval, blunt, and +pale green leaflets, often hoary below. + +In swamps and low wet ground from Quebec to Florida, and westward +to the Mississippi, the SWAMP ROSE (R. Carolina) blooms late in +May and on to midsummer. The bush may grow taller than a man, or +perhaps only a foot high. It is armed with stout, hooked, rather +distant prickles, and few or no bristles. The leaflets, from five +to nine, but usually seven, to a leaf, are smooth, pale, or +perhaps hairy beneath to protect the pores from filling with +moisture arising from the wet ground. Long, sharp calyx lobes, +which drop off before the cup swells in fruit into a round, +glandular, hairy red hip, are conspicuous among the clustered +pink flowers and buds. + +Surely no description of our COMMON, LOW, DWARF, or PASTURE ROSE +(R. humilis; R. lucida of Gray) is needed. One's acquaintance +with flowers must be limited indeed, if it does not include this +most abundant of all the wild roses from Ontario to Georgia, and +westward to Wisconsin. In light, dry, or rocky soil we find the +exquisite, but usually solitary, blossom late in May until July, +and, like most roses, it has the pleasant practice of putting +forth a stray blossom or two in early autumn. The stamens of this +species are turned outward so strongly that self- pollination +must very rarely take place. + +Among the following charming wild roses, not natives, but +naturalized immigrants from foreign lands, that have escaped from +gardens, is Shakespeare's CANKER-BLOOM, the lovely DOG ROSE or +WILD BRIER (R. canina), that spreads its long, straggling +branches along the roadsides and banks, covering the waste lands +with its smooth, beautiful foliage, and in June and July with +pink or white roses. Because it lacks the fragrance of +sweetbrier, which it otherwise closely resembles, it has been +branded with the dog prefix as a mark of contempt. Professor Koch +says that long before it was customary to surround gardens with +walls, men had rose hedges. "Each of the four great peoples of +Asia," he continues, "possessed its own variety of rose, and +carried it during all wanderings, until finally all four became +the common property of the four peoples. The great Indo-Germanic +stock chose the 'hundred-leaved' and RED ROSE (R. Gallica); +nevertheless, after the Niebelungen the common dog rose played an +important part among the ancient Germans. The DAMASCUS ROSE (R. +Damascena), which blooms twice a year, as well as the MUSK ROSE +(R. moschata), were cherished by the Semitic or Arabic stock; +while the Turkish-Mongolian people planted by preference the +YELLOW ROSE (R. lutea). Eastern Asia (China and Japan) is the +fatherland of the INDIAN and TEA ROSES." + +How fragrant are the pages of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare +with the Eglantine! This delicious plant, known here as +SWEETBRIAR (R. rubIginosa), emits its very aromatic odor from +russet glands on the under, downy side of the small leaflets, +always a certain means of identification. From eastern Canada to +Virginia and Tennessee the plant has happily escaped from man's +gardens back to Nature's. + +In spite of its American Indian name, the lovely white CHEROKEE +ROSE (R. Sinica), that runs wild in the South, climbing, rambling +and rioting with a truly Oriental abandon and luxuriance, did +indeed come from China. Would that our northern thickets and +roadsides might be decked with its pure flowers and almost +equally beautiful dark, glossy, evergreen leaves! + + +COMMON RED, PURPLE, MEADOW, or HONEYSUCKLE CLOVER + (Trifolium pratense) Pea family + +Flowers - Magenta, pink, or rarely whitish, sweet-scented, the +tubular corollas set in dense round, oval, or egg-shaped heads +about 1 in. long, and seated in a sparingly hairy calyx. Stem: 6 +in. to 2 ft. high, branching, reclining, or erect, more or less +hairy. Leaves: On long petioles, commonly compounded of 3, but +sometimes of 4 to 11 oval or oblong leaflets, marked with white +crescent, often dark-spotted near center; stipules egg-shaped, +sharply pointed, strongly veined, over 1/2 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, meadows, roadsides. +Flowering Season - April-November. +Distribution - Common throughout Canada and United States. + +Meadows bright with clover-heads among the grasses, daisies, and +buttercups in June resound with the murmur of unwearying industry +and rapturous enjoyment. Bumblebees by the tens of thousands +buzzing above acres of the farmer's clover blossoms should be +happy in a knowledge of their benefactions, which doubtless +concern them not at all. They have never heard the story of the +Australians who imported quantities of clover for fodder, and had +glorious fields of it that season, but not a seed to plant next +year's crops, simply because the farmers had failed to import the +bumblebee. After her immigration the clovers multiplied +prodigiously. No; the bee's happiness rests on her knowledge that +only the butterflies' long tongues can honestly share with her +the brimming wells of nectar in each tiny floret. Children who +have sucked them too appreciate her rapture. If we examine a +little flower under the magnifying glass, we shall see why its +structure places it in the pea family. Bumblebees so depress the +keel either when they sip, or feed on pollen, that their heads +and tongues get well dusted with the yellow powder, which they +transfer to the stigmas of other flowers; whereas the butterflies +are of doubtful value, if not injurious, since their long, +slender tongues easily drain the nectar without depressing the +keel. Even if a few grains of pollen should cling to their +tongues, it would probably be wiped off as they withdrew them +through the narrow slit, where the petals nearly meet, at the +mouth of the flower. Bombus terrestris delights in nipping holes +at the base of the tube, which other pilferers also profit by. +Our country is so much richer in butterflies than Europe, it is +scarcely surprising that Professor Robertson found thirteen +Lepidoptera out of twenty insect visitors to this clover in +Illinois, whereas Muller caught only eight butterflies on it out +of a list of thirty-nine visitors in Germany. The fritillaries +and the sulphurs are always seen about the clover fields among +many others, and the "dusky wings" and the caterpillar of several +species feeds almost exclusively on this plant. + +"To live in clover," from the insect's point of view at least, +may well mean a life of luxury and affluence. Most peasants in +Europe will tell you that a dream about the flower foretells not +only a happy marriage, but long life and prosperity. For ages the +clover has been counted a mystic plant, and all sorts of good and +bad luck were said to attend the finding of variations of its +leaves which had more than the common number of leaflets. At +evening these leaflets fold downward, the side ones like two +hands clasped in prayer, the end one bowed over them. In this +fashion the leaves of the white and other clovers also go to +sleep, to protect their sensitive surfaces from cold by +radiation, it is thought. + +The ZIG-ZAG CLOVER, COW or MARL-GRASS (T. Medium), a native of +Europe and Asia, now naturalized in the eastern half of the +United States and Canada, may scarcely be told from the common +red clover, except by its crooked, angular stems - often +provokingly straight - by its unspotted leaves, and the short +peduncle in which its heads are elevated above the calyx. + +Farmers here are beginning to learn the value of the beautiful +CRIMSON, CARNATION or ITALIAN CLOVER or NAPOLEONS (T. +incarnatum), and happily there are many fields and waste places +in the East already harboring the brilliant runaways. The narrow +heads may be two and a half inches long. A meadow of this fodder +plant makes one envious of the very cattle that may spend the +summer day wading through acres of its deep bright bloom. + + +GOAT'S RUE; CAT-GUT; HOARY PEA or WILD SWEET PEA + (Cracca Virginiana; Tephrosia Virginiana of Gray) Pea family + +Flowers - In terminal cluster, each 1/2 in. long or over, +butterfly-shaped, consisting of greenish, cream-yellow standard, +purplish-rose wings, and curved keel of greenish yellow tinged +with rose; petals clawed; 10 stamens (9 and 1); calyx 5-toothed. +Stem: Hoary, with white, silky hairs, rather woody, 1 to 2 feet +high. Leaves: Compounded of 7 to 25 oblong leaflets. Root: Long, +fibrous, tough. Fruit: A hoary, narrow pod, to 2 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy soil, edges of pine woods. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Southern New England, westward to Minnesota, south +to Florida, Louisiana, and Mexico. + +Flowers far less showy and attractive than this denizen of sandy +wastelands, a cousin of the wisteria vine and the locust tree, +have been introduced to American gardens. Striking its long +fibrous root deep into the dry soil, the plant spreads in thrifty +clumps through heat and drought - and so tough are its fibers +they might almost be used for violin strings. As in the case of +the lupine, the partridge pea and certain others akin to it, the +leaves of the hoary pea "go to sleep" at night, but after a +manner of their own, i.e., by lying along the stem and turning on +their own bases. + +In similar situations from New York south and southwestward, the +MILK PEA (Galactia regularis; G. glabella of Gray) lies prostrate +along the ground, the matted, usually branched stems sending up +at regular intervals a raceme of rose-purple flowers in July and +August from the axil of the trefoliate leaf. + + +TRAILING BUSH CLOVER + (Lespedeza procumbens) Pea family + +Flowers - Purplish pink or violet, veined, the butterfly-shaped +ones having standard petal, wings, and keel, clustered at end of +peduncles; the minute flowers lacking a corolla, nearly sessile. +Calyx of 5 slender, nearly equal lobes. Stems: Prostrate, +trailing, or sometimes ascending, woolly or downy, leafy. Leaves: +Clover-like, trefoliate. Fruit: A very small, hairy, flat, +rounded, acute pod. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil open, sandy places. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - Massachusetts to the Gulf, and westward to the +Mississippi. + +Springing upward from a mass of clover-like leaves, these showy +little blossoms elevate themselves to arrest, not our attention, +but the notice of the passing bee. As the claw of the standard +petal and the calyx are short, he need not have a long tongue to +drain the nectary pointed out to him by a triangular white mark +at the base of the banner. Now, as his weight depresses the +incurved keel, wherein the vital organs are protected, the stigma +strikes the visitor in advance of the anthers, so that pollen +brought on his underside from another flower must come off on +this one before he receives fresh pollen to transfer to a third +blossom. At first the keel returns to its original position when +depressed; later it loses its elasticity. But besides these showy +flowers intended to be cross-fertilized by insects, the bush +clovers bear, among the others, insignificant-looking, tightly +closed, bud-like ones that produce abundant self-fertilized seed. +The petaliferous flowers are simply to counteract the inevitable +evils resulting from close inbreeding. One usually finds +caterpillars of the "dusky wings" butterfly feeding on the +foliage and the similar tick trefoils which are its staple. At +night the bush clover leaves turn upward, completely changing the +aspect of these plants as we know them by day. Michaux named the +group of flowers for his patron, Lespedez, a governor of Florida +under the Spanish regime. + +Perhaps the commonest of the tribe is the VIOLET BUSH CLOVER (L. +violacea), a variable, branching, erect, or spreading plant, +sometimes only a foot high, or again three times as tall. Its +thin leaves are more elliptic than the decidedly clover-like ones +of the preceding species; its rose-purple flowers are more +loosely clustered, and the stems are only sparingly hairy, never +woolly. + +On the top of the erect, usually unbranched, but very leafy stem +of the WAND-LIKE BUSH CLOVER (L. frutescens), the two kinds of +flowers grow in a crowded cluster, and more sparingly from the +axils below. The clover-like leaflets, dark green and smooth +above, are paler and hairy below. Like the rest of its kin, this +bush clover delights in dry soil, particularly in open, sandy +places near woods of pine and oak. One readily distinguishes the +SLENDER BUSH CLOVER (L. Virginica) by the very narrowly oblong +leaves along its wand, which bears two kinds of bright rose +flowers, clustered at the top chiefly, and in the axils. + +Yellowish-white flowers, about a quarter of an inch long, and +with a purplish-rose spot on the standard petal to serve as a +pathfinder to the nectary, are crowded in oblong spikes an inch +and a half long or less on the HAIRY BUSH CLOVER (L. hirta). The +stem, which may attain four feet, or half that height, is usually +branched; and the entire plant is often downy to the point of +silkiness. + +Dense clusters of the yellowish-white flowers of the ROUND-HEADED +BUSH CLOVER (L. capitata) are seated in the upper axils of the +silvery-hairy, wand-like stem. Pink streaks at the base of the +standard petal serve as pathfinders, and its infolded edges guide +the bee's tongue straight to the opening in the stamen tube +through which he sucks. + + +WILD or SPOTTED GERANIUM or CRANE'S-BILL; ALUM-ROOT + (Geranium maculatum) Geranium family + +Flowers - Pale magenta, purplish pink, or lavender, regular, 1 to +1 1/2 in. broad, solitary or a pair, borne on elongated +peduncles, generally with pair of leaves at their base. Calyx of +5 lapping, pointed sepals; 5 petals, woolly at base; 10 stamens; +pistil with 5 styles. Fruit: A slender capsule pointed like a +crane's bill. In maturity it ejects seeds elastically far from +the parent plant. Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high, hairy, slender, simple +or branching above. Leaves: Older ones sometimes spotted with +white; basal ones 3 to 6 in. wide, 3 to 5 parted, variously cleft +and toothed; 2 stem leaves opposite. +Preferred Habitat - Open woods, thickets, and shady roadsides. +Flowering Season - April-July. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Georgia, and westward a thousand +miles. + +Sprengel, who was the first to exalt flowers above the level of +mere botanical specimens, had his attention led to the intimate +relationship existing between plants and insects by studying out +the meaning of the hairy corolla of the common wild geranium of +Germany (G. sylvaticum), being convinced, as he wrote in 1787, +that "the wise Author of Nature has not made even a single hair +without a definite design." A hundred years before, Nehemias Grew +had said that it was necessary for pollen to reach the stigma of +a flower in order that it might set fertile seed; and Linnaeus +had to come to his aid with conclusive evidence to convince a +doubting world that this was true. Sprengel made the next step +forward, but his writings lay neglected over seventy years +because he advanced the then incredible and only partially true +statement that a flower is fertilized by insects which carry its +pollen from its anthers to its stigma. In spite of his +discoveries that the hairs inside the geranium's corolla protect +its nectar from rain for the insect's benefit, just as eyebrows +keep perspiration from falling into the eye; that most flowers +which secrete nectar have what he termed "honey guides" - spots +of bright color, heavy veining, or some such pathfinder on the +petals - in spite of the most patient and scientific research +that shed great light on natural selection a half-century before +Darwin advanced the theory, he left it for the author of "The +Origin of Species" to show that cross-fertilization - the +transfer of pollen from one blossom to another, not from anthers +to stigma of the same flower - is the great end to which so much +marvelous mechanism is chiefly adapted. Cross-fertilized blossoms +defeat self-fertilized flowers in the struggle for existence. + +No wonder Sprengel's theory was disproved by his scornful +contemporaries in the very case of his wild geranium, which sheds +its pollen before it has developed a stigma to receive any; +therefore no insect that had not brought pollen from an earlier +bloom could possibly fertilize this flower. How amazing that he +did not see this! Our common wild crane's-bill, which also has +lost the power to fertilize itself, not only ripens first the +outer, then the inner, row of anthers, but actually drops them +off after their pollen has been removed, to overcome the barest +chance of self-fertilization as the stigmas become receptive. +This is the geranium's and many other flowers' method to compel +cross-fertilization by insects. In cold, stormy, cloudy weather a +geranium blossom may remain in the male stage several days before +becoming female; while on a warm, sunny day, when plenty of +insects are flying, the change sometimes takes place in a few +hours. Among others, the common sulphur or puddle butterfly, that +sits in swarms on muddy roads and makes the clover fields gay +with its bright little wings, pilfers nectar from the geranium +without bringing its long tongue in contact with the pollen. +Neither do the smaller bees and flies which alight on the petals +necessarily come in contact with the anthers and stigmas. +Doubtless the larger bees are the flowers' true benefactors. + +The so-called geraniums in cultivation are pelargoniums, strictly +speaking. + +In barren soil, from Canada to the Gulf, and far westward, the +CAROLINA CRANE'S-BILL (G. Carolinianum), an erect, much-branched +little plant resembling the spotted geranium in general features, +bears more compact clusters of pale rose or whitish flowers, +barely half an inch across. As their inner row of anthers comes +very close to the stigmas, spontaneous self-fertilization may +sometimes occur; although in fine weather small bees, especially, +visit them constantly. The beak of the seed vessel measures +nearly an inch long. + + +HERB ROBERT; RED ROBIN; RED SHANKS; DRAGON'S BLOOD + (Geranium Robertianum) Geranium family + +Flowers - Purplish rose, about 1/2 in. across, borne chiefly in +pairs on slender peduncles. Five sepals and petals; stamens 10; +pistil with 5 styles. Stem: Weak, slender, much branched, forked, +and spreading, slightly hairy, 6 to i8 in. high. Leaves: Strongly +scented, opposite, thin, of 3 divisions, much subdivided and +cleft. Fruit: Capsular, elastic, the beak 1 in. long, +awn-pointed. +Preferreed Habitat - Rocky, moist woods and shady roadsides +Flowering Season - May-October +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, and westward to +Missouri. + +Who was the Robert for whom this his "holy herb" was named? Many +suppose that he was St. Robert, a Benedictine monk, to whom the +twenty-ninth of April - the day the plant comes into flower in +Europe - is dedicated. Others assert that Robert Duke of +Normandy, for whom the "Ortus Sanitatis," a standard medical +guide for some hundred of years, was written, is the man honored; +and since there is now no way of deciding the mooted question, we +may take our choice. + +Only when the stems are young are they green; later the plant +well earns the name of red shanks, and when its leaves show +crimson stains, of dragon's blood. + +At any time the herb gives forth a disagreeable odor, but +especially when its leaves and stem have been crushed until they +emit a resinous secretion once an alleged cure for the plague. +Flies, that never object to a noxious smell, constantly visit the +flower, and have their tongues guided through passages between +little ridge-like processes on each petal to the nectar secreted +by the base of the filaments at the base of each sepal. To +prevent self-fertilization the five stigmas are folded close +together when the flower opens, nor do they spread apart and +become receptive until after the outer row of anthers, then the +inner row, have shed their pollen. When the elastic carpels have +ripened their seed, bang! go the little guns, scattering them far +and wide. + + +WHITE OR TRUE WOOD~SORREL; ALLELULA + (Oxalis acetosella) Wood-sorrel family + +Flowers - White or delicate pink, veined with deep pink, about +1/2 in. long. Five sepals; 5 spreading petals rounded at tips; 10 +stamens, 5 longer, 5 shorter, all anther-bearing; 1 pistil with 5 +stigmatic styles. Scape: Slender, leafless, 1-flowered, 2 to 5 +in, high. Leaf: Clover-like, of 3 leaflets, on long petioles from +scaly, creeping rootstock. +Preferred Habitat - Cold, damp woods. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia and Manitoba, southward to North +Carolina. Also a native of Europe. + +Clumps of these delicate little pinkish blossoms and abundant +leaves, cuddled close to the cold earth of northern forests, +usually conceal near the dry leaves or moss from which they +spring blind flowers that never open - cleistogamous the +botanists call them - flowers that lack petals, as if they were +immature buds; that lack odor, nectar, and entrance; yet they are +perfectly mature, self-fertilized, and abundantly fruitful. +Fifty-five genera of plants contain one or more species on which +these peculiar products are found, the pea family having more +than any other, although violets offer perhaps the most familiar +instance to most of us. Many of these species bury their +offspring below ground; but the wood-sorrel bears its blind +flowers nodding from the top of a curved scape at the base of the +plant, where we can readily find them. By having no petals, and +other features assumed by an ordinary flower to attract insects, +and chiefly in saving pollen, they produce seed with literally +the closest economy. It is estimated that the average blind +flower of the wood-sorrel does its work with four hundred pollen +grains, while the prodigal peony scatters with the help of wind +and insect visitors over three and a half millions! + +Yet no plant, however economically inclined, can afford to +deteriorate its species through self-fertilization; therefore, to +overcome the evils of in-breeding, the wood-sorrel, like other +plants that bear cleistogamous flowers, takes special pains to +produce showy blossoms to attract insects, on which they +absolutely depend to transfer their pollen from flower to flower. +These have their organs so arranged as to make self-fertilization +impossible. + +Every child knows how the wood-sorrel "goes to sleep" by drooping +its three leaflets until they touch back to back at evening, +regaining the horizontal at sunrise - a performance most +scientists now agree protects the peculiarly sensitive leaf from +cold by radiation. During the day, as well, seedling, scape, and +leaves go through some interesting movements, closely followed by +Darwin in his "Power of Movement in Plants," which should be read +by all interested. + +Oxalis, the Greek for sour, applies to all sorrels because of +their acid juice; but acetosella = vinegar salt, the specific +name of this plant, indicates that from it druggists obtain salt +of lemons. Twenty pounds of leaves yield between two and three +ounces of oxalic acid by crystallization. Names locally given the +plant in the Old World are wood sour or sower, cuckoo's meat, +sour trefoil, and shamrock - for this is St. Patrick's own +flower, the true shamrock of the ancient Irish, some claim. +Alleluia, another folk-name, refers to the joyousness of the +Easter season, when the plant comes into bloom in England. + + +VIOLET WOOD-SORREL + (Oxalis violacea) Wood-sorrel family + +Flowers - Pinkish purple, lavender, or pale magenta; less than 1 +in. long; borne on slender stems in umbels or forking clusters, +each containing from 3 to 12 flowers. Calyx of 5 obtuse sepals; 5 +petals; 10 (5 longer, 5 shorter) stamens; 5 styles persistent +above 5-celled ovary. Stem: From brownish, scaly bulb 4 to 9 in. +high. Leaves: About 1 in. wide, compounded of 3 rounded, +clover-like leaflets with prominent midrib, borne at end of +slender petioles, springing from root. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky and sandy woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Northern United States to Rocky Mountains, south +to Florida and New Mexico; more abundant southward. + +Beauty of Leaf and blossom is not the only attraction possessed +by this charming little plant. As a family the wood-sorrels have +great interest for botanists since Darwin devoted such exhaustive +study to their power of movement, and many other scientists have +described the several forms assumed by perfect flowers of the +same species to secure cross-fertilization. Some members of the +clan also bear blind flowers, which have been described in the +account of the white wood-sorrel given above. Even the +rudimentary leaves of the seedlings "go to sleep" at evening, and +during the day are in constant movement up and down. The stems, +too, are restless; and as for the mature leaves, every child +knows how they droop their three leaflets back to back against +the stem at evening, elevating them to the perfect horizontal +again by day. Extreme sensitiveness to light has been thought to +be the true explanation of so much activity, and yet this is not +a satisfactory theory in many cases. It is certain that drooping +leaves suffer far less from frost than those whose upper surfaces +are flatly exposed to the zenith. This view that the sleep of +leaves saves them from being chilled at night by radiation is +Darwin's own, supported by innumerable experiments; and probably +it would have been advanced by Linnaeus, too, since so many of +his observations in "Somnus Plantarum" verify the theory, had the +principle of radiation been discovered in his day. +The violet wood-sorrel produces two sorts of perfect flowers +reciprocally adapted to each other, but on different plants in +the same neighborhood. The two are essentially alike, except in +arrangement of stamens and pistil; one flower having high anthers +and low stigmas, the other having lower anthers and higher +stigmas; and as the high stigmas are fertile only when pollenized +with grains from a flower having high anthers, it is evident +insect aid to transfer pollen is indispensable here. Small bees, +which visit these blossoms abundantly, are their benefactors; +although there is nothing to prevent pollen from falling on the +stigmas of the short-styled form. Hildebrand proved that +productiveness is greatest, or exists only, after legitimate +fertilization. To accomplish cross-pollination, many plants bear +flowers of opposite sexes on different individuals; but the +violet wood-sorrel's plan, utilized by the bluet and +partridge-vine also, has the advantage in that both kinds of its +flowers are fruitful. + + +COMMON, FIELD, or PURPLE MILKWORT; PURPLE POLYGALA + (Polygala viridescens; P. sanguinca of Gray) Milkwort family + +Flowers - Numerous, very small, variable; bright magenta, pink, +or almost red, or pale to whiteness, or greenish, clustered in a +globular clover-like head, gradually lengthening to a cylindric +spike. Stem: 6 to 15 in. high, smooth, branched above, leafy. +Leaves: Alternate, narrowly oblong, entire. +Preferred Habitat - Fields and meadows, moist or sandy. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Southern Canada to North Carolina, westward to the +Mississippi. + +When these bright clover-like heads and the inconspicuous +greenish ones grow together, the difference between them is so +striking it is no wonder Linnaeus thought they were borne by two +distinct species, sanguinea and viridescens, whereas they are now +known to be merely two forms of the same flower. At first glance +one might mistake the irregular little blossom for a member of +the pea family; two of the five very unequal sepals - not petals +- are colored wings. These bright-hued calyx-parts overlap around +the flower-head like tiles on a roof. Within each pair of wings +are three petals united into a tube, split on the back, to expose +the vital organs to contact with the bee, the milkwort's best +friend. + +Plants of this genus were named polygala, the Greek for much +milk, not because they have milky juice - for it is bitter and +clear - but because feeding on them is supposed to increase the +flow of cattle's milk. + +In sandy swamps, especially near the coast from Maine to the +Gulf, and westward to the Mississippi, grows the MARSH or +CROSS-LEAVED MILKWORT (P. cruciata). Most of its leaves, +especially the lower ones, are in whorls of four, and from July +to September its dense, bright purple-pink, white, or greenish +flower-heads, the wings awn-pointed, are seated on the ends of +the square branching stem of this low, mossy little plant. + + +FRINGED MILKWORT or POLYGALA; FLOWERING WINTERGREEN; GAY WINGS + (Polygala paucifolia) Milkwort family + +Flowers - Purplish rose, rarely white, showy, over 1/2 in. long, +from 1 to 4 on short, slender peduncles from among upper leaves. +Calyx of 5 unequal sepals, of which 2 are wing-like and highly +colored like petals. Corolla irregular, its crest finely fringed; +6 stamens; pistil. Also pale, pouch-like, cleistogamous flowers +underground. Stem: Prostrate, 6 to 15 in. long, slender, from +creeping rootstock, sending up flowering shoots 4 to 7 in. high. +Leaves: Clustered at summit, oblong, or pointed egg-shaped, 1 1/2 +in. long or less; those on lower part of shoots scale-like. +Preferred habitat - Moist, rich woods, pine lands, light soil. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Northern Canada, southward and westward to Georgia +and Illinois. + +Gay companies of these charming, bright little blossoms hidden +away in the woods suggest a swarm of tiny mauve butterflies that +have settled among the wintergreen leaves. Unlike the common +milkwort and many of its kin that grow in clover-like heads, each +one of the gay wings has beauty enough to stand alone, Its oddity +of structure, its lovely color and enticing fringe, lead one to +suspect it of extraordinary desire to woo some insect that will +carry its pollen from blossom to blossom and so enable the plant +to produce cross-fertilized seed to counteract the evil +tendencies resulting from the more prolific self-fertilized +cleistogamous flowers buried in the ground below. It has been +said that the fringed polygala keeps "one flower for beauty and +one for use"; "one playful flower for the world, another for +serious use and posterity"; but surely the showy flowers, the +"giddy sisters," borne by all cleistogamous species to save them +from degenerating through close inbreeding, are no idle, +irresponsible beauties. Let us watch a bumblebee as she alights +on the convenient fringe which edges the lower petal of this +milkwort. Now the weight of her body so depresses the keel, or +tubular petals, wherein the stamens and pistil lie protected from +the rain and useless insects, that as soon as it is pressed +downward a spoon-tipped pistil pushes out the pollen through the +slit on the top on the bee's abdomen. The stigmatic surface of +the pistil is on the opposite side of the spoon, nearest the base +of the flower, to guard against self-pollination. After the +pollen has been removed, a bumblebee, already dusted from other +blossoms, must leave some on the stigma as she sucks the nectar. +Indeed, every feature possessed by this pretty flower has been +developed for the most serious purpose of life - the salvation of +the species. + +Only locally common throughout a wide area, embracing the eastern +half of the United States and Canada, is the RACEMED MILKWORT (P. +polygama), whose small, purple-pink, but showy flowers, clustered +along the upper part of numerous leafy stems, are found in dry +soil during June and July. Like the fringed milkwort, this one +bears many cleistogamous, or blind flowers, on underground +branches, flowers that always set an abundance of fertile +self-planted seed in case of failure to form any on the part of +their showy sisters, which are utterly dependent upon the bee's +ministrations. During prolonged stormy weather few insects are +abroad. + + +SWAMP ROSE-MALLOW; MALLOW ROSE + (Hibiscus Moscheutos) Mallow family + +Flowers - Very large, clear rose pink, sometimes white, often +with crimson center, 4 to 7 in. across, solitary, or clustered on +peduncles at summit of stems. Calyx 5-cleft, subtended by +numerous narrow bractlets; 5 large, veined petals; stamens united +into a valvular column bearing anthers on the outside for much of +its length; 1 pistil partly enclosed in the column, and with five +button-tipped stigmatic branches above. Stem: 4 to 7 ft. tall, +stout, from perennial root. Leaves: 3 to 7 in. long, tapering, +pointed, egg-shaped, densely white, downy beneath lower leaves, +or sometimes all, lobed at middle. +Preferred Habitat - Brackish marshes, riversides, lake shores, +saline situations. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to +Louisiana; found locally in the interior, but chiefly along +Atlantic seaboard. + +Stately ranks of these magnificent flowers, growing among the +tall sedges and "cat-tails" of the marshes, make the most +insensate traveler exclaim at their amazing loveliness. To reach +them one must don rubber boots and risk sudden seats in the +slippery ooze; nevertheless, with spade in hand to give one +support, it is well worthwhile to seek them out and dig up some +roots to transplant to the garden. Here, strange to say, without +salt soil or more water than the average garden receives from +showers and hose, this handsomest of our wild flowers soon makes +itself delightfully at home under cultivation. Such good, deep +earth, well enriched and moistened, as the hollyhock thrives in, +suits it perfectly. Now we have a better opportunity to note how +the bees suck the five nectaries at the base of the petals and +collect the abundant pollen of the newly opened flowers, which +they perforce transfer to the five button-shaped stigmas +intentionally impeding the entrance to older blossoms. Only its +cousin the hollyhock, a native of China, can vie with the +rose-mallow's decorative splendor among the shrubbery; and the +ROSE OF CHINA (Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis), cultivated in greenhouses +here, eclipse it in the beauty of the individual blossom. This +latter flower, whose superb scarlet corolla stains black, is +employed by the Chinese married women, it is said, to discolor +their teeth; but in the West Indies it sinks to even greater +ignominy as a dauber for blacking shoes! + +MARSH MALLOW (Althaea officinalis), a name frequently misapplied +to the swamp rose-mallow, is properly given to a much smaller +pink flower, measuring only an inch and a half across at the +most, and a far rarer one, being a naturalized immigrant from +Europe found only in the salt marshes from the Massachusetts +coast to New York. It is also known as WYMOTE. This is a bushy, +leafy plant, two to four feet high, and covered with velvety down +as a protection against the clogging of its pores by the moisture +arising from its wet retreats. Plants that live in swamps must +"perspire" freely and keep their pores open. From the marsh +mallow's thick roots the mucilage used in confectionery is +obtained, a soothing demulcent long esteemed in medicine. Another +relative, the OKRA or GUMBO PLANT of vegetable gardens (Hibiscus +esculentus), has mucilage enough in its narrow pods to thicken a +potful of soup. Its pale yellow, crimson-centered flowers are +quite as beautiful as any hollyhock, but not nearly so +conspicuous, because of the plant's bushy habit of growth. In +spite of its name, the ALTHAEA of our gardens, or ROSE OF SHARON +(Hibiscus Syriacus), is not so closely allied to Althaea +officinalis as to the swamp rose-mallow. + +Another immigrant from Europe and Asia sparingly naturalized in +waste places and roadsides in Canada, the United States, and +Mexico is the COMMON HIGH MALLOW, CHEESEFLOWER, or ROUND DOCK +(Malva sylvestris). Its purplish-rose flowers, from which the +French have derived their word mauve, first applied to this +plant, appear in small clusters on slender pedicels from the leaf +axils along a leafy, rather weak, but ascending stem, maybe only +a foot high, or perhaps a yard, throughout the summer months. The +leaf, borne on a petiole two to six inches long, is divided into +from five to nine shallow, angular, or rounded saw-edged lobes. +Country children eat unlimited quantities of the harmless little +circular, flattened "cheeses" or seed vessels, a characteristic +of the genus Malva. Since the flower invites a great number of +insects to feast on its nectar, secreted in five little pits +(protected for them from the rain by hairs at the base of the +petals), and compels its visitors to wipe off pollen brought from +the pyramidal group of anthers in a newly opened blossom to the +exserted, radiating stigmas of older ones, the mallow produces +more cheeses than all the dairies of the world. So rich is its +store of nectar that the hive-bee, shut out from a legitimate +entrance to the flower when it closes in the late afternoon, +climbs up the outside of the calyx, and inserting his tongue +between the five petals, empties the nectaries one after another +- intelligent rogue that he is! + +The LOW, DWARF, or RUNNING MALLOW (M. rotundifolia), a very +common little weed throughout our territory, Europe, and Asia, +depends scarcely at all upon insects to transfer its pollen, as +might be inferred from its unattractive pale blue to white +flowers, that measure only about half an inch across. In default +of visitors, its pollen-laden anthers, instead of drooping to get +out of the way of the stigmas, as in the showy high mallow, +remain extended so as to come in contact with the rough, sticky +sides of the long curling stigmas. The leaves of this spreading +plant, which are nearly round, with five to nine shallow, +saw-edged lobes, are thin, and furnished with long petioles; +whereas the flowers which spring from their axils keep close to +the main stem. Usually there are about fifteen rounded carpels +that go to make up the Dutch, doll, or fairy cheeses, as the seed +vessels are called by children. Only once is the mallow mentioned +in the Bible, and then as food for the most abject and despised +poor (Job 30: 4); but as eighteen species of mallow grow in +Palestine, who is the higher critic to name the species eaten? + +Occasionally we meet by the roadside in Canada, the Eastern, +Middle, and Southern States pink, sometimes white, flowers, about +two inches across, growing in small clusters at the top of a stem +a foot or two high, the whole plant emitting a faint odor of +musk. If the stem leaves are deeply divided into several narrow, +much-cleft segments, and the little cheeses are densely hairy, we +may safely call the plant MUSK MALLOW (M. moschata), and expect +to find it blooming throughout the summer. + + +MARSH ST.-JOHN'S-WORT + (Triadenum Virginicum; Elodea Virginica of Gray) +St.-John's-wort family + +Flowers - Pale magenta, pink, or flesh color, about 1/2 in. +across, in terminal clusters, or from leaf axils. Calyx of 5 +equal sepals, persistent on fruit; 5 petals; 9 or more stamens +united in 3 sets; pistil of 3 distinct styles. Stem: to 1 1/2 ft. +high, simple, leafy. Leaves: Opposite, pale, with black, +glandular dots, broadly oblong, entire edged, seated on stem or +clasping by heart-shaped base. Fruit: An oblong, acute, deep red +capsule. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps and cranberry bogs. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Labrador to the Gulf, and westward to Nebraska. + +Late in the summer, after the rather insignificant pink flowers +have withered, this low plant, which almost never lacks some +color in its green parts, greatly increases its beauty by tinting +stems, leaves, and seed vessels with red. Like other members of +the family, the flower arranges its stamens in little bundles of +three, and when an insect comes to feast on the abundant pollen - +no nectar being secreted - he cannot avoid rubbing some off on +the stigmas that are on a level with the anthers. He may +sometimes carry pollen from blossom to blossom, it is true, but +certainly the St.-John's-wort takes no adequate precautions +against self-fertilization at any time. Toward the close of its +existence the flower draws its petals together toward the axils, +thus bringing anthers and stigmas in contact. + + +SPIKED WILLOW-HERB; LONG PURPLES; SPIKED or PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE + (Lythrum Salicaria) Loosestrife family + +Flowers - Bright magenta (royal purple) or pinkish purple, about +1/2 in. broad, crowded in whorls around long bracted spikes. +Calyx tubular, ribbed, 5 to 7 toothed, with small projections +between. Corolla of 5 or 6 slightly wrinkled or twisted petals. +Stamens, in 2 whorls of 5 or 6 each, and 1 pistil, occurring in +three different lengths. Stem: 2 to 3 ft. high, leafy, branched. +Leaves: Opposite, or sometimes in whorls of 3; lance-shaped, with +heart-shaped base clasping stem. +Preferred Habitat - Wet meadows, watery places, ditches, and +banks of streams. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Eastern Canada to Delaware, and westward through +Middle States; also in Europe. + +Through Darwin's patient study of this trimorphic flower, it has +assumed so important a place in his theory of the origin of +species that its fertilization by insects deserves special +attention. On page 5, the method by which the pickerel weed, +another flower whose stamens and pistil occur in three different +lengths, should be read to avoid much repetition. Now the +loosestrife produces six different kinds of yellow and green +pollen on its two sets of three stamens; and when this pollen is +applied by insects to the stigmatic surface of three different +lengths of pistil, it follows that there are eighteen ways in +which it may be transferred. But Darwin proved that only pollen +brought from the shortest stamens to the shortest pistil, from +the middle-length stamens to the middle-length pistil, and from +the long stamens to the long pistil effectually fertilizes the +flower. And as all the flowers on any one plant are of the same +kind, we have here a marvelous mechanism to secure +cross-fertilization. His experiments with this loosestrife also +demonstrated that "reproductive organs, when of different length, +behave to one another like different species of the same genus in +regard both to direct productiveness and the character of the +offspring; and that consequently mutual barrenness, which was +once thought conclusive proof of difference of species, is +worthless as such, and the last barrier that was raised between +species and varieties is broken down." (Muller.) + +Naturally the bright-hued, hospitable flower, which secretes +abundant nectar at the base of its tube, attracts many insects, +among others, bees of larger and middle size, and the butterflies +for which it is especially adapted. They alight on the stamens +and pistil on the upper side of the flower. Those with the +longest tongues stand on one blossom to sip from the next one: +this is the butterfly's customary attitude. But nearly every +visitor comes in contact with at least one set of organs. When +Darwin first interpreted the trimorphism of the loosestrife, we +can realize something of the enthusiasm such a man must have felt +in writing to Gray: "I am almost stark, staring mad over +lythrum.... For the love of Heaven have a look at some of your +species, and if you can get me some seed, do!" + +Long ago this beautiful plant reached our shores from Europe, and +year by year is extending its triumphal march westward, +brightening its course of empire through low meadows and marshes +with torches that lengthen even as they glow. It is not a spring +flower, even in England; and so when Shakespeare, whose knowledge +of floral nature was second only to that of human nature, wrote +of Ophelia, + + "With fantastic garlands did she come, + Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples," + +is it probable he so combined flowers having different seasons of +bloom? Dr. Prior suggests that the purple orchis (0. mascula) +might have been the flower Ophelia wore; but, as long purples has +been the folk name of this loosestrife from time immemorial in +England, it seems likely that Shakespeare for once may have made +a mistake. + + +BLUE WAX-WEED; CLAMMY CUPHEA; TAR-WEED + (Parsonia petiolata; Cuphea viscosissima of Gray) Loosestrife +family + +Flowers - Purplish pink, about 1/4 in. across, on short peduncles +from leaf axils, solitary or clustered. Calyx sticky, tubular, +12-ribbed, with 6 primary teeth, oblique at mouth, extending into +a rounded swelling on upper side at base; 6 unequal, wrinkled +petals, on short claws; 11 or 12 stamens inserted on calyx +throat; pistil with 2-lobed stigma. Stem: 6 to 20 in. high, +branched, very sticky-hairy. Leaves: Opposite, on slender +petioles, lance-shaped, rounded at base, harsh to the touch. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, waste places, fields, roadsides. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Rhode Island to Georgia, westward to Louisiana, +Kansas, and Illinois. + +A first cousin of the familiar Mexican cigar plant, or +fire-cracker plant (Cuphea platycentra), whose abundant little +vermilion tubes, with black-edged lower lip tipped with white, +brighten the borders of so many Northern flower-beds. Kyphos, the +Greek for curved, from which cuphea was derived, has reference to +the peculiar, swollen little seedpod. From a slit on one side of +the clammy cuphea's capsule the placenta, set with tiny flattened +seeds, sticks out like a handle. Probably the flower has already +fertilized itself in the bud, although, from the fact that the +plant has taken such pains to punish crawling insect foes by +coating itself with sticky hairs, one might imagine it was wholly +dependent upon winged insects to transfer its pollen. What an +unworthy relative of the purple loosestrife, whose elaborate +scheme to insure cross-fertilization is one of the botanical +wonders! + + +MEADOW-BEAUTY; DEER GRASS + (Rhexia Virginica) Meadow-beauty family + +Flowers - Purplish pink, 1 to 1 1/2 in. across, pedicelled, +clustered at top of stem. Calyx 4-lobed, tubular or urn-shaped, +narrowest at neck; 4 rounded, spreading petals, joined for half +their length; 8 equal, prominent stamens in 2 rows; pistil. Stem: +1 to 1 1/2 ft. high, square, more or less hairy, erect, sometimes +branching at top. Leaves: Opposite, ascending, seated on stem, +oval, acute at tip, mostly 5-nerved, the margins saw-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Sandy swamps or near water. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - United States, chiefly east of Mississippi. + +Suggesting a brilliant magenta evening primrose in form, the +meadow-beauty is likewise a rather niggardly bloomer, only a few +flowers in each cluster opening at once; but where masses adorn +our marshes, we cannot wonder so effective a plant is exported to +European peat gardens. Its lovely sister, the MARYLAND +MEADOW-BEAUTY (R. Mariana), a smaller, less brilliant flower, +found no farther north than the swamps and pine barrens of New +Jersey, also goes abroad to be admired; yet neither is of any +value for cutting, for the delicate petals quickly discolor and +drop off when handled. Blossoms so attractively colored naturally +have many winged visitors to transfer their pollen. All too soon +after fertilization the now useless petals fall, leaving the +pretty urn-shaped calyx, with the large yellow protruding +stamens, far more conspicuous than some flowers. "Its +seed-vessels are perfect little cream pitchers of graceful form," +said Thoreau. Within the smooth capsule the minute seeds are +coiled like snail-shells. + + +GREAT OR SPIKED WILLOW-HERB; FIRE-WEED + (Chamaenerion angustifolium; Epilobium angustifolium of Gray) +Evening Primrose family + +Flowers - Magenta or pink, sometimes pale, or rarely white, more +or less than 1 in. across, in an elongated, terminal, spike-like +raceme. Calyx tubular, narrow, in 4 segments; 4 rounded, +spreading petals; 8 stamens; 1 pistil, hairy at base; the stigma +4-lobed. Stem: 2 to 8 ft. high, simple, smooth, leafy. Leaves: +Narrow, tapering, willow-like, 2 to 6 in. long. Fruit: A slender, +curved, violet-tinted capsule, from 2 to 3 in. long, containing +numerous seeds attached to tufts of fluffy, white, silky threads. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, fields, roadsides, especially in +burnt-over districts. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - From Atlantic to Pacific, with few interruptions; +British Possessions and United States southward to the Carolinas +and Arizona. Also Europe and Asia. + +Spikes of these beautiful brilliant flowers towering upward above +dry soil, particularly where the woodsman's axe and forest fires +have devastated the landscape, illustrate Nature's abhorrence of +ugliness. Other kindly plants have earned the name of fire-weed, +but none so quickly beautifies the blackened clearings of the +pioneer, nor blossoms over the charred trail in the wake of the +locomotive. Beginning at the bottom of the long spike, the +flowers open in slow succession upward throughout the summer, +leaving behind the attractive seed-vessels, which, splitting +lengthwise in September, send adrift white silky tufts attached +to seeds that will one day cover far distant wastes with beauty. +Almost perfect rosettes, made by the young plants, are met with +on one's winter walks. + +Epi, upon, and lobos, a pod, combine to make a name applicable to +many flowers of this family. In general structure the fire-weed +closely resembles its relative the evening primrose. Bees, not +moths, however, are its benefactors. Coming to a newly opened +flower, the bee finds abundant pollen on the anthers and a sip of +nectar in the cup below. At this stage the flower keeps its still +immature style curved downward and backward lest it should become +self-fertilized - an evil ever to be guarded against by ambitious +plants. In a few days, or after the pollen has been removed, up +stretches the style, spreading its four receptive stigmas just +where an incoming bee, well dusted from a younger flower, must +certainly leave some pollen on their sticky surfaces. + +The GREAT HAIRY WILLOW-HERB (Epilobium hirsutum), whose white +tufted seeds came over from Europe in the ballast to be blown +over Ontario and the Eastern States, spreads also by underground +shoots, until it seems destined to occupy wide areas. In these +showy magenta flowers, about one inch across, the stigmas and +anthers mature simultaneously but cross-fertilization is usually +insured because the former surpass the latter, and naturally are +first touched by the insect visitor. In default of visits, +however, the stigmas, at length curling backward, come in contact +with the pollen-laden anthers. The fire-weed, on the contrary, is +unable to fertilize itself. + +A pale magenta-pink or whitish, very small-flowered, branching +species, one to two feet high, found in swamps from New Brunswick +to the Pacific, and southward to Delaware, is the LINEAR-LEAVED +WILLOW-HERB (F. lineare), whose distinguishing features are its +very narrow, acute leaves, its hoariness throughout, the dingy +threads on its tiny seeds, and the occasional bulblets it bears +near the base of the stem. It is scarcely to be distinguished by +one not well up in field practice from another bog lover, the +DOWNY or SOFT WILLOW-HERB (F. strictum), which, however, is a +trifle taller, glandular throughout, and with sessile, not +petioled, leaves. The PURPLE-LEAVED WILLOW-HERB (E. coloratum), +common in low grounds, may best be named by the reddish-brown +coma to which its seeds are attached. Both leaves and stem are +often highly colored. + + +BOG WINTERGREEN + (Pyrola uliginosa; P. rotundifolia, var. uliginosa of Gray) +Wintergreen family + +Flowers - Magenta pink, fragrant, about 1/2 in. across, 7 to 15 +on a leafless scape 6 to 15 in. high. Calyx 5-parted; 5 concave +petals; 10 stamens; style curved upward, exserted. Leaves: From +the root, broadly oval or round, rather thick and dull, on +petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps and bogs. +Flowering Season - June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to British Columbia, southward to New +York and Colorado. + +Fragrant colonies of this little plant cuddled close to the moss +of cool, northern peat bogs draw forth our admiration when we go +orchid hunting in early summer. A similar species, the LIVER-LEAF +WINTERGREEN (P. asarifolia), with shining, not dull, leaves and +rose-colored flowers, not to mention minor differences, is +likewise found in swamps and wet woods. These two wintergreens, +formerly counted mere varieties of the white-flowered +rotundifolia, a lover of dry woods, have now been given specific +individuality by later-day systematists. Short-lipped bees and +flies may be detected in the act of applying their mouths to the +orifices of the anthers through which pollen is shed, and some +must be carried to the stigma of another flower. + + +PIPSISSEWA; PRINCE'S PINE + (Chimaphila umbellata) Wintergreen family + +Flowers - Flesh-colored, or pinkish, fragrant, waxy, usually with +deep pink ring around center, and the anthers colored; about 1/2 +in. across; several flowers in loose, terminal cluster. Calyx +5-cleft; corolla of 5 concave, rounded, spreading petals; 10 +stamens, the filaments hairy style short, conical, with a round +stigma. Stem: Trailing far along ground, creeping, or partly +subterranean, sending up sterile and flowering branches 3 to 10 +in. high. Leaves: Opposite or in whorls, evergreen, bright, +shining, spatulate to lance-shaped, sharply saw-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Dry woods, sandy leaf-mould. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - British Possessions and the United States north of +Georgia from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Also Mexico, Europe, +and Asia. + +A lover of winter indeed (cheima = winter and phileo = to love) +is the prince's pine, whose beautiful dark leaves keep their +color and gloss in spite of snow and intense cold. A few yards of +the trailing stem, easily ripped from the light soil of its +woodland home, make a charming indoor decoration, especially when +the little brown seed-cases remain. Few flowers are more +suggestive of the woods than these shy, dainty, deliciously +fragrant little blossoms. + +The SPOTTED WINTERGREEN, or PIPSISSEWA (C. maculata), closely +resembles the prince's pine, except that its slightly larger +white or pinkish flowers lack the deep pink ring; and the +lance-shaped leaves, with rather distant saw-teeth, are +beautifully mottled with white along the veins. When we see +short-lipped bees and flies about these flowers, we may be sure +their pollen-covered mouths come in contact with the moist stigma +on the summit of the little top-shaped style, and so effect +cross-fertilization. + + +WILD HONEYSUCKLE; PINK, PURPLE, or WILD AZALEA; PINXTER-FLOWER + (Azalea nudiflora) Heath family + +Flowers - Crimson pink, purplish or rose pink, to nearly white, 1 +1/2 to 2 in. across, faintly fragrant, clustered, opening before +or with the leaves, and developed from cone-like, scaly brown +buds. Calyx minute, 5-parted; corolla funnel-shaped, the tube +narrow, hairy, with 5 regular, spreading lobes; 5 long red +stamens; 1 pistil, declined, protruding. Stem: Shrubby, usually +simple below, but branching above, 2 to 6 ft. high. Leaves: +Usually clustered, deciduous, oblong, acute at both ends, hairy +on midrib. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, rocky woods, or dry woods and +thickets. +Flowering Season - April-May. +Distribution - Maine to Illinois, and southward to the Gulf. + +Woods and hillsides are glowing with fragrant, rosy masses of +this lovely azalea, the Pinxter-bloem or Whitsunday flower of the +Dutch colonists, long before the seventh Sunday after Easter. +Among our earliest exports, this hardy shrub, the swamp azalea, +and the superb flame-colored species of the Alleghanies, were +sent early in the eighteenth century to the old country, and +there crossed with A. Pontica of southern Europe by the Belgian +horticulturalists, to whom we owe the Ghent azaleas, the final +triumphs of the hybridizer, that glorify the shrubberies on our +own lawns to-day. The azalea became the national flower of +Flanders. These hardy species lose their leaves in winter, +whereas the hothouse varieties of A. Indica, a native of China +and Japan, have thickish leaves, almost if not quite evergreen. A +few of the latter stand our northern winters, especially the pure +white variety now quite commonly planted in cemetery lots. In +that delightfully enthusiastic little book, "The Garden's Story," +Mr. Ellwanger says of the Ghent azalea "In it I find a charm +presented by no other flower. Its soft tints of buff, sulphur, +and primrose; its dazzling shades of apricot, salmon, orange, and +vermilion are always a fresh revelation of color. They have no +parallel among flowers, and exist only in opals, sunset skies, +and the flush of autumn woods." Certainly American +horticulturists were not clever in allowing the industry of +raising these plants from our native stock to thrive on foreign +soil. + +Naturally the azalea's protruding style forms the most convenient +alighting place for the female bee, its chief friend; and there +she leaves a few grains of pollen, brought on her hairy underside +from another flower, before again dusting herself there as she +crawls over the pretty colored anthers on her way to the nectary. +Honey produced from azaleas by the hive bee is in bad repute. All +too soon after fertilization the now useless corolla slides along +to the tip of the pistil, where it swings a while before dropping +to earth. + +Our beautiful wild honeysuckle, called naked (nudiflora), because +very often the flowers appear before the leaves, has a peculiar +Japanese grace on that account. Every farmer's boy's mouth waters +at sight of the cool, juicy May-apple, the extraordinary pulpy +growth on this plant and the swamp pink. This excrescence seems +to have no other use than that of a gratuitous, harmless gift to +the thirsty child, from whom it exacts no reward of carrying +seeds to plant distant colonies, as the mandrake's yellow, +tomato-like May-apple does. But let him beware, as he is likely +to, of the similar looking, but hollow, stringy apples growing on +the bushy Andromeda, which turn black with age. + +>From Maine to Florida and westward to Texas, chiefly near the +coast, in low, wet places only need we look for the SWAMP PINK or +HONEYSUCKLE, WHITE or CLAMMY AZALEA (A. viscosa), a more hairy +species than the Pinxter-flower, with a very sticky, glandular +corolla tube, and deliciously fragrant blossoms, by no means +invariably white. John Burroughs is not the only one who has +passed "several patches of swamp honeysuckles, red with blossoms" +("Wake-Robin"). But as this species does not bloom until June and +July, when the sun quickly bleaches the delicate flowers, it is +true we most frequently find them white, merely tinged with pink. +The leaves are well developed before the blossoms appear. +Concerning azaleas' poisonous property, see the discussion under +mountain laurel that follows. + +RHODORA + (Rhodora Canadensis; Rhododendron Rhodora of Gray) Heath +family + +Flowers - Purplish pink, rose, or nearly white, 1 1/2 in. broad +or less, in clusters on short, stiff, hairy pedicels, and usually +appearing before the leaves, from scaly, terminal buds. Calyx +minute; corolla 2-lipped, upper lip unequally 2-3 lobed; lower +lip 2-cleft; 10 stamens; pistil, the style slightly protruding. +Stem: 1 to 3 ft. high, shrubby, branching. Leaves: Deciduous, +oval to oblong, dark green above, pale and hairy beneath. +Preferred Habitat - Wet hillsides, damp woods, beside sluggish +streams, cool bogs. +Flowering Season - May. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Pennsylvania mountains. + +A superficial glance at this low, little, thin shrub might +mistake it for a magenta variety of the leafless Pinxter-flower. +It does its best to console the New Englanders for the scarcity +of the magnificent rhododendron, with which it was formerly +classed. The Sage of Concord, who became so enamored of it that +Massachusetts people often speak of it as "Emerson's flower," +extols its loveliness in a sonnet: + + "Rhodora! If the sages ask thee why + This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, + Tell them, dear, if eyes were made for seeing, + Then Beauty is its own excuse for being." + + +AMERICAN or GREAT RHODODENDRON; GREAT LAUREL; ROSE TREE, or BAY + (Rhododendron maximum) Heath family + +Flowers - Rose pink, varying to white, greenish in the throat, +spotted with yellow or orange, in broad clusters set like a +bouquet among leaves, and developed from scaly, cone-like buds; +pedicels sticky-hairy. Calyx 5-parted, minute; corolla 5-lobed, +broadly bell-shaped, 2 in. broad or less usually 10 stamens, +equally spreading; pistil. Stem: Sometimes a tree attaining a +height of 40 ft., usually 6 to 20 ft., shrubby, woody. Leaves: +Evergreen, drooping in winter, leathery, dark green on both +sides, lance-oblong, 4 to 10 in. long, entire edged, narrowing +into stout petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Mountainous woodland, hillsides near streams. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Uncommon from Ohio and New England to Nova Scotia; +abundant through the Alleghanies to Georgia. + +When this most magnificent of our native shrubs covers whole +mountain sides throughout the Alleghany region with bloom, one +stands awed in the presence of such overwhelming beauty. Nowhere +else does the rhododendron attain such size or luxuriance. There +it produces a tall trunk, and towers among the trees; it spreads +its branches far and wide until they interlock and form almost +impenetrable thickets locally called "hells;" it glorifies the +loneliest mountain road with superb bouquets of its delicate +flowers set among dark, glossy foliage scarcely less attractive. +The mountain in bloom is worth travelling a thousand miles to +see. + +Farther south the more purplish-pink or lilac-flowered CAROLINA +RHODODENDRON (R. Catawbiense) flourishes. This southern shrub, +which is perfectly hardy, unlike its northern sister, has been +used by cultivators as a basis for producing the fine hybrids now +so extensively grown on lawns in this country and Europe. Crossed +with the Nepal species (R. arboreum) the best results follow. +Americans, ever too prone to make the eagle scream on their trips +abroad, need not monopolize all the glory for the cultivated +rhododendron, as they are apt to do when they see it on fine +estates in England. The Himalayas, which are covered with +rhododendrons of brighter hue than ours, furnish many of the +shrubs of commerce. Our rhododendron produces one of the hardest +and strongest of woods, weighing thirty-nine pounds per cubic +foot. + +Rhododendrons, azaleas, and laurels fall under a common ban +pronounced by bee-keepers. The bees which transfer pollen from +blossom to blossom while gathering nectar, manufacture honey said +to be poisonous. Cattle know enough to let all this foliage +alone. Apparently the ants fear no more evil results from the +nectar than the bees themselves; and were it not for the sticky +parts nearest the flowers, on which they crawl to meet their +death, the blossom's true benefactors would find little +refreshment left. + + +MOUNTAIN or AMERICAN LAUREL; CALICO BUSH; SPOONWOOD; CALMOUN; +BROAD-LEAVED KALMIA + (Kalmia latifolia) Heath family + +Flowers - Buds and new flowers bright rose pink, afterward fading +white, and only lined with pink, 1 in. across, or less, numerous, +in terminal clusters. Calyx small, 5-parted, sticky corolla like +a 5-pointed saucer, with 10 projections on outside; 10 arching +stamens, an anther lodged in each projection; 1 pistil. Stem: +Shrubby, woody, stiffly branched, 2 to 20 ft. high. Leaves: +Evergreen, entire, oval to elliptic, pointed at both ends, +tapering into petioles. Fruit: A round, brown capsule, with the +style long remaining on it. +Preferred Habitat - Sandy or rocky woods, especially in hilly or +mountainous country. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - New Brunswick and Ontario, southward to the Gulf +of Mexico, and westward to Ohio. + +It would be well if Americans, imitating the Japanese in making +pilgrimages to scenes of supreme natural beauty, visited the +mountains, rocky, woody hillsides, ravines, and tree-girt uplands +when the laurel is in its glory; when masses of its pink and +white blossoms, set among the dark evergreen leaves, flush the +landscape like Aurora, and are reflected from the pools of +streams and the serene depths of mountain lakes. Peter Kalm, a +Swedish pupil of Linnaeus, who traveled here early in the +eighteenth century, was more impressed by its beauty than that of +any other flower. He introduced the plant to Europe, where it is +known as kalmia, and extensively cultivated on fine estates that +are thrown open to the public during the flowering season. Even a +flower is not without honor, save in its own country. We have +only to prepare a border of leaf-mould, take up the young plant +without injuring the roots or allowing them to dry, hurry them +into the ground, and prune back the bush a little, to establish +it in our gardens, where it will bloom freely after the second +year. + +All the kalmias resort to a most ingenious device for compelling +insect visitors to carry their pollen from blossom to blossom. A +newly opened flower has its stigma erected where the incoming bee +must leave on its sticky surface the four minute orange-like +grains carried from the anther of another flower on the hairy +underside of her body. Now, each anther is tucked away in one of +the ten little pockets of the saucer-shaped blossom, and the +elastic filaments are strained upward like a bow. After hovering +above the nectary, the bee has only to descend toward it, when +her leg, touching against one of the hair-triggers of the spring +trap, pop goes the little anther-gun, discharging pollen from its +bores as it flies upward. So delicately is the mechanism +adjusted, the slightest jar or rough handling releases the +anthers; but, on the other hand, should insects be excluded by a +net stretched over the plant, the flowers will fall off and +wither without firing off their pollen-charged guns. At least, +this is true in the great majority of tests. As in the case of +hothouse flowers no fertile seed is set when nets keep away the +laurel's benefactors. One has only to touch the hair-trigger with +the end of a pin to see how exquisitely delicate is this +provision for cross-fertilization. + +However much we may be cautioned by the apiculturalists against +honey made from laurel nectar, the bees themselves ignore all +warnings and apparently without evil results - happily for +flowers dependent upon them and their kin. Mr. Frank R. Cheshire, +in "Bees and Bee-keeping," the standard English work on the +subject, writes: "During the celebrated Retreat of the Ten +Thousand, as recorded by Xenophon in his 'Anabasis,' the soldiers +regaled themselves upon some honey found near Trebizonde where +were many beehives. Intoxication with vomiting was the result. +Some were so overcome, he states, as to be incapable of standing. +Not a soldier died, but very many were greatly weakened for +several days. Tournefort endeavored to ascertain whether this +account was corroborated by anything ascertainable in the +locality, and had good reason to be satisfied respecting it. He +concluded that the honey had been gathered from a shrub growing +in the neighborhood of Trebizonde, which is well known there as +producing the before-mentioned effects. It is now agreed that the +plants were species of rhododendron and azaleas. Lamberti +confirms Xenophon's account by stating that similar effects are +produced by honey of Colchis, where the same shrubs are common. +In 1790, even, fatal cases occurred in America in consequence of +eating wild honey, which was traced to Kahmia latifolia by an +inquiry instituted under direction of the American government. +Happily, our American cousins are now never likely to thus +suffer, thanks to drainage, the plow, and the bee-farm." + +One of the beautiful swallow-tail butterflies lays its eggs on +laurel leaves, that the larvae may feed on them later; yet the +foliage often proves deadly to more highly organized creatures. +Most cattle know enough to let it alone; nevertheless some fall +victims to it every year. Even the intelligent grouse, hard +pressed with hunger when deep snow covers much of their chosen +food are sometimes found dead and their crops distended by these +leaves. How far more unkind than the bristly armored thistle's is +the laurel's method of protecting itself against destruction! +Even the ant, intent on pilfering sweets secreted for bees, it +ruthlessly glues to death against its sticky stems and calices. +According to Dr. Barton the Indians drink a decoction of kalmia +leaves when they wish to commit suicide. + +As laurel wood is very hard and solid, weighing forty-four pounds +to the cubic foot, it is in great demand for various purposes, +one of them indicated in the plant's popular name of Spoon-wood. + +SHEEP-LAUREL, LAMB-KILL, WICKY, CALF-KILL, SHEEP-POISON +NARROW-LEAVED LAUREL (K. angustifolia), and so on through a list +of folk names testifying chiefly to the plant's wickedness in the +pasture, may be especially deadly food for cattle, but it +certainly is a feast to the eyes. However much we may admire the +small, deep crimson-pink flowers that we find in June and July in +moist fields or swampy ground or on the hillsides, few of us will +agree with Thoreau, who claimed that it is "handsomer than the +mountain laurel." The low shrub may be only six inches high, or +it may attain three feet. The narrow evergreen leaves, pale on +the underside, have a tendency to form groups of threes, standing +upright when newly put forth, but bent downward with the weight +of age. A peculiarity of the plant is that clusters of leaves +usually terminate the woody stem, for the flowers grow in whorls +or in clusters at the side of it below. + +The PALE or SWAMP LAUREL (K. glauca), found in cool bogs from +Newfoundland to New Jersey and Michigan, and westward to the +Pacific Coast, coats the under side of its mostly upright leaves +with a smooth whitish bloom like the cabbage's. It is a +straggling little bush, even lower than the lamb-kill, and an +earlier bloomer, putting forth its loose, niggardly clusters of +deep rose or lilac-colored flowers in June. + + +TRAILING ARBUTUS; MAYFLOWER; GROUND LAUREL + (Epigaea repens) Heath family + +Flowers - Pink, fading to nearly white, very fragrant about 1/2 +in. across when expanded, few or many in clusters at ends of +branches. Calyx of 5 dry overlapping sepals; corolla +salver-shaped, the slender, hairy tube spreading into 5 equal +lobes; 10 stamens; 1 pistil with a column-like style and a +5-lobed stigma. Stem: Spreading over the ground (Epigaea = on the +earth); woody, the leafy twigs covered with rusty hairs. Leaves: +Alternate, oval, rounded at the base, smooth above, more or less +hairy below, evergreen, weather-worn, on short, rusty, hairy +petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Light sandy loam in woods, especially under +evergreen trees, or in mossy, rocky places. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Florida, west to Kentucky, and the +Northwest Territory. + +Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring - +that delicious commingling of the perfume of arbutus, the odor of +pines, and the snow-soaked soil just warming into life? Those who +know the flower only as it is sold in the city streets, tied with +wet, dirty string into tight bunches, withered and forlorn, can +have little idea of the joy of finding the pink, pearly blossoms +freshly opened among the withered leaves of oak and chestnut, +moss, and pine needles in which they nestle close to the cold +earth in the leafless, windy northern forest. Even in Florida, +where broad patches carpet the woods in February, one misses +something of the arbutus's accustomed charm simply because there +are no slushy remnants of snow drifts, no reminders of winter +hardships in the vicinity. There can be no glad surprise at +finding dainty spring flowers in a land of perpetual summer. +Little wonder that the Pilgrim Fathers, after the first awful +winter on the "stern New England coast," loved this early +messenger of hope and gladness above the frozen ground at +Plymouth. In an introductory note to his poem "The Mayflowers," +Whittier states that the name was familiar in England, as the +application of it to the historic vessel shows; but it was +applied by the English, and still is, to the hawthorn. Its use in +New England in connection with the trailing arbutus dates from a +very early day, some claiming that the first Pilgrims so used it +in affectionate memory of the vessel and its English flower +association. + + "Sad Mayflower I watched by winter stars, + And nursed by winter gales, + With petals of the sleeted spars, + And leaves of frozen sails! + + "But warmer suns ere long shall bring + To life the frozen sod, + And through dead leaves of hope shall spring + Afresh the flowers of God!" + +Some have attempted to show that the Pilgrims did not find the +flowers until the last month of spring, and that, therefore, they +were named Mayflowers. Certainly the arbutus is not a typical May +blossom even in New England. Bryant associates it with the +hepatica, our earliest spring flower, in his poem, "The, +Twenty-seventh of March": + + "Within the woods + Tufts of ground laurel, creeping underneath + The leaves of the last summer, send their sweets + Upon the chilly air, and by the oak, + The squirrel cups, a graceful company + Hide in their bells a soft aerial blue." + +There is little use trying to coax this shyest of sylvan flowers +into our gardens where other members of its family, +rhododendrons, laurels, and azaleas make themselves delightfully +at home. It is wild as a hawk, an untamable creature that slowly +pines to death when brought into contact with civilization. +Greedy street venders, who ruthlessly tear up the plant by the +yard, and others without even the excuse of eking out a paltry +income by its sale, have already exterminated it within a wide +radius of our Eastern cities. How curious that the majority of +people show their appreciation of a flower's beauty only by +selfishly, ignorantly picking every specimen they can find! + +In many localities the arbutus sets no fruit, for it is still +undergoing evolutionary changes looking toward the perfecting of +an elaborate system to insure cross-fertilization. Already it has +attained to perfume, nectar, and color to attract quantities of +insects, chiefly flies and small female bees but in some flowers +the anthers produce no pollen for them to carry, while others are +filled with grains, yet all the stigmas in the neighboring +clusters may be defective. The styles and the filaments are of +several different lengths, showing a tendency toward trimorphism, +perhaps, like the wonderful purple loosestrife; but at present +the flower pursues a most wasteful method of distributing pollen, +and in different sections of the country acts so differently that +its phases are impossible to describe except to the advanced +student. They may, however, be best summarized in the words of +Professor Asa Gray: "The flowers are of two kinds, each with two +modifications; the two main kinds characterized by the nature and +perfection of the stigma, along with more or less abortion of the +stamens; their modifications by the length of the style." + +When our English cousins speak of the arbutus, they have in mind +a very different species from ours. Theirs is the late flowering +strawberry-tree, an evergreen shrub with clustering white +blossoms and beautiful rough, red berries. Indeed, the name +arbutus is derived from the Celtic word Arboise, meaning rough +fruit. + + +LARGE or AMERICAN CRANBERRY + (Oxycoccus macrocarpus; Vaccinium macrocarpon of Gray) +Huckleberry family + +Flowers - Light pink, about 1/2 in. across, nodding on slender +pedicels from sides and tips of erect branches. Calyx round, 4-or +5-parted; corolla a long cone in bud, its four or five nearly +separate, narrow petals turned far backward later; 8 or 10 +stamens, the anthers united into a protruding cone, its hollow +tubes shedding pollen by a pore at tip. Stem: Creeping or +trailing, slender, woody, 1 to 3 ft. long, its leafy branches 8 +in. high or less. Leaves: Small, alternate, oblong, evergreen, +pale beneath, the edges rolled backward. Fruit: An oblong or +ovoid, many seeded, juicy red berry (Oxycoccus = sour berry). +Preferred Habitat - Bogs; sandy, swampy meadows. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - North Carolina, Michigan, and Minnesota northward +and westward. + +A hundred thousand people are interested in the berry of this +pretty vine to one who has ever seen its flowers. Yet if the +blossom were less attractive, to insects at least, and took less +pains to shake out its pollen upon them as they cling to the cone +to sip its nectar, few berries would accompany the festive +Thanksgiving turkey. Cultivators of the cranberry know how +important it is to have the flooded bogs well drained before the +flowering season. Water (or ice) may cover the plants to the +depth of a foot or more all winter and until the 10th of May; and +during the late summer it is often advisable to overflow the bogs +to prevent injury of the fine, delicate roots from drought, and +to destroy the worm that is the plant's worst enemy; but until +the flowers have wooed the bees, flies, and other winged +benefactors, and fruit is well formed, every cultivator knows +enough not to submerge his bog. With flowers under water there +are no insect visitors, consequently no berries. Dense mats of +the wiry vines should yield about one hundred and fifty bushels +of berries to the acre, under skilful cultivation - a most +profitable industry, since the cranberry costs less to cultivate, +gather, and market than the strawberry or any of the small +perishable fruits. Planted in muck and sand in the garden, the +vines yield surprisingly good results. The Cape Cod Bell is the +best known market berry. One of the interesting sights to the +city loiterer about the New England coast in early autumn is the +berry picking that is conducted on an immense scale. Men, women, +and children drop all other work; whole villages are nearly +depopulated while daylight lasts; temporary buildings set up on +the edges of the bogs contain throngs of busy people sorting, +measuring, and packing fruit; and lonely railroad stations, piled +high with crates, give the branch line its heaviest freight +business of the year. + + +SHOOTING STAR; AMERICAN COWSLIP; PRIDE OF OHIO + (Dodecatheon Meadia) Primrose family + +Flowers - Purplish pink or yellowish white, the cone tipped with +yellow; few or numerous, hanging on slender, recurved pedicels in +an umbel at top of a simple scape 6 in. to 2 ft. high. Calyx +deeply 5-parted; corolla of 5 narrow lobes bent backward and +upward; the tube very short, thickened at throat, and marked with +dark reddish-purple dots; 5 stamens united into a protruding +cone; 1 pistil, protruding beyond them. Leaves: Oblong or +spatulate 3 to 12 in. long, narrowed into petioles, all from +fibrous roots. Fruit: A 5-valved capsule on erect pedicels. +Preferred Habitat - Prairies, open woods, moist cliffs. Flowering +Season - April-May. +Distribution - Pennsylvania southward and westward, and from +Texas to Manitoba. + +Ages ago Theophrastus called an entirely different plant by this +same scientific name, derived from dodeka = twelve, and theos = +gods; and although our plant is native of a land unknown to the +ancients, the fanciful Linnaeus imagined he saw in the flowers of +its umbel a little congress of their divinities seated around a +miniature Olympus! Who has said science kills imagination? These +handsome, interesting flowers so familiar in the Middle West and +Southwest, especially, somewhat resemble the cyclamen in oddity +of form, indeed, these prairie wildflowers are not unknown in +florists' shops in Eastern cities. + +Many flowers like the shooting star, cyclamen, and nightshade, +with protruding cones made up of united stamens, are so designed +that, as the bees must cling to them while sucking nectar, they +receive pollen jarred out from the end of the cone on their +undersides. The reflexed petals serve three purposes: First, in +making the flower more conspicuous; secondly, in facilitating +access to nectar and pollen; and, finally, in discouraging +crawling intruders. Where the short tube is thickened, the bee +finds her foothold while she forces her tongue between the anther +tips. The nectar is well concealed and quite deeply seated, +thanks to the rigid cone. Few bee workers are flying at the +shooting star's early blooming season. Undoubtedly the female +bumblebees, which, by striking the protruding stigma before they +jar out any pollen, cross-fertilize it, are the flower's +benefactors; but one frequently sees the little yellow puddle +butterfly clinging to the pretty blossoms. + +Very different from the bright yellow cowslip of Europe is our +odd, misnamed blossom. + + +BITTER-BLOOM; ROSE-PINK; SQUARE-STEMMED SABBATIA; ROSY CENTAURY + (Sabbatia angularis) Gentian family + +Flowers - Clear rose pink, with greenish star in center, rarely +white, fragrant, 1 1/2 in. broad or less, usually solitary on +long peduncles at ends of branches. Calyx lobes very narrow; +corolla of 5 rounded segments; stamens 5; style 2-cleft. Stem: +Sharply 4-angled, 2 to 3 ft. high, with opposite branches, leafy. +Leaves: Opposite, 5-nerved, oval, tapering at tip, and clasping +stem by broad base. +Preferred Habitat - Rich soil, meadows, thickets. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - New York to Florida, westward to Ontario, +Michigan, and Indian Territory. + +During the drought of midsummer the lovely rose-pink blooms +inland with cheerful readiness to adapt itself to harder +conditions than most of its moisture-loving kin will tolerate; +but it may be noticed that although we may oftentimes find it +growing in dry soil, it never spreads in such luxuriant clusters +as when the roots are struck beside meadow runnels and ditches. +Probably the plant would be commoner than it is about populous +Eastern districts were it not so much sought after as a tonic +medicine. + +It was the Centaurea, represented here by the blue ragged sailor +of gardens, and not our Centaury, a distinctly American group of +plants, which, Ovid tells us, cured a wound in the foot of the +Centaur Chiron, made by an arrow hurled by Hercules. + +Three exquisite members of the Sabbatia tribe keep close to the +Atlantic coast in salt meadows and marshes, along the borders of +brackish rivers, and very rarely in the sand at the edges of +fresh-water ponds a little way inland. From Maine to Florida they +range, and less frequently are met along the shores of the Gulf +of Mexico so far as Louisiana. How bright and dainty and are! +Whole meadows are radiant with their blushing lovliness. Probably +if they consented to live far away from the sea, they would lose +some of the deep, clear pink from out their lovely petals, since +all flowers show a tendency to brighten their colors as they +approach the coast. In England some of the same wildflowers we +have here are far deeper-hued, owing, no doubt to the fact that +they live on a sea-girt, moisture-laden island, and also that the +sun never scorches and blanches at the far north as it does in +the United States. + +As might be expected, blossoms so bright of hue as the marsh +pinks attract many insects. Guided by the yellow eye that serves +as a pathfinder to the nectary, they feast on the generour supply +of sweets; but all unwittingly they must pay for their +entertainment by carrying pollen from early to later flowers. +Like so many other blossoms, the sabbatias guard themselves +against the evils of self-fertilization by shedding their pollen +before they mature and spread their two-cleft style, which is now +ready to receive the golden, quickening dust on its stigmatic +inner surfaces. + +The SEA or MARSH PINK, or ROSE OF PLYMOUTH (S. stellaris), whose +graceful alternate branching stem attains a height of two feet +only under most favorable conditions, from July to September +opens a succession of pink flowers that often fade to white. The +yellow eye is bordered with carmine. They measure about one inch +across, and are usually solitary at the ends of branches, or else +sway on slender peduncles from the axils. The upper leaves are +narrow and bract-like; those lower down gradually widen as they +approach the root. + +Similar to the Rose of Plymouth is the even more graceful SLENDER +MARSH PINK (S. Campanulata - the S. gracilis of Gray), whose +upper leaves are almost thread-like in their narrowness. Its five +calyx lobes, too, are exceedingly slender, and often as long as +the corolla lobes. One of our soldiers in Cuba, during the +Spanish War, sent home to his sister in Massachusetts some of +these same little flowers in a letter. "You would just love to +see the marshes here," he wrote. "They are filled with beautiful +little pink flowers. I wish I knew their names." That soldier had +passed by New England marshes aglow with the blossoms all his +life, but he had never noticed them until all his perceptions +became quickened by the stimulus of travel and the excitement of +war. How blind and deaf we all are in some directions; having +eyes we see not, and ears we hear not, in the natural as in the +spiritual realm. + +No danger of confusing the LARGE MARSH PINK (S. dodecandra - S. +chloroides of Gray) with its smaller, more branching relatives. +It displays few flowers to a plant, but each measures two and a +half inches or less across, and has from nine to twelve pink (or +rarely white) petals. This sabbatia often chooses the sandy +borders of ponds for its habitat. + + +SPREADING DOGBANE; FLY-TRAP DOGBANE; HONEY-BLOOM; BITTER-ROOT + (Apocynum androsaemifolium) Dogbane family + +Flowers - Delicate pink, veined with a deeper shade, fragrant, +bell-shaped, about 1/3 in. across, borne in loose terminal cymes. +Calyx 5-parted; corolla of 5 spreading, recurved lobes united +into a tube; within the tube 5 tiny, triangular appendages +alternate with stamens; the arrow-shaped anthers united around +the stigma and slightly adhering to it. Stem: 1 to 4 ft. high, +with forking, spreading, leafy branches. Leaves: Opposite, +entire-edged, broadly oval, narrow at base, paler, and more or +less hairy below. Fruit: Two pods about 4 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, thickets, beside roads, lanes, and +walls. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Northern part of British Possessions south to +Georgia, westward to Nebraska. + +Everywhere at the North we come across this interesting, rather +shrubby plant, with its pretty but inconspicuous little +rose-veined bells suggesting pink lilies-of-the-valley. Now that +we have learned to read the faces of flowers, as it were, we +instantly suspect by the color, fragrance, pathfinders, and +structure that these are artful wilers, intent on gaining ends of +their own through their insect admirers. What are they up to? + +Let us watch. Bees, flies, moths, and butterflies, especially the +latter, hover near. Alighting, the butterfly visitor unrolls his +long tongue and inserts it where the five pink veins tell him to, +for five nectar-bearing glands stand in a ring around the base of +the pistil. Now, as he withdraws his slender tongue through one +of the V-shaped cavities that make a circle of traps, he may +count himself lucky to escape with no heavier toll imposed than +pollen cemented to it. This granular dust he is required to rub +off against the stigma of the next flower entered. Some bees, +too, have been taken with the dogbane's pollen cemented to their +tongues. But suppose a fly call upon this innocent-looking +blossom? His short tongue, as well as the butterfly's, is guided +into one of the V-shaped cavities after he has sipped; but, +getting wedged between the trap's horny teeth, the poor little +victim is held a prisoner there until he slowly dies of +starvation in sight of plenty. This is the penalty he must pay +for trespassing on the butterfly's preserves! The dogbane, which +is perfectly adapted to the butterfly, and dependent upon it for +help in producing fertile seed, ruthlessly destroys all poachers +that are not big or strong enough to jerk away from its vise-like +grasp. One often sees small flies and even moths dead and +dangling by the tongue from the wicked little charmers. If the +flower assimilated their dead bodies as the pitcher plant, for +example, does those of its victims, the fly's fate would seem +less cruel. To be killed by slow torture and dangled like a +scarecrow simply for pilfering a drop of nectar is surely an +execution of justice medieval in its severity. + +In July the most splendid of our native beetles, the green dandy +(Eumolpus auratus) fastens itself to the dogbane's foliage in +numbers until often the leaves appear to be studded with these +brilliant little jewels. "It is not easy," says William Hamilton +Gibson, "to describe its burnished hue, which is either +shimmering green, or peacock blue, or purplish-green, or +refulgent ruby, according to the position in which it rests." But +it is not golden, as its specific name would imply. It confines +itself exclusively to the dogbane. To prevent capture, it has a +trick of drawing up its legs and rolling off into the grass its +body so cleverly matches. + +>From the silky coma on which the small seeds float away from long +pods to found new colonies, from the opposite leaves, milky +juice, and certain structural resemblances in the flowers, one +might guess this plant belonged to the milkweed tribe. Formerly +it was so classed; and although the botanists have now removed +its family one step away, the milkweed butterflies, especially +the Monarch (Anosia plexippus), ignoring the arbitrary dividing +line of man, still includes the dogbane on its visiting list. We +know that this plant derived its name from the fact that it was +considered poisonous to dogs; and we also know that all the tribe +of milkweed butterflies are provided with protective secretions +which are distasteful to birds and predaceous insects, enjoying +their immunity from attack, it is thought, from the acrid, +poisonous character of the foliage on which the caterpillars +feed. + + +COMMON MIIKWEED or SILKWEED + (Asclepias Syriaca; A. cornuti of Gray) Milkweed family + +Flowers - Dull pale greenish purple pink, or brownish pink, borne +on pedicels, in many flowered, broad umbels. Calyx inferior, +5-parted; corolla deeply 5-cleft, the segments turned backward. +Above them an erect, 5-parted crown, each part called a hood, +containing a nectary, and with a tooth on either side, and an +incurved horn projecting from within. Behind the crown the short, +stout stamens, united by their filaments in a tube, are inserted +on the corolla. Broad anthers united around a thick column of +pistils terminating in a large, sticky, 5-angled disk. The anther +sacs tipped with a winged membrane; a waxy, pear-shaped +pollen-mass in each sac connected with the stigma in pairs or +fours by a dark gland, and suspended by a stalk like a pair of +saddle-bags. Stem: Stout, leafy, usually unbranched, 3 to 5 ft. +high, juice milky. Leaves: Opposite, oblong, entire-edged smooth +above, hairy below, 4 to 9 in. long. Fruit: 2 thick, warty pods, +usually only one filled with compressed seeds attached to tufts +of silky, white, fluffy hairs. +Preferred Habitat - Fields and waste places, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-September +Distribution - New Brunswick, far westward and southward to North +Carolina and Kansas. + +After the orchids, no flowers show greater executive ability, +none have adopted more ingenious methods of compelling insects to +work for them than the milkweeds. Wonderfully have they perfected +their mechanism in every part until no member of the family even +attempts to fertilize itself; hence their triumphal, vigorous +march around the earth, the tribe numbering over nineteen hundred +species located chiefly in those tropical and warm, temperate +regions that teem with insect life. + +Commonest of all with us is this rank weed, which possesses the +dignity of a rubber plant. Much more attractive to human eyes, at +least, than the dull, pale, brownish-pink umbels of flowers are +its exquisite silky seed-tufts. But not so with insects. Knowing +that the slightly fragrant blossoms are rich in nectar, bees, +wasps, flies, beetles, and butterflies come to feast. Now, the +visitor finding his alighting place slippery, his feet claw about +in all directions to secure a hold, just as it was planned they +should for in his struggles some of his feet must get caught in +the fine little clefts at the base of the flower. His efforts to +extricate his foot only draw it into a slot at the end of which +lies a little dark-brown body. In a newly opened flower five of +these little bodies may be seen between the horns of the crown, +at equal distances around it. This tiny brown excrescence is hard +and horny, with a notch in its face. It is continuous with and +forms the end of the slot in which the visitor's foot is caught. +Into this he must draw his foot or claw, and finding it rather +tightly held, must give a vigorous jerk to get it free. Attached +to either side of the little horny piece is a flattened yellow +pollen-mass, and so away he flies with a pair of these pollinia, +that look like tiny saddle-bags, dangling from his feet. One +might think that such rough handling as many insects must submit +to from flowers would discourage them from making any more +visits; but the desire for food is a mighty passion. While the +insect is flying off to another blossom, the stalk to which the +saddlebags are attached twists until it brings them together, +that, when his feet get caught in other slots, they may be in the +position to get broken off in his struggles for freedom precisely +where they will fertilize the stigmatic chambers. Now the visitor +flies away with the stalks alone sticking to his claws. +Bumblebees and hive-bees have been caught with a dozen +pollen-masses dangling from a single foot. Outrageous imposition! + +Does this wonderful mechanism always work to perfection? Alas! +no. It is a common thing to find dead hive-bees and flies hanging +from the flowers. While still struggling to escape, the unhappy +victims will be attacked by ants, beetles, and spiders, or killed +by heavy showers. Larger and stronger insects than honeybees are +required to regularly effect pollination and free themselves, +especially when they are so unfortunate as to catch several feet +in the grooves. Doubtless it is the bumblebee that can transfer +pollen with impunity; but very many other insects, not perfectly +adapted to the flowers, occasionally benefit them. Among the +large butterflies the Papilios, which suck with their wings in +motion, are the most useful, because in using their legs to +offset the motion of their wings they rapidly repeat those +movements which are necessary to draw the pollinia from the +anther cells and insert them in the stigmatic chambers of other +flowers. "Large butterflies like Danais," says Professor +Robertson, "hold their wings still in sucking, spending more time +on an umbel, but generally carrying pollinia. Small butterflies +are worse than useless. They remain long on the umbels sucking, +but resting their feet superficially on the flowers. + +Since several moths were found entrapped, pollination must often +be brought about by night-flying Lepidoptera. As a rule, Diptera +(flies) either do not transfer pollinia at all, or become +hopelessly entangled when they do. "Occasionally pollen-masses +are found on the tongues of insects, especially on those of bees +and wasps, which move about with their unruly member sticking +out. Probably no one has ever made the exhaustive and absorbingly +interesting study of the milkweeds that Professor Robertson has. + +Better than any written description of the milkweed blossom's +mechanism is a simple experiment. If you have neither time nor +patience to sit in the hot sun, magnifying glass in hand, and +watch for an unwary insect to get caught, take an ordinary +housefly, and hold it by the wings so that it may claw at one of +the newly opened flowers from which no pollinia have been +removed. It tries frantically to hold on, and with a little +direction it may be led to catch its claws in the slots of the +flower. Now pull it gently away, and you will find a pair of +saddlebags slung over his foot by a slender curved stalk. If you +are rarely skilful, you may induce your fly to withdraw the +pollinia from all five slots on as many of his feet. And they are +not to be thrown or scraped off, let the fly try as hard as he +pleases. You may now invite the fly to take a walk on another +flower in which he will probably leave one or more pollinia in +its stigmatic cavities. + +Dr. Kerner thought the milky juice in milkweed plants, especially +abundant in the uppermost leaves and stems, serves to protect the +flowers from useless crawling pilferers. He once started a number +of ants to climb up a milky stalk. When they neared the summit, +he noticed that at each movement the terminal hooks of their feet +cut through the tender epiderm, and from the little clefts the +milky juice began to flow, bedraggling their feet and the hind +part of their bodies. "The ants were much impeded in their +movements," he writes, "and in order to rid themselves of the +annoyance, drew their feet through their mouths. Their movements +however, which accompanied these efforts, simply resulted in +making fresh fissures and fresh discharges of milky juice, so +that the position of the ants became each moment worse and worse. +Many escaped by getting to the edge of a leaf and dropping to the +ground. Others tried this method of escape too late, for the air +soon hardened the milky juice into a tough brown substance, and +after this, all the strugglings of the ants to free themselves +from the viscid matter were in vain." Nature's methods of +preserving a flower's nectar for the insects that are especially +adapted to fertilize it, and of punishing all useless intruders, +often shock us yet justice is ever stern, ever kind in the +largest sense. + +If the asclepias really do kill some insects with their juice, +others doubtless owe their lives to it. Among the "protected" +insects are the milkweed butterflies and their caterpillars, +which are provided with secretions that are distasteful to birds +and predaceous insects. "These acrid secretions are probably due +to the character of the plants upon which the caterpillars feed," +says Dr. Holland, in his beautiful and invaluable "Butterfly +Book." "Enjoying on this account immunity from attack, they have +all, in the process of time, been mimicked by species in other +genera which have not the same immunity." "One cannot stay long +around a patch of milkweeds without seeing the monarch butterfly. +(Anosia plexippus), that splendid, bright, reddish-brown winged +fellow, the borders and veins broadly black, with two rows of +white spots on the outer borders and two rows of pale spots +across the tip of the fore wings. There is a black scent-pouch on +the hind wings. The caterpillar, which is bright yellow or +greenish yellow, banded with shining black, is furnished with +black fleshy 'horns' fore and aft." + +Like the dandelion, thistle, and other triumphant strugglers for +survival, the milkweed sends its offspring adrift on the winds to +found fresh colonies afar. Children delight in making pompons for +their hats by removing the silky seed-tufts from pods before they +burst, and winding them, one by one, on slender stems with fine +thread. Hung in the sunshine, how charmingly fluffy and soft they +dry! + +Among the comparatively few butterfly flowers - although, of +course, other insects not adapted to them are visitors - is the +PURPLE MILKWEED (A. purpurasceus), whose deep magenta umbels are +so conspicuous through the summer months. Hummingbirds +occasionally seek it too. From Eastern Massachusetts to Virginia, +and westward to the Mississippi, or beyond, it is to be found in +dry fields, woods, and thickets. + +The SWAMP MILKWEED (A. incarnata), on the other hand, rears its +intense purplish-red or pinkish hoods in wet places. Its leaves +are lance-shaped or oblong-lanceolate, whereas the purple +milkweed's leaves are oblong or ovate-oblong. This is a smooth +plant; and a similar species once reckoned as a mere variety (A. +pulchra) is the HAIRY MILKWEED. It differs chiefly in having some +hairs on the under side of its leaves, and a great many hairs on +its stem. Both plants bear erect, rather slender, tapering pods. + +The POKE or TALL MILKWEED (A. exaltata - A. phytolaecoides of +Gray) may attain a height of six feet if the moist soil in which +it grows be exactly to its liking. Drooping or spreading umbels +of flowers whose corolla segments are pale purplish green, and +whose crown is clear ivory white or pink, appear from June to +August from Maine to Georgia and far westward. Sometimes the +tapering oblong leaves may be nine inches long. The erect +seedpods are drawn out to an unusually long point. + +One may always distinguish the low-growing FOUR-LEAVED MILKWEED +(A. quadrifolia) from its relatives of ranker growth by its +general air of refinement, as well as by the two pairs of thin, +tapering leaves that grow in an upright whorl near the middle of +the slender stem. Usually there are no leaves on the lower part. +Small terminal umbels of delicate pink and white fragrant +flowers, which appear from May till July, give place to very +narrow pointed pods in late summer. From Maine to Ontario +southward to North Carolina and Arkansas is its range, in woods +and thickets chiefly. + + +HEDGE or GREAT BINDWEED; WILD MORNING-GLORY; RUTLAND BEAUTY; +BELL-BIND; LADY'S NIGHTCAP + + (Convolvulus sepium; Calystegia sepium of Gray) Morning-glory +family + +Flowers - Light pink, with white stripes or all white, +bell-shaped, about 2 in. long, twisted in the bud, solitary, on +long peduncles from leaf axils. Calyx of 5 sepals, concealed by 2 +large bracts at base. Corolla 5-lobed, the 5 included stamens +inserted on its tube; style with 2 oblong stigmas. Stem: Smooth +or hairy, 3 to 10 ft. long, twining or trailing over ground. +Leaves: Triangular or arrow-shaped, 2 to 5 in. long, on slender +petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Wayside hedges, thickets, fields, walls. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to North Carolina, westward to +Nebraska. Europe and Asia. + +No one need be told that the pretty, bell-shaped pink and white +flower on the vigorous vine clambering over stone walls and +winding about the shrubbery of wayside thickets in a suffocating +embrace is akin to the morning-glory of the garden trellis (C. +major). An exceedingly rapid climber, the twining stem often +describes a complete circle in two hours, turning against the +sun, or just contrary to the hands of a watch. Late in the +season, when an abundance of seed has been set, the flower can +well afford to keep open longer hours, also in rainy weather; but +early in the summer, at least, it must attend to business only +while the sun shines and its benefactors are flying. Usually it +closes at sundown. On moonlight nights, however, the hospitable +blossom keeps open for the benefit of certain moths. In Europe +the plant's range is supposed to be limited to that of a +crepuscular moth (Sphinx convolvuli), and where that benefactor +is rare, as in England, the bindweed sets few seeds where it does +not occur, as in Scotland, this convolvulus is seldom found wild; +whereas in Italy Delpino tells of catching numbers of the moths +in hedges overgrown with the common plant, by standing with thumb +and forefinger over a flower, ready to close it when the insect +has entered. We know that every floral clock is regulated by the +hours of flight of its insect friends. When they have retired, +the flowers close to protect nectar and pollen from useless +pilferers. In this country various species of bees chiefly +fertilize the bindweed blossoms. Guided by the white streaks, or +pathfinders, they crawl into the deep tube and sip through one of +the five narrow passages leading to the nectary. A transverse +section of the flower cut to show these five passages standing in +a circle around the central ovary looks like the end of a +five-barreled revolver. Insects without a suitably long proboscis +are, of course, excluded by this arrangement. + +>From July until hard frost look for that exquisite little beetle, +Cassida aurichalcea, like a drop of molten gold, clinging beneath +the bindweed's leaves. The small perforations reveal his hiding +places. "But you must be quick if you would capture him," says +William Hamilton Gibson, "for he is off in a spangling streak of +glitter. Nor is this golden sheen all the resource of the little +insect; for in the space of a few seconds, as you hold him in +your hand, he has become a milky, iridescent opal, and now +mother-of-pearl, and finally crawls before you in a coat of dull +orange." A dead beetle loses all this wonderful luster. Even on +the morning-glory in our gardens we may sometimes find these +jeweled mites, or their fork-tailed, black larvae, or the tiny +chrysalids suspended by their tails, although it is the wild +bindweed that is ever their favorite abiding place. + +The small FIELD BINDWEED (C. arvensis), a common immigrant from +Europe, which has taken up its abode from Nova Scotia and Ontario +southward to New Jersey, and westward to Kansas, trails over the +ground with a deathless persistency which fills farmers with +dismay. It is like a small edition of the hedge bind weed, only +its calyx lacks the leaf-like bracts at its base, its slender +stem rarely exceeds two feet in length, and the little pink and +white flowers often grow in pairs. Their habit of closing both in +the evening and in rainy weather indicates that they are adapted +for diurnal insects only; but if the bell hang down, or if the +corolla drop off, the pollen must fall on the stigma and effect +self-fertilization. Many more insects visit this flower than the +large bindweed, attracted by the peculiar fragrance, and led by +the white streaks to the orange-colored under surface of the +ovary, where the nectar lies concealed. Stigmas and anthers +mature at the same time; but as the former are slightly the +longer, they receive pollen brought from another flower before +the visitor gets freshly dusted. + + +GROUND OR MOSS PINK + (Phlox subulata) Phlox family + +Flowers - Very numerous, small, deep purplish pink, lavender or +rose, varying to white, with a darker eye, growing in simple +cymes, or solitary in a Western variety. Calyx with 5 slender +teeth; corolla salver-form with 5 spreading lobes; 5 stamens +inserted on corolla tube; style 3-lobed. Stems: Rarely exceeding +6 in. in height, tufted like mats, much branched, plentifully set +with awl-shaped, evergreen leaves barely 1/2 in. long, growing in +tufts at joints of stem. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky ground, hillsides. +Flowering Season - April-June +Distribution - Southern New York to Florida, westward to Michigan +and Kentucky. + +A charming little plant, growing in dense evergreen mats with +which Nature carpets dry, sandy, and rocky hillsides, is often +completely hidden beneath its wealth of flowers. Far beyond its +natural range, as well as within it, the moss pink glows in +gardens, cemeteries and parks, wherever there are rocks to +conceal or sterile wastes to beautify. Very slight encouragement +induces it to run wild. There are great rocks in Central Park, +New York, worth travelling miles to see in early May, when their +stern faces are flushed and smiling with these blossoms. + +Another low ground species is the CRAWLING PHLOX (P. reptans). It +rarely exceeds six inches in height; nevertheless its larger +pink, purple, or white flowers, clustered after the manner of the +tall garden phloxes, are among the most showy to be found in the +spring woods. A number of sterile shoots with obovate leaves, +tapering toward the base, rise from the runners and set off the +brilliant blossoms among their neat foliage. From Pennsylvania +southward and westward is its range, especially in mountainous +regions; but this plant, too, was long ago transplanted from +Nature's gardens into man's. + +Large patches of the DOWNY PHLOX (P. pilosa) brighten dry prairie +land with its pinkish blossoms in late spring. Britton and +Brown's botany gives its range as "Ontario to Manitoba, New +Jersey, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas." The plant does its best to +attain a height of two feet; usually its flowers are much nearer +the ground. Butterflies, the principal visitors of most phloxes, +although long-tongued bees and even flies can sip their nectar, +are ever seen hovering above them and transferring pollen, +although in this species the style is so short pollen must often +fall into the tube and self-fertilize the stigma. To protect the +flowers from useless crawling visitors, the calices are coated +with sticky matter, and the stems are downy. + + +OBEDIENT PLANT; FALSE DRAGONHEAD; LION'S HEART + (Physostegia Virginiana) Mint family + +Flowers - Pale magenta, purplish rose, or flesh-colored, often +variegated with white, 1 in. long or over, in dense spikes from 4 +to 8 in. long. Calyx a 5-toothed oblong bell, swollen and +remaining open in fruit, held up by lance-shaped bracts. Corolla +tubular and much enlarged where it divides into 2 lips, the upper +lip concave, rounded, entire, the lower lip 3 lobed. Stamens 4, +in two pairs under roof of upper lip, the filaments hairy; 1 +pistil. Stem: 1 to 4 ft. high, simple or branched above, leafy. +Leaves: Opposite, firm, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, narrowing at +base, deeply saw-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Quebec to the Northwest Territory, southward to +the Gulf of Mexico as far west as Texas. + +Bright patches of this curious flower enliven railroad ditches, +gutters, moist meadows and brooksides - curious, for it has the +peculiarity of remaining in any position in which it is placed. +With one puff a child can easily blow the blossoms to the +opposite side of the spike, there to stay in meek obedience to +his will. "The flowers are made to assume their definite +position," says Professor W. W. Bailey in the "Botanical +Gazette," "by friction of the pedicels against the subtending +bracts. Remove the bracts, and they at once fall limp." + +Qf course the plant has some better reason for this peculiar +obedience to every breath that blows than to amuse windy-cheeked +boys and girls. Is not the ready movement useful during stormy +weather in turning the mouth of the flower away from driving +rain, and in fair days, when insects are abroad, in presenting +its gaping lips where they can best alight? We all know that +insects, like birds, make long flights most easily with the wind, +but in rising and alighting it is their practice to turn against +it. When bees, for example, are out for food on windy days, and +must make frequent stops for refreshment among the flowers, they +will be found going against the wind, possibly to catch the +whiffs of fragrance borne on it that guide them to feast, but +more likely that they may rise and alight readily. One always +sees bumblebees conspicuous among the obedient plant's visitors. +After the anthers have shed their pollen - and tiny teeth at the +edges of the outer pair aid its complete removal by insects - the +stigma comes up to occupy their place under the roof. Certainly +this flower; which is so ill-adapted to fertilize itself, has +every reason to court insect messengers in fair and stormy +'weather. + + +MOTHERWORT + (Leonurus Cardiaca) Mint family. + +Flowers - Dull purple pink, pale purple, or white, small, +clustered in axils of upper leaves. Calyx tubular, bell-shaped, +with 5 rigid awl-like teeth; corolla 2-lipped, upper lip arched, +woolly without; lower lip 3-lobed, spreading, mottled; the tube +with oblique ring of hairs inside. Four twin-like stamens, +anterior pair longer, reaching under upper lip; style 2-cleft at +summit. Stem: 2 to 5 ft. tall, straight, branched, leafy, +purplish. Leaves: Opposite, on slender petioles; lower ones +rounded, 2 to 4 in. broad, palmately cut into 2 to 5 lobes; upper +leaves narrower, 3-cleft or 3- toothed. +Preferred Habitat - Waste places near dwellings. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia southward to North Carolina, west to +Minnesota and Nebraska. Naturalized from Europe and Asia. + +"One is tempted to say that the most human plants, after all, are +the weeds," says John Burroughs. "How they cling to man and +follow him around the world, and spring up wherever he sets foot +How they crowd around his barns and dwellings, and throng his +garden, and jostle and override each other in their strife to be +near him! Some of them are so domestic and familiar, and so +harmless withal, that one comes to regard them with positive +affection. Motherwort, catnip, plantain, tansy, wild mustard - +what a homely, human look they have! They are an integral part of +every old homestead. Your smart, new place will wait long before +they draw near it." + +How the bees love this generous, old-fashioned entertainer! One +nearly always sees them clinging to the close whorls of flowers +that are strung along the stem, and of course transferring +pollen, in recompense, as they journey on. A more credulous +generation imported the plant for its alleged healing virtues. +What is the significance of its Greek name, meaning a lion's +tail? Let no one suggest, by a far-stretched metaphor, that our +grandmothers, in Revolutionary days, enjoyed pulling it to vent +their animosity against the British. + + +WILD BERGAMOT + (Monarda fisiulosa) Mint family + +Flowers - Extremely variable, purplish, lavender, magenta, rose, +pink, yellowish pink, or whitish, dotted; clustered in a +solitary, nearly flat terminal head. Calyx tubular, narrow, +5-toothed, very hairy within. Corolla 1 to 1 1/2 in. long, +tubular, 2-lipped, upper lip erect, toothed; lower lip spreading, +3-lobed, middle lobe longest; 2 anther-bearing stamens +protruding; 1 pistil; the style 2-lobed. Stem: 2 to 3 ft. high, +rough, branched. Leaves: Opposite, lance-shaped, saw-edged, on +slender petioles, aromatic, bracts and upper leaves whitish or +the color of flower. +Preferred Habitat - Open woods, thickets, dry rocky hills. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Eastern Canada and Maine, westward to Minnesota, +south to Gulf of Mexico. + +Half a dozen different shades of bloom worn by this handsome, +robust perennial afford an excellent illustration of the trials +that beset one who would arbitrarily group flowers according to +color. If the capricious blossom shows a decided preference for +any shade, it is for magenta, the royal purple of the ancients, +scarcely tolerated now except by Hoboken Dutch and the belles of +the kitchen, whose Sunday hats are resplendent with intense +effects. + +Only a few bergamot flowers open at a time; the rest of the +slightly rounded head, thickly set with hairy calices, looks as +if it might be placed in a glass cup and make an excellent pen +wiper. If the cultivated human eye (and stomach) revolt at +magenta, It is ever a favorite shade with butterflies. They +flutter in ecstasy over the gay flowers; indeed, they are the +principal visitors and benefactors, for the erect corollas, +exposed organs, and level-topped heads are well adapted to their +requirements. That exquisite little feathered jewel, the +ruby-throated hummingbird, flashes about the bright patches an +instant, and is gone; but he too has paid for his feast in +transferring pollen. Insects which land anywhere they please on +the flowers, receive pollen on various places, just as in the +case of the scarlet Oswego tea, of similar formation. Small bees, +which if unable to drain the brimming tubes of nectar, at least +sip from them and help themselves to pollen also, without paying +the flower's price; and certain mischievous wasps, forever bent +on nipping holes in tubes they cannot honestly drain, give a +score of other pilferers an opportunity to steal sweets. + + +SNAKE-HEAD; TURTLE-HEAD; BALMONY; SHELL-FLOWER; COD-HEAD + (Chelone glabra) Figwort family + +Flowers - White tinged with pink, or all white, about 1 in. long, +growing in a dense terminal cluster. Calyx 5-parted, bracted at +base; corolla irregular, broadly tubular, 2-lipped; upper lip +arched, swollen, slightly notched; lower lip 3-lobed, spreading, +woolly within; 5 stamens, sterile, 4 in pairs, anther-bearing, +woolly; 1 pistil. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. high, erect, smooth, simple, +leafy. Leaves: Opposite, lance-shaped, saw-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Ditches, beside streams, swamps. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Florida, and half way across the +continent. + +It requires something of a struggle for even so strong and +vigorous an insect as the bumblebee to gain admission to this +inhospitable-looking flower before maturity; and even he abandons +the attempt over and over again in its earliest stage before the +little heart-shaped anthers are prepared to dust him over. As +they mature, it opens slightly, but his weight alone is +insufficient to bend down the stiff, yet elastic, lower lip. +Energetic prying admits first his head, then he squeezes his body +through, brushing past the stamens as he finally disappears +inside. At the moment when he is forcing his way in, causing the +lower lip to spring up and down, the eyeless turtle seems to chew +and chew until the most sedate beholder must smile at the +paradoxical show. Of course it is the bee that is feeding, though +the flower would seem to be masticating the bee with the keenest +relish The counterfeit tortoise soon disgorges its lively +mouthful, however, and away flies the bee, carrying pollen on his +velvety back to rub on the stigma of an older flower. After the +anthers have shed their pollen and become effete, the stigma +matures, and occupies their place. By this time the flower +presents a wider entrance, and as the moisture-loving plant keeps +the nectaries abundantly filled, what is to prevent insects too +small to come in contact with anthers and stigma in the roof from +pilfering to their heart's content? The woolly throat discourages +many, to be sure; but the turtle-head, like its cousins the +beard-tongues, has a sterile fifth stamen, whose greatest use is +to act as a drop-bar across the base of the flower. The +long-tongued bumblebee can get his drink over the bar, but +smaller, unwelcome visitors are literally barred out. + +If bees are the preferred visitors of the turtle-head, why do we +find the Baltimore butterfly, that very beautiful, but freaky, +creature (Melitaea phaeton) hovering near? - that is, when we +find it at all; for where it is present, it swarms, and keeps +away from other localities altogether. On the under side of the +leaves we shall often see patches of its crimson eggs. Later the +caterpillars use the plant as their main, if not exclusive, food +store. They are the innocent culprits which nine times out of ten +mutilate the foliage. + + +LARGE PURPLE GERARDIA + (Gerardia purpurea) Figwort family + +Flowers - Bright purplish pink, deep magenta, or pale to whitish, +about 1 in. long and broad, growing along the rigid, spreading +branches. Calyx 5-toothed; corolla funnel-form, the tube much +inflated above and spreading into 5 unequal, rounded lobes, +spotted within, or sometimes downy; 4 stamens in pairs, the +filaments hairy; 1 pistil. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 ft. high, slender, +branches erect or spreading. Leaves: Opposite, very narrow, 1 to +1 1/2 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Low fields and meadows; moist, sandy soil. +Flowering Season - August-October. +Distribution - Northern United States to Florida, chiefly along +Atlantic coast. + +Low-lying meadows gay with gerardias were never seen by that +quaint old botanist and surgeon, John Gerarde, author of the +famous "Herball or General Historie of Plants," a folio of nearly +fourteen hundred pages, published in London toward the close of +Queen Elizabeth's reign. He died without knowing how much he was +to be honored by Linnaeus in giving his name to this charming +American genus. + +Large patches of the lavender-pink gerardia, peeping above the +grass, make the wayfarer pause to feast his eyes, while the +practical bee, meanwhile, takes a more substantial meal within +the spreading funnels. It is his practice to hang upside down +while sucking, using the hairs on the filaments as footholds. +Naturally he receives the pollen on his underside - just where it +will be rubbed off against the stigma impeding his entrance to +the next funnel visited. Any of the very dry pollen that may have +fallen on the hairy filaments drops upon him. + + "And 'tis my faith that every flower + Enjoys the air it breathes," + +chanted Wordsworth. It is a special pity to gather the gerardias, +which, as they grow, seem to enjoy life to the full, and when +picked, to be so miserable they turn black as they dry. Like +their relatives the foxgloves, they are difficult to transplant, +because it is said they are more or less parasitic, fastening +their roots on those of other plants. When robbery becomes +flagrant, Nature brands sinners in the vegetable kingdom by +taking away their color, and perhaps their leaves, as in the case +of the broom-rape and Indian pipe; but the fair faces of the +gerardias and foxgloves give no hint of the petty thefts +committed under cover of darkness in the soil below. + +The SMALL-FLOWERED GERARDIA (G. Paupercula) so like the preceding +species it was once thought to be a mere variety, ranges westward +as far as Wisconsin, especially about the Great Lakes. But it is +a lower plant, with more erect branches, smaller flowers, quite +woolly within, and with a decided preference for bogs as well as +low meadows. + +In salt marshes along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, +from Maine to Louisiana, the SEA-SIDE GERARDIA (G. maritima) +flowers in midsummer, or a few weeks ahead of the autumnal, +upland species. The plant, which rarely exceeds a foot in height, +is sometimes only four inches above ground; and although at the +North the paler magenta blossoms are only about half the length +of the purple gerardias, in the South they are sometimes quite as +long. + +In dry woods and thickets, on banks and hills from Quebec to +Georgia, and westward to the Mississippi we find the SLENDER +GERARDIA (G. tenuifolia), its pale magenta, spotted, compressed +corolla about half an inch long; its very slender, low stem set +with exceedingly narrow leaves. + + +TWIN-FLOWER; GROUND VINE + (Linnaea borealis) Honeysuckle family + +Flowers - Delicate pink or white tinged with rose, bell-shaped, +about 1/2 in. long, fragrant, nodding in pairs on slender, curved +pedicels from an erect peduncle, 2-bracted where they join. Calyx +5-toothed, sticky; corolla 5-lobed, bell-shaped, hairy within; 4 +stamens in pairs inserted near base of tube; 1 pistil. Stem: +Trailing, 6 in. to 2 ft. long; the branches erect. Leaves: +Opposite, rounded, petioled, evergreen. +Preferred Habitat - Deep, cool, mossy woods. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Northern parts of America, Europe, and Asia. In +the United States southward as far as the mountains of Maryland, +and the Sierra Nevadas in California. + +With the consent of modest Linnaeus himself, Dr. Gronovius +selected this typical woodland blossom to transmit the great +master's flame to posterity - + + "Monument of the man of flowers." + +But small and shy as it is, does Nature's garden contain a +lovelier sight than scores of these deliciously fragrant pink +bells swaying above a carpet of the little evergreen leaves in +the dim aisle of some deep, cool, lonely forest? Trailing over +prostrate logs and mossy rocks, racing with the partridge vine +among the ferns and dwarf cornels, the plant sends up "twin-born +heads" that seem more fair and sweet than the most showy pampered +darlings of the millionaire's conservatory. Little wonder that +Linnaeus loved these little twin sisters, or that Emerson +enshrined them in his verse. + +Contrary to popular impression, this vine, that suggests the dim +old forest and exhales the very breath of the spring woods, will +consent to run about our rock gardens, although it seems almost a +sacrilege to move it from natural surroundings so impressively +beautiful. Unlike the arbutus, which remains ever a wildling, +pining slowly to death on close contact with civilization, the +twin-flower thrives in light, moist garden soil where the sun +peeps for a little while only in the morning. By nodding its head +the flower protects its precious contents from rain, the hairs +inside exclude small pilferers; but bees, attracted by the +fragrance and color, are guided to the nectary by five dark lines +and a patch of orange color near it. + + +JOE-PYE WEED; TRUMPET WEED; PURPLE THOROUGHWORT; GRAVEL or +KIDNEY-ROOT; TALL or PURPLE BONESET + (Eupatorium purpureum) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Pale or dull magenta or lavender pink, slightly +fragrant, of tubular florets only, very numerous, in large, +terminal, loose, compound clusters, generally elongated. Several +series of pink overlapping bracts form the oblong involucre from +which the tubular floret and its protruding fringe of +style-branches arise. Stem: 3 to 10 ft. high, green or purplish, +leafy, usually branching toward top. Leaves: In whorls of 3 to 6 +(usually 4), oval to lance-shaped, saw-edged, petioled, thin, +rough. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil, meadows, woods, low ground. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to +Manitoba and Texas. + +Towering above the surrounding vegetation of low-lying meadows, +this vigorous composite spreads clusters of soft, fringy bloom +that, however deep or pale of tint, are ever conspicuous +advertisements, even when the goldenrods, sunflowers, and asters +enter into close competition for insect trade. Slight fragrance, +which to the delicate perception of butterflies is doubtless +heavy enough, the florets' color and slender tubular form +indicate an adaptation to them, and they are by far the most +abundant visitors, which is not to say that long-tongued bees and +flies never reach the nectar and transfer pollen, for they do. +But an excellent place for the butterfly collector to carry his +net is to a patch of Joe-Pye weed in September. As the spreading +style-branches that fringe each tiny floret are furnished with +hairs for three-quarters of their length, the pollen caught in +them comes in contact with the alighting visitor. Later, the +lower portion of the style-branches, that is covered with +stigmatic papillae along the edge, emerges from the tube to +receive pollen carried from younger flowers when the visitor sips +his reward. If the hairs still contain pollen when the stigmatic +part of the style is exposed, insects self-fertilize the flower; +and if in stormy, weather no insects are flying, the flower is +nevertheless able to fertilize itself, because the hairy fringe +must often come in contact with the stigmas of neighboring +florets. It is only when we study flowers with reference to their +motives and methods that we understand why one is abundant and +another rare. Composites long ago utilized many principles of +success in life that the triumphant Anglo-Saxon carries into +larger affairs today. + +Joe-Pye, an Indian medicine-man of New England, earned fame and +fortune by curing typhus fever and other horrors with decoctions +made from this plant. + + +COMMON BURDOCK; COCKLE-BUR; BEGGARS BUTTONS; CLOT-BUR; CUCKOO +BUTTON + (Arctium minus; Lappa officinalis: var. minor of Gray) Thistle +family + +Flower-heads - Composite of tubular florets only, about 1/2 in. +broad; magenta varying to purplish or white; the prominent round +involucre of many overlapping leathery bracts, tipped with hooked +bristles. Stem: 2 to 5 ft. high, simple or branching, coarse. +Leaves: Large, the lower ones often 1 ft. long, broadly ovate, +entire edged, pale or loosely cottony beneath, on hollow +petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Waste ground, waysides, fields, barnyards. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Common throughout our area. Naturalized from +Europe. + +A larger burdock than this (A. Lappa) may be more common in a few +localities of the East, but wherever one wanders, this plebeian +boldly asserts itself. In close-cropped pastures it still +flourishes with the well-armed thistles and mulleins, for the +great leaves contain an exceedingly bitter, sour juice, +distasteful to grazers. Nevertheless the unpaid cattle, like +every other beast and man, must nolens volens transplant the burs +far away from the parent plant to found new colonies. Literally +by hook or by crook they steal a ride on every switching tail, +every hairy dog and woolly sheep, every trouser-leg or petticoat. +Even the children, who make dolls and baskets of burdock burs, +aid them in their insatiate love of travel. Wherever man goes, +they follow, until, having crossed Europe - with the Romans? - +they are now at home throughout this continent. Their vitality is +amazing; persecution with scythe and plow may retard, but never +check their victorious march. Opportunity for a seed to germinate +may not come until late in the summer; but at once the plant sets +to work putting forth flowers and maturing seed, losing no time +in developing superfluous stalk and branches. Butterflies, which, +like the Hoboken Dutch, ever delight in magenta, and bees of +various kinds, find these flowers, with a slight fragrance as an +additional attraction, generous entertainers. + +Pink, of all colors, is the most unstable in our flora, and the +most likely to fade. Magentas incline to purple, on the one hand, +or to pure pink on the other, and delicate shades quickly blanch +when long exposed to the sun's rays. Thus we frequently find +white blossoms of the once pink rhododendron, laurel, azalea, +bouncing Bet, and turtle-head. Albinos, too, regularly occur in +numerous species. Many colored flowers show a tendency among +individuals to revert to the white type of their ancestors. The +reader should bear these facts in mind, and search for his +unidentified flower in the previous section or in the following +one if this group does not contain it. + + + +WHITE AND GREENISH FLOWERS + +"The transition from wind-fertilization to insect-fertilization +and the first traces of adaptation to insects, could only be due +to the influence of quite short-lipped insects with feebly +developed color sense. The most primitive flowers are therefore +for the most part simple, widely open, regular, devoid of nectar +or with their nectar unconcealed and easily accessible, and +greenish, white, or yellow in color.... Lepidoptera, by the +thinness, sometimes by the length, of their tongues, were able to +produce special modifications. Through their agency were +developed flowers with long and narrow tubes, whose colors and +time of opening were in relation to the tastes and habits of +their visitors." - Hermann Muller. + +"Of all colors, white is the prevailing one; and of white flowers +a considerably larger proportion smell sweetly than of any other +color, namely, 14.6 per cent; of red only 8.2 per cent are +odoriferous. The fact of a large proportion of white flowers +smelling sweetly may depend in part on those which are fertilized +by moths requiring the double aid of conspicuousness in the dusk +and of odor. So great is the economy of Nature, that most flowers +which are fertilized by crepuscular or nocturnal insects emit +their odor chiefly or exclusively in the evening." - Charles +Darwin. + + +WATER-PLANTAIN + (Alisma Plantago-aquatica) Water-plantain family + +Flowers - Very small and numerous, white, or pale pink, whorled +in bracted clusters forming a large, loose panicle 6 to 15 in. +long on a usually solitary scape 1/2 to 3 ft. high. Calyx of 3 +sepals corolla of 3 deciduous petals; 6 or more stamens; many +carpels in a ring on a small flat receptacle. Leaves: Erect or +floating, oblong or ovate, with several ribs, or lance-shaped or +grass-like, petioled, all from root. +Perferred Habitat - Shallow water, mud, marshes. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - North America, Europe, Asia. + +Unlike its far more showy, decorative cousin the arrow-head, this +wee-blossomed plant, whose misty white panicles rise with +compensating generosity the world around, bears only perfect, +regular flowers. Twelve infinitesimal drops of nectar, secreted +in a fleshy ring around the center, are eagerly sought by flies. +As the anthers point obliquely outward and away from the stigmas, +an incoming fly, bearing pollen on his under side, usually +alights in the center, and leaves some of the vitalizing dust +just where it is most needed. But a "fly starting from a petal," +says Muller, "usually applies its tongue to the nectar-drops one +by one, and after each it strokes an anther with its labellae; in +so doing it may bring various parts of its body in contact with +the anthers. As a rule, however, the parts which come in contact +with the anthers are not those which come in contact with the +stigmas in the same flower." Any plant that lives in shallow +water, which may dry up as summer advances, is under special +necessity to produce an extra quantity of cross-fertilized seed +to guard against extinction during drought. For the same reason +it bears several kinds of leaves adapted to its environment: +broad ones that spread their surfaces to the sunshine, and long +grass-like ones to glide through currents of water that would +tear those of any other shape. What diversity of leaf-form and +structure we meet daily, and yet how very little does the wisest +man of science understand of the reasons underlying such +marvellous adaptability! + + +BROAD-LEAVED ARROWHEAD + (Sagittaria latifolia; S. variabilis of Gray) Water-plantain +family + +Flowers - White, 1 to 1 1/2 in. wide, in 3-bracted whorls of 3, +borne near the summit of a leafless scape 4 in. to 4 ft. tall. +Calyx of 3 sepals corolla of 3 rounded, spreading petals. Stamens +and pistils numerous, the former yellow in upper flowers usually +absent or imperfect in lower pistillate flowers. Leaves: +Exceedingly variable; those under water usually long and +grasslike; upper ones sharply arrow-shaped or blunt and broad, +spongy or leathery, on long petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Shallow water and mud. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - From Mexico northward throughout our area to the +circumpolar regions. + +Wading into shallow water or standing on some muddy shore, like a +heron, this striking plant, so often found in that bird's haunts, +is quite as decorative in a picture, and, happily, far more +approachable in life. Indeed, one of the comforts of botany as +compared with bird study is that we may get close enough to the +flowers to observe their last detail, whereas the bird we have +followed laboriously over hill and dale, through briers and +swamps, darts away beyond the range of field-glasses with +tantalizing swiftness. + +While no single plant is yet thoroughly known to scientists, in +spite of the years of study devoted by specialists to separate +groups, no plant remains wholly meaningless. When Keppler +discovered the majestic order of movement of the heavenly bodies, +he exclaimed, "Oh God, I think Thy thoughts after Thee!" - the +expression of a discipleship every reverent soul must be +conscious of in penetrating, be it ever so little a way, into the +inner meaning of the humblest wayside weed. + +Fragile, delicate, pure white, golden-centered flowers of the +arrowhead, usually clustered about the top of the scape, +naturally are the first to attract the attention whether of man +or insect. Below these, dull green, unattractive collections of +pistils, which by courtesy only may be called flowers, also form +little groups of three. Like the Quakers at meeting, the male and +female arrowhead flowers are separated, often on distinct plants. +Of course the insect visitors - bees and flies chiefly - alight +on the showy staminate blossoms first, and transfer pollen from +them to the dull pistillate ones later, as it was intended they +should, to prevent self-fertilization. How endless are the +devices of the flowers to guard against this evil and to compel +insects to cross-pollinate them! The most minute detail of the +mechanism involved, which the microscope reveals, only increases +our interest and wonder. + +Any plant which elects to grow in shallow water must be +amphibious; it must be able to breathe beneath the surface as the +fish do, and also be adapted to thrive without those parts that +correspond to gills; for ponds and streams have an unpleasant way +of drying up in summer, leaving it stranded on the shore. This +accounts in part for the variable leaves on the arrowhead, those +underneath the water being long and ribbon-like, to bring the +greatest possible area into contact with the air with which the +water is charged. Broad leaves would be torn to shreds by the +current through which grass-like blades glide harmlessly; but +when this plant grows on shore, having no longer use for its +lower ribbons, it loses them, and expands only broad arrow-shaped +surfaces to the sunny air, leaves to be supplied with carbonic +acid to assimilate, and sunshine to turn off the oxygen and store +up the carbon into their system. + + +WATER ARUM; MARSH CALLA + (Calla palustris) Arum family + +Flowers - Minute, greenish yellow, clustered on a cylinder-like, +fleshy spadix about 1 in. long, partly enfolded by a large, +white, oval, pointed, erect spathe, the whole resembling a small +calla lily open in front. The solitary "flower" on a scape as +long as the petioles of leaves, and, like them, sheathed at base. +Leaves: Thick, somewhat heart-shaped, their spreading or erect +petioles 4 to 8 in. long. Fruit: Red berries clustered in a head. +Preferred Habitat - Cool Northern bogs; in or beside sluggish +water. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia southward to Virginia, westward to +Minnesota and Iowa. + +At a glance one knows this beautiful denizen of Northern bogs and +ditches to be a poor relation of the stately Ethiopian calla lily +of our greenhouses. Where the arum grows in rich, cool retreats, +it is apt to be abundant, its slender rootstocks running hither +and thither through the yielding soil with thrifty rapidity until +the place is carpeted with its handsome dark leaves, from which +the pure white "flowers" arise; and yet many flower lovers well +up in field practice know it not. Thoreau, for example, was no +longer young when he first saw, or, rather, noticed it. "Having +found this in one place," he wrote, "I now find it in another. +Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of +our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our +intellectual ray. So, in the largest sense, we find only the +world we look for." + +Now, the true flowers of the arum and all its spadix-bearing kin +are so minute that one scarcely notices them where they are +clustered on the club-shaped column in the center of the apparent +"flower." The beautiful white banner of the marsh calla, or the +green and maroon striped pulpit from which Jack preaches, is no +more the flower proper than the papery sheath below the daffodil +is the daffodil. In the arum the white advertisement flaunted +before flying insects is not even essential to the florets' +existence, except as it helps them attract their pollen-carrying +friends. Almost all waterside plants, it will be noticed, depend +chiefly upon flies and midges, and these lack aesthetic taste. +"Such plants have usually acquired small and inconspicuous +separate flowers," says Grant Allen; "and then, to make up for +their loss in attractiveness, like cheap sweetmeats, they have +very largely increased their numbers. Or, to put the matter more +simply and physically, in waterside situations those plants +succeed best which have a relatively large number of individually +small and unnoticeable flowers massed together into large and +closely serried bundles. Hence, in such situations, there is a +tendency for petals to be suppressed, and for blossoms to grow +minute; because the large and bright flowers seldom succeed in +attracting big land insects like bees or butterflies, while the +small and thick-set ones usually do succeed in attracting a great +many little flitting midges." Flies, which are guided far more by +their sense of smell than by sight, resort to the petalless, +insignificant florets of the ill-scented marsh calla in numbers; +and as the uppermost clusters are staminate only, while the lower +florets contain stamens and pistil, it follows they must often +effect cross-pollination as they crawl over the spadix. But here +is no trap to catch the tiny benefactors such as is set by wicked +Jack-in-the-pulpit, or the skunk-cabbage, or another cousin, a +still more terrible executioner, the cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum) +of Europe. + +Few coroner's inquests are held over the dead bodies of our +feathered friends; and it is not known whether the +innocent-looking marsh calla really poisons the birds on which it +depends to carry its bright seeds afar or not. The cuckoo-pint, +as is well known, destroys the winged messenger bearing its +offspring to plant fresh colonies in a distant bog, because the +decayed body of the bird acts as the best possible fertilizer +into which the seedling may strike its roots. Most of our noxious +weeds, like our vermin, have come to us from Europe; but Heaven +deliver us from this cannibalistic pest! + +The very common GREEN ARROW-ARUM (Peltandra Virginica), found in +shallow water, ditches, swamps, and the muddy shores of ponds +throughout the eastern half of the United States, attracts us +more by its stately growth and the beauty of its bright, lustrous +green arrow-shaped leaves (which have been found thirty inches +long), than by the insignificant florets clustered on the spadix +within a long pointed green sheath that closely enfolds it. +Pistillate florets cover it for only about one-fourth its length. +To them flies carry pollen from the staminate florets covering +the rest of the spadix. After the club is set with green berries +- green, for this plant has no need to attract birds with bright +red ones - the flower stalk curves, bends downward, and the +pointed leathery sheath acting as an auger, it bores a hole into +the soft mud in which the seeds germinate with the help of their +surrounding jelly as a fertilizer. + + +AMERICAN WHITE HELLEBORE; INDIAN POKE; ITCH-WEED + (Veratrum viride) Bunch-flower family + +Flowers - Dingy, pale yellowish or whitish green, growing greener +with age, 1 in. or less across, very numerous, in +stiff-branching, spike-like, dense-flowered panicles. Perianth of +6 oblong segments; 6 short curved stamens; 3 styles. Stem: Stout, +leafy, 2 to 8 ft. tall. Leaves: Plaited, lower ones broadly oval, +pointed, 6 to 12 in. long; parallel ribbed, sheathing the stem +where they clasp it; upper leaves gradually narrowing; those +among flowers small. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, wet woods, low meadows. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - British Possessions from ocean to ocean; southward +in the United States to Georgia, Tennessee, and Minnesota. + + "Borage and hellebore fill two scenes - + Sovereign plants to purge the veins + Of melancholy, and cheer the heart + Of those black fumes which make it smart." + +Such are the antidotes for madness prescribed by Burton in his +"Anatomie of Melancholy." But like most medicines, so the +homeopaths have taught us, the plant that heals may also poison; +and the coarse, thick rootstock of this hellebore sometimes does +deadly work. The shining plaited leaves, put forth so early in +the spring they are especially tempting to grazing cattle on that +account, are too well known by most animals, however, to be +touched by them - precisely the end desired, of course, by the +hellebore, nightshade, aconite, cyclamen, Jamestown weed, and a +host of others that resort, for protection, to the low trick of +mixing poisonous chemicals with their cellular juices. Pliny told +how the horses, oxen, and swine of his day were killed by eating +the foliage of the black hellebore. Flies, which visit the dirty, +yellowish-green flowers in abundance, must cross-fertilize them, +as the anthers mature before the stigmas are ready to receive +pollen. Apparently the visitors suffer no ill effects from the +nectar. We nave just seen how the green arrow-arum bores a hole +in the mud and plants its own seeds in autumn. The hellebore uses +its auger in the spring, when we find the stout, shining, solid +tool above ground with the early skunk-cabbage. + + +STAR OF BETHLEHEM; TEN O'CLOCK + (Ornithogalum umbellatum) Lily family + +Flowers - Opening in the sunshine, white within, greenish on the +outside, veined, borne on slender pedicels in an erect, loose +cluster. Perianth of 6 narrowly oblong divisions, 1/2 in. long or +over, or about twice as long as the flattened stamens; style +short, 3-sided. Scape: Slender, 4 to 12 in. high, with narrow, +blade-like bracts above. Leaves: Narrow, grass-like with white +midvein, fleshy, all from coated, egg-shaped bulb. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, grassy meadows, old lawns. Flowering +Season - May-June. +Distribution - Escaped from gardens from Massachusetts to +Virginia. + +The finding of these exquisite little flowers, growing wild among +the lush grass of a meadow not far from some old homestead where +their ancestors, with crocuses and grape hyacinths, once +brightened the lawn in early spring, makes one long to start a +Parkinson Society instantly. Some school children not far from +New York, receiving their inspiration from Mrs. Ewing's little +book, "Mary's Meadow," have spread the gospel of beauty, like the +true missionaries they are, by systematically planting in lanes +and fields sweet violets, golden coreopsis, hardy poppies, blue +corn-flowers, Japanese roses, orange day-lilies, larkspurs, and +many other charming garden flowers that need only the slightest +encouragement to run wild. Immense quantities of seed, that go to +loss in every garden, might so easily be sprinkled at large on +our walks. Nearly all the beautiful hardy perennials cultivated +here grow in Nature's garden in Europe or Asia, and will do so in +America if they are but given the chance. The Star of Bethlehem +is a case in point. Several members of the large group of +charming spring flowers to which it belongs grow in such +abundance in the Old World that for centuries the bulbs have +furnished food to the omnivorous Italian and Asiatic peasants. If +we cannot spare offsets from the garden, and will wait a few +years for seeds to bear, the rich, light loam of our grassy +meadows, too, will be streaked with a Milky Way of floral stars, +as they are in Italy. + +The Greek generic name of the Star of Bethlehem, meaning "bird's +milk" (a popular folk expression in Europe for some marvellous +thing) was applied by Linnaeus because of the flower's likeness +to the wonderful star in the East which guided the Wise Men to +the manger where Jesus lay. + + +STAR-GRASS; COLIC-ROOT + (Aletris farinosa) Lily family + +Flowers - Small, oblong-tubular, pure white or yellowish, about +1/4 in. long, set obliquely in a long, wand-like, spiked raceme, +at the end of a slender scape 2 to 3 ft. tall. Perianth somewhat +bell-shaped, 6-pointed, rough or mealy outside; 6 stamens, +inserted below each point; style 3-cleft at tip. (A Southern form +or distinct species (?) has yellower, fragrant flowers.) Leaves: +>From the base, lance-shaped, 2 to 6 in. long, thin, pale +yellowish green, in a spreading cluster. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil; roadsides; open, grassy, sandy +woods. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - From Ontario and the Mississippi eastward to the +Atlantic. + +Herb gatherers have searched far and wide for this plant's +bitter, fibrous root, because of its supposed medicinal virtues. +What decoctions have not men swallowed from babyhood to old age +to get relief from griping colic! In partial shade, colonies of +the tufted yellow-green leaves send up from the center gradually +lengthening spikes of bloom that may finally attain over a foot +in length. The plant is not unknown in borders of men's gardens. +The Greek word (aletron = meal) from which its generic title is +derived, refers to the rough, granular surface of the little +oblong white flower. + + +WILD SPIKENARD; FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL; SOLOMON'S ZIG-ZAG + (Vagnera racemosa; Smilacina racemosa of Gray) +Lily-of-the-Valley family + +Flowers - White or greenish, small, slightly fragrant, in a +densely flowered terminal raceme. Perianth of 6 separate, +spreading segments; 6 stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: Simple, somewhat +angled, 1 to 3 ft. high, scaly below, leafy, and sometimes finely +hairy above. Leaves: Alternate and seated along stem, oblong, +lance-shaped, 3 to 6 in. long, finely hairy beneath. Rootstock: +Thick, fleshy. Fruit: A cluster of aromatic, round, pale red +speckled berries. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods, thickets, hillsides. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia; westward to Arizona and +British Columbia. + +As if to offer opportunities for comparison to the confused +novice, the true Solomon's seal and the so-called false species - +quite as honest a plant - usually grow near each other. Grace of +line, rather than beauty of blossom, gives them both their chief +charm. But the feathery plume of greenish-white blossoms that +crowns the false Solomon's seal's somewhat zig-zagged stem is +very different from the small, greenish, bell-shaped flowers, +usually nodding in pairs along the stem, under the leaves, from +the axils of the true Solomon's seal. Later in summer, when +hungry birds wander through the woods with increased families, +the wild spikenard offers them branching clusters of pale red +speckled berries, whereas the latter plant feasts them with +blue-black fruit, in the hope that they will drop the seeds miles +away. + +By clustering its small, slightly fragrant flowers at the end of +its stem, the wild spikenard offers a more taking advertisement +to its insect friends than its cousin can show. A few flies and +beetles visit them; but apparently the less specialized bees, +chiefly those of the Halictus tribe, which predominate in May, +are the principal guests. These alight in the center of the +widely expanded blossoms set on the upper side of the branching +raceme so as to make their nectar and pollen easily accessible; +and as the newly opened flower has its stigma already receptive +to pollen brought to it while its own anthers are closed, it +follows the plant is dependent upon the bees' help, as well as +the birds', to perpetuate itself. + +The STAR-FLOWERED SOLOMON'S SEAL (V. stellata), found from the +Atlantic to the Pacific, from Newfoundland as far south as +Kansas, has larger, but fewer, flowers than the wild spikenard, +at the end of its erect, low-growing stem. Where the two species +grow together - and they often do - it will be noticed that the +star-flowered one frequently forms colonies on rich, moist banks, +its leaves partly clasp the stem, and its berries, which may be +entirely black, are more frequently green, with six black +stripes. + +The TWO-LEAVED SOLOMON'S SEAL, or FALSE LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY +(Unifolium Canadense), very common in moist woods and thickets +North and West, is a curious little plant, sometimes with only a +solitary, long-petioled leaf; but where many of these sterile +plants grow together, forming shining beds. Other individuals +lift a white-flowered raceme six inches above the ground; and on +the slender, often zig-zagged flowering stem there may be one to +three, but usually two, ovate leaves, pointed at the apex, +heart-shaped at the base, either seated on it, one above the +other, or standing out from it on distinct but short petioles. +This flower has only four segments and four stamens. Like the +wild spikenard, the little plant bears clusters of pale red +speckled berries in autumn. + + +HAIRY or TRUE or TWIN-FLOWERED SOLOMON'S SEAL + (Polygonatum biftorum) Lily-of-the-Valley family + +Flowers - Whitish or yellowish green, tubular, bell-shaped, 1 to +4, but usually 2, drooping on slender peduncles from leaf axils. +Perianth 6-lobed at entrance, but not spreading; 6 stamens, the +filaments roughened; 1 pistil. Stem: Simple, slender, arching, +leafy, 8 in. to 3 ft. long. Leaves: Oval, pointed, or +lance-shaped, alternate, 2 to 4 in. long, seated on stem, pale +beneath and softly hairy along veins. Rootstock: Thick, +horizontal, jointed, scarred. (Polygonatum = many joints). Fruit: +A blue-black berry. +Preferred Habitat - Woods, thickets, shady banks. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Florida, westward to Michigan. + +>From a many-jointed, thick rootstock a single graceful curved +stem arises each spring, withers after fruiting, and leaves a +round scar, whose outlines suggested to the fanciful man who +named the genus the seal of Israel's wise king. Thus one may know +the age of a root by its seals, as one tells that of a tree by +the rings in its trunk. + +The dingy little cylindric flowers, hidden beneath the leaves, +may be either self-pollenized or cross-pollenized by the +bumblebees to which they are adapted. "We may suppose," says +Professor Robertson, "that the pendulous position of the flowers +owes its origin to the fact that it renders them less convenient +to other insects, but equally convenient to the higher bees which +are the most efficient pollinators; and that the resulting +protection to pollen and nectar is merely an incidental effect." +Certain Lepidoptera, and small insects which crawl into the +cylinder, visit all the Solomon's seals. + +The SMOOTH SOLOMON'S SEAL (P. commutatum; P.giganteum of Gray), +with much the same range as its smaller relative, grows in moist +woods and along shaded streams. It is a variable, capricious +plant, with a stout or slender stem, perhaps only one foot high, +or again towering above the tallest man's head; the oval leaves +also vary greatly in breadth and length; and a solitary flower +may droop from an axil, or perhaps eight dingy greenish cylinders +may hang in a cluster. But the plant is always smooth throughout. +Even the incurved filaments which obstruct the entrance to this +flower are smooth where those of the preceding species are +rough-hairy. The style is so short that it may never come in +contact with the anthers, although the winged visitors must often +leave pollen of the same flower on the stigma. + + +EARLY or DWARF WAKE-ROBIN + (Trillium nivale) Lily-of-the-Valley family + +Flowers - Solitary, pure white, about 1 in. long, on an erect or +curved peduncle, from a whorl of 3 leaves at summit of stem. +Three spreading, green, narrowly oblong sepals; 3 oval or oblong +petals; 6 stamens, the anthers about as long as filaments; 3 +slender styles stigmatic along inner side. Stem: 2 to 6 in. high, +from a short, tuber-like rootstock. Leaves: 3 in a whorl below +the flower, 1 to 2 in. long, broadly oval, rounded at end, on +short petioles. Fruit: A 3-lobed reddish berry, about 1/2 in. in +diameter, the sepals adhering. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Pennsylvania, westward to Minnesota and Iowa, +south to Kentucky. + +Only this delicate little flower, as white as the snow it +sometimes must push through to reach the sunshine melting the +last drifts in the leafless woods, can be said to wake the robins +into song; a full chorus of feathered love-makers greets the +appearance of the more widely distributed, and therefore better +known, species. + +By the rule of three all the trilliums, as their name implies, +regulate their affairs. Three sepals, three petals, twice three +stamens, three styles, a three-celled ovary, the flower growing +out from a whorl of three leaves, make the naming of wake-robins +a simple matter to the novice. Rarely do the parts divide into +fours, or the petals and sepals revert to primitive green leaves. +With the exception of the painted trillium which sometimes grows +in bogs, all the clan live in rich, moist woods. It is said the +roots are poisonous. In them the next year's leaves lie curled +through the winter, as in the iris and Solomon's seal, among +others. + +One of the most chastely beautiful of our native wild flowers - +so lovely that many shady nooks in English rock-gardens and +ferneries contain imported clumps of the vigorous plant - is the +LARGE-FLOWERED WAKE-ROBIN, or WHITE WOOD LILY (T. grandiflorum). +Under favorable conditions the waxy, thin, white, or occasionally +pink, strongly veined petals may exceed two inches; and in +Michigan a monstrous form has been found. The broadly rhombic +leaves, tapering to a point, and lacking petioles, are seated in +the usual whorl of three, at the summit of the stem, which may +attain a foot and a half in height; from the center the +decorative flower arises on a long peduncle. At first the +entrance to the blossom is closed by the long anthers which much +exceed the filaments; and hive-bees, among other insects, in +collecting pollen, transfer it to older and now expanded flowers, +in which the low stigmas appear between the tall separated +stamens. Nectar stored in septal glands at the base invites the +visitor laden with pollen from young flowers to come in contact +with the three late maturing stigmas. The berry is black. From +Quebec to Florida and far westward we find this tardy wake-robin +in May or June. + +Certainly the commonest trillium in the East, although it thrives +as far westward as Ontario and Missouri, and south to Georgia, is +the NODDING WAKE-ROBIN (T. cernuum), whose white or pinkish +flower droops from its peduncle until it is all but hidden under +the whorl of broadly rhombic, tapering leaves. The wavy margined +petals, about as long as the sepals - that is to say, half an +inch long or over - curve backward at maturity. According to Miss +Carter, who studied the flower in the Botanical Garden at South +Hadley, Mass., it is slightly proterandrous, maturing its anthers +first, but with a chance of spontaneous self-pollination by the +stigmas recurving to meet the shorter stamens. She saw bumblebees +visiting it for nectar. In late summer an egg-shaped, pendulous +red-purple berry swings from the summit. One finds the plant in +bloom from April to June, according to the climate of its long +range, + +Perhaps the most strikingly beautiful member of the tribe is the +PAINTED TRILLIUM (T. undulatum; T. erythrocarpum of Gray). At the +summit of the slender stem, rising perhaps only eight inches, or +maybe twice as high, this charming flower spreads its long, +wavy-edged, waxy-white petals veined and striped with deep pink +or wine color. The large ovate leaves, long-tapering to a point, +are rounded at the base into short petioles. The rounded, +three-angled, bright red, shining berry is seated in the +persistent calyx. With the same range as the nodding trillium's, +the painted wake-robin comes into bloom nearly a month later - in +May and June - when all the birds are not only wide awake, but +have finished courting, and are busily engaged in the most +serious business of life. + + +SHOWY LADY'S SLIPPER + (Cypripedium reginae; C. spectabile of Gray) Orchid family + +Flowers - Usually solitary, at summit of stem, white, or the +inflated white lip painted with purplish pink and white stripes; +sepals rounded oval, spreading, white, not longer than the lip; +petals narrower, white; the broad sac-shaped pouch open in front, +1 in. long or over. Stem: Stout, leafy, 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves: +3 to 8 in. long, downy, elliptic, pointed, many ribbed. +Preferred Habitat - Peat-bogs; rich, low, wet woods. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, westward to the +Mississippi. Chiefly North. + +Quite different from the showy orchis, is this far more chaste +showy lady's slipper which Dr. Gray has called "the most +beautiful of the genus." Because the plants live in inaccessible +swampy places, where only the most zealous flower lover +penetrates, they have a reputation for rarity at which one who +knows a dozen places to find colonies of the stately exquisites +during a morning's walk, must smile with superiority. Wine +appears to overflow the large white cup and trickle down its +sides. Sometimes unstained, pure white chalices are found. C. +album is the name by which the plant is known in England. See +note after Common Daisy. + + +LARGE ROUND-LEAVED or GREATER GREEN ORCHIS + (Habenaria orbiculata) Orchid family + +Flowers - Greenish white, in a loosely set spike; the upper sepal +short, rounded; side ones spreading; petals smaller, arching; the +lip long, narrow, drooping, white, prolonged into a spur often 1 +1/2 in. long, curved and enlarged at base; anther sacs prominent, +converging. Scape: 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves: 2, spreading flat on +ground, glossy above, silvery underneath, parallel-veined, +slightly longer than wide, very large, from 4 to 7 in. across. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods in mountainous regions, +especially near evergreens. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - From British Columbia to the Atlantic; eastern +half of the United States southward to the Carolinas. + +Wonderfully interesting structure and the comparative rarity of +this orchid, rather than superficial beauty, are responsible for +the thrill of pleasure one experiences at the sight of the spike +of unpretentious flowers. Two great leaves, sometimes as large as +dinner plates, attract the eye to where they glisten on the +ground. The spur of the blossom, the nectary, "implies a welcome +to a tongue two inches long, and will reward none other," says +William Hamilton Gibson. "This clearly shuts out the bees, +butterflies, and smaller moths. What insect, then, is here +implied? The sphinx moth, one of the lesser of the group. A +larger individual might sip the nectar, it is true, but its +longer tongue would reach the base of the tube without effecting +the slightest contact with the pollen, which is, of course, the +desideratum." How the moth, in sipping the nectar, thrusts his +head against the sticky buttons to which the pollen messes are +attached, and, in trying to release himself, loosens them; how he +flies off with these little clubs sticking to his eyes; how they +automatically adjust themselves to the attitude where they will +come in contact with the stigma of the next flower visited, and +so cross-fertilize it, has been told in the account of the great +purple-fringed orchis of similar construction. To that species +the interested reader is, therefore, referred; or, better still, +to the luminous description by Dr. Asa Gray. + + +WHITE-FRINGED ORCHIS + (Habenaria blephariglottis) Orchid family + +Flowers - Pure white, fragrant, borne on a spike from 3 to 6 in. +long. Spur long, slender; oval sepals; smaller petals toothed; +the oblong lip deeply fringed. Stem: Slender, 1 to 2 ft. high. +Leaves: Lance-shaped, parallel-veined, clasping the stem; upper +ones smallest. +Preferred Habitat - Peat-bogs and swamps. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - Northeastern United States and eastern Canada to +Newfoundland. + +One who selfishly imagines that all the floral beauty of the +earth was created for man's sole delight will wonder why a flower +so exquisitely beautiful as this dainty little orchid should be +hidden in inaccessible peat-bogs, where overshoes and tempers get +lost with deplorable frequency, and the water-snake and bittern +mock at man's intrusion of their realm by the ease with which +they move away from him. Not for man, but for the bee, the moth, +and the butterfly, are orchids where they are and what they are. +The white-fringed orchis grows in watery places that it may more +easily manufacture nectar, and protect itself from crawling +pilferers; its flowers are clustered on a spike, their lips are +fringed, they have been given fragrance and a snowy-white color +that they may effectually advertise their sweets on whose removal +by an insect benefactor that will carry pollen from flower to +flower as he feeds depends their chance of producing fertile +seed. It is probable the flower is white that night-flying moths +may see it shine in the gloaming. From the length and slenderness +of its spur it is doubtless adapted to the sphinx moth. + +At the entrance to the nectary, two sticky disks stand on guard, +ready to fasten themselves to the eyes of the first moth that +inserts his tongue; and he finds on withdrawing his head that two +pollen-masses attached to these disks have been removed with +them. This plastering over of insects' eyes by the orchids might +be serious business, indeed, were not the lepidoptera gifted with +numerous pairs. The fragrance of many orchids, however, would be +a sufficient guide even to a blind insect. With the pollen-masses +sticking to his forehead, the moth enters another flower and +necessarily rubs off some grains from the pollen masses, that +have changed their attitude during his flight that they may be in +the precise position to fertilize the viscid stigma. In almost +the same way the similar Yellow-Fringed Orchis (H. ciliaris) and +the great green orchids compel insects to work for them. + +A larger-flowered species, the PRAIRIE WHITE-FRINGED ORCHIS (H. +lepicophea), found in bloom in June and July, on moist, open +ground from western New York to Minnesota and Arkansas, differs +from the preceding chiefly in having larger and greenish-white +flowers, the lip cleft into wedge-shaped segments deeply fringed. +The hawk-moth removes on its tongue one, but not often both, of +the pollinia attached to disks on either side of the entrance to +the spur. + + +NODDING LADIES' TRESSES or TRACES + (Gyrostachys cernua; Spiranthes cernua of Gray) Orchid family + +Flowers - Small, white or yellowish, without a spur, fragrant, +nodding or spreading in 3 rows on a cylindrical, slightly twisted +spike 4 or 5 in. long. Side sepals free, the upper ones arching, +and united with petals; the oblong, spreading lip crinkle-edged, +and bearing minute, hairy callosities at bases Stem: 6 in. to 2 +ft. tall, with several pointed, wrapping bracts. Leaves: From or +near the base, linear, almost grass-like. +Preferred Habitat - Low meadows, ditches, and swamps. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to +the Mississippi. + +This last orchid of the season, and perhaps the commonest of its +interesting tribe in the eastern United States, at least, bears +flowers that, however insignificant in size, are marvelous pieces +of mechanism, to which such men as Charles Darwin and Asa Gray +have devoted hours of study and, these two men particularly, much +correspondence. + +Just as a woodpecker begins at the bottom of a tree and taps his +way upward, so a bee begins at the lower and older flowers on a +spike and works up to the younger ones; a fact on which this +little orchid, like many another plant that arranges its b1ossoms +in long racemes, depends. Let us not note for the present what +happens in the older flowers, but begin our observations, with +the help of a powerful lens, when the bee has alighted on the +spreading lip of a newly opened blossom toward the top of the +spire. As nectar is already secreted for her in its receptacle, +she thrusts her tongue through the channel provided to guide it +aright, and by the slight contact with the furrowed rostellum, it +splits, and releases a boat-shaped disk standing vertically on +its stern in the passage. Within the boat is an extremely sticky +cement that hardens almost instantly on exposure to the air. The +splitting of the rostellum, curiously enough, never happens +without insect aid; but if a bristle or needle be passed over it +ever so lightly, a stream of sticky, milky fluid exudes, hardens, +and the boat-shaped disk, with pollen masses attached, may be +withdrawn on the bristle just as the bee removes them with her +tongue. Each pollinium consists of two leaves of pollen united +for about half their length in the middle with elastic threads. +As the pollinia are attached parallel to the disk, they stick +parallel on the bee's tongue, yet she may fold up her proboscis +under her head, if she choose, without inconvenience from the +pollen masses, or without danger of loosening them. Now, having +finished sucking the newly opened flowers at the top of the +spike, away she flies to an older flower at the bottom of another +one. Here a marvelous thing has happened. The passage which, when +the flower first expanded, scarcely permitted a bristle to pass, +has now widened through the automatic downward movement of the +column in order to expose the stigmatic surfaces to contact with +the pollen masses brought by the bee. Without the bee's help this +orchid, with a host of other flowers, must disappear from the +face of the earth. So very many species which have lost the power +to fertilize themselves now depend absolutely on these little +pollen carriers, it is safe to say that, should the bees perish, +one half our flora would be exterminated with them. On the slight +downward movement of the column in the ladies' tresses, then, as +well as on the bee's ministrations, the fertilization of the +flower absolutely depends. "If the stigma of the lowest flower +has already been fully fertilized," says Darwin, "little or no +pollen will be left on its dried surface; but on the next +succeeding flower, of which the stigma is adhesive, large sheets +of pollen will be left. Then as soon as the bee arrives near the +summit of the spike she will withdraw fresh pollinia, will fly to +the lower flowers on another plant, and fertilize them; and thus, +as she goes her rounds and adds to her store of honey, she +continually fertilizes fresh flowers and perpetuates the race of +autumnal spiranthes, which will yield honey to future generations +of bees." + +The SLENDER LADIES' TRESSES (G. gracilis; [S. gracilis]), with a +range and season of blossom similar to the preceding species, and +with even smaller white, fragrant flowers, growing on one side of +a twisted spike, chooses dry fields, hillsides, open woods, and +sandy places - queer habitats for a member of its moisture-loving +tribe. Its leaves have usually fallen by flowering time. The +cluster of tuberous, spindle-shaped roots are an aid to +identification. + + +LESSER RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN [DWARF RATTLESNAKE-PLANTAIN] + (Peramium repens; Goodyera repens of Gray) Orchid family + +Flowers - Small, greenish white, the lip pocket-shaped, borne on +one side of a bracted spike 5 to 10 in. high, from a fleshy, +thick fibrous root. Leaves: From the base, tufted, or ascending +the stem on one side for a few inches, 1/2 in. to over 1 in. +long, ovate, the silvery-white veins forming a network, or leaf +blotched with white. +Preferred Habitat - Woods, especially under evergreens. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - Colorado eastward to the Atlantic, from Nova +Scotia to Florida. Europe and Asia. + +Tufts of these beautifully marked little leaves carpeting the +ground in the shadow of the hemlocks attract the eye, rather than +the spires of insignificantly small flowers. Whoever wishes to +know how the bumblebee ruptures the sensitive membrane within the +tiny blossom with her tongue, and draws out the pollinia that are +instantly cemented to it after much the same plan employed by the +ladies' tresses, must use a good lens in studying the operation. +To the structural botanist the rattlesnake plantains form an +interesting connecting link between orchids of d1stinct forms. In +them we see a tendency to lengthen the pollen-masses into +caudicles as the showy orchis, for example, has done. "Goodyera +probably shows us the state of organs in a group of orchids now +mostly extinct," says Darwin; "but the parents of many living +descendants." + +It has been said that the Indians use this plant to cure bites of +the rattlesnake; that they will handle the deadly creature +without fear if some of these leaves are near at hand - in fact, +a good deal is said about Indians by palefaces that makes even +the stolid red man smile when confronted with the white man's +tales about him. An intelligent Indian student declares that none +of his race will handle a rattlesnake unless its fangs have been +removed; that this plant takes its name from the resemblance of +its netted-veined leaves to the belly of a serpent, and not to +their curative powers; and, finally, that the Southern tribes, +especially so reverence the rattlesnake that, far from trying to +cure its bite, they count themselves blessed to be bitten to +death by one. Indeed, the rattle, a sacred symbol, has been +employed in religious ceremonies of most tribes. Snakes may be +revered in other lands, but only in America is the rattlesnake +worshipped. Among the Moquis there still survives much of the +religion of the snake-worshipping Aztecs. Bernal Diaz tells how +living rattlesnakes, kept in the great temple at Mexico as sacred +and petted objects, were fed with the bodies of the sacrificed. +Cortes found a town called by the Spaniards Terraguea, or the +city of serpents, whose walls and temples were decorated with +figures of the reptiles, which the inhabitants worshiped as gods. + +The DOWNY RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN (P. pubescens), usually a taller +plant than the preceding, with larger cream-white, +globular-lipped flowers on both sides of its spike, and +glandular-hairy throughout, has even more strongly marked leaves. +These, the most conspicuous parts, are dark grayish green, +heavily netted with greenish or silvery-white veins, silky to the +touch, and often wavy edged. This plant scarcely strays westward +beyond the Mississippi, but it is common East. It also blooms in +midsummer, and shows a preference for dry woods where oak and +pine abound. + + +LIZARD'S TAIL [LIZARD'S-TAIL, WATER-DRAGON] + (Saurus cernuus) Lizard's-tail family + +Flowers - Fragrant, very small, white, lacking a perianth, +bracted, densely crowded on peduncled, slender spikes 4 to 6 in. +long and nodding at the tip. Stamens 6 to 8, the filaments white; +carpels 3 or 4, united at base, dangling. Stem: 2 to 5 ft. high, +jointed, sparingly branched, leafy. Leaves: Heart-shaped, +palmately ribbed, dark green, thin, on stout petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, shallow water. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Southern New England to the Gulf, westward to +Minnesota and Texas. + +The fragrance arising from these curious, drooping, tail-like +spikes of flowers, where they grow in numbers, must lure their +insect friends as it does us, since no showy petals or sepals +advertise their presence. Nevertheless they are what are known as +perfect flowers, each possessing stamens and pistils, the only +truly essential parts, however desirable a gaily colored perianth +may be to blossoms attempting to woo such large land insects as +the bumblebee and butterfly. Since flies, whose color sense is by +no means so acute as their sense of smell, are by far the most +abundant fertilizers of waterside plants, we can see a tendency +in such to suppress their petals, for the flowers to become +minute and massed in series that the little visitors may more +readily transfer pollen from one to another, and to become +fragrant - just what the lizard's tail has done. + + +SPRING BEAUTY; CLAYTONIA + (Claytonia Virginica) Purslane family. + +Flowers - White veined with pink, or all pink, the veinings of +deeper shade, on curving, slender pedicels, several borne in a +terminal loose raceme, the flowers mostly turned one way +(secund). Calyx of 2 ovate sepals; corolla of 5 petals slightly +united by their bases; 5 stamens, 1 inserted on base of each +petal; the style 3-cleft. Stem: Weak, 6 to 12 in. long, from a +deep, tuberous root. Leaves: Opposite above, linear to +lance-shaped, shorter than basal ones, which are 3 to 7 in. long; +breadth variable. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods, open groves, low meadows. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Nova Scotia and far westward, south to Georgia and +Texas. + +Dainty clusters of these delicate, starry blossoms, mostly turned +in one direction, expand in the sunshine only, like their gaudy +cousin the portulaca and the insignificant little yellow flowers +of another relative, the ubiquitous, invincible "pussley" +immortalized in "My Summer in a Garden." At night and during +cloudy, stormy weather, when their benefactors are not flying, +the claytonias economically close their petals to protect nectar +and pollen from rain and pilferers. Pick them, the whole plant +droops, and the blossoms close with indignation; nor will any +coaxing but a combination of hot water and sunshine induce them +to open again. Theirs is a long beauty sleep. They are +supersensitive exquisites, however hardy. + +Very early in the spring a race is run with the hepatica, +arbutus, adder's tongue, blood-root, squirrel corn, and anemone +for the honor of being the earliest wild flower; and although +John Burroughs and Dr. Abbott have had the exceptional experience +of finding the claytonia even before the hepatica - certainly the +earliest spring blossom worthy the name in the Middle and New +England States - of course the rank skunk-cabbage, whose name is +snobbishly excluded from the list of fair competitors, has +quietly opened dozens of minute florets in its incurved horn +before the others have even started. + +Whether the petals of the spring beauty are white or pink, they +are always exquisitely marked with pink lines converging near the +base and ending in a yellow blotch to serve as pathfinders for +the female bumblebees and the little brown bombylius, among other +pollen carriers. A newly opened flower, with its stamens +surrounding the pistil, must be in peril of self-fertilization +one would think who did not notice that when the pollen is in +condition for removal by the bees and flies, the stigmatic +surfaces of the three-cleft style are tightly pressed together +that not a grain may touch them. But when the anthers have shed +their pollen, and the filaments have spread outward and away from +the pistil, the three stigmatic arms branch out to receive the +fertilizing dust carried from younger flowers by their busy +friends. + + +STARRY CAMPION + (Silene stellata) Pink family + +Flowers - White, about 1/2 in. broad or over, loosely clustered +in a showy, pyramidal panicle. Calyx bell-shaped, swollen, +5-toothed, sticky; 5 fringed and clawed petals; 10 long, exserted +stamens; 3 styles. Stem: Erect, leafy, 2 to 3 1/2 ft. tall, +rough-hairy. Leaves: Oval, tapering to a point, 2 to 4 in. long, +seated in whorls of 4 around stem, or loose ones opposite. +Preferred Habitat - Woods, shady banks. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Rhode Island westward to Mississippi, south to the +Carolinas and Arkansas. + +Feathery white panicles of the starry campion, whose protruding +stamens and fringed petals give it a certain fleeciness, are +dainty enough for spring; by midsummer we expect plants of ranker +growth and more gaudy flowers. To save the nectar in each deep +tube for the moths and butterflies which cross-fertilize all this +tribe of night and day blossoms, most of them - and the campions +are notorious examples - spread their calices, and some their +pedicels as well, with a sticky substance to entrap little +crawling pilferers. Although a popular name for the genus is +catchfly, it is usually the ant that is glued to the viscid +parts, for the fly that moves through the air alights directly on +the flower it is too short-lipped to suck. An ant catching its +feet on the miniature lime-twig, at first raises one foot after +another and draws it through its mouth, hoping to rid it of the +sticky stuff, but only with the result of gluing up its head and +other parts of the body. In ten minutes all the pathetic +struggles are ended. Let no one guilty of torturing flies to +death on sticky paper condemn the Silenes! + +The BLADDER CAMPION (S. vulgaris; S. inflata of Gray) to be +recognized by its much inflated calyx, especially round in fruit, +the two-cleft white petals; and its opposite leaves that are +spatulate at the base of the plant, is a European immigrant now +naturalized and locally very common from Illinois eastward to New +Jersey and north to New Brunswick. Like the night-flowering +catchfly this blossom has adapted itself to the night-flying +moths; but when either remains open in the morning, bumblebees +gladly take the leavings in the deep cup. To insure +cross-fertilization, some of the bladder-campion flowers have +stamens only, some have a pistil only; some have both organs +maturing at different times. In all the night-flowering Silene, +each flower, unless unusually disturbed, lasts three days and +three nights. Late in the afternoon of the first day, when the +petals begin to expand, the five stamens opposite the sepals +lengthen in about two hours, and by sunset the anthers, which +have matured at the same time, are covered with pollen. So they +remain until the forenoon of the second day, and then the emptied +anthers hang like shriveled bags, or drop off altogether. Late in +the second afternoon, the second set of stamens repeat the +actions of their predecessors, bend backward and shed their +anthers the following, that is to say the third, morning. But on +the third afternoon up rise the S-shaped, twisted stigmas, which +until now had been hidden in the center of the flower. Moths, +therefore, must transfer pollen from younger to older blossoms. + +"With this lengthening and bending of the stamens and stigmas," +says Dr. Kerner, "goes hand in hand the opening and shutting of +the corolla. With the approach of dusk, the bifid limbs of the +petals spread out in a flat surface and fall back against the +calyx. In this position they remain through the night, and not +till the following morning do they begin (more quickly in +sunshine and with a mild temperature, more slowly with a cloudy +sky and in cold, wet weather) to curl themselves up in an +in-curved spire, while at the same time they form longitudinal +creases, and look as though they were gathered in, or +wrinkled;...but no sooner does evening return than the wrinkles +disappear, the petals become smooth, uncurl themselves, and fall +back upon the calyx, and the corolla is again expanded." + +Curiously enough, these flowers, which by day we should certainly +say were not fragrant, give forth a strong perfume at evening the +better to guide moths to their feast. From eight in the evening +until three in the morning the fragrance is especially strong. +The white blossoms, so conspicuous at night, have little +attraction for color-loving butterflies and bees by day; then, as +there is no pollen to be carried from the shriveled anther sacs, +no visitor is welcome, and the petals close to protect the nectar +for the flower's true benefactors. Indeed, few flowers show more +thorough adaptation to the night-flying moths than these Silene. + + +POKEWEED; SCOKE; PIGEON-BERRY; INK-BERRY; GARGET + (Phytolacca decandra) Pokeweed family + +Flowers - White, with a green centre, pink-tinted outside, about +1/4 in. across, in bracted racemes 2 to 8 in. long. Calyx of 4 or +5 rounded persistent sepals, simulating petals; no corolla; 10 +short stamens; 10-celled ovary, green, conspicuous; styles +curved. Stem: Stout, pithy, erect, branching, reddening toward +the end of summer, 4 to 10 ft. tall, from a large, perennial, +poisonous root. Leaves: Alternate, petioled, oblong to +lance-shaped, tapering at both ends, 8 to 12 in. long. Fruit: +Very juicy, dark purplish berries, hanging in long clusters from +reddened footstalks; ripe, August-October. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, thickets, field borders, and waste +soil, especially in burnt-over districts. +Flowering Season - June-October. +Distribution - Maine and Ontario to Florida and Texas. + +When the pokeweed is "all on fire with ripeness," as Thoreau +said; when the stout, vigorous stem (which he coveted for a +cane), the large leaves, and even the footstalks, take on +splendid tints of crimson lake, and the dark berries hang heavy +with juice in the thickets, then the birds, with increased, +hungry families, gather in flocks as a preliminary step to +traveling southward. Has the brilliant, strong-scented plant no +ulterior motive in thus attracting their attention at this +particular time? Surely! Robins, flickers, and downy woodpeckers, +chewinks and rose-breasted grosbeaks, among other feathered +agents, may be detected in the act of gormandizing on the fruit, +whose undigested seeds they will disperse far and wide. Their +droppings form the best of fertilizers for young seedlings; +therefore the plants which depend on birds to distribute seeds, +as most berry bearers do, send their children abroad to found new +colonies, well equipped for a vigorous start in life. What a +hideous mockery to continue to call this fruit the pigeon-berry, +when the exquisite bird whose favorite food it once was, has been +annihilated from this land of liberty by the fowler's net! And +yet flocks of wild pigeons, containing not thousands but millions +of birds, nested here even thirty years ago. When the market +became glutted with them, they were fed to hogs in the West! + +Children, and some grown-ups, find the deep magenta juice of the +ink-berry useful. Notwithstanding the poisonous properties of the +root, in some sections the young shoots are boiled and eaten like +asparagus, evidently with no disastrous consequences. For any +service this plant may render to man and bird, they are under +special obligation to the little Halictus bees, but to other +short-tongued bees and flies as well. These small visitors, +flying from such of the flowers as mature their anthers first, +carry pollen to those in the female, or pistillate, stage. +Exposed nectar rewards their involuntary kindness. In stormy +weather, when no benefactors can fly, the flowers are adapted to +fertilize themselves through the curving of the styles. + + +COMMON CHICKWEED + (Aisine media; Stellaria media of Gray) Pink family + +Flowers - Small, white, on slender pedicels from leaf axils, also +in terminal clusters. Calyx (usually) of 5 sepals, much longer +than the 5 (usually) 2-parted petals; 2-10 stamens; 3 or 4 +styles. Stem: Weak, branched, tufted, leafy, 4 to 6 in long, a +hairy fringe on one side. Leaves: Opposite, acutely oval, lower +ones petioled, upper ones seated on stem. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, shady soil; woods; meadows. +Flowering Season - Throughout the year. +Distribution - Almost universal. + +The sole use man has discovered for this often pestiferous weed +with which nature carpets moist soil the world around is to feed +caged song-birds. What is the secret of the insignificant little +plant's triumphal progress? Like most immigrants that have +undergone ages of selective struggle in the Old World, it +successfully competes with our native blossoms by readily +adjusting itself to new conditions, filling places unoccupied, +and chiefly by prolonging its season of bloom beyond theirs, to +get relief from the pressure of competition for insect trade in +the busy season. Except during the most cruel frosts, there is +scarcely a day in the year when we may not find the little +star-like chickweed flowers. Contrast this season with that of a +native chickweed, the LONG-LEAVED STITCHWORT [LONG-LEAVED +CHICKWEED] (A. longifolia [S. longifolia]), blooming only from +May till July, when competition is fiercest! Also, the common +chickweed has its parts so arranged that it can fertilize itself +when it is too cold for insect pollen-carriers to fly; then, +especially, are many of its stamens abortive, not to waste the +precious dust. Yet even in winter it produces abundant seed. In +sunny, fine spring weather, however, when so much nectar is +secreted the fine little drops may be easily seen by the naked +eye, small bees, flies, and even thrips visit the blossoms whose +anthers shed pollen one by one before the three stigmatic +surfaces are ready to receive any from younger flowers. + + +SWEET-SCENTED WHITE WATER LILY; POND LILY; WATER NYMPH; WATER +CABBAGE [FRAGRANT WATER-LILY] + (Castalia odorata; Nymphaea odorata of Gray) Water-lily family + +Flowers - Pure white or pink tinged, rarely deep pink, solitary, +3 to 8 in. across, deliciously fragrant, floating. Calyx of 4 +sepals, green outside; petals of indefinite number, overlapping +in many rows, and gradually passing into an indefinite number of +stamens; outer row of stamens with petaloid filaments and short +anthers, the inner yellow stamens with slender filaments and +elongated anthers; carpels of indefinite number, united into a +compound pistil, with spreading and projecting stigmas. Leaves: +Floating, nearly round, slit at bottom, shining green above, +reddish and more or less hairy below, 4 to 12 in. across, +attached to petiole at center of lower surface. Petioles and +peduncles round and rubber-like, with 4 main air-channels. +Rootstock: (Not true stem), thick, simple or with few branches, +very long. +Preferred Habitat - Still water, ponds, lakes, slow streams. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the +Mississippi. + +Sumptuous queen of our native aquatic plants, of the royal family +to which the gigantic Victoria regia of Brazil belongs, and all +the lovely rose, lavender, blue, and golden exotic water lilies +in the fountains of our city parks, to her man, beast, and insect +pay grateful homage. In Egypt, India, China, Japan, Persia, and +Asiatic Russia, how many millions have bent their heads in +adoration of her relative the sacred lotus! From its center +Brahma came forth; Buddha, too, whose symbol is the lotus, first +appeared floating on the mystic flower (Nelumbo nelumbo, formerly +Nelumbium speciosum). Happily the lovely pink or white "sacred +bean" or "rose-lily" of the Nile, often cultivated here, has been +successfully naturalized in ponds about Bordentown, New Jersey, +and maybe elsewhere. If he who planteth a tree is greater than he +who taketh a city, that man should be canonized who introduces +the magnificent wild flowers of foreign lands to our area of +Nature's garden. + +Now, cultivation of our native water lilies and all their hardy +kin, like charity, begins at home. Their culture in tubs, casks, +or fountains on the lawn, is so very simple a matter, and the +flowers bloom so freely, every garden should have a corner for +aquatic plants. Secure the water-lily roots as early in the +spring as possible, and barely cover them with good rich loam or +muck spread over the bottom of the sunken tub to a depth of six +or eight inches. After it has been filled with water, and +replenished from time to time to make good the loss by +evaporation, the water garden needs no attention until autumn. +Then the tub should be drained, and removed to a cellar, or it +may be covered over with a thick mattress of dry leaves to +protect from hard freezing. In their natural haunts, water lilies +sink to the bottom, where the water is warmest in winter. +Possibly the seed is ripened below the surface for the same +reason. At no time should the crown of the cultivated plant be +lower than two feet below the water. If a number of species are +grown, it is best to plant each kind in a separate basket, sunk +in the shallow tub, to prevent the roots from growing together, +as well as to obtain more effective decoration. Charming results +may be obtained with small outlay of either money or time. +Nothing brings more birds about the house than one of these water +gardens; that serves at once as drinking fountain and bath to our +not over-squeamish feathered neighbors. The number of insects +these destroy, not to mention the joy of their presence, would +alone compensate the householder of economic bent for the cost of +a shallow concrete tank. + +Opening some time after six o'clock in the morning, the white +water lily spreads its many-petalled, deliciously fragrant, +golden-centered chalice to welcome the late-flying bees and +flower flies, the chief pollinators. Beetles, "skippers," and +many other creatures on wings alight too. "I have named two +species of bees (Halictus nelumbonis and Prosopis nelumbonis) on +account of their close economic relation to these flowers," says +Professor Robertson, who has captured over two hundred and fifty +species of bees near his home in Carlinville, Illinois, and +described nearly a third of them as new. Linnaeus, no doubt the +first to conceive the pretty idea of making a floral clock, drew +up a list of blossoms whose times of opening and closing marked +the hours on its face; but even Linnaeus failed to understand +that the flight of insects is the mainspring on which flowers +depend to set the mechanism going. In spite of its whiteness and +fragrance, the water lily requires no help from night-flying +insects in getting its pollen transferred; therefore, when the +bees and flies rest from their labors at sundown, it may close +the blinds of its shop, business being ended for the day. + +"When doctors disagree, who shall decide?" It is contended by one +group of scientists that the water lily, which shows the plainest +metamorphosis of some sort, has developed its stamens from petals +- just the reverse of Nature's method, other botanists claim. A +perfect flower, we know, may consist of only a stamen and a +pistil, the essential organs, all other parts being desirable, +but of only secondary importance. Gardeners, taking advantage of +a wild flower's natural tendency to develop petals from stamens +and to become "double," are able to produce the magnificent roses +and chrysanthemums of today; and so it would seem that the water +lily, which may be either self-fertilized or cross-fertilized by +pollen-carriers in its present state of development, is looking +to a more ideal condition by increasing its attractiveness to +insects as it increases the number of its petals, and by +economizing pollen in transforming some of the superfluous +stamens into petals. + +Scientific speculation, incited by the very fumes of the student +lamp, may weary us in winter, but just as surely is it dispelled +by the fragrance of the lilies in June. Then, floating about in a +birch canoe among the lily-pads, while one envies the very moose +and deer that may feed on fare so dainty and spend their lives +amid scenes of such exquisite beauty, one lets thought also float +as idly as the little clouds high overhead. + + +LAUREL or SMALL MAGNOLIA; SWEET or WHITE BAY; SWAMP LAUREL or +SASSAFRAS; BEAVER-TREE [SWEETBAY MAGNOLIA] + (Magnolia Virginiana; M. glauca of Gray) Magnolia family + +Flowers - White, 2 to 3 in. across, globular, depressed, +deliciously fragrant, solitary at ends of branches. Calyx of 3 +petal-like, spreading sepals. Corolla of 6 to 12 concave rounded +petals in rows; stamens very numerous, short, with long anthers; +carpels also numerous, and borne on the thick, green, elongated +receptacle. Trunk: 4 to 70 ft. high. Leaves: Enfolded in the bud +by stipules that fall later and leave rings around gradually +lengthening branch; the leaves 3 to 6 in. long in maturity, +broadly oblong, thick, almost evergreen, dark above, pale +beneath, on short petioles. Fruit: An oblong, reddish pink cone, +fleshy, from which the scarlet seeds hang by slender threads. +Preferred Habitat - Swampy woods and open swamps. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Atlantic States from Massachusetts southward, and +Gulf States from Florida to Texas. + +"Every flower its own bo-quet!" shouted by a New York street +vender of the lovely magnolia blossoms he had just gathered from +the Jersey swamps, emphasized only one of the many claims they +have upon popular attention. Far and wide the handsome shrub, +which frequently attains a tree's height, is exported from its +native hiding-places to adorn men's gardens, and there, where a +better opportunity to know it at all seasons is granted, one +cannot tell which to admire most, the dark, bluish-green leathery +leaves, silvery beneath; the cream-white, deliciously fragrant +blossoms that turn pale apricot with age; or the brilliant +fruiting cone with the scarlet seeds a-dangling. At all seasons +it is a delight. When most members of this lovely tribe confine +themselves to warm latitudes, we especially prize the species +that naturally endures the rigorous climate of the "stern New +England coast." + +Beavers (when they used to be common in the East) so often made +use of the laurel magnolia, not only of the roots for food, but +of the trunk, whose bitter bark, white sapwood, and soft, +reddish-brown heartwood were gnawed in constructing their huts, +that in some sections it is still known as the beaver-tree. +According to Delpino, the conspicuous, pollen-laden magnolia +flowers, with their easily accessible nectar, attract beetles +chiefly. These winged messengers, entering the heart of a newly +opened blossom, find shelter beneath the inner petals that form a +vault above their heads, and warmth that may be felt by the +finger, and abundant food; consequently they remain long in an +asylum so delightful, or until the expanding petals turn them out +to carry the pollen, with which they have been thoroughly dusted +during their hospitable entertainment, to younger flowers. As the +blossoms mature their stigmas in the first stage and the anthers +in the second, it follows the beetles must regularly +cross-fertilize them as they fly from one shelter to another. + + +GOLD-THREAD; CANKER-ROOT [GOLDTHREAD] + (Coptis trifolia) Crowfoot family [Buttercup family] + +Flowers - Small white, solitary, on a slender scape 3 to 6 in. +high. Sepals 5 to 7, petal-like, falling early; petals 5 or 6, +inconspicuous, like club-shaped columns; stamens numerous carpels +few, the stigmatic surfaces curved. Leaves: From the base, long +petioled, divided into 3 somewhat fan-shaped, shining, evergreen, +sharply toothed leaflets. Rootstock: Thread-like, long, bright +yellow, wiry, bitter. +Preferred Habitat - Cool mossy bogs, damp woods. +Flowering Season - May-August +Distribution - Maryland and Minnesota northward to circumpolar +regions. + +The shining, evergreen, thrice-parted leaves with which this +charming little plant carpets its retreats form the best of +backgrounds to set off the fragile, tiny white flowers that look +like small wood anemones. Why does the gold-thread choose to +dwell where bees and butterflies, most flowers' best friends, +rarely penetrate? Doubtless because the cool, damp habitat that +develops abundant fungi also perfectly suits the fungus gnats and +certain fungus-feeding beetles that are its principal +benefactors. "The entire flower is constructed with reference to +their visits," says Mr. Clarence Moores Weed; "the showy sepals +attract their attention; the abnormal petals furnish them food; +the many small stamens with white anthers and white pollen +furnish a surface to walk upon, and a foreground in which the +yellow nectar-cups are distinctly visible; the long-spreading +recurved stigmas cover so large a portion of the blossom that it +would be difficult even for one of the tiny visitors to take many +steps without contact with one of them." On a sunny June day the +lens usually reveals at least one tiny gnat making his way from +one club-shaped petal to another - for the insignificant petals +are mere nectaries - and transferring pollen from flower to +flower. + +Dig up a plant, and the fine tangled, yellow roots tell why it +was given its name. In the good old days when decoctions of any +herb that was particularly nauseous were swallowed in the simple +faith that virtue resided in them in proportion to their +revolting taste, the gold-thread's bitter roots furnished a tea +much valued as a spring tonic and as a cure for ulcerated throats +and canker-sore mouths of helpless children. + + +WHITE BANEBERRY + (Actaea alba) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Small, white, in a terminal oblong raceme. Calyx of 3 +to 5 petal-like, early-falling sepals; petals very small, 4 to +10, spatulate, clawed; stamens white, numerous, longer than +petals; 1 pistil with a broad stigma. Stem: Erect, bushy, to 2 +ft. high. Leaves: Twice or thrice compounded of sharply toothed +and pointed, sometimes lobed, leaflets, petioled. Fruit: Clusters +of poisonous oval white berries with dark purple spot on end, +formed from the pistils. Both pedicels and peduncles much +thickened and often red after fruiting. +Preferred Habitat - Cool, shady, moist woods. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia and far West. + +However insignificant the short fuzzy clusters of flowers lifted +by this bushy little plant, we cannot fail to name it after it +has set those curious white berries with a dark spot on the end, +which Mrs. Starr Dana graphically compares to "the china eyes +that small children occasionally manage to gouge from their +dolls' heads." For generations they have been called "doll's +eyes" in Massachusetts. Especially after these poisonous berries +fully ripen and the rigid stems which bear them thicken and +redden, we cannot fail to notice them. As the sepals fall early, +the white stamens and stigmas are the most conspicuous parts of +the flowers. A cluster opening its blossoms almost +simultaneously, the plant's only hope of cross-fertilization lies +in the expectation that the small female bees (Halictus) which +come for pollen - no nectar being secreted - will leave some +brought from another flower on the stigma as they enter, and +before collecting a fresh supply. The time elapsing between the +maturity of the stigmas and the anthers is barely perceptible; +nevertheless there is a tendency toward the former maturing +first. + +The RED BANEBERRY, COHOSH, or HERB-CHRISTOPHER (A. rubra; A. +spicata, var. rubra of Gray) - a more common species northward, +although with a range, habit, and aspect similar to the +preceding, may be known by its more ovoid raceme of feathery +white flowers, its less sharply pointed leaves, and, above all, +by its rigid clusters of oval red berries on slender pedicels, so +conspicuous in the woods of late summer. + + +BLACK COHOSH; BLACK SNAKEROOT; TALL BUGBANE + (Cimicifuga racemosa) Crowfoot family [Buttercup family] + +Flowers - Fetid, feathery, white, in an elongated wand-like +raceme, 6 in. to 2 ft. long, at the end of a stem 3 to 8 ft. +high. Sepals petal-like, falling early; 4 to 8 small stamen-like +petals 2-cleft; stamens very numerous, with long filaments; 1 or +2 sessile pistils with broad stigmas. Leaves: Alternate, on long +petioles, thrice compounded of oblong, deeply toothed or cleft +leaflets, the end leaflet often again compound. Fruit: Dry oval +pods, their seeds in 2 rows. +Preferred Habitat - Rich woods and woodland borders, hillsides. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Maine to Georgia, and westward from Ontario to +Missouri. + +Tall white rockets, shooting upward from a mass of large handsome +leaves in some heavily shaded midsummer woodland border, cannot +fail to impress themselves through more than one sense, for their +odor is as disagreeable as the fleecy white blossoms are +striking. Obviously such flowers would be most attractive to the +carrion and meat flies. Cimicifuga, meaning to drive away bugs, +and the old folk-name of bugbane testify to a degree of +offensiveness to other insects, where the flies' enjoyment +begins. As these are the only insects one is likely to see about +the fleecy wands, doubtless they are their benefactors. The +countless stamens which feed them generously with pollen +willingly left for them alone must also dust them well as they +crawl about before flying to another fetid lunch. + +The close kinship with the baneberries is detected at once on +examining one of these flowers. Were the vigorous plant less +offensive to the nostrils, many a garden would be proud to own so +decorative an addition to the shrubbery border. + + +WOOD ANEMONE; WIND FLOWER + (Anemone quinquefolia) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Solitary, about 1 in. broad, white or delicately tinted +with blue or pink outside. Calyx of 4 to 9 oval, petal-like +sepals; no petals; stamens and carpels numerous, of indefinite +number. Stem: Slender, 4 to 9 in. high, from horizontal elongated +rootstock. Leaves: On slender petioles, in a whorl of 3 to 5 +below the flower, each leaf divided into 3 to 5 variously cut and +lobed parts; also a late-appearing leaf from the base. +Preferred Habitat - Woodlands, hillsides, light soil, partial +shade. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Canada and United States, south to Georgia, west +to Rocky Mountains. + +According to one poetical Greek tradition, Anemos, the wind, +employs these exquisitely delicate little star-like namesakes as +heralds of his coming in early spring, while woods and hillsides +still lack foliage to break his gust's rude force. Pliny declared +that only the wind could open anemones! Another legend utilized +by countless poets pictures Venus wandering through the forests +grief-stricken over the death of her youthful lover. + + "Alas, the Paphian! fair Adonis slain! + Tears plenteous as his blood she pours amain; + But gentle flowers are born and bloom around + From every drop that falls upon the ground: + Where streams his blood, there blushing springs the rose; + And where a tear has dropped, a wind-flower blows." + +Indeed, in reading the poets ancient and modern for references to +this favorite blossom, one realizes as never before the +significance of an anthology, literally a flower gathering. + +But it is chiefly the European anemone that is extolled by the +poets. Nevertheless our more slender, fragile, paler-leaved, and +smaller-flowered species, known, strange to say, by the same +scientific name, possesses the greater charm. Doctors, with more +prosaic eyes than the poets, find acrid and dangerous juices in +the anemone and its kin. Certain European peasants will run past +a colony of these pure innocent blossoms in the belief that the +very air is tainted by them. Yet the Romans ceremonially picked +the first anemone of the year, with an incantation supposed to +guard them against fever. The identical plant that blooms in our +woods, which may be found also in Asia, is planted on graves by +the Chinese, who call it the "death flower." + +To leave legend and folk lore, the practical scientist sees in +the anemone, trembling and bending before the wind, a perfect +adaptation to its environment. Anchored in the light soil by a +horizontal rootstock; furnished with a stem so slender and +pliable no blast can break it; its pretty leaves whorled where +they form a background to set off the fragile beauty of the +solitary flower above them; a corolla economically dispensed +with, since the white sepals are made to do the advertising for +insects; the slightly nodding attitude of the blossom in cloudy +weather, that the stigmas may be in the line of the fall of +pollen jarred out by the wind in case visitors seeking pollen +fail to bring any from other anemones - all these features teach +that every plant is what it is for excellent reasons of its own; +that it is a sentient being, not to be admired for superficial +beauty merely, but also for those same traits which operate in +the human race, making it the most interesting of studies. + +Note the clusters of tuberous dahlia-like roots, the whorl of +thin three-lobed rounded leaflets on long, fine petioles +immediately below the smaller pure white or pinkish flowers +usually growing in loose clusters, to distinguish the more common +RUE-ANEMONE (Syndesmon thalictroides - Thalictrum anemonoides of +Gray) from its cousin the solitary flowered wood or true anemone. +Generally there are three blossoms of the rue-anemone to a +cluster, the central one opening first, the side ones only after +it has developed its stamens and pistils to prolong the season of +bloom and encourage cross-pollination by insects. In the eastern +half of the United States, and less abundantly in Canada, these +are among the most familiar spring wild flowers. Pick them and +they soon wilt miserably; lift the plants early, with a good ball +of soil about the roots, and they will unfold their fragile +blossoms indoors, bringing with them something of the unspeakable +charm of their native woods and hillsides just waking into life. + +The TALL or SUMMER ANEMONE (A. Virginiana), called also +THIMBLE-WEED from its oblong, thimble-like fruit-head, bears +solitary, inconspicuous greenish or white flowers, often over an +inch across, and generally with five rounded sepals, on erect, +long stalks from June to August. Contrasted with the dainty +tremulous little spring anemones, it is a rather coarse, stiff, +hairy plant two or three feet tall. Its preference is for +woodlands, whereas another summer bloomer, the LONG-FRUITED +ANEMONE (A. cylindrica), a smaller, silky-hairy plant often +confused with it, chooses open places, fields, and roadsides. The +leaves of the thimble-weed, which are set in a whorl high up on +the stem, and also spring from the root, after the true anemone +fashion, are long petioled, three-parted, the divisions variously +cut, lobed, and saw-edged. The flower-stalks which spring from +this whorl continue to rise throughout the summer. The first, or +middle of these peduncles, lacks leaves; later ones bear two +leaves in the middle, from which more flower-stalks arise, and so +on. + + +VIRGIN'S BOWER; VIRGINIA CLEMATIS; TRAVELLER'S JOY; OLD MAN'S +BEARD + (Clematis Virginiana) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - White and greenish, about 1 in. across or less, in +loose clusters from the axils. Calyx of 4 or 5 petal-like sepals; +no petals; stamens and pistils numerous, of indefinite number; +the staminate and pistillate flowers on separate plants; the +styles feathery, and over 1 in. long in fruit. Stem: Climbing, +slightly woody. Leaves: Opposite, slender petioled, divided into +3 pointed and widely toothed or lobed leaflets. +Preferred Habitat - Climbing over woodland borders, thickets, +roadside shrubbery, fences, and walls; rich, moist soil. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Georgia and Kansas northward less common beyond +the Canadian border. + +Fleecy white clusters of wild clematis, festooning woodland and +roadside thickets, vary so much in size and attractiveness that +one cannot but investigate the reason. Examination shows that +comparatively few of the flowers are perfect, that is, few +contain both stamens and pistils; the great majority are either +male - the more showy ones - or female - the ones so conspicuous +in fruit - and, like Quakers in meeting, the sexes are divided. +The plant that bears staminate blossoms produces none that are +pistillate, and vice versa - another marvelous protection against +that horror of the floral race, self-fertilization, and a case of +absolute dependence on insect help to perpetuate the race. Since +the clematis blooms while insect life is at its height, and after +most, if not all, of the Ranunculaceae have withdrawn from the +competition for trade; moreover, since its white color, so +conspicuous in shady retreats, and its accessible nectar attract +hosts of flies and the small, short-tongued bees chiefly, that +are compelled to work for it by transferring pollen while they +feed, it goes without saying that the vine is a winner in life's +race. + +Charles Darwin, who made so many interesting studies of the power +of movement in various plants, devoted special attention to the +clematis clan, of which about one hundred species exist but, +alas! none to our traveller's joy, that flings out the right hand +of good fellowship to every twig within reach, winds about the +sapling in brotherly embrace, drapes a festoon of flowers from +shrub to shrub, hooks even its sensitive leafstalks over any +available support as it clambers and riots on its lovely way. By +rubbing the footstalk of a young leaf with a twig a few times on +any side, Darwin found a clematis leaf would bend to that side in +the course of a few hours, but return to the straight again if +nothing remained on which to hook itself. "To show how sensitive +the young petioles are," he wrote, "I may mention that I just +touched the undersides of two with a little watercolor which, +when dry, formed an excessively thin and minute crust but this +sufficed in twenty-four hours to cause both to bend downwards." + +In early autumn, when the long, silvery, decorative plumes +attached to a ball of seeds form feathery, hoary masses even more +fascinating than the flower clusters, the name of old man's beard +is most suggestive. These seeds never open, but, when ripe, each +is borne on the autumn gales, to sink into the first moist, +springy resting place. + +The English counterpart of our virgin's bower is fragrant. + + +TALL MEADOW-RUE + (Thalictrum polyganum; T. Cornuti of Gray) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Greenish white, the calyx of 4 or 5 sepals, falling +early; no petals; numerous white, thread-like, green-tipped +stamens, spreading in feathery tufts, borne in large, loose, +compound terminal clusters 1 ft. long or more. Stem: Stout, +erect, 3 to 11 ft. high, leafy, branching above. Leaves: Arranged +in threes, compounded of various shaped leaflets, the lobes +pointed or rounded, dark above, paler below. +Preferred Habitat- Open sunny swamps, beside sluggish water, low +meadows. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Quebec to Florida, westward to Ohio. + +Masses of these soft, feathery flowers, towering above the ranker +growth of midsummer, possess an unseasonable, ethereal, chaste, +spring-like beauty. On some plants the flowers are white and +exquisite; others, again, are dull and coarser. Why is this? +Because these are what botanists term polygamous flowers, i.e., +some of them are perfect, containing both stamens and pistils; +some are male only others, again, are female. Naturally an +insect, like ourselves, is first attracted to the more beautiful +male blossoms, the pollen bearers, and of course it transfers the +vitalizing dust to the dull pistillate flowers visited later. But +the meadow-rue, which produces a superabundance of very light, +dry pollen, easily blown by the wind, is often fertilized through +that agent also, just as grasses, plantains, sedges, birches, +oaks, pines, and all cone-bearing trees are. As might be +expected, a plant which has not yet ascended the evolutionary +scale high enough to economize its pollen by making insects carry +it invariably, overtops surrounding vegetation to take advantage +of every breeze that blows. + +The EARLY MEADOW-RUE (T. dioicum), found blooming in open, rocky +woods during April and May, from Alabama northward to Labrador, +and westward to Missouri, grows only one or two feet high, and, +like its tall sister, bears fleecy, greenish-white flowers, the +staminate and the pistillate ones on different plants. These +produce no nectar; they offer no showy corolla advertisement to +catch the eye of passing insects; yet so abundant is the dry +pollen produced by the male blossoms that insects which come to +feed on it must occasionally transfer some, albeit this primitive +genus still depends largely on the wind. Not its flower, but the +exquisite foliage resembling sprays of a robust maidenhair fern, +is this meadow-rue's chief charm. + +The PURPLISH MEADOW-RUE (T. purpurascens), so like the tall +species in general characteristics that one cannot tell the dried +and pressed specimens of these variable plants apart, is easily +named afield by the purplish tinge of its green polygamous +flowers. Often its stems show color also. Sometimes, not always, +the plant is downy, and the comparatively thick leaflets, which +are dark green above, are waxy beneath. We look for this +meadow-rue in copses and woodlands from Northern Canada to +Florida, and far westward after the early meadow-rue has +flowered, but before the tall one spreads its fleecy panicles. +Quite as decorative as the flower clusters are the compound +seed-bearing stars. + + +TWIN-LEAF; RHEUMATISM ROOT + (Jeffersonia diphylla) Barberry family + +Flowers - White, 1 in. broad, solitary, on a naked scape about 7 +in. high in flower, more than twice as tall in fruit. Calyx of 4 +petal-like sepals falling early; 8 longer, flat, oblong petals; 8 +stamens; 1 pistil. Leaves: From the root, long-petioled, rounded, +palmately veined, cleft into 2 divisions. Fruit: A leathery, +many-seeded capsule, slit horizontally. +Preferred habitat - Rich shady woods. +Flowering Season - April-May. +Distribution - New York to Virginia, west to Ontario and +Tennessee. + +Like many little darkies in the United States, this low plant was +named for Thomas Jefferson. One suspects from a glance at its +solitary white flower and deeply divided leaves that it is not +far removed from the May apple, which is characterized by even +greater Jeffersonian simplicity of habit, although separated into +another genus. + + +MAY APPLE; HOG APPLE; MANDRAKE; WILD LEMON + (Podophyllum peltatum) Barberry family + +Flowers - White, solitary, large, unpleasantly scented, nodding +from the fork between a pair of terminal leaves. Calyx of 6 +short-lived sepals; 6 to 9 rounded, flat petals stamens as many +as petals or (usually) twice as many; 1 pistil, with a thick +stigma. Stem: 1 to 1 1/2 ft. high, from a long, running +rootstock. Leaves: Of flowerless stems (from separate +root-stock), solitary, on a long petiole from base, nearly 1 ft. +across, rounded, centrally peltate, umbrella fashion, 5 to 7 +lobed, the lobes 2-cleft, dark above, light green below. Leaves +of flowering stem 1 to 3, usually a pair, similar to others, but +smaller. Fruit: A fleshy, yellowish, egg-shaped, many-seeded +fruit about 2 in. long. +Preferred habitat - Rich, moist woods. +Flowering Season - May. +Distribution - Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to +Minnesota and Texas. + +In giving this plant its abridged scientific name, Linnaeus +seemed to see in its leaves a resemblance to a duck's foot +(Anapodophyllum) but equally imaginative American children call +them green umbrellas, and declare they unfurl only during April +showers. In July, a sweetly mawkish, many-seeded fruit, +resembling a yellow egg-tomato, delights the uncritical palates +of little people, who should be warned, however, against putting +any other part of this poisonous, drastic plant in their mouths. +Physicians best know its uses. Dr. Asa Gray's statement about the +harmless fruit "eaten by pigs and boys" aroused William Hamilton +Gibson, who had happy memories of his own youthful gorges on +anything edible that grew. "Think of it, boys!" he wrote; "and +think of what else he says of it: 'Ovary ovoid, stigma sessile, +undulate, seeds covering the lateral placenta each enclosed in an +aril.' Now it may be safe for pigs and billygoats to tackle such +a compound as that, but we boys all like to know what we are +eating, and I cannot but feel that the public health officials of +every township should require this formula of Dr. Gray's to he +printed on every one of these big loaded pills, if that is what +they are really made of." + + +BLOODROOT; INDIAN PAINT; RED PUCCOON + (Sanguinaria Canadensis) Poppy family + +Flowers - Pure white, rarely pinkish, golden centered, 1 to 1 1/2 +in. across, solitary, at end of a smooth naked scape 6 to 14 in. +tall. Calyx of 2 short-lived sepals; corolla of 8 to 12 oblong +petals, early falling; stamens numerous; 1 short pistil composed +of 2 carpels. Leaves: Rounded, deeply and palmately lobed, the 5 +to 9 lobes often cleft. Rootstock: Thick, several inches long, +with fibrous roots, and filled with orange-red juice. +Preferred habitat - Rich woods and borders; low hillsides. +Flowering Season - April-May. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Nebraska. + +Snugly protected in a papery sheath enfolding a silvery-green +leaf-cloak, the solitary erect bud slowly rises from its embrace, +sheds its sepals, expands into an immaculate golden-centered +blossom that, poppy-like, offers but a glimpse of its fleeting +loveliness ere it drops its snow-white petals and is gone. But +were the flowers less ephemeral, were we always certain of +hitting upon the very time its colonies are starring the +woodland, would it have so great a charm? Here to-day, if there +comes a sudden burst of warm sunshine; gone tomorrow, if the +spring winds, rushing through the nearly leafless woods, are too +rude to the fragile petals - no blossom has a more evanescent +beauty, none is more lovely. After its charms have been +displayed, up rises the circular leaf-cloak on its smooth reddish +petiole, unrolls, and at length overtops the narrow, oblong +seed-vessel. Wound the plant in any part, and there flows an +orange-red juice, which old-fashioned mothers used to drop on +lumps of sugar and administer when their children had coughs and +colds. As this fluid stains whatever it touches - hence its value +to the Indians as a war-paint - one should be careful in picking +the flower. It has no value for cutting, of course; but in some +rich, shady corner of the garden, a clump of the plants will +thrive and bring a suggestive picture of the spring woods to our +very doors. It will be noticed that plants having thick +rootstocks, corms, and bulbs, which store up food during the +winter, like the irises, Solomon's seals, bloodroot, adder's +tongue, and crocuses, are prepared to rush into blossom far +earlier in spring than fibrous-rooted species that must +accumulate nourishment after the season has opened. + +A newly opened flower which is in the female stage has its +anthers tightly closed, and pollen must therefore be carried from +distinct plants by the short-tongued bees and flies out +collecting it. No nectar rewards their search, although they +alight on young blossoms in the expectation of finding some food, +and so cross-fertilize them. Late in the afternoon the petals, +which have been in a showy horizontal position during the day, +rise to the perpendicular before closing to protect the flower's +precious contents for the morrow's visitors. In the blossom's +staminate stage, abundant pollen is collected by the hive bees +chiefly; but, those of the Halictus tribe, the mining bees and +the Syrphidae flies also pay profitable visits. Inasmuch as the +hive bee is a naturalized foreigner, not a native, the bloodroot +probably depended upon the other little bees to fertilize it +before her arrival. For ages this bee's small relatives and the +flowers they depended upon developed side by side, adapting +themselves to each other's wants. Now along comes an immigrant +and profits by their centuries of effort. + + +DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES; WHITE HEARTS; SOLDIER'S CAP; EAR-DROPS + (Bicuculla Cucullaria; Dicentra cucullaria of Gray) Poppy +family + +Flowers - White, tipped with yellow, nodding in a 1-sided raceme. +Two scale-like sepals; corolla of 4 petals, in 2 pairs, somewhat +cohering into a heart-shaped, flattened, irregular flower, the +outer pair of petals extended into 2 widely spread spurs, the +small inner petals united above; 6 stamens in 2 sets; style +slender, with a 2-lobed stigma. Scape: 5 to 10 in. high, smooth, +from a bulbous root. Leaves: Finely cut, thrice compound, pale +beneath, on slender petioles, all from base +Preferred Habitat - Rich, rocky woods. +Flowering Season- - April-May. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, west to Nebraska. + +Rich leaf mould, accumulated between crevices of rock, makes the +ideal home of this delicate, yet striking, flower, coarse-named, +but refined in all its parts. Consistent with the dainty, +heart-shaped blossoms that hang trembling along the slender stem +like pendants from a lady's ear, are the finely dissected, +lace-like leaves, the whole plant repudiating by its femininity +its most popular name. It was Thoreau who observed that only +those plants which require but little light, and can stand the +drip of trees, prefer to dwell in the woods - plants which have +commonly more beauty in their leaves than in their pale and +almost colorless blossoms. Certainly few woodland dwellers have +more delicately beautiful foliage than the fumitory tribe. + +Owing to this flower's early season of bloom and to the depth of +its spurs, in which nectar is secreted by two long processes of +the middle stamens, only the long-tongued female bumblebees then +flying are implied by its curious formation. Two canals leading +to the sweets invite the visitor to thrust in her tongue, and as +she hangs from the white heart and presses forward to drain the +luscious drops, first on one side, then on the other, her hairy +underside necessarily comes in contact with the pollen of younger +flowers and - with the later maturing stigmas of older ones, to +which she carries it later. But, as might be expected, this +intelligent bee occasionally nips holes through the spurs of the +flower that makes dining so difficult for her - holes that lesser +fry are not slow to investigate. + +According to the Rev. Alexander S. Wilson, bumblebees make holes +with jagged edges; wasps make clean-cut, circular openings; and +the carpenter bees cut slits, through which they steal nectar +from deep flowers. Who has tested this statement about the guilty +little pilferers on our side of the Atlantic? + + +SQUIRREL CORN + (Bicuculla Canadensis) Poppy family + +Flowers - Irregular, greenish white tinged with rose, slightly +fragrant, heart-shaped, with 2 short rounded spurs, over 1/2 in. +long, nodding on a slender scape. Calyx of 2 scale-like sepals; +corolla heart-shaped at base, consisting of 4 petals in 2 united +pairs, a prominent crest on tips of inner ones; 6 stamens in 2 +sets; style with 2-lobed stigma. Scape: Smooth, 6 to 12 in. high, +the rootstock bearing many small, round, yellow tubers like +kernels of corn. Leaves: All from root, delicate, compounded of 3 +very finely dissected divisions. +Prferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Virginia, and westward to the +Mississippi. + +Any one familiar with the Bleeding-heart (B. eximia) of old- +fashioned gardens, found growing wild in the Alleghanies, and +with the exquisite White Mountain Fringe (Adlumia fungosa) often +brought from the woods to be planted over shady trellises, or +with the Dutchman's breeches, need not be told that the little +squirrel corn is next of kin or far removed from the pink +corydalis. It is not until we dig up the plant and look at its +roots that we see why it received its name. A delicious perfume +like hyacinths, only fainter and subtler, rises from the dainty +blossoms. + + +BULBOUS or SPRING CRESS + + (Cardamine bulbosa; C. rhomboidea of Gray) Mustard family + +Flowers - White, about 1/2 in. across, clustered in a simple +terminal raceme. Calyx of four sepals; corolla of 4 petals in +form of a cross; 6 stamens; 1 compound pistil with a 2-lobed +style. Stem: 6 to 18 in. high, erect, smooth, from a tuberous +base. Leaves: Basal ones rounded, on long petioles; upper leaves +oblong or lance-shaped, toothed or entire-edged, short petioled +or seated on stem. Fruit: Very slender, erect pods about 1 in. +long, tapering at each end, tipped with a slender style, the +stigma prominent; 1 row of seeds in each cell, the pods rapidly +following flowers up the stem and opening suddenly. +Preferred Habitat - Wet meadows, low ground, near springs. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Minnesota and +Texas. + +Pretty masses of this flower, that look like borders of garden +candy-tuft planted beside some trickling brook, are visited and +cross-fertilized by small bees, of the Andrena and Halictus clans +chiefly. How well the butterflies understand scientific +classification with instinct for their sure guide! The +caterpillar of that exquisite little white butterfly with a dark +yellow triangular spot across his wings, the fulcate orange-tip +(Euchloe genutia), a first-cousin of the common small white +cabbage butterfly, feeds on this plant and several of its kin, +knowing better than if the books had told it so, that all belong +to the same cross-bearing family. The watery, biting juice in the +Cruciferae - the radishes, nasturtiums, cabbage, peppergrass, +water-cress, mustards, and horseradish - by no means protects +them from preying worms and caterpillars; but ants, the worst +pilferers of nectar extant, let them alone. Authorities declare +that the chloride of potassium and iodine these plants contain +increase their food value to mankind. + +The PURPLE CRESS (C. purpurea), formerly counted a mere variety +of the preceding, has now been ranked as a distinct species. Its +purplish-pink flowers, found about cold, springy places +northward, appear two or three weeks earlier than those of the +white spring cress.\ +The MEADOW BITTER-CRESS (or CROSS), LADIES' SMOCK, OR +CUCKOO-FLOWER (C. pratensis), an immigrant from Europe and Asia +now naturalized here north of New Jersey from coast to coast, +lifts its larger and more showy white or purplish-pink flowers, +that stand well out from the stem on slender pedicels, in loose +clusters above watery low-lying ground in April and May. + + "Lady-smocks all silver white" + +now paint our meadows with delight, as they do Shakespeare's +England; but ours have quite frequently a decided pink tinge. The +light and graceful growth, and the pinnately divided foliage, +give the plant a special charm. In olden times, when it was +counted a valuable remedy in hysteria and epilepsy, Linnaeus gave +it its generic name Cardamine from two Greek words signifying +heart-strengthening. + +More bees, flies, butterflies, and other insects visit the +ladies' smock than perhaps any other crucifer found here, since +it has showy flowers and so much nectar the long-persistent +sepals require little pouches to hold it. No wonder this plant +has triumphantly marched around the world, leaving its relatives +that take less pains to woo and work insects far behind in the +race. Owing to a partial revolution of the tall stamens away from +the stigmas, a visitor in sipping nectar must brush off some +pollen on his head or tongue, although in stormy weather, when +the movement of the stamens is incomplete, self-pollination may +occasionally occur, according to Muller. + + +TWO-LEAVED TOOTHWORT; CRINKLE-ROOT + (Dentaria diphylla) Mustard family + +Flowers - White, about 1/2 in. across, in a terminal loose +cluster, the formation of each similar to that of bulbous cress. +Stem: 8 to 15 in. high. Root stock: Long, crinkled, toothed, +fleshy, crisp, edible. Leaves: 2, opposite or nearly so, on the +stem, compounded of 3 ovate and toothed leaflets; also larger, +broader leaves on larger petioles from the rootstock. Fruit: +Flat, lance-shaped pods, 1 in. long or over, tipped with the +slender style. +Perferred Habitat - Rich leaf mould in woods, sometimes in +thickets and meadows. +Flowering Season - May. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, west to the +Mississippi. + +Clusters of these pretty, white, cross-shaped flowers, found near +the bloodroot, claytonia, anemones, and a host of other delicate +spring blossoms, enter into a short but fierce competition with +them for the visits of the small Andrena and Halictus bees then +flying to collect nectar and pollen for a generation still +unborn. In tunnels underground, or in soft, partially decayed +wood, each busy little mother places the pellets of pollen and +nectar paste, then when her eggs have been laid on the food +supply in separate nurseries and sealed up, she dies from +exhaustion, leaving her grub progeny to eat its way through the +larva into the chrysalis state, and finally into that of a winged +bee that flies away to liberty. These are the little bees so +constantly seen about willow catkins. + +Country children, on their way to school through the woods, often +dig up the curious, long crisp root of the toothwort, which +tastes much like the water-cress, to eat with their sandwiches at +the noon recess. Then, as they examine the little pointed +projections on the rootstock, they see why the plant received its +name. + +Another toothwort found throughout a similar range, the +CUT-LEAVED TOOTHWORT, or PEPPER-ROOT (D. laciniata), has its +equally edible rootstock scarcely toothed, but rather constricted +in places, giving its little tubers the appearance of beads +strung into a necklace. Its white or pale purplish-pink +cross-shaped flowers, loosely clustered at the end of an +unbranched stem, rise by preference above moist ground in rich +woods, often beside a spring, from April to June - a longer +season for wooing and working its insect friends than the +two-leaved toothwort has attained to - hence it is the commoner +plant. Instead of having two leaves on its stem, this species +spreads whorls of three leaves, thrice divided, almost to the +base, the divisions toothed or lobed, and the side ones sometimes +deeply cleft. The larger, longer petioled leaves that rise +directly from the rootstock have scarcely developed at flowering +time. + + +SHEPHERD'S PURSE; MOTHER'S HEART + (Bursa Bursa-pastoris; Capsella Bursa-pastoris of Gray) +Mustard family + +Flowers - Small, white, in a long loose raceme, followed by +triangular and notched (somewhat heart-shaped) pods, the valves +boat-shaped and keeled. Sepals and petals 4; stamens 6; 1 pistil. +Stem: 6 to 18 in. high, from a deep root. Leaves: Forming a +rosette at base, 2 to 5 in. long, more or less cut (pinnatifid), +a few pointed, arrow-shaped leaves also scattered along stem and +partly clasping it. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, roadsides, waste places. +Flowering Season - Almost throughout the year. +Distribution - Over nearly all parts of the earth. + +>From Europe this little low plant found its way, to become the +commonest of our weeds, so completing its march around the globe. +At a glance one knows it to be related to the alyssum and +candy-tuft of our gardens, albeit a poor relation in spite of its +vaunted purses - the tiny, heart-shaped seed-pods that so rapidly +succeed the flowers. What is the secret of its successful march +over the face of the earth? Like the equally triumphant +chickweed, it is easily satisfied with unoccupied wasteland, it +avoids the fiercest competition for insect trade by prolonging +its season of bloom far beyond that of any native flower, for +there is not a month in the year when one may not find it even in +New England in sheltered places. Having vanquished in the fiercer +struggle for survival in the Old World, it finds life here one +long holiday; and finally, by clustering a large number of +relatively small flowers together, it attracts the insects that +this method of arrangement pleases best, the flies (Syrphidae and +Muscidae) which cross-fertilize it in fine weather, transferring +enough pollen from plant to plant to save the species from +degeneracy through close inbreeding. However, the long stamens +standing on a level with the stigma are well calculated to +self-pollenize the flowers, the flies failing them. + + +VERNAL WHITLOW-GRASS + (Draba verna) Mustard family + +Flowers - Very small, white, distant, growing on numerous scapes +1 to 5 in. high; in formation each flower is similar to all the +mustards, except that the 4 petals are 2-cleft, destroying the +cross-like effect. Leaves: 1/2 to 1 in. long, in a tuft or +rosette on the ground, oblong or spatulate, covered with stiff +hairs. +Preferred Habitat - Waste lands, sandy fields, and roadsides. +Flowering Season - February-May. +Distribution - Throughout our area; naturalized from Europe and +Asia. + +An insignificantly small plant, too common, however, to be wholly +ignored. Although each tiny flower secretes four drops of nectar +between the bases of the short stamens and the long ones next +them, it would be unreasonable to depend wholly upon insects to +carry pollen, since there is so little else to attract them. +Therefore the anthers of the four long stamens regularly shed +directly upon the stigma below them, leaving to the few visitors, +the small bees chiefly, the transferring from flower to flower of +pollen from the two short stamens which must be touched if they +would reach the nectar. In spite of the persistency with which +these little blossoms fertilize themselves, they certainly +increase at a prodigious rate; but how much larger and more +beautiful might they not be if they possessed more executive +ability + +A similar but larger plant, with its hairy leaves not only tufted +at the base, but also alternating up the stiff stem, is the HAIRY +ROCK-CRESS (Arabis hirsuta), whose white or greenish flowers, +growing in racemes after the usual mustard fashion, are quickly +followed by very narrow, flattened pods two inches long or less. +Around the world this small traveler has likewise found its way, +choosing rocky places to display its insignificant flowers +throughout the entire summer to such small bees and flies as seek +the nectar in its two tiny glands. It is not to be confused with +the saxifrage or stone-breaker. + + +ROUND-LEAVED SUNDEW; DEW-PLANT + (Drosera rotundifolia) Sundew family + +Flowers - Small, white, growing in a 1-sided, curved raceme of +buds chiefly. Calyx usually 5-parted; usually 5 petals, and as +many stamens as petals; usually 3 styles, but 2-cleft, thus +appearing to be twice as many. Scape: 4 to 10 in. high. Leaves: +Growing in an open rosette on the ground; round or broader, +clothed with reddish bristly hairs tipped with purple glands, and +narrowed into long, flat, hairy petioles; young leaves curled +like fern fronds. +Preferred Habitat - Bogs, sandy and sunny marshes. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico and westward. From +Alaska to California. Europe and Asia. + +Here is a bloodthirsty little miscreant that lives by reversing +the natural order of higher forms of life preying upon lower +ones, an anomaly in that the vegetable actually eats the animal! +The dogbane, as we have seen, simply catches the flies that dare +trespass upon the butterflies' preserves, for excellent reasons +of its own; the Silenes and phloxes, among others, spread their +calices with a sticky gum that acts as limed twigs do to birds, +in order to guard the nectar secreted for flying benefactors from +pilfering ants; the honey bee being an imported, not a native, +insect, and therefore not perfectly adapted to the milkweed, +occasionally gets entrapped by it; the big bumblebee is sometimes +fatally imprisoned in the moccasin flower's gorgeous tomb - the +punishment of insects that do not benefit the flowers is infinite +in its variety. But the local Venus's flytrap (Dionaea +muscipula), gathered only from the low savannas in North Carolina +to entertain the owners of hothouses as it promptly closes the +crushing trap at the end of its sensitive leaves over a hapless +fly, and the common sundew that tinges the peat-bogs of three +continents with its little reddish leaves, belong to a distinct +class of carnivorous plants which actually masticate their animal +food, depending upon it for nourishment as men do upon cattle +slaughtered in an abattoir. Darwin's luminous account of these +two species alone, which occupies over three hundred absorbingly +interesting pages of his "Insectivorous Plants" should be read by +everyone interested in these freaks of nature. + +When we go to some sunny cranberry bog to look for these sundews, +nothing could be more innocent looking than the tiny plant, its +nodding raceme of buds, usually with only a solitary little +blossom (that opens only in the sunshine) at the top of the +curve, its leaves glistening with what looks like dew, though the +midsummer sun may be high in the heavens. A little fly or gnat, +attracted by the bright jewels, alights on a leaf only to find +that the clear drops, more sticky than honey, instantly glue his +feet, that the pretty reddish hairs about him act like tentacles, +reaching inward, to imprison him within their slowly closing +embrace. Here is one of the horrors of the Inquisition operating +in this land of liberty before our very eyes! Excited by the +struggles of the victim, the sensitive hairs close only the +faster, working on the same principle that a vine's tendrils do +when they come in contact with a trellis. More of the sticky +fluid pours upon the hapless fly, plastering over his legs and +wings and the pores on his body through which he draws his +breath. Slowly, surely, the leaf rolls inward, making a temporary +stomach; the cruel hairs bind, the glue suffocates and holds him +fast. Death alone releases him. And now the leafs orgy begins: +moistening the fly with a fresh peptic fluid, which helps in the +assimilation, the plant proceeds to digest its food. Curiously +enough, chemical analysis proves that this sundew secretes a +complex fluid corresponding almost exactly to the gastric juice +in the stomach of animals. + +Darwin, who fed these leaves with various articles, found that +they could dissolve matter out of pollen, seeds, grass, etc.; yet +without a human caterer, how could a leaf turn vegetarian? When a +bit of any undesirable substance, such as chalk or wood, was +placed on the hairs and excited them, they might embrace it +temporarily; but as soon as the mistake was discovered, it would +be dropped! He also poisoned the plants by administering acids, +and gave them fatal attacks of indigestion by overfeeding them +with bits of raw beef! + +Other common sundews, the SPATULATE-LEAVED SUNDEW (D. intermedia) +and the THREAD-LEAVED SUNDEW (D. filiformis) whose purplish-pink +flowers are reared above wet sand along the coast, possess +contrivances similar to the round-leaved plant's to pursue their +gruesome business. Why should these vegetables turn carnivorous? +Doubtless because the soil in which they grow can supply little +or no nitrogen. Very small roots testify to the small use they +serve. The water sucked up through them from the bog aids in the +manufacture of the fluid so freely exuded by the bristly glands, +but nitrogen must be obtained by other means, even at the +sacrifice of insect victims. + + +EARLY SAXIFRAGE + (Saxifraga Virginiensis) Saxifrage family + +Flowers - White, small, numerous, perfect, spreading into a loose +panicle. Calyx 5-lobed; 5 petals; 10 stamens; 1 pistil with 2 +styles. Scape: 4 to 12 in. high, naked, sticky-hairy. Leaves: +Clustered at the base, rather thick, obovate, toothed, and +narrowed into spatulate-margined petioles. Fruit: Widely spread, +purplish-brown pods. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky woodlands, hillsides. +Flowering Season - March-May +Distribution - New Brunswick to Georgia, and westward a thousand +miles or more. + +Rooted in clefts of rock that, therefore, appears to be broken by +this vigorous plant, the saxifrage shows rosettes of fresh green +leaves in earliest spring, and soon whitens with its blossoms the +most forbidding niches. (Saxum = a rock; frango = 1 break.) At +first a small ball of green buds nestles in the leafy tuffet, +then pushes upward on a bare scape, opening its tiny, white, +five-pointed star flowers as it ascends, until, having reached +the allotted height, it scatters them in spreading clusters that +last a fortnight. Again we see that, however insignificantly +small nectar-bearing flowers may be, they are somehow protected +from crawling pilferers; in this case by the commonly employed +sticky hairs in which ants' feet become ensnared. As the anthers +mature before the stigmas are ready to receive pollen, certainly +the flowers cannot afford to send empty away the benefactors on +whom the perpetuation of their race depends; and must prevent it +even with the most heroic measures. + + +FALSE MITERWORT; COOLWORT; FOAM-FLOWER; NANCY-OVER-THE-GROUND + (Tiarella cordifolia) Saxifrage family. + +Flowers - White, small, feathery, borne in a close raceme at the +top of a scape 6 to 12 in. high. Calyx white, 9-lobed; 5 clawed +petals; 10 stamens, long-exserted; 1 pistil with 2 styles. +Leaves: Long-petioled from the rootstock or runners, rounded or +broadly heart-shaped, 3 to 7-lobed, toothed, often downy along +veins beneath. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods, especially along +mountains. +Flowering Season - April-May. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, and westward scarcely to +the Mississippi. + +Fuzzy, bright white foam-flowers are most conspicuous in the +forest when seen against their unevenly colored leaves that +carpet the ground. A relative, the TRUE MITERWORT or BISHOP'S CAP +(Mittella diphylla), with similar foliage, except that two +opposite leaves may be found almost seated near the middle of its +hairy stem, has its flowers rather distantly scattered on the +raceme, and their fine petals deeply cut like fringe. Both +species may be found in bloom at the same time, offering an +opportunity for comparison to the confused novice. Now, tiarella, +meaning a little tiara, and mitella, a little miter, refer, of +course, to the odd forms of their seed-cases; but all of us are +not gifted with the imaginative eyes of Linnaeus, who named the +plants. Xenophon's assertion that the royal tiara or turban of +the Persians was encircled with a crown helps us no more to see +what Linnaeus saw in the one case than the fact that the papal +miter is encircled by three crowns helps in the other. And as for +the lofty, two-peaked cap worn by bishops in the Roman Church, a +dozen plants, with equal propriety, might be said to wear it. + +CAROLINA GRASS OF PARNASSUS + (Parnassia Caroliniana) Saxifrage family + +Flowers - Creamy white, delicately veined with greenish, +solitary, 1 in. broad or over, at the end of a scape 8 in. to 2 +ft. high, 1 ovate leaf clasping it. Calyx deeply 5-lobed; corolla +of 5 spreading, parallel veined petals; 5 fertile stamens +alternating with them, and 3 stout imperfect stamens clustered at +base of each petal; 1 very short pistil with 4 stigmas. Leaves: +>From the root, on long petioles, broadly oval or rounded, +heart-shaped at base, rather thick. +Preferred Habitat - Wet ground, low meadows, swamps. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Virginia, west to Iowa. + +What's in a name? Certainly our common grass of Parnassus, which +is no grass at all, never starred the meadows round about the +home of the Muses, nor sought the steaming savannas of the +Carolinas. The European counterpart (P. palustris), fabled to +have sprung up on Mount Parnassus, is at home here only in the +Canadian border States and northward. + +At first analysis one is puzzled by the clusters of filaments at +the base of each petal. Of what use are they? We have seen in the +case of the beard-tongue and the turtle-head that even imperfect +stamens sometimes serve useful ends, or they would doubtless have +been abolished. A fly or bee mistaking, as he well may, the +abortive anthers for beads of nectar on this flower, alights on +one of the white petals, a convenient, spreading landing place; +but finding his mistake, and guided by the greenish lines, the +pathfinders to the true nectaries situated on the other side of +the curious fringy structures, he must, because of their +troublesome presence, climb over them into the center of the +flower to suck its sweets from the point where he will dust +himself with pollen in young blossoms. Of course he will carry +some of their vitalizing powder to the late maturing stigmas of +older ones. Without the fringe of imperfect stamens, that serves +as a harmless trellis easily climbed over, the visitor might +stand on the petals and sip nectar without rendering any +assistance in cross-fertilizing his entertainers. + + +NINEBARK + (Opulaster opulifolius; Spiraea opulifolia of Gray) Rose +family + +Flowers - White or pink, small, in numerous rounded terminal +clusters to 2 in. broad. Calyx 5-lobed; 5 rounded petals inserted +in its throat; 20 to 40 stamens; several pistils. Stem: Shrubby, +3 to 10 ft. high, with long, recurved branches, the loose bark +peeling off annually in thin strips. Leaves: Simple, heart-shaped +or rounded, 3-lobed, toothed. Fruit: 3 to 5 smooth, shining, +reddish, inflated, pointed pods. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky banks, riversides. +Flowering Season - June. +Distribution - Canada to Georgia, west to Kansas. + +Whether the nurserymen agree with Dr. Gray or not when he says +these balls of white flowers possess "no beauty," the fact +remains that numbers of the shrubs are sold for ornament, +especially a golden-leaved variety. But the charm certainly lies +in their fruit. (Opulus = a wild cranberry tree.) When this is +plentifully set at the ends of long branches that curve backward, +and the bladder-like pods have taken on a rich purplish or +reddish hue, the shrub is undeniably decorative. Even the old +flowers, after they have had their pollen carried away by the +small bees and flies, show a reddish tint on the ovaries which +deepens as the fruit forms; and Ludwig states that this is not +only to increase the conspicuousness of the shrubs, but to entice +unbidden guests away from the younger flowers. Who will tell us +why the old bark should loosen every year and the thin layers +separate into not nine, but dozens of ragged strips? + + +MEADOW-SWEET; QUAKER LADY; QUEEN-OF-THE-MEADOW + (Spiraea salicifolia) Rose family + +Flowers - Small, white or flesh pink, clustered in dense +pyramidal terminal panicles. Calyx 5 cleft; carolla of 5 rounded +petals; stamens numerous; pistils 5 to 8. Stem: 2 to 4 ft. high, +simple or bushy, smooth, usually reddish. Leaves: Alternate, oval +or oblong, saw-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Low meadows, swamps, fence-rows, ditches. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Georgia, west to Rocky Mountains. +Europe and Asia. + +Fleecy white plumes of meadow-sweet, the "spires of closely +clustered bloom" sung by Dora Read Goodale, are surely not +frequently found near dusty "waysides scorched with barren heat," +even in her Berkshires; their preference is for moister soil, +often in the same habitat with a first cousin, the pink +steeple-bush. But plants, like humans, are capricious creatures. +If the meadow-sweet always elected to grow in damp ground whose +rising mists would clog the pores of its leaves, doubtless they +would be protected with a woolly absorbent, as its cousins are. + +Inasmuch as perfume serves as an attraction to the more highly +specialized, aesthetic insects, not required by the spiraeas, our +meadow-sweet has none, in spite of its misleading name. Small +bees (especially Andrenidae), flies (Syrphidae), and beetles, +among other visitors, come in great numbers, seeking the +accessible pollen, and, in this case, nectar also, secreted in a +conspicuous orange-colored disk. When a floret first opens, or +even before, the already mature stigmas overtop the incurved, +undeveloped stamens, so that any visitor dusted from other +clusters cross-fertilizes it; but as the stigmas remain fresh +even after the stamens have risen and shed their abundant pollen, +it follows that in long-continued stormy weather, when few +insects are flying, the flowers fertilize themselves. +Self-fertilization with insect help must often occur in the +flower's second stage. The fragrant yellowish-white ENGLISH +MEADOW-SWEET (S. ulmaria), often cultivated in old-fashioned +gardens here, has escaped locally. + +In long, slender, forking spikes the GOAT'S-BEARD (Aruncus +Aruncus - Spiraea aruncus of Gray) lifts its graceful panicles of +minute whitish flowers in May and June from three to seven feet +above the rich soil of its woodland home. The petioled, pinnate +leaves are compounded of several leaflets like those on its +relative the rose-bush. From New York southward and westward to +Missouri, also on the Pacific Coast to Alaska, is its range on +this Continent. Very many more beetles than any other visitors +transfer pollen from the staminate flowers on one plant to the +pistillate ones on another; other plants produce only perfect +flowers - the reason different panicles vary so much in +appearance. + +Another herbaceous perennial once counted a spiraea is the common +INDIAN PHYSIC or BOWMAN'S-ROOT (Porteranthus trifoliatus - +Gillensia trifoliata of Gray) found blooming in the rich woods +during June and July from western New York southward and +westward. Two to four feet high, it displays its very loose, +pretty clusters of white or pale pink flowers, comparatively few +in the whole panicle, each blossom measuring about a half inch +across and borne on a slender pedicel. A tubular, 5-toothed calyx +has the long slender petals inserted within. Owing to the depth +and narrowness of the tube, the small, long-tongued bees cannot +reach the nectar without dusting their heads with pollen from the +anthers inserted in a ring around the entrance or leaving some on +the stigmas of other blossoms. Later, the five carpels make as +many hairy, awl-tipped little pods within the reddish cup. The +leaves may be compounded of three oblong or ovate, saw-edged +leaflets, or merely three-lobed, and with small stipules at their +base. + + +WILD RED RASPBERRY + (Rubus strigosus) Rose family + +Flowers - White, about 1/2 in. across, on slender, bristly +pedicels, in a loose cluster. Calyx deeply 5-parted, persistent +in fruit; 5 erect, short-lived petals, about the length of the +sepals; stamens numerous; carpels numerous, inserted on a convex +spongy receptacle, and ripening into drupelets. Stem: 3 to 6 ft. +high, shrubby, densely covered with bristles; older, woody stems +with rigid, hooked prickles. Leaves: Compounded of 3 to 5 ovate, +pointed, and irregularly saw-edged leaflets, downy beneath, on +bristly petioles. Fruit: A light red, watery, tender, +high-flavored, edible berry; ripe July-September. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, rocky hillsides, fence-rows, +hedges. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Labrador to North Carolina, also in Rocky Mountain +region. + +Who but the bees and such small visitors care about the raspberry +blossoms? Notwithstanding the nectar secreted in a fleshy ring +for their benefit, comparatively few insects enter the flowers, +whose small, erect petals imply no hospitable welcome. +Occasionally a visitor laden with pollen from another plant +alights in the center of a blossom, and leaves some on the +stigmas in bending his head down between them and the stamens to +reach the refreshment; but inasmuch as the erect petals allow no +room for the stamens to spread out and away from the stigmas, it +follows that self-fertilization very commonly occurs. + +Of course, men and children, bears and birds, are vastly more +interested in the delicious berries; men for the reason that +several excellent market varieties, some white or pale red, the +Cuthbert and Hansall berries among others, owe their origin to +this hardy native. Many superior sorts derived from its European +counterpart (R. Idaeus) cannot well endure our rigorous northern +climate. As in the case of most berry-bearing species, the +raspberry depends upon the birds to drop its undigested seeds +over the country, that new colonies may arise under freer +conditions. Indeed, one of the best places for the budding +ornithologist to take opera-glasses and notebook is to a +raspberry patch early in the morning. + +The BLACK RASPBERRY, BLACK CAP or SCOTCH CAP or THIMBLE-BERRY (R. +occidentalis), common in such situations as the red raspberry +chooses, but especially in burned-over districts from Virginia +northward and westward, has very long, smooth, cane-like stems, +often bending low until they root again at the tips. These are +only sparingly armed with small, hooked prickles, no bristles. +The flowers, which are similar to the preceding, but clustered +more compactly, are sparingly visited by insects; nevertheless +when self-fertilized, as they usually are, abundant +purplish-black berries, hollow like a thimble where they drop +from the spongy receptacle, ripen in July. Numerous garden +hybrids have been derived from this prolific species also. Indeed +its offspring are the easiest raspberries to grow, since they +form new plants at the tips of the branches, yet do not weaken +themselves with suckers, and so, even without care, yield immense +crops. One need not stir many feet around a good raspberry patch +to enjoy a Transcendental feast. + + +HIGH BUSH BLACKBERRY; BRAMBLE + (Rubus villosus) Rose family + +Flowers - White, 1 in. or less across, in terminal raceme-like +clusters. Calyx deeply 5-parted, persistent; 5 large petals; +stamens and carpels numerous, the latter inserted on a pulpy +receptacle. Stem: 3 to 10 ft. high, woody, furrowed, curved, +armed with stout, recurved prickles. Leaves: Compounded of 3 to 5 +ovate, saw-edged leaflets, the end one stalked, all hairy +beneath. Fruit: Firmly attached to the receptacle; nearly black, +oblong juicy berries 1 in. long or less, hanging in clusters. +Ripe, July-August. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, thickets, fence-rows, old fields, +waysides. Low altitudes. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - New England to Florida, and far westward. + + "There was a man of our town, + And he was wondrous wise, + He jumped into a bramble bush" - + +If we must have poetical associations for every flower, Mother +Goose furnishes several. + +But for the practical mind this plant's chief interest lies in +the fact that from its wild varieties the famous Lawton and +Kittatinny blackberries have been derived. The late Peter +Henderson used to tell how the former came to be introduced. A +certain Mr. Secor found an unusually fine blackberry growing wild +in a hedge at New Rochelle, New York, and removed it to his +garden, where it increased apace. But not even for a gift could +he induce a neighbor to relieve him of the superfluous bushes, so +little esteemed were blackberries in his day. However, a shrewd +lawyer named Lawton at length took hold of it, exhibited the +fruit, advertised it cleverly, and succeeded in pocketing a snug +little fortune from the sale of the prolific plants. Another fine +variety of the common wild blackberry, which was discovered by a +clergyman at the edge of the woods on the Kittatinny Mountains in +New Jersey, has produced fruit under skilled cultivation that +still remains the best of its class. When clusters of blossoms +and fruit in various stages of green, red, and black hang on the +same bush, few ornaments in Nature's garden are more decorative. + +Because bramble flowers show greater executive ability than the +raspberries do, they flaunt much larger petals, and spread them +out flat to attract insect workers as well as to make room for +the stamens to spread away from the stigmas - an arrangement +which gives freer access to the nectar secreted in a fleshy ring +at the base. Heavy bumblebees, which require a firm support, +naturally alight in the center, just as they do in the wild +roses, and deposit on the early maturing stigmas some imported +pollen. They may therefore be regarded as the truest benefactors, +and it will be noticed that for their special benefit the nectar +is rather deeply concealed, where short-tongued insects cannot +rob them of it. Small bees, which come only to gather pollen from +first the outer and then the inner rows of stamens, and a long +list of other light-weight visitors, too often alight on the +petals to effect cross-fertilization regularly, but they usually +self-fertilize the blossoms. Competition between these flowers +and the next is fierce, for their seasons overlap. + +The DEWBERRY or LOW RUNNING BLACKBERRY (R. Canadensis), that +trails its woody stem by the dusty roadside, in dry fields, and +on sterile, rocky hillsides, calls forth maledictions from the +bare-footed farmer's boy, except during June and July, when its +prickles are freely forgiven it in consideration of the +delicious, black, seedy berries it bears. He is the last one in +the world to confuse this vine with the SWAMP BLACKBERRY (R. +hispidus), a smaller flowered runner, slender and weakly prickly +as to its stem, and insignificant and sour as to its fruit. Its +greatest charm is when we come upon it in some low meadow in +winter, when its still persistent, shining, large leaves, that +have taken on rich autumnal reds, glow among the dry, dead weeds +and grasses. + + +CREEPING DALIBARDA + (Dalibarda repens) Rose family + +Flowers - White, solitary, or 2 at end of a scape 2 to 5 in. +high. Calyx deeply, unevenly 5 or 6 parted, the larger divisions +toothed; 5 petals falling early; numerous stamens; 5 to 10 +carpels forming as many dry drupelets within the persistent +calyx. Stem: Creeping, slender, no prickles. Leaves: Long +petioled, in tufts from the runner, almost round, heart-shaped at +base, crenate-edged, both sides hairy. +Preferred habitat - Woods and wooded hillsides. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, and westward to the +Mississippi. + +This delicate blossom, which one might mistake for a white violet +among a low tuft of violet-like leaves, shows its rose kinship by +its rule of five and its numerous stamens. Like the violet again, +however, it bears curious little economical flowers near the +ground - flowers which never open, and so save pollen. These, +requiring no insects to fertilize them, waste no energy in +putting forth petals to advertise for visitors. Nevertheless, to +save the species from degeneracy from close inbreeding, this +little plant needs must display a few showy blossoms to insure +cross-fertilized seed; for the offspring of such defeats the +offspring of self-fertilized plants in the struggle for +existence. + + +VIRGINIA STRAWBERRY + (Fragaria Virginiana) Rose family + +Flowers - White, loosely clustered at summit of an erect hairy +scape usually shorter than the leaves. Calyx persistent in fruit, +deeply 5-cleft, with 5 bracts between the divisions; 5 petals; +stamens and pistils numerous, the latter inserted on a +cushion-like receptacle becoming fleshy in fruit. Staminate and +pistillate flowers, from separate roots. Stem: Running, and +forming new plants. Leaves: Tufted from the root, on hairy +petioles 2 to 6 in. tall, compounded of 3 broadly oval, saw-edged +leaflets. Fruit. An ovoid, glistening red berry, the minute +achenes imbedded in pits on its surface. Ripe, June-July. (Latin, +fragum = fragrant fruit, the strawberry.) +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, banks, roadsides, woodlands. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - New Brunswick to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward +to Dakota. + +"Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God +never did." Whether one is kneeling in the fields, gathering the +sun-kissed, fragrant, luscious, wet scarlet berries nodding among +the grass, or eating the huge cultivated fruit smothered with +sugar and cream, one fervently quotes Dr. Boteler with dear old +lzaak Walton. Shakespeare says : "My lord of Ely, when I was last +in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there." Is not +this the first reference to the strawberry under cultivation? +Since the time of Henry V, what multitudes of garden varieties +past the reckoning have been evolved from the smooth, conic +EUROPEAN WOOD STRAWBERRY (F. vesca) now naturalized in our +Eastern and Middle States, as well as from our own precious +pitted native! Some authorities claim the berry received its name +from the straw laid between garden rows to keep the fruit clean, +but in earliest Anglo-Saxon it was called streowberie, and later +straberry, from the peculiarity of its straying suckers lying as +if strewn on the ground; and so, after making due allowance for +the erratic, go-as-you-please spelling of early writers, it would +seem that there might be two theories as to the origin of the +name. + +Since the different sexes of these flowers frequently occur on +separate plants, good reason have they to woo insect messengers +with a showy corolla, a ring of nectar, and abundant pollen to be +transferred while they are feasted. Lucky is the gardener who +succeeds in keeping birds from pecking their share of the berries +which, of course, were primarily intended for them. In English +gardens one is almost certain to find a thrush or two imprisoned +under the nets so futilely spread over strawberry beds, just as +their American cousin, the robin, is caught here in June. + +A young botanist may be interested to note the difference in the +formation of the raspberry or blackberry and the strawberry: in +the former it is the carpels (ovaries) that swell around the +spongy receptacle into numerous little fruits (drupelets) united +into one berry, whereas it is the cushion-like receptacle itself +in the strawberry blossom that swells and reddens into fruit, +carrying with it the tiny yellow pistils to the surface. + +The NORTHERN WILD STRAWBERRY (F. Canadensis), with clusters of +elongated, oblong little berries delightful to three senses, +comes over the Canadian border no farther south than the +Catskills. Nearly all strawberry plants show the useless but +charming eccentricity of bursting into bloom again in autumn, the +little white-petaled blossoms coming like unexpected flurries of +snow. + +No one will confuse our common, fruiting species with the small, +yellow-flowered DRY or BARREN STRAWBERRY (Waldsteinia +fragarioides), more nearly related to the cinquefoils. Tufts of +its pretty trefoliate leaves, sent up from a creeping rootstock, +carpet the woods and hillsides from New England and along the +Alleghanies to Georgia, and westward a thousand miles or more. +Flowers in May and June. + + +WHITE AVENS + (Geum Canadense; G. album of Gray) Rose family + +Flowers - White or pale greenish yellow, about 1/2 in. across, +loosely scattered in small clusters on slender peduncles. Calyx +persistent, 5-cleft, with little bracts between the reflexed +divisions; 5 petals, equaling or shorter than the sepals; stamens +and carpels numerous, the latter collected on a short, +bristly-hairy receptacle; styles smooth below, hairy above, +jointed. Stem: 2 1/2 ft. high or less, slender, branching above. +Leaves: Seated on stem or short petioled, of 3 to 5 divisions, or +lobed, toothed small stipules; also irregularly divided large +root-leaves on long petioles, 3-foliate, usually the terminal +leaflet large, broadly ovate side leaflets much smaller, all more +or less lobed and toothed. Fruit: A ball of achenes, each ending +in an elongated, hooked style. +Preferred Habitat - Woodland borders, shady thickets and +roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, west to the Mississippi or +beyond. + +Small bees and flies attracted to sheltered, shady places by +these loosely scattered flowers at the ends of zig-zagged stems, +pay for the nectar they sip from the disk where the stamens are +inserted, by carrying some of the pollen lunch on their heads +from the older to the younger flowers, which mature stigmas +first. But saucy bumblebees, undutiful pilferers from the purple +avens, rarely visit blossoms so inconspicuous. Insects failing +these, they are well adapted to pollenize themselves. Most of us +are all too familiar with the seeds, clinging by barbed styles to +any garment passing their way, in the hope that their stolen ride +will eventually land them in good colonizing ground. Whoever +spends an hour patiently picking off the various seed tramps from +his clothes after a walk through the woods and fields in autumn, +realizes that the by hook or by crook method of scattering +offspring is one of Nature's favorites. Simpler plants than those +with hooked achenia produce enormous numbers of spores so light +and tiny that the wind and rain distribute them wholesale. + + +RED CHOKE-BERRY; DOGBERRY TREE + (Aronia arbutifolia; Pyrus arbutifolia of Gray) Apple family + +Flowers - White or magenta tinged, 1/2 in. across or less, in +terminal, compound cymes, finally overtopped by young sterile +shoots. Calyx 5-lobed, hairy; 5 concave, spreading petals; +stamens numerous; 3 to 5 styles united at base; ovary woolly. +Stem: Shrubby, branching, usually low, rarely 12 ft. high. +Leaves: Alternate, petioled, oval to oblong, finely cut-edged, +smooth above, matted with woolly hairs underneath. Fruit: Small, +round or top-shaped, bright red berries. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, low ground, wet thickets. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Gulf of Mexico, westward to the +Mississippi. + +Another common species often found in the same haunts, the BLACK +CHOKE-BERRY (A. nigra), with similar flowers, the berries very +dark purple, was formerly confounded with the red choke-berry. +But because it sometimes elects to live in dry ground its leaves +require no woolly mat on the underside to absorb vapors arising +from wet retreats. No wonder that the insipid little berries. +related to apples, pears, and other luscious fruits, should share +with a cousin, the mountain ash, or rowan, the reproachful name +of dogberry. + + +JUNEBERRY; SERVICEBERRY; MAY-CHERRY + (Amelanchier Canadensis) Apple family + +Flowers - Pure white, over 1 in. across, on long, slender +pedicels, in spreading or drooping racemes, with silky, reddish +bracts, early falling, among them. Calyx persistent, 5-parted; 5 +long, narrow, tapering petals, 3 or 4 times the length of calyx; +numerous stamens inserted on calyx throat; 2 to 5 styles, hairy +at base. Stem: A large shrub or tree, usually much less than 25 +ft. high, rarely twice that height, wood very hard and heavy. +Leaves: Alternate, oval, tapering at tip, finely saw-edged, +smooth (like the pear tree's), often hairy when young. Fruit. +Round, crimson, sweet, edible, seedy berries, ripe in June and +July. +Preferred Habitat - Woodland borders, pasture thickets, dry soil. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, westward over +a thousand miles. + +Silvery-white chandeliers, hanging from the edges of the woods, +light Flora's path in earliest spring, before the trees and +shrubbery about them have begun to put forth foliage, much less +flowers. Little plants that hug the earth for protection while +rude winds rush through the forest and across the hillsides, are +already starring her way with fragile, dainty blossoms; but what +other shrub, except the serviceberry's twin sister the shadbush, +or perhaps the spicebush, has the temerity to burst into bloom +while March gusts howl through the naked forests? Little female +bees of the Andrena tribe, already at work collecting pollen and +nectar for generations yet unborn, buzz their gratitude about the +beautiful feathery clusters that lean away from the crowded +thicket with a wild, irregular grace. Nesting birds have abundant +cause for gratitude also, for the attractive, sweet berries, that +ripen providentially early; but, of course, the bees which +transfer pollen from flower to flower, and the birds which drop +the seeds far and wide, are not the receivers of wholly +disinterested favors. + + +The SHADBUSH or SWAMP SUGAR-PEAR (A. Botryapium), because it was +formerly accounted a mere variety (oblongifolia) of the preceding +species, still shares with it its popular names; but swamps, +river banks, brook sides, and moist thickets are its habitat. +Consequently both its inflorescence and pale green, glossy +foliage are covered with a sort of whitish cotton, absorbent when +young, to prevent the pores from clogging with vapors arising +from its damp retreats. Late in the season, when streams narrow +or dry up altogether, and the air becomes drier, as the sun rises +higher in the heavens, the foliage is usually quite smooth. It +will be noticed that, lovely as the shadbush is, its smaller +flowers have shorter pedicels than the serviceberry's; +consequently its feathery sprays, which are flung outward to the +sunshine in April and May, lack something of the grace for which +its sister stands preeminent. Under cultivation both species +assume conventional form, and lose the wild irregularities of +growth that charm us in Nature's garden. Indians believed, what +is an obvious fact, that when this bush whitens the swampy river +banks, shad are swimming up the stream from the sea to spawn. +Then, too, the nighthawk, returning from its winter visit south, +booms forth its curious whirring, vibrating, jarring sound as it +drops through the air at unseen heights, a dismal, weird noise +which the red man thought proceeded from the shad spirits come to +warn the schools of fish of their impending fate. + + +COMMON HAWTHORN: WHITE THORN; SCARLET-FRUITED THORN; RED HAW; +MAYFLOWERS + (Cratoegus coccinea) Apple family + +Flowers - White, rarely pinkish, usually less than 1 in. across, +numerous, in terminal corymbs. Calyx 5-lobed; 5 spreading petals +inserted in its throat numerous stamens; styles 3 to 5. Stem: A +shrub or small tree, rarely attaining 30 ft. in height (Kratos = +strength, in reference to hardness and toughness of the wood); +branches spreading, and beset with stout spines (thorns) nearly 2 +in. long. Leaves: Alternate, petioled, 2 to 3 in. long, ovate, +very sharply cut or lobed, the teeth glandular-tipped. Fruit: +Coral red, round or oval; not edible. +Preferred Habitat - Thickets, fence-rows, woodland borders. +Flowering Season - May. +Distribution - Newfoundland and Manitoba southward to the Gulf of +Mexico. + + "The fair maid who, the first of May, + Goes to the fields at break of day + And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree + Will ever after handsome be." + +Here is a popular recipe omitted from that volume of +heart-to-heart talks entitled "How to Be Pretty though Plain"! + +The sombre-thoughted Scotchman, looking for trouble, tersely +observes: + + "Mony haws, + Mony snaws." + +But in delicious, blossoming May, when the joy of living fairly +intoxicates one, and every bird's throat is swelling with happy +music, who but a Calvinist would croak dismal prophecies? In +Ireland, old crones tell marvelous tales about the hawthorns, and +the banshees which have a predilection for them. So much for +folklore. + +As one might suspect from the rather disagreeable odor of these +blossoms, they are most attractive to flies and beetles, which, +carrying pollen from older flowers, leave some on the stigmas +that are already mature in newly-opened ones. A concave +nectar-secreting disk, not concealed by the filaments in this +case, is eagerly pilfered by numerous little short-lipped insects +which render no benefit in return; but many others assist in +self-pollination after the anthers ripen. The splendid monarch +butterfly (Anosia plexippus), the banded purple (Basilarchia +arthemis), whose caterpillar feeds on hawthorn foliage, and the +light brown hunter's butterfly [American painted lady] (Pyrameis +huntera [Vanessa virginiensis]) are, among the visitors seen +flitting about this exquisite little tree in early May, when it +is fairly white with bloom. + +The RED-FRUITED THORN (C. mollis), more hairy on its twigs, +petioles, calices, and fruit than the preceding, but so like it +in most respects it was formerly accounted a mere variety, is an +earlier and even more prolific bloomer, the generous, large +clusters of malodorous flowers coming with the leaves in April, +and lasting until the common hawthorn starts into lively +competition with it for insect trade. + +Numerous long, slender thorns, often measuring a finger-length, +distinguish the COCKSPUR or NEWCASTLE THORN (C. Crus-Galli), +whose abundant small flowers and shining, leathery leaves, dull +underneath, are conspicuous in thickets from Quebec to the Gulf. +Immense numbers of little bees, among many other visitors, may be +noted on a fine day in May and early June about this showy shrub +or tree. Because it blooms later than its rival sisters, it has +the insect wooers then abroad all to itself. + +While most of our beautiful native hawthorns have been introduced +to European gardens, it is the WHITE THORN or MAY (C. Oxyacantha) +of Europe and Asia which is most commonly cultivated here. Truly +a shrub, like a prophet, is not without honor save in its own +country. + + +WHITE SWEET CLOVER; BOKHARA or TREE CLOVER; WHITE MELILOT; HONEY +LOTUS + (Melilotus alba) Pea family + +Flowers - Small, white, fragrant, papilionaceous, the standard +petal a trifle longer than the wings; borne in slender racemes. +Stem: 3 to 10 ft. tall, branching. Leaves: Rather distant, +petioled, compounded of 3 oblong, saw-edged leaflets; fragrant, +especially when dry. +Preferred Habitat - Wastelands, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-November. +Distribution - United States, Europe, Asia. + +Happy must the honeybees have been to find that the sweet clover, +one of their dearest delights in the Old World, had preceded them +in immigrating to the New. Immense numbers of insects - bees in +great variety, wasps, flies, moths, and beetles - visit the +little blossoms that provide entertainment so generous and +accessible; but honey-bees are ever especially abundant. Slight +weight depresses the keel, releasing the stigma and anthers +therefore, so soon as a bee alights and opens the flower, he is +hit below the belt by the projecting stigma. Pollen carried by +him there from other clovers comes off on its sticky surface +before his abdomen gets freshly dusted from the anthers, which +are necessarily rubbed against while he sips nectar. On the +removal of his pressure, the floret springs back to its closed +condition, to protect the precious nectar and pollen from rain +and pilferers. As the stigma projects too far beyond the anthers +to be likely to receive any of the flower's own pollen, good +reason is there for the blossoms guarding their attractions for +the benefit of their friends, which transfer the vitalizing dust +from one floret to another. By clustering its small flowers in +spikes, to make them conspicuous, as well as to facilitate dining +for its benefactors; by prolonging its season of bloom, to get +relief from the fiercest competition for insect trade, and so to +insure an abundance of vigorous cross-fertilized seed, this plant +reveals at a glance some of the reasons why it has been able to +establish itself so quickly throughout our vast area. + +Both the white and the yellow sweet clover put their leaves to +sleep at night in a remarkable manner: the three leaflets of each +leaf twist through an angle of 90 degrees, until one edge of each +vertical blade is uppermost. The two side leaflets, Darwin found, +always tend to face the north with their upper surface, one +facing north-northwest and the other north-northeast, while the +terminal leaflet escapes the chilling of its sensitive upper +surface through radiation by twisting to a vertical also, but +bending to either east or west, until it comes in contact with +the vertical upper surface of either of the side leaflets. Thus +the upper surface of the terminal and of at least one of the side +leaflets is sure to be well protected through the night; one is +"left out in the cold." + +The dried branches of sweet clover will fill a room with +delightful fragrance; but they will not drive away flies, nor +protect woolens from the ravages of moths, as old women once +taught us to believe. + +The ubiquitous WHITE or DUTCH CLOVER (Trifolium repens), whose +creeping branches send up solitary round heads of white or +pinkish flowers on erect, leafless stems, from May to December, +in fields, open waste land, and cultivated places throughout our +area, Europe, and Asia, devotes itself to wooing bees, since +these are the only insects that effect cross-fertilization +regularly, other visitors aiding it only occasionally. When nets +are stretched over these flowers to exclude insects, only +one-tenth the normal quantity of fertile seed is set. Therefore, +for the bee's benefit, does each little floret conceal nectar in +a tube so deep that small pilferers cannot reach it; but when a +honeybee, for example, depresses the keel of the papilionaceous +blossom, abundant reward awaits him in consideration of his +services in transferring pollen. After the floret which he has +been the means of fertilizing closes over its seed-vessel on his +departure, it gradually withers, grows brown, and hangs downward, +partly to indicate to the next bee that comes along which fords +in the head still contain nectar, and which are done for; partly +to hide the precious little vigorous green seed-pod in the center +of each withered, papery corolla from the visitation of certain +insects whose minute grubs destroy countless millions of the +progeny of less careful plants. Thus the erect florets in a head +stand awaiting their benefactors; those drooping around the outer +edge are engaged in the most serious business of life. Sometimes +a solitary old maid remains standing, looking anxiously for a +lover, at the end of the season. Usually all the florets are then +bent down around the stem in a brown and crumpled mass. But +however successfully the clover guards its seeds from +annihilation, its foliage is the favorite food of very many +species of caterpillars and of all grazing cattle the world +around. This is still another plant frequently miscalled +shamrock. Good luck or bad attends the finding of the leaves, +when compounded of an even or an odd number of leaflets more than +the normal count, according to the saying of many simple-minded +folk. + +The little RABBIT'S-FOOT, PUSSY, OLD-FIELD, or STONE CLOVER (T. +arvense) has silky plumed calices to hold its minute whitish +florets, giving the dense, oblong heads a charming softness and +dove color after it has gone to seed. Like most other clovers, it +has come to us from the Old World. + + +FLOWERING SPURGE + (Euphorbia corollata) Spurge family + +Flowers - (Apparently) white, small, borne in forked, +long-stalked umbels, subtended by green bracts; but the true +flowers are minute, and situated within the white cup-shaped +involucre, usually mistaken for a corolla. Staminate flowers +scattered over inner surface of involucre, each composed of a +single stamen on a thread-like pedicel with a rudimentary calyx +or tiny bract below it. A solitary pistillate flower at bottom of +involucre, consisting of 3-celled ovary; 3 styles, 2-cleft, at +length forming an erect 3-lobed capsule separating into 3 +2-valved carpels. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. high, often brightly spotted, +simple below, umbellately 5-branched above (usually). Leaves: +Linear, lance-shaped or oblong, entire; lower ones alternate, +upper ones whorled. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, gravelly or sandy. +Flowering Season - April-October. +Distribution - From Kansas and Ontario to the Atlantic. + +A very commonplace and uninteresting looking weed is this spurge, +which no one but a botanist would suspect of kinship with the +brilliant vermilion poinsettia, so commonly grown in American +greenhouses. Examination shows that these little bright white +cups of the flowering spurge, simulating a five-cleft corolla, +are no more the true flowers in the one case than the large red +bracts around the poinsettia's globular greenish blossom +involucres are in the other. From the milky juice alone one might +guess the spurge to be related to the rubber plant. Still another +familiar cousin is the stately castor-oil plant; and while the +common dull purplish IPECAC SPURGE (E. Ipecacuanhae) also +suggests unpleasant doses, it is really a member of quite another +family that furnishes the old-fashioned emetic. The flowering +spurge, having its staminate and pistillate flowers distinct, +depends upon flies, its truest benefactors, to transfer pollen +from the former to the latter. + + +STAGHORN SUMAC; VINEGAR TREE + (Rhus hirta; R. typhina of Gray) Sumac family + +Flowers - Greenish or yellowish white, very small, usually +5-parted, and borne in dense upright, terminal, pyramidal +clusters. Stem: A shrub or small tree, 6 to 40 ft. high, the ends +of branches forked somewhat like a stag's horns. Leaves. +Compounded of 11 to 31 lance-shaped, saw-edged leaflets, dark +green above, pale below; the petioles and twigs often +velvety-hairy. Fruit: Small globules, very thickly covered with +crimson hairs. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, rough or rocky places, banks, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, and westward 1500 miles. + +Painted with glorious scarlet, crimson, and gold, the autumnal +foliage of the sumacs, and even the fruit, so far eclipse their +inconspicuous flowers in attractiveness that one quite ignores +them. Not so the small, short-tongued bees (chiefly Andrenidae) +and flies (Dipteria) seeking the freely exposed nectar secreted +in five orange-colored glands in the shallow little cups. As some +of the flowers are staminate and some pistillate, although others +show a tendency to revert to the perfect condition of their +ancestors, it behooves them to entertain their little +pollen-carrying visitors generously, otherwise no seed can +possibly be set. And how the autumnal landscape would suffer from +the loss of the decorative, dark-red, velvety panicles! Beware +only of the poison sumac's deadly, round grayish-white berries. + +Most sumacs contain more or less tannin in their bark and leaves, +that are therefore eagerly sought by agents for the leather +merchants. The beautiful SMOKE or MIST TREE (R. cotinus), +commonly imported from southern Europe to adorn our lawns +(although a similar species grows wild in the Southwest), serves +a more utilitarian purpose in supplying commerce with a rich +orange-yellow dye-wood known as young fustic. All this tribe of +shrubs and trees contain resinous, milky juice, drying dark like +varnish, which in a Japanese species is transformed by the clever +native artisans into their famous lacquer. With a commercial +instinct worthy of the Hebrew, they guard this process as a +national secret. + +The SMOOTH, UPLAND, or SCARLET SUMAC (R. glabra), similar to the +staghorn, but lacking its velvety down, and usually of much lower +growth, is the very common and widely distributed shrub of dry +roadsides, railroad banks, and barren fields. Another +low-growing, but more or less downy upland sumac, the DWARF, +BLACK, or MOUNTAIN SUMAC (R. copallina), may be known by its +dark, glossy green foliage, pale on the underside, and by the +broadening of the stem into wings between the leaflets. Hungry +migrating birds alight to feast on the harmless acid red fruit +when the gorgeous autumnal foliage illuminates their route +southward. But while they are, of course, the natural agents for +distributing the plants over the country, men find that by +cutting bits of any sumac root and planting them in good garden +soil, strong specimens are secured within a year. An exquisite +cut-leaved variety of the smooth sumac adorns many fine lawns. + +Everyone should know the POISON SUMAC (R. Vernix - R. venenata of +Gray) as the shrub above all others to avoid. Like its cousin, +the POISON or THREE-LEAVED IVY (R. radicans), which once had the +specific name Toxicodendron, although Linnaeus applied that title +to a hairy shrub of the Southern States, the poison sumac causes +most painful swelling and irritation to the skin of some people, +though they do nothing more than pass it by when the wind is +blowing over it. Others may handle both these plants with +impunity. In spring they are especially noisome; but when the +pores of the skin are opened by perspiration, people who are at +all sensitive should give them a wide berth at any season. +Usually the poison sumac grows in wet or swampy ground; its bark +is gray, its leaf-stalks are red; the leaves are compounded, of +fewer leaflets than those of the innocent sumacs - that is, of +from seven to thirteen - which are green on both sides; the +flowers, which are dull whitish-green, grow in loose panicles +from the axils of the leaves, and naturally the berries follow +them in the same unusual situation. "By their fruits ye shall +know them:" all the harmless sumacs have red fruit clusters at +the ends of the branches, whereas both the poison sumac's and the +poison ivy's axillary clusters are dull grayish-white. + + +AMERICAN HOLLY + (Ilex opaca) Holly family + +Flowers - Very small, greenish or yellowish white, from 3 to 10 +staminate ones in a short cyme; fertile flowers usually solitary, +scattered. Stem: A small tree of very slow growth, rarely +attaining any great height. Leaves: Evergreen, thick, rigid, +glossy, elliptical, scalloped edged, spiny-tipped. Fruit: Round, +red berries. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, west to Texas, +chiefly near the coast and south of New York. + +Happily we continue to borrow all the beautiful Old World +associations, poetical and legendary, that cluster about the +holly at Christmas time, although our native tree furnishes most +of our holiday decorations. So far back as Pliny's day, the +European holly had all manner of supernatural qualities +attributed to it: its insignificant little flowers caused water +to freeze, he tells us; because it was believed to repel +lightning, the Romans planted it near their houses; and a branch +of it thrown after any refractory animal, even if it did not hit +him, would subdue him instantly, and cause him to lie down meekly +beside the stick! Can it be that the Italian peasants, who still +believe cattle kneel in their stalls at midnight on the +anniversary of Jesus' birth, decorate the mangers on Christmas +eve with holly, among other plants, because of a survival of this +old pagan notion about its subduing effect on animals? + +Would that the beautiful holly of English gardens (I. +Aquifolium), more glossy and spiny of leaf and redder of berry +than our own, might live here; but it is too tender to withstand +New England winters, and the hot, dry summers farther south soon +prove fatal. Ilex was the ancient name, not of these plants, but +of the holly oak. + +The MOUNTAIN HOLLY (Ilicioides mucronata - Nemopanthes Canadensis +of Gray) a shrub of the northern swamps, about six feet high, and +by no means confined to mountainous regions, since it is also +abundant in the middle West, has smooth-edged, elliptic, petioled +leaves, ash-colored bark, small, solitary, narrow-petalled +staminate and pistillate flowers on long, threadlike pedicels +from the leaf-axils in May. In August dull pale-red berries +appear. Darwin proved that seed set with the help of pollen +brought from distinct plants produces offspring that vanquishes +the offspring of seed set with pollen brought from another flower +on the same plant in the struggle for existence. Thus we see, in +very many ambitious plants besides those of the holly tribe, a +tendency to separate the male and the female flowers as widely as +possible. + + +BLACK ALDER; WINTERBERRY FEVER-BUSH + (Ilex verticillata) Holly family + +Flowers - Small, greenish white, the staminate clusters 2 to 10 +flowered the fertile ones 1 to 3 flowered. Stem: A shrub 6 to 25 +ft. high. Leaves: Oval, tapering to a point, about 1 in. wide, +saw-edged, dark green, smooth above, hairy, especially along +veins underneath. Fruit: Bright red berries, about the size of a +pea, apparently whorled around the twigs. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, ditches, fencerows, and low thickets. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Missouri. + +Beautiful bright red berries, dotted or clustered along the naked +twigs of the black alder, add an indispensable cheeriness to the +somber winter landscape. Bunches of them, commonly sold in the +city streets for household decoration, bring twenty-five cents +each; hence the shrubs within a large radius of each market get +ample pruning every autumn. The leaves turn black before dropping +off. + +The SMOOTH WINTERBERRY (I. laevigata), a similar species, but of +more restricted range, ripens its larger, orange-red berries +earlier than the preceding, and before its leaves, which turn +yellow, not black, in autumn, have fallen. Another distinguishing +feature is that its small, greenish-white staminate flowers grow +on long, very slender pedicels; whereas the solitary fertile +flowers are much nearer the stern. + + +BITTERSWEET; WAX-WORK; STAFF-TREE + (Celastrus scandens) Staff-tree family + +Flowers - Small, greenish-white, 5-parted, some staminate, some +pistillate only; in terminal compound racemes 4 in. long or less. +Stem: Woody, twining. Leaves: Alternate, oval, tapering, finely +toothed, thin, with a tendency to show white variations. Fruit: A +yellow-orange berry-like capsule, splitting at maturity and +curling back to display the scarlet, pulpy coating of the seeds +within. +Preferred Habitat - Rich soil of thickets, fence rows, and +wayslde tangles. +Flowering Season - June. +Distribution - North Carolina, New Mexico, and far north. + +Not to be hung above mirror and picture frames in farmhouse +parlors, as we have been wont to think, do the brilliant clusters +of orange-red wax-work berries attract the eye, where they +brighten old walls, copses, and fence rows in autumn; but to +advertise their charming wares to hungry migrating birds, which +will drop the seeds concealed within the red berry perhaps a +thousand miles away, and so plant new colonies. On the smaller, +less specialized bees and flies the vine depends in June to carry +pollen from its staminate flowers to the fertile ones, whose +thick, erect pistil would wither without fruiting without their +help. + +But the best laid plans of other creatures than mice and men +"gang aft a-gley." What mean the little cottony tufts all along +the stems of so very many bittersweet vines, but that these have +foes as well as friends? Curious little parasitic tree-hoppers +(Membracis binotata), which spend their entire lives on the +stems, sucking the juices through their little beaks, just as the +aphids moor themselves to the tender rose-twigs, might be +mistaken for thorns during one of their protective masquerades. +Again they look like diminutive flocks of fowl, their heads ever +pointing in one direction, no matter how the vine may twist and +turn - always toward the top of the branch, that they may the +better siphon the sap down their tiny throats. Toward the end of +summer the females, which have a sharp instrument at the rear of +their bodies, cut deeply into the juicy food-store, the cambium +layer of bark, and there deposit their eggs. Presently, a nest +being filled, the mother emits a substantial froth at the end of +her ovipositor, and proceeds to construct the cottony, corrugated +dome over her nursery which first attracted our attention. This +is especially skilful work, for she works behind her, evidently +not from sight, but from instinct only. Inasmuch as the young +hoppers will not come forth until the following summer, some such +snug protection is required during winter's cold and snows. With +hordes of little parasites constantly preying on its juices, is +it any wonder the vine is often too enfeebled to produce seed, or +that the leaves lose part of their color and become, as we say, +variegated? Occasionally one finds the cottony nursery domes of +this little hopper on the locust tree - the favorite home of its +big, noisy relative, the so-called locust, or cicada. + + +NEW JERSEY TEA; WILD SNOWBALL; RED-ROOT + (Ceanothus Americanus) Buckthorn family + +Flowers - Small, white, on white pedicels, crowded in dense, +oblong, terminal clusters. Calyx white, hemispheric, 5-lobed; +petals, hooded and long-clawed; 5 stamens with long filaments; +style short, 3-cleft. Stems: Shrubby, 1 to 3 ft. high, usually +several, from a deep reddish root. Leaves: Alternate, +ovate-oblong, acute at tip, finely saw-edged, 3-nerved, on short +petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, open woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Ontario south and west to the Gulf of Mexico. + +Light, feathery clusters of white little flowers crowded on the +twigs of this low shrub interested thrifty colonial housewives of +Revolutionary days not at all; the tender, young, rusty, downy +leaves were what they sought to dry as a substitute for imported +tea. Doubtless the thought that they were thereby evading George +the Third's tax and brewing patriotism in every kettleful added a +sweetness to the homemade beverage that sugar itself could not +impart. The American troops were glad enough to use New Jersey +tea throughout the war. A nankeen or cinnamon-colored dye is made +from the reddish root. + + +NORTHERN, WILD, FOX, or PLUM GRAPE + (Vitis Labrusca) Grape family + +Flowers - Greenish, small, deliciously fragrant, some staminate, +some pistillate, rarely perfect; the fertile flowers in more +compact panicles than the sterile ones. Stem: Climbing with the +help of tendrils; woody, bark loose. Leaves: Large, rounded or +lobed, toothed, rusty-hairy underneath, especially when young, +each leathery leaf opposite a tendril or a flower cluster. Fruit: +Clusters containing a few brownish, purple, musky-scented grapes, +3/4 in. across. Ripe, August-September. +Preferred Habitat - Sunny thickets, loamy or gravelly soil. +Flowering Season - June. +Distribution - New England to Georgia, west to Minnesota and +Tennessee. + +Aesop's fox may never have touched the grapes of fable, but this, +our wild species, certainly retains a strong foxy odor, which at +least suggests that he came very near them. Tough pulp and thick +skin by no means deter birds and beasts from feasting on this +fruit, and so dispersing the seeds; but mankind prefers the +tender, delightful flavored Isabella, Catawba, and Concord grapes +derived from it. The Massachusetts man who produced the Concord +variety in the town whose name he gave it, declares he would be a +millionaire had he received only a penny royalty on every Concord +grapevine planted. + +What fragrance is more delicious than that of the blossoming +grape? To swing in a loop made by some strong old vine, when the +air almost intoxicates one with its sweetness on a June evening, +is many a country child's idea of perfect bliss. Not until about +nine o'clock do the leaves "go to sleep" by becoming depressed in +the center like saucers. This was the signal for bedtime that one +child, at least, used to wait for. We have seen in the clematis +how its sensitive leafstalks hook themselves over any support +they rub against; but the grapevine has gone a step farther, and +by discarding an occasional flower cluster and prolonging the +flower stalk into a coiling, forking tendril it moors itself to +the thicket. We know that all tendrils are either transformed +leaves, as in the case of the pea vine, where each branch of its +tendril represents a modified leaflet; or they are transformed +flower stalks or other organs. Occasionally the tendril of a +grapevine reveals its ancestry by bearing a blossom or a cluster +of flowers, and sometimes even fruit, about midway on the coil, +which attempts to fill all offices at once like Pooh Bah. + +The phylloxera having destroyed many of the finest vineyards in +Europe, it would seem that Americans have the best of chances to +supply the world with high-class wines, for there is not a State +in the Union where the vine will not flourish. Here its worst +enemy is mildew, a parasitical fungus which attacks the leaves, +revealing itself in yellowish-brown patches on the upper side, +and thin, frosty patches underneath. Soon the leaves become sere, +and then they fall. The microscope reveals a miniature forest of +growth in each leaf, with the threadlike roots of the fungi +searching about the leaf cells for food. To burn old leaves, and +to blow sulphur over the vine while it is wet, are efficacious +remedies. Bees and wasps which puncture grapes to feast on them, +are the innocent means of destroying quantities. + +Both the RIVERSIDE or SWEET-SCENTED GRAPE (V. vulpina; formerly +V. cordifolia, var. riparia) - whose bluish-black, bloom-covered +fruit begins to ripen in July; and the FROST, CHICKEN, POSSUM, or +WINTER GRAPE (V. cordifolia), whose smaller, shining black +berries are not at their best till after frost, grow along +streams and preferably in rocky situations. The shining, light +green, thin leaves of the sweet-scented species are sharply +lobed, the three to seven lobes have acute teeth, and the +tendrils are intermittent. The frost grape's leaves, which are +commonly three or four inches wide, are deeply heart-shaped, +entire (rarely slightly three-lobed), tapering to a long point +and acutely toothed. + +Another familiar member of the Grape family, the VIRGINIA +CREEPER, FALSE GRAPE, AMERICAN or FIVE-LEAVED IVY, also +erroneously called WOODBINE (Parthenocissus quinquefolia; +formerly Ampelopsis quinquefolia) - is far more charming in its +glorious autumnal foliage, when its small dark blue berries hang +from red peduncles, than when its insignificant greenish flower +clusters appear in July. The leaves, compounded of five leaflets, +should sufficiently distinguish the harmless vine from the +three-leaved poison ivy, sometimes confounded with it. From +Manitoba and Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, and even in Cuba, the +Virginia creeper rambles over thickets, fences, and walls, +ascends trees, festoons rocky woodlands, drapes our verandas, +making its way with the help of modified flower stalks that are +now branching tendrils, each branch bearing an adhesive disk at +the end. "In the course of about two days after a tendril has +arranged its branches so as to press upon any surface," says +Darwin, "its curved tips swell, become bright red, and form on +their undersides little disks or cushions with which they adhere +firmly." It is supposed that these disks secrete a cement. At any +rate, we know that they have a very tenacious hold, because often +one contracting tendril, as elastic as a steel spring, supports, +by means of these little disks, the entire weight of the branch +it lifts up. Darwin concluded that a tendril with five +disk-bearing branches, on which he experimented, would stand a +strain of ten pounds, even after ten years' exposure to high +winds and softening rains. + + +WHITE VIOLETS + (Viola) Violet family + +Three small-flowered, white, purple-veined, and almost beardless +species which prefer to dwell in moist meadows, damp, mossy +places, and along the borders of streams, are the LANCE-LEAVED +VIOLET (V. lanceolata), the PRIMROSE-LEAVED VIOLET (V. +prirnulaefolia), and the SWEET WHITE VIOLET (V. blanda), whose +leaves show successive gradations from the narrow, tapering, +smooth, long-petioled blades of the first to the oval form of the +second and the almost circular, cordate leaf of the delicately +fragrant, little white blanda, the dearest violet of all. +Inasmuch as these are short-spurred species, requiring no effort +for bees to drain their nectaries, no footholds in the form of +beards on the side petals are provided for them. The purple +veinings show the stupidest visitor the path to the sweets. + +The sprightly CANADA VIOLET (V. Canadensis), widely distributed +in woodlands, chiefly in hilly and mountainous regions, rears +tall, leafy stems terminated by faintly fragrant white or pale +lavender blossoms, purple-tinged without and purple veined, the +side petals bearded, the long sepals tapering to sharp points. +Here we see a violet in the process of changing from the white +ancestral type to the purple color which Sir John Lubbock, among +other scientists, considers the highest step in chromatic +evolution. This species has heart-shaped, saw-edged leaves which +taper acutely. From May even to July is its regular blooming +season; but the delightful family eccentricity of flowering again +in autumn appears to be a confirmed habit with the Canada violet. + + +ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE + (Circaea Lutetiana) Evening Primrose family + +Flowers - Very small, white, slender pedicelled, in terminal and +lateral racemes. Calyx 2-parted, hairy 2 petals, 2 alternate +stamens. Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high, slender, branching, swollen at +nodes. Leaves: Opposite, tapering to a point, distantly toothed, +2 to 4 in. long, slender petioled. Fruit: Pear-shaped, 2-celled, +densely covered with stiff, hooked hairs. +Preferred Habitat - Woods; shady roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, westward to Nebraska. +Europe and Asia. + +Why Circe, the enchantress, skilled in the use of poisonous +herbs, should have had her name applied to this innocent and +insignificant looking little plant is not now obvious; neither is +the title of nightshade any more appropriate. + +Each tiny flower having a hairy calyx, that acts as a stockade +against ants and other such crawling pilferers, we suspect there +are abundant sweets secreted in the fleshy ring at the base of +the styles for the benefit of the numerous flies seen hovering +about. Among other visitors, watch the common housefly alighting +on the knobby stigma, a most convenient landing place, where he +leaves some pollen carried on his underside from other nightshade +blossoms. In clasping the bases of the two pliable stamens, his +only available supports as he sucks, he will surely get well +dusted again, that he may fertilize the next blossom he flies to +for refreshment. The nightshade's little pear-shaped seed +vessels, armed with hooked bristles by which they steal a ride on +any passing petticoat or trouser leg, reveal at a glance how this +plant has contrived to travel around the globe. + +A smaller, weaker species (Circaea alpina), found in cool, moist +woods, chiefly north, has thin, shining leaves and soft, hooked +hairs on its vagabond seeds. Less dependence seems to be placed +on these ineffective hooks to help perpetuate the plant than on +the tiny pink bulblets growing at the end of an exceedingly +slender thread sent out by the parent roots. + + +AMERICAN SPIKENARD; INDIAN ROOT; SPIGNET + (Aralia racemosa) Ginseng family + +Flowers - Greenish white, small, 5-parted, mostly imperfect, in a +drooping compound raceme of rounded clusters. Stem: 3 to 6 ft. +high, branches spreading. Roots: Large, thick, fragrant. Leaves: +Compounded of heart-shaped, sharply tapering, saw-edged leaflets +from 2 to 5 in. long, often downy underneath. Lower leaves often +enormous. Fruit: Dark reddish-brown berries. +Preferred Habitat - Rich open woods, wayside thickets, light +soil. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Georgia, west to the Mississippi. + +A striking, decorative plant, once much sought after for its +medicinal virtues - still another herb with which old women +delight to dose their victims for any malady from a cold to a +carbuncle. Quite a different plant, but a relative, is the one +with hairy, spike-like shoots from its fragrant roots, from which +the "very precious" ointment poured by Mary upon the Saviour's +head was made. The nard, an Indian product from that plant, which +is still found growing on the distant Himalayas, could then be +imported into Palestine only by the rich. + +The wild spikenard, or false Solomon's seal, has not the remotest +connection with this tribe of plants. Inasmuch as some of the +American spikenard's tiny flowers are staminate and some +pistillate, while others again are perfect, they depend upon +flies chiefly - but on some wasps and beetles, too - to transfer +pollen and enable the fertile ones to set seed. How certain of +the winter birds gormandize on the resinous, spicy little +berries! A flock of juncos will strip the fruit from every +spikenard in the neighborhood the first day it arrives from the +North. + +The WILD or FALSE SARSAPARILLA (A. nudicaulis), so common in +woods, hillsides, and thickets, shelters its three spreading +umbels of greenish-white flowers in May and June beneath a canopy +formed by a large, solitary, compound leaf. The aromatic roots, +which run horizontally sometimes three feet or more through the +soil, send up a very short, smooth proper stem which lifts a tall +leafstalk and a shorter, naked flower stalk. The single large +leaf, of exquisite bronzy tints when young, is compounded of from +three to five oval, toothed leaflets on each of its three +divisions. The tiny five-parted flowers have their petals curved +backward over the calyx to make their refreshments more +accessible for the flies, on which they chiefly rely for aid in +producing those close clusters of dark-purple berries on which +migrating birds feast in early autumn. By these agents the plant +has been distributed from Newfoundland to the Carolinas, westward +from Manitoba to Missouri, which is not surprising when we +remember that certain birds travel from the Gulf of Mexico to the +Great Lakes in a single night. While the true sarsaparilla of +medicine should come from a quite different herb that flourishes +in Mexico and South America, this one furnishes a commercial +substitute enormously used as a blood purifier and cooling summer +drink. Burrowing rabbits delight to nibble the long, slender, +fragrant roots. + + +The GINSENG (Panax quinquefolium; Aralia quinquefolia of Gray) +found in rich woods from Quebec to Alabama, and westward to +Nebraska - that is, where found at all, for much hunting has all +but exterminated it in many regions - bears a solitary umbel of +small yellowish-green, five-parted, polygamous flowers in July +and August at the end of a smooth stem about a foot high. Bright +crimson berries follow the clusters on the female plants in early +autumn. Three long-petioled leaves, which grow in a whorl at the +top of the low stem, are palmately divided into five thin, ovate, +pointed, and irregularly toothed leaflets. But it is the deep +fusiform root, simple or branched, about which the Americanized +Chinese, at least, are most concerned. For centuries Chinese +physicians have ascribed miraculous virtues to the Manchurian +ginseng. Not only can it remove fatigue and restore lost powers, +but by its use veterans became frisky youths again according to +these wise men of the East. In short, they consider it the +panacea for all ills (Panax: pan = all, akos = remedy) - the +source of immortality. Naturally the roots were and are in great +demand, especially such as branch so as to resemble the human +form. (Both the Chinese name Schin-sen, and Garan-toguen, the +Indian one, are said to mean like a man. Here is an interesting +clue for the ethnologists to follow !) Imperial edict prohibited +the Chinese from digging up their native plant lest it be +exterminated. So Jesuit missionaries, who discovered our similar +ginseng, were not slow in exporting it to China when it was +literally worth its weight in gold. Indeed, it is always sold by +weight - a fact on which the heathen Chinee "with ways that are +dark and tricks that are vain" not infrequently relies. Chinamen, +who gather large quantities in our Western States to sell to the +wholesale druggists for export, sometimes drill holes into the +largest roots, pour in melted lead, and plug up the drills so +ingeniously that druggists refuse to pay for a Chinaman's +diggings until they have handled and weighed each root +separately. + +The DWARF GINSENG, OR GROUND NUT (P. trifolium; Aralia trifolia +of Gray) whose little white flowers are clustered in feathery, +fluffy balls above the whorl of three compound leaves in April +and May, chooses low thickets and moist woods for its habitat - +often in the same neighborhood with its larger relative. +Yellowish berries follow the fragrant white pompons. One must +burrow deep, like the rabbits, to find its round, pungent, sweet, +nut-like root, measuring about half an inch across, which few +have ever seen. + + +WILD CARROT; QUEEN ANNE'S LACE; BIRD'S-NEST + (Daucus Carota) Carrot family + +Flowers - Small, of unequal sizes (polygamous), white, rarely +pinkish gray, 5-parted, in a compound, flat, circular umbel, the +central floret often dark crimson; the umbels very concave in +fruit. An involucre of narrow, pinnately cut bracts. Stem: 1 to 3 +ft. high, with stiff hairs; from a deep, fleshy, conic root. +Leaves: Cut into fine, fringy divisions; upper ones smaller and +less dissected. +Preferred Habitat - Wastelands, fields, roadsides. Flowering +Season - June-September. +Distribution - Eastern half of United States and Canada. Europe +and Asia. + +A pest to farmers, a joy to the flower lover, and a welcome +signal for refreshment to hosts of flies, beetles, bees, and +wasps, especially to the paper-nest builders, the sprangly wild +carrot lifts its fringy foliage and exquisite lacy, blossoms +above the dry soil of three continents. From Europe it has come +to spread its delicate wheels over our summer landscape, until +whole fields are whitened by them east of the Mississippi. Having +proved fittest in the struggle for survival in the fiercer +competition of plants in the over-cultivated Old World, it takes +its course of empire westward year by year, Finding most +favorable conditions for colonizing in our vast, uncultivated +area; and the less aggressive, native occupants of our soil are +only too readily crowded out. Would that the advocates of +unrestricted immigration of foreign peasants studied the parallel +examples among floral invaders! + +What is the secret of the wild carrots' triumphal march? As +usual, it is to be sought chiefly in the flower's scheme to +attract and utilize visitors. Nectar being secreted in open disks +near to one another, the shortest-tongued insects can lick it up +from the Umbelliferae with even less loss of time than from the +tubular florets of the Cornpositae. Over sixty distinct species +of insects may be taken on the wild carrot by any amateur, since +it blooms while insect life is at its height but, as might be +expected, the long-tongued and color-loving, specialized bees and +butterflies do not often waste time on florets so easily drained +by the mob. Ants find the stiff hairs on the stem disagreeable +obstacles to pilfering; but no visitors seem to object to the +flowers' suffocating odor. + +One of these lacy, white umbels must be examined under a lens +before its delicate structure and perfection of detail can be +appreciated. Naturally a visitor is attracted first by the +largest, most showy florets situated around the outer edge of the +wheel, on which he leaves pollen, brought from another umbel; and +any vitalizing dust remaining on his under side may be left on +the less conspicuous hermaphrodite blossoms as he makes his way +toward the center, where the tiny, pollen-bearing florets are +grouped. From the latter, as he flies away, he will carry fresh +pollen to the outer row of florets on another umbel, and so on - +at least this is the usual and highly advantageous method. After +general fertilization, the slender flower-stalks curl inward, and +the umbel forms a hollow nest that gradually contracts as it +dries, almost, if not quite, closing at the top, albeit the +fiction that bees and spiders make their home in the seeding +umbels circulates freely. + +Still another fiction is that the cultivated carrot, introduced +to England by the Dutch in Queen Elizabeth's reign, was derived +from this wild species. Miller, the celebrated English botanist +and gardener, among many others, has disproved this statement by +utterly failing again and again to produce an edible vegetable +from this wild root. When cultivation of the garden carrot lapses +for a few generations, it reverts to the ancestral type -a +species quite distinct from Daucus Carota. + + +SMOOTHER SWEET CICELY + (Washingtonia longistylis; Osmorrhiza longistylis of Gray) +Carrot family + +Flowers - Small, white, 5-parted; in few rayed, long-peduncled +umbels, with small bracts below them. Stem: 1 1/2 to 3 ft. high, +branching, from thick, fleshy, fragrant, edible roots. Leaves: +Lower ones often very large, long-petioled, thrice-compound, and +again divided, the leaflets ovate, pointed, deeply toothed, +slightly downy; upper leaves less compound, nearly sessile. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, westward to Dakota. + +Graceful in gesture, with delicate, fernlike leaves and +anise-scented roots that children, like rabbits, delight to +nibble, the sweet cicely attracts attention by its fragrance, +however insignificant its flowers. In wooded places, such as it +prefers to dwell in, white blossoms, which are far more +noticeable in a dim light than colored ones, and finely cut +leaves that can best withstand the drip from trees, abound. These +white umbels bear a large proportion of male, or pollen-bearing, +florets to the number of hermaphrodite, or two-sexed, florets; +but as the latter mature their pollen before their stigmas become +susceptible to it, self-fertilization is well guarded against, +and cross-fertilization is effected with the help of as many +flies as small bees, which come in numbers to lick up the nectar +so freely exposed in consideration of their short tongues. We +have to thank these little creatures for the long, slender seeds, +armed with short bristles along the ribs, that they may snatch +rides on our garments, together with the beggar-ticks, burdock, +cleavers, and other vagabond colonists in search of unoccupied +ground. Be sure you know the difference between sweet cicely and +the poisonous water hemlock before tasting the former's spicy +root. + +Was there no more important genus - containing, if possible, red, +white, and blue flowers - to have named in honor of the Father of +his Country? + +Another member of the Carrot family, the SANICLE or BLACK +SNAKEROOT (Sanicula Marylandica), found blooming from May to July +in such rich, moist woodlands and shrubbery as the sweet cicely +prefers, lifts spreading, two to four rayed umbels of +insignificant-looking but interesting little greenish-white +florets. At first the tips of the five petals are tucked into the +center of each little flower; underneath them the stamens are now +imprisoned while any danger of self-fertilizing the stigma +remains. The few hermaphrodite florets have their styles +protruding from the start, and incoming insects leave pollen +brought from staminate florets on the early-maturing stigmas. +After cross-fertilization has been effected, it is the pistil's +turn to keep out of the way, and give the imprisoned stamens a +chance: the styles curve until the stigmas are pressed against +the sides of the ovary, that not a grain of pollen may touch +them; the petals spread and release the stamens; but so great is +the flower's zeal not to be fertilized with its own pollen that +it sometimes holds the anthers tightly between the petals until +all the vitalizing dust has been shed! Around the hermaphrodite +florets are a large number of male florets in each hemispheric +cluster. Hooked bristles and slender, curved styles protrude from +the little burr-like seeds, that any creature passing by may give +them a lift to fresh colonizing land! The firm bluish-green +leaves, palmately divided into from five to seven oblong, +irregularly saw-edged segments, the upper leaves seated on the +stem, the lower ones long-petioled, help us to identify this +common weed. + +With splendid, vigorous gesture the COW-PARSNIP (Heracleum +lanatum) rears itself from four to eight feet above moist, rich +soil from ocean to ocean in circumpolar regions as in temperate +climes. A perfect Hercules for coarseness and strength does it +appear when contrasted with some of the dainty members of the +carrot tribe. In June and July, when a myriad of winged creatures +are flying, large, compound, many-rayed umbels of both +hermaphrodite and male white flowers are spread to attract their +benefactors the flies, of which twenty-one species visit them +regularly, besides small bees, wasps, and other short-tongued +insects, which have no difficulty in licking up the freely +exposed nectar. The anthers, maturing first, compel +cross-fertilization which accounts for the plant's vigor and its +aggressive march across the continent. A very stout, ridged, +hairy stem, the petioled leaves compounded of three broadly +ovate, lobed and saw-edged divisions, downy on the underside, and +the great umbels, which sometimes measure a foot across, all bear +out the general impression of a Hercules of the fields. + +FOOL'S PARSLEY, or CICELY, or DOG-POISON (Aethusa cynapium), a +European immigrant found in waste ground and rubbish heaps from +Nova Scotia to New Jersey and westward to the Mississippi, should +be known only to be avoided. The dark bluish-green, finely +divided, rather glossy leaves when bruised do not give out the +familiar fragrance of true parsley; the little narrow bracts, +turned downward around each separate flower-cluster, give it a +bearded appearance, otherwise the white umbel suggests a small +wild carrot head of bloom. Cows have died from eating this +innocent-looking little plant among the herbage; but most +creatures know by instinct that it must not be touched. + +Strange that a family which furnishes the carrot, parsnip, +parsley, fennel, caraway, coriander, and celery to mankind, +should contain many members with deadly properties. Fortunately +the large, coarse WATER HEMLOCK, SPOTTED COWBANE, MUSQUASH ROOT, +or BEAVER-POISON (Cicuta maculata) has been branded as a +murderer. Purple streaks along its erect branching stem +correspond to the marks on Cain's brow. Above swamps and low +ground it towers. Twice or thrice pinnate leaves, the lower ones +long-stalked and often enormous, the leaflets' conspicuous veins +apparently ending in the notches of the coarse, sharp teeth, help +to distinguish it from its innocent relations sometimes +confounded with it. Its several tuberiform fleshy roots contain +an especially deadly poison; nevertheless, some highly +intelligent animals, beavers, rabbits, and the omnivorous small +boy among others have mistaken it for sweet-cicely with fatal +results. Indeed, the potion drunk by Socrates and other +philosophers and criminals at Athens, is thought to have been a +decoction made from the roots of this very hemlock. Many little +white flowers in each cluster make up a large umbel; and many +umbels to a plant attract great numbers of flies, small bees, and +wasps, which sip the freely exposed nectar apparently with only +the happiest consequences, as they transfer pollen from the male +to the proterandrous hermaphrodite flowers. Just as the +cow-parsnip shows a preponderance of flies among its visitors, so +the water hemlock seems to attract far more bees and wasps than +any of the umbel-bearing carrot tribe. It blooms from the end of +June through August. + +Still another poisonous species is the HEMLOCK WATER-PARSNIP +(Sium cicutaefolium), found in swampy places throughout Canada +and the United States from ocean to ocean. The compound, +long-rayed umbels of small white flowers, fringy-bracted below, +which measure two or three inches across; the extremely variable +pinnate leaves, which may be divided into from three to six pairs +of narrow and sharply toothed leaflets (or perhaps the lower +long-stalked ones as finely dissected as a wild carrot leaf where +they grow in water), and the stout, grooved, branching stem, from +two to six feet tall, are its distinguishing characteristics. In +these umbels it will be noticed there are far more hermaphrodite, +or two-sexed, florets (maturing their anthers first), than there +are male ones; consequently quantities of unwelcome seed are set +with the help of small bees, wasps, and flies, which receive +generous entertainment from July to October. + +The MOCK BISHOP'S-WEED (Ptilimnium capillaceum), a slender, +delicate, dainty weed found chiefly in saltwater meadows from +Massachusetts to Florida and around the Gulf coast to Texas, has +very finely dissected, fringy leaves and compound umbels two to +four inches across, of tiny white florets, with threadlike bracts +below. It blooms throughout the summer. + + +FLOWERING DOGWOOD + (Cornus florida) Dogwood family + +Flowers - (Apparently) large, white or pinkish, the four +conspicuous parts simulating petals, notched at the top, being +really bracts of an involucre below the true flowers, clustered, +in the center, which are very small, greenish yellow, 4-parted, +perfect. Stem: A large shrub or small tree, wood hard, bark +rough. Leaves: Opposite, oval, entire-edged, petioled, paler +underneath. Fruit: Clusters of egg-shaped scarlet berries, tipped +with the persistent calyx. +Preferred Habitat - Woodlands rocky thickets, wooded roadsides. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Maine to Florida, west to Ontario and Texas. + +Has Nature's garden a more decorative ornament than the flowering +dogwood, whose spreading flattened branches whiten the woodland +borders in May as if an untimely snowstorm had come down upon +them, and in autumn paint the landscape with glorious crimson, +scarlet, and gold, dulled by comparison only with the clusters of +vivid red berries among the foliage? Little wonder that +nurserymen sell enormous numbers of these small trees to be +planted on lawns. The horrors of pompous monuments, urns, busts, +shafts, angels, lambs, and long-drawn-out eulogies in stone in +many a cemetery are mercifully concealed in part by these boughs, +laden with blossoms of heavenly purity. + + "Let dead names be eternized in dead stone, + But living names by living shafts be known. + Plant thou a tree whose leaves shall sing + Thy deeds and thee each fresh, recurrent spring." + +Fit symbol of immortality! Even before the dogwood's leaves fall +in autumn, the round buds for next year's bloom appear on the +twigs, to remain in consoling evidence all winter with the +scarlet fruit. When the buds begin to swell in spring, the four +reddish-purple, scale-like bracts expand, revealing a dozen or +more tiny green flowers clustered within for the large, white, +petal-like parts, with notched, tinted, and puckered lips, into +which these reddish bracts speedily develop, and which some of us +have mistaken for a corolla, are not petals at all - not the true +flowers - merely appendages around the real ones, placed there, +like showy advertisements, to attract customers. Nectar, secreted +in a disk on each minute ovary, is eagerly sought by little +Andrena and other bees, besides flies and butterflies. Insects +crawling about these clusters, whose florets are all of one kind, +get their heads and undersides dusted with pollen, which they +transfer as they suck. Hungry winter birds, which bolt the red +fruit only when they can get no choicer fare, distribute the +smooth, indigestible stones far and wide. + +When the Massachusetts farmers think they hear the first brown +thrasher in April advising them to plant their Indian corn, +reassuringly calling, "Drop it, drop it - cover it up, cover it +up - pull it up, pull it up, pull it up" (Thoreau), they look to +the dogwood flowers to confirm the thrasher's advice before +taking it. + +The LOW or DWARF CORNEL, or BUNCHBERRY (C. canadensus) whose +scaly stem does its best to attain a height of nine inches, bears +a whorl of from four to six oval, pointed, smooth leaves at the +summit. From the midst of this whorl comes a cluster of minute +greenish florets, encircled by four to six large, showy, white +petal-like bracts, quite like a small edition of the flowering +dogwood blossom. Tight clusters of round berries, that are lifted +upward on a gradually lengthened peduncle after the flowers fade +(May-July), brighten with vivid touches of scarlet shadowy, mossy +places in cool, rich woods, where the dwarf cornels, with the +partridge vine, twin flower, gold thread, and fern, form the most +charming of carpets. + +Other common dogwoods there are - shrubs from three to ten feet +in height - which bear flat clusters of small white flowers +without the showy petal-like bracts, imitating a corolla, as in +the two preceding species, but each little four-parted blossom +attracting its miscellaneous crowd of benefactors by association +with dozens of its counterparts in a showy cyme. Because these +flowers expand farther than the minute florets of the dwarf +cornel or the flowering dogwood, and the sweets are therefore +more accessible, all the insects which fertilize them come to the +shrub dogwoods too, and in addition very many beetles, to which +their odor seems especially attractive. ("Odore carabico o +scarabeo" - Delpino.) The ROUND-LEAVED CORNEL or DOGWOOD [now +ROUNDLEAF DOGWOOD] (C. circinata), found on shady hillsides, in +open woodlands, and roadside thickets - especially in rocky +districts - from Nova Scotia to Virginia, and westward to Iowa, +may be known by its greenish, warty twigs; its broadly ovate, or +round petioled, opposite leaves, short-tapering to a point, and +downy beneath; and, in May and June, by its small, flat, white +flower-clusters about two inches across, that are followed by +light-blue (not edible) berries. + +Even more abundant is the SILKY CORNEL, KINNIKINNICK, or SWAMP +DOGWOOD [now SILKY DOGWOOD] (C. amonum; C. sericca of Gray) found +in low, wet ground, and beside streams, from Nebraska to the +Atlantic Ocean, south to Florida and north to New Brunswick. Its +dull-reddish twigs, oval or oblong leaves, rounded at the base +but tapering to a point at the apex, and usually silky-downy with +fine, brownish hairs underneath (to prevent the pores from +clogging with vapors arising from its damp habitat); its rather +compact, flat clusters of white flowers from May to July, and its +bluish berries are its distinguishing features. The Indians loved +to smoke its bark for its alleged tonic effect. + +The RED-OSIER CORNEL or DOGWOOD (C. stolonifera), which has +spread, with the help of running shoots, through the soft soil of +its moist retreats, over the British Possessions north of us and +throughout the United States from ocean to ocean, except at the +extreme south, may be known by its bright purplish-red twigs; its +opposite, slender, petioled leaves, rather abruptly pointed at +the apex, roughish on both sides, but white or nearly so beneath; +its small, flat-topped white flower-clusters in June or July; and +finally, by its white or lead-colored fruit. + +In good, rich, moist soil another white-fruited species, the +PANICLED CORNEL or DOGWOOD (C. candidissima; C. paniculata of +Gray) rears its much-branched, smooth, gray stems. In May or June +the shrub is beautiful with numerous convex, loose clusters of +white flowers at the ends of the twigs. So far do the stamens +diverge from the pistil that self-pollination is not likely; but +an especially large number of the less specialized insects, +seeking the freely exposed nectar, do all the necessary work as +they crawl about and fly from shrub to shrub. This species bears +comparatively long and narrow leaves, pale underneath. Its range +is from Maine to the Carolinas and westward to Nebraska. + + +WHITE ALDER; SWEET PEPPERBUSH; ALDER-LEAVED CLETHRA + (Clethra alnifolia) White Alder family + +Flowers - Very fragrant, white, about 1/3 in. across, borne in +long, narrow, upright, clustered spikes, with awl-shaped bracts. +Calyx of 5 sepals; 5 longer petals; 10 protruding stamens, the +style longest. Stem: A much-branched shrub, 3 to 10 ft. high. +Leaves: Alternate, oblong or ovate, finely saw-edged above the +middle at least, green on both sides, tapering at base into short +petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Low, wet woodland and roadside thickets; +swamps; beside slow streams; meadows. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - Chiefly near the coast, in States bordering the +Atlantic Ocean. + +Like many another neglected native plant, the beautiful sweet +pepperbush improves under cultivation; and when the departed +lilacs, syringa, snowball, and blossoming almond, found with +almost monotonous frequency in every American garden, leave a +blank in the shrubbery at midsummer, these fleecy white spikes +should exhale their spicy breath about our homes. But wild +flowers, like a prophet, may remain long without honor in their +own country. This and a similar but more hairy species found in +the Alleghany region, the MOUNTAIN SWEET PEPPERBUSH (C. +acuminata), with pointed leaves, pale beneath, and spreading or +drooping flower-spikes, go abroad to be appreciated. Planted +beside lakes and streams on noblemen's estates, how overpowering +must their fragrance be in the heavy, moisture-laden air of +England! Even in our drier atmosphere, it hangs about the +thickets like incense. + + +ROUND-LEAVED PYROLA; PEAR-LEAVED, or FALSE WINTERGREEN; INDIAN or +CANKER LETTUCE + (Pyrola rolundifolia) Wintergreen family + +Flowers - Very fragrant, white, in a spike; 6 to 20, nodding from +an erect, bracted scape 6 to 20 in. high. Calyx 5-parted corolla, +over 1/2 in. across, of 5 concave, obtuse petals 10 stamens, +protruding pistil, style curved, stigma 5-lobed. Leaves: All +spreading from the base by margined petioles; shining leathery +green, round or broadly oval, obtuse, 1 1/2 to 3 in. long, +persistent through the winter. +Preferred Habitat - Open woods. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, west to Ohio and +Minnesota. + +Deliciously fragrant little flowers, nodding from an erect, +slender stalk, when seen at a distance are often mistaken for +lilies-of-the-valley growing wild. But closer inspection of the +rounded, pearlike leaves in a cluster from the running root, and +the concave, not bell-shaped, white, waxen blossoms, with the +pistil protruding and curved, indicate the commonest of the +pyrolas. Some of its kin dwell in bogs and wet places, but this +plant and the shin-leaf carpet drier woodland where dwarf +cornels, partridge vines, pipsissewa, and goldthread weave their +charming patterns too. Certain of the lovely pyrola clan, whose +blossoms range from greenish white, flesh-color, and pink to deep +purplish rose, have so many features in common they were once +counted mere varieties of this round-leaved wintergreen - an +easygoing classification broken up by later-day systematists, who +now rank the varieties as distinct species. It will be noticed +that all these flowers have their anthers erect in the bud but +reversed at flowering time, each of the two sacs opening by a +pore which, in reality, is at the base of the sac, though by +reversion it appears to be at the top. To these pores small bees +and flies fasten their short lips to feed on pollen, some of +which will be necessarily .jarred out on them as they struggle +for a foothold on the stamens, and will be carried by them to +another flower's protruding stigma, which impedes their entrance +purposely to receive the imported pollen. + +By reason of the old custom of clapping on a so-called +"shinplaster" to every bruise, regardless of its location on the +human body, a lovely little plant, whose leaves were once counted +a first aid to the injured, still suffers instead under an +unlovely name. The SHIN-LEAF (P. elliptica) sends up a naked +flower-stalk, scaly at the base, often with a bract midway, and +bearing at the top from seven to fifteen very fragrant, nodding, +waxen, greenish-white blossoms, similar to the round-leaved +wintergreen's. But on the thinner, dull, dark-green, upright +leaves, with slight wavy indentations, scarcely to be called +teeth, on the margins, their shorter leaf-stalks often reddish, +one chiefly depends to name this common plant. It is usually +found, in company with a few or many of its fellows, in rich +woodlands so far west as the Rocky Mountains, blooming from June +to August, according to the climate of its wide range. + +When the little SERRATED or ONE-SIDED WINTERGREEN (P. secunda) +first sends up its slender raceme in June or July, it is erect +but presently the small, greenish-white flowers, opening +irregularly along one side, appear to weigh it downward into a +curve. Usually several bracted scapes rise from a running, +branched rootstock, to a height of from three to (rarely) ten +inches above a cluster of basal evergreen leaves. These latter +are rather thin, oval, slightly pointed, wavy or slightly +saw-edged, the midrib prominent above and below. A peculiarity of +the flowers is, that their petals are partially welded together +into little bells, with the clapper (alias the straight green +pistil) protruding, and the stamens united around its base. After +the blossoms have been fertilized, the tiny, round, +five-scalloped seed capsules, with the pistil still protruding, +remain in evidence for months, as is usual in the pyrola clan. +Small as the plant is, it has managed to distribute itself over +Europe, Asia, and the woods and thickets of our own land from +Labrador to Alaska, southward to California, Mexico, and the +District of Columbia. + +Another little globe-trotter, so insignificant in size that one +is apt to overlook it until its surprisingly large blossom +appears in June or July, is the ONE-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN (Moneses +uniflora), found in cool northern woods, especially about the +roots of pines, in such yielding soil as will enable its long +stem to run just below the surface. ONE-FLOWERED PYROLA, it is +often called, although it belongs to a genus all its own. A +boldly curved stalk, like a miniature Bo-peep crook, enables the +solitary white or pink widely open flower to droop from the tip, +thus protecting its precious contents from rain, and from +crawling pilferers, to whom a pendent blossom is as inaccessible +as a hanging bird's nest is to snakes. This five-petalled waxen +flower, half an inch across or over, with its ten white, +yellow-tipped stamens, and green, club-shaped pistil projecting +from a conspicuous round ovary, never nods more than six inches +above the ground, often at only half that height. When there is +no longer need for the stalk to crook, that is to say, after the +flower has begun to fruit, it gradually straightens itself out so +that the little seed capsule, with the style and its five-lobed +stigma still persistent, is held erect. The thin, rounded, finely +notched leaves, measuring barely an inch in length, are clustered +in whorls next the ground. Whether one comes upon colonies of +this gregarious little plant, or upon a lonely straggler, the +"single delight" (moneses), as Dr. Gray called the solitary +flower, is one of the joys of a tramp through the summer woods. + + +INDIAN PIPE; ICE-PLANT; GHOST-FLOWER; CORPSE-PLANT + (Monotropa uniflora) Indian-pipe family + +Flowers - Solitary, smooth, waxy, white (rarely pink), +oblong-bell shaped, nodding from the tip of a fleshy, white, +scaly scape 4 to 10 in. tall. Calyx of 2 to 4 early-falling white +sepals; 4 or 5 oblong, scale-like petals; 8 or 10 tawny, hairy +stamens; a 5-celled, egg-shaped ovary, narrowed into the short, +thick style. Leaves: None. Roots: A mass of brittle fibers, from +which usually a cluster of several white scapes arises. Fruit: A +5-valved, many-seeded, erect capsule. +Preferred Habitat - Heavily shaded, moist, rich woods, especially +under oak and pine trees. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Almost throughout temperate North America. + +Colorless in every part, waxy, cold, and clammy, Indian pipes +rise like a company of wraiths in the dim forest that suits them +well. Ghoulish parasites, uncanny saprophytes, for their matted +roots prey either on the juices of living plants or on the +decaying matter of dead ones, how weirdly beautiful and +decorative, they are! The strange plant grows also in Japan, and +one can readily imagine how fascinated the native artists must be +by its chaste charms. + +Yet to one who can read the faces of flowers, as it were, it +stands a branded sinner. Doubtless its ancestors were +industrious, honest creatures, seeking their food in the soil, +and digesting it with the help of leaves filled with good green +matter (chlorophyll) on which virtuous vegetable life depends; +but some ancestral knave elected to live by piracy, to drain the +already digested food of its neighbors; so the Indian pipe +gradually lost the use of parts for which it had need no longer, +until we find it today without color and its leaves degenerated +into mere scaly bracts. Nature has manifold ways of illustrating +the parable of the ten pieces of money. Spiritual law is natural +law: "From him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken +away." Among plants as among souls, there are all degrees of +backsliders. The foxglove, which is guilty of only sly, petty +larceny, wears not the equivalent of the striped suit and the +shaved head; nor does the mistletoe, which steals crude food from +the tree, but still digests it itself, and is therefore only a +dingy yellowish green. Such plants, however, as the broomrape, +pinesap, beechdrops, the Indian pipe, and the dodder - which +marks the lowest stage of degradation of them all - appear among +their race branded with the mark of crime as surely as was Cain. + +No wonder this degenerate hangs its head; no wonder it grows +black with shame on being picked, as if its wickedness were only +just then discovered! To think that a plant related on one side +to many of the loveliest flowers in Nature's garden- - the +azaleas, laurels, rhododendrons, and the bonny heather - and on +the other side to the modest but no less charming wintergreen +tribe, should have fallen from grace to such a depth! Its +scientific name, meaning a flower once turned, describes it +during only a part of its career. When the minute, innumerable +seeds begin to form, it proudly raises its head erect, as if +conscious that it had performed the one righteous act of its +life. + + +LABRADOR TEA + (Ledum Groenlandicum; L. latifolium of Gray) Heath family + +Flowers - White, 5-parted, 1/2 in. across or less, numerous, +borne in terminal, umbellate clusters rising from scaly, sticky +bud-bracts. Stem: A compact shrub 1 to 4 ft. high, resinous, the +twigs woolly-hairy. Leaves: Alternate, thick, evergreen, oblong, +obtuse, small, dull above, rusty-woolly beneath, the margins +curled. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, bogs, wet mountain woods. Flowering +Season - May-June. +Distribution - Greenland to Pennsylvania, west to Wisconsin. + +Whoever has used the homeopathic lotion distilled from the leaves +of Ledum palustre, a similar species found at the far North, +knows the tea-like fragrance given forth by the leaves of this +common shrub when crushed in a warm hand. But because the +homeopathists claim that like is cured by like, are we to assume +that these little bushes, both of which afford a soothing lotion, +also irritate and poison? It may be; for they are next of kin to +the azaleas, laurels, and rhododendrons, known to be injurious +since Xenophon's day. At the end of May, when the Labrador tea is +white with abundant flower clusters, one cannot but wonder why so +desirable an acquisition is never seen in men's gardens here +among its relatives. Over a hundred years ago the dense, compact +little shrub was taken to England to adorn sunny bog gardens on +fine estates. Doubtless the leaves have woolly mats underneath +for the reason given in reference to the Steeple-bush. + + +WILD ROSEMARY; MARCH HOLY ROSE; WATER ANDROMEDA; MOORWORT + (Andromeda Polifolia) Heath family + +Flowers - White or pink-tinted, small, round, tubular, 5-toothed +at the tip; drooping from curved footstalks in few-flowered +terminal umbels. Calyx deeply 5-parted; 10 bearded stamens; style +like a column. Stem: A sparingly branched, dwarf shrub, 6 in. to +3 ft. tall. Leaves: Linear to lance-shape, evergreen, dark and +glossy above, with a prominent white bloom underneath, the +margins curled. +Preferred Habitat - Cool bogs, wet places. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Pennsylvania and Michigan, far northward. + +Only a delightfully imaginative optimist like Linnaeus could feel +the enthusiasm he expended on this dwarf shrub, with its little, +white, heath-like flowers, which most of us consider rather +insignificant, if the truth be told. But then the blossoms he +found in Lapland must have been much pinker than any seen in +American swamps, since they reminded him of "a fine female +complexion." + +"This plant is always fixed on some little turfy hillock in the +midst of the swamps," he wrote, "just as Andromeda herself was +chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet as the fresh +water does the roots of this plant.... As the distressed virgin +cast down her blushing face through excessive affliction, so does +this rosy-colored flower hang its head, growing paler and paler +till it withers away." Under the old go-as-you-please method of +applying scientific names, most of this shrub's relatives shared +with it the name of the fair maid whom Perseus rescued from the +dragons. + +The beautiful, low-growing STAGGERBUSH (Pieris Mariana) has its +small, cylindric, five-parted, white or pink-tinted flowers +clustered at intervals along one side of the upright, nearly +leafless, smooth, dark-dotted branches of the preceding year. +When the glossy oval leaves, black dotted beneath, are freshly +put forth in early summer - for the shrub is not strictly an +evergreen, however late the old leaves may cling - it is said +that stupid sheep and calves, which find them irresistibly +attractive, stagger about from their poisonous effect just as +they do after feeding on this shrub's relative the Lambkill +(q.v.). In sandy soil from southern New England to Florida, +rarely far inland, one finds the staggerbush in bloom from May to +July. On the dry plains of Long Island, where it is common +indeed, it appears a not unworthy relative of the FETTERBUSH +(Pieris fioribunda), that exquisite little evergreen with +quantities of small white urns drooping along its twigs, which +nurserymen acquire from the mountains of our Southern States to +adorn garden shrubbery at home and abroad. Mr. William Robinson, +in his delightful book, "The English Flower Garden" (a book, by +the way, that Rudyard Kipling reads as the Puritan read his +Bible), counts this fetterbush among the "indispensables." + +Much taller than the preceding dwarfs is the COMMON PRIVET +ANDROMEDA found in swamps and low ground from New England to the +Gulf and in the southwest (Xolisma ligustrina). Whoever has seen +the privet almost universally grown in hedges is familiar with +the general aspect of this much-branched shrub. Most farmers' +boys know the Andromeda's mock May-apple, a hollow, stringy +growth of insect origin, which they are not likely to confuse +with the pulpy, juicy apple found on the closely related azaleas +(q.v.). Abundant terminal spike-like or branched clusters of +white, globular, four or five parted flowers in close array, +attract quantities of bees from the end of May to early July, +notwithstanding each individual flower measures barely an eighth +of an inch across. We have seen the fine hair-triggers which +other members of this same family, the beautiful pink laurels +(q.v.), have set to be sprung by an incoming visitor. Now this +Andromeda, and similarly several of its immediate kin, have a +quite different, but equally effective, method of throwing pollen +on its friends who come to call. When one of the little banded +bees clings, as he must, to the tiny flower scarce half his size, +thrusting his tongue obliquely through the globe's narrow opening +to reach the nectar, suddenly a shower of pollen is inhospitably +thrown upon him from within. In probing between the ring of +anthers (that are pressed against the style by the S-shaped +curvature of the filaments so as to retain the pollen), he needs +must displace some of them and release the vitalizing dust +through the large terminal pores in the anther-sacs. Is he +discouraged by such rough treatment? Not at all. Off he flies to +another Andromeda blossom, and leaves some of the dust with which +he is powdered on the sticky stigma that impedes his entrance, +before precipitating a fresh shower as he sips another reward. +The straight column-like pistil, stigmatic on its tip only, +allows the flower's own pollen to slide harmlessly down its +sides. How exquisite are the most minute adjustments of floral +mechanism! Is it possible for one to remain an agnostic after the +evidences even the flowers show us of infinite wisdom and love? + +Another denizen of swamps and low ground, next of kin to the +trailing arbutus, is the LEATHERLEAF, or DWARF CASSANDRA +(Chamaedaphne calyculata), a modest little shrub, its stiff, +slender branches plentifully set with thick oblong leaves that +grow gradually smaller the higher they go, and when young are +densely covered with minute scurfy scales. Sometimes before the +snow has melted in April, the leafy terminal shoots are hung with +multitudes of little waxy-white, cylindric, typical heath flowers +only about a quarter of an inch long, each nodding from a leaf +axil, and the whole forming one-sided racemes. But as the shrub +ranges from Newfoundland to Georgia, and westward to Illinois, +British Columbia, and Alaska, some people find it blooming even +in July. +Mythological names were evidently in high favor among the +botanists who labeled the genuses comprising the heath family: +Phyllodoce, the sea-nymph; Cassiope, mother of Andromeda; +Leucothoe; Andromeda herself; Pieris, a name sometimes applied to +the Muses from their supposed abode at Pieria, Thessaly; and +Cassandra, daughter of Priam, the prophetess who was shut up in a +mad-house because she prophesied the ruin of Troy - these names +are as familiar to the student of this group of shrubs today as +they were to the devout Greeks in the brave days of old. + + +CREEPING WINTERGREEN; CHECKERBERRY; PARTRIDGE-BERRY; MOUNTAIN +TEA; GROUND TEA; DEER, BOX, or SPICE BERRY + (Gaultheria procumbens) Heath family + +Flowers - White, small, usually solitary, nodding from a leaf +axil. Corolla rounded bell-shape, 5-toothed; calyx 5-parted, +persistent; 10 included stamens, their anther-sacs opening by a +pore at the top. Stem: Creeping above or below ground, its +branches 2 to 6 in. high. Leaves: Mostly clustered at top of +branches; alternate, glossy, leathery, evergreen, much darker +above than underneath, oval to oblong, very finely saw-edged; the +entire plant aromatic. Fruit: Bright red, mealy, spicy, +berry-like; ripe in October. +Preferred Habitat - Cool woods, especially under evergreens. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Georgia, westward to Michigan and +Manitoba. + +However truly the poets may make us feel the spirit of Nature in +their verse, can many be trusted when it comes to the letter of +natural science? "Where camels arch their cool, dark boughs o'er +beds of wintergreen," wrote Bryant; yet it is safe to say that +nine colonies of this hardy little plant out of every ten he saw +were under evergreen trees, not dogwoods. When the July sun melts +the fragrance out of the pines high overhead, and the dim, cool +forest aisles are more fragrant with commingled incense from a +hundred natural censers than any stone cathedral's, the +wintergreen's little waxy bells hang among the glossy leaves that +form their aromatic carpet. On such a day, in such a resting +place, how one thrills with the consciousness that it is good to +be alive! + +Omnivorous children who are addicted to birch-chewing, prefer +these tender yellow-green leaves tinged with red, when newly put +forth in June - "Youngsters" rural New Englanders call them then. +In some sections a kind of tea is steeped from the leaves, which +also furnish the old-fashioned embrocation, wintergreen oil. Late +in the year the glossy bronze carpet of old leaves dotted over +with vivid red "berries" invites much trampling by hungry birds +and beasts, especially deer and bears, not to mention well-fed +humans. Coveys of Bob Whites and packs of grouse will plunge +beneath the snow for fare so delicious as this spicy, mealy fruit +that hangs on the plant till spring, of course for the benefit of +just such colonizing agents as they. Quite a different species, +belonging to another family, bears the true Partridgeberry, +albeit the wintergreen shares with it a number of popular names. +In a strict sense neither of these plants produces a berry; for +the fruit of the true partridge[berry] vine (Mitchella repens) is +a double drupe, or stone bearer, each half containing four hard, +seed-like nutlets; while the wintergreen's so called berry is +merely the calyx grown thick, fleshy, and gaily colored - only a +coating for the five-celled ovary that contains the minute seeds. +Little baskets of wintergreen berries bring none too high prices +in the fancy fruit and grocery shops when we calculate how many +charming plants such unnatural use of them sacrifices. + +Closely allied to the wintergreen is the RED BEARBERRY, +KINNIKINIC, BEAR'S GRAPE, FOXBERRY or MEALBERRY, as it is +variously called (Arctostaphylos-uva-ursi = bearberry). Trailing +its spreading branches over sandy ground, rocky hillsides and +steeps until it sometimes forms luxuriant mats, it closely +resembles its cousin the arbutus in its manner of growth, and has +been mistaken for it by at least one poet. But its tiny, rounded, +urn-shaped flowers, which come in May and June, are white, not +salver form and pink; the entire plant is not rusty-hairy; the +dark little leathery evergreen leaves are spatulate, and, +moreover, it bears small but abundant clusters of round, +berry-like fruit, an attainment the arbutus still struggles for, +but cannot yet reach. Bumblebees are the flower's chief +benefactors. Game fowl, especially grouse, but many other birds +too, and various animals which are glad to add the clusters of +smooth red bearberries to their scanty winter menu, however +insipid and dry they may be, have distributed the seed from +Labrador across Arctic America to Alaska, southward to +Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska, and California. How plants do +compel insects, birds, and beasts to work for them! The entire +plant is astringent, and has been used in medicine; also by +leather dressers. + + +BLACK or HIGH-BUSH HUCKLEBERRY; WHORTLEBERRY [now TALL +HUCKLEBERRY] + (Gaylussacia resinosa) Huckleberry family + +Flowers - White and pink, pale or deep, small, cylindric, +bell-shaped. 5-parted, borne in 1-sided racemes from the sides of +the stiff, grayish branches. Stem: A shrub to 3 ft. high. Leaves: +Alternate, oval to oblong, firm, entire edged, green on both +sides, dotted underneath with resinous spots, especially when +young. Fruit: A round, black, bloomless, sweet, berry-like drupe, +containing 10 seed-like nutlets, in each of which is a solitary +seed. Ripe, July-August. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, sandy soil, thickets, open woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Georgia, west to Manitoba and +Kentucky. + +This common huckleberry, oftener found in pies and muffins by the +average observer than in its native thickets, unfortunately +ripens in fly-time, when the squeamish boarder in the summer +hotel does well to carefully scrutinize each mouthful. For the +abundant fruit set on huckleberry bushes, as on so many others, +we are indebted chiefly to the lesser bees, which, receiving the +pollen jarred out from the terminal chinks in the anther-sacs on +their undersides as they cling, transfer it to the protruding +stigmas of the next blossom visited. After fertilization, when +the now useless corolla falls, the ten-celled ovary is protected +by the encircling calyx, that grows rapidly, swells, fills with +juice, and takes on color until it and the ovary together become +a so-called berry, whose seeds are dropped far and wide by birds +and beasts. "The name huckleberry, which is applied +indiscriminately to several species of Vaccinium and +Gaylussacia," says Professor L. H. Bailey, "is evidently a +corruption of whortleberry. Whortleberry is in turn a corruption +of myrtleberry. In the Middle Ages, the true myrtleberry was +largely used in cookery and medicine, but the European bilberry +or Vaccinium so closely resembled it that the name was +transferred to the latter plant, a circumstance commemorated by +Linnaeus in the giving of the name Vaccinium Myrtillus to the +bilberry. From the European whortleberry the name was transferred +to the similar American plants." + +A common little bushy shrub, not a true blueberry, found in moist +woods, especially beside streams, from New England to the Gulf +States, and westward to Ohio, is the BLUE TANGLE, TANGLEBERRY, or +DANGLEBERRY [now TALL HUCKLEBERRY (G. frondosa). It bears a few +tiny greenish-pink flowers dangling from pedicels in loose +racemes, and corresponding clusters of most delicious, sweet, +dark-blue berries, covered with hoary bloom in midsummer. The +abundant resinous leaves on its slender gray branches are pale +and hoary beneath. The caterpillars of several species of sulphur +butterflies (Colias) feed on huckleberry leaves. + +To a genus quite distinct from the huckleberries belong the true +blueberries, however interchangeably these names are misused. +Perhaps the first species to send its fruit to market in June and +July is the DWARF, SUGAR, or LOW-BUSH BLUEBERRY (Vaccinium +Pennsylvanicum), sometimes six inches tall, never more than +twenty inches. It prefers sandy or rocky soil from southern New +Jersey far northward, and west to Illinois. Shortly after the +small, bell-shaped, white or pink flowers, that grow in racemes +on the ends or sides of the angular, green, warty branches of +nearly all blueberry bushes, have been fertilized by bees, this +species forms an especially sweet berry with a bloom on its blue +surface. The alternate oblong leaves, smooth and green on both +sides, are very finely and sharply saw-edged. + +Another, and perhaps the commonest, as it is the finest, species, +whose immature fruit is still green or red when the dwarf's is +ripe, is the HIGH-BUSH, TALL, or SWAMP BLUEBERRY (V. corymbosum), +found in low wet ground from Virginia westward to the +Mississippi, and very far north. Only the bees and their kind +concern themselves with the little cylindric, five-parted, +nectar-bearing flowers. These appear with the oblong, entire +leaves, paler below than above. But thousands of fruit sellers +and housekeepers depend on the sweet blueberries (with a pleasant +acid flavor) as a market staple. In July and August, even in +early September, the berries arrive in the cities. One picker in +New Jersey claims to have filled an entire crate with the fruit +of a single bush. + +The DEERBERRY, BUCKBERRY, or SQUAW HUCKLEBERRY (V. stainineum), +common in dry woods and thickets from Maine and Minnesota to the +Gulf States, puts forth quantities of small greenish-white, +yellow, or purplish-green, open bell-shaped, five-cleft flowers, +nodding from hair-like pedicels in graceful, leafy-bracted +racemes. Both the tips of the stamens and the style protrude like +a fringe. No creature, unless hard pressed by hunger, could +relish the greenish or yellowish berries. This is a low-growing, +spreading shrub, with firm oval or oblong tapering leaves, dull +above, and pale, sometimes even hoary, underneath. + + +CREEPING SNOWBERRY + (Chiogenes hispidula) Huckleberry family + +Flowers - Very small, white, few, solitary, nodding on short, +curved peduncles from the leaf axils. Calyx 2-bracted, 4-cleft; +corolla a short 4-cleft bell; 8 short stamens, each anther sac +opening by a slit to the middle; 1 pistil, the ovary 4-celled. +Stem: Creeping along the ground, the slender, leafy, hairy +branches 3 to 12 in. long. Leaves: Evergreen, alternate, +2-ranked, oval, very small, dark and glossy above, coated with +stiff, rusty hairs underneath, the edges curled. Fruit: A +snow-white, round or oval, mealy, aromatic berry; ripe +August-September. +Preferred Habitat - Cool bogs; low, moist, mossy woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - North Carolina and Michigan northward to the +British Possessions. + +Allied on the one hand to the cranberry, so often found with it +in the cool northern peat bogs, and on the other to the delicious +blueberries, this "snow-born" berry, which appears on no dining +table, nevertheless furnishes many a good meal to hungry birds +and fagged pedestrians. Both the pretty foliage and the fruit +have the refreshing flavor of sweet birch. + + +PYXIE; FLOWERING MOSS; PINE-BARREN BEAUTY + (Pyxidanthera barbulata) Diapensia family + +Flowers - Abundant, white, or sometimes pink, about 1/4 in. +across, 5-parted, solitary, seated at tips of branches. Stem: +Prostrate, creeping, much branched, the main branches often 1 ft. +long, very leafy, growing in mat-like patches. Leaves: Moss-like, +very narrow, pointed, seated on stem, and overlapping like +scales, on upper part of branches. +Preferred Habitat - Dry sandy soil; pine barrens. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - New Jersey, south to North Carolina. + +Curiously enough, this creeping, tufted, mat-like little plant is +botanically known as a shrub, yet it is lower than many mosses, +and would seem to the untrained eye to be certainly of their kin. +In earliest spring, when Lenten penitents, jaded with the +winter's frivolities in the large cities, seek the salubrious +pine lands of southern New Jersey and beyond, they are amazed and +delighted to find the abundant little evergreen mounds of pyxie +already starred with blossoms. The dense mossy cushions, +plentifully sprinkled with pink buds and white flowers, are so +beautiful, one cannot resist taking a few tuffets home to +naturalize in the rock garden. Planted in a mixture of clear sand +and leaf-mould, with exposure to the morning sun, pyxie will +smile up at us from under our very windows, spring after spring, +with increased charms; whereas the arbutus, that untamable +wildling, carried home from the pinewoods at the same time, soon +sulks itself to death. + + +STARFLOWER; CHICKWEED-WINTERGREEN; STAR ANEMONE + (Trientalis Americana) Primrose family + +Flowers - White, solitary, or a few rising on slender, wiry +foot-stalks above a whorl of leaves. Calyx of 5 to 9 (usually 7) +narrow sepals. Corolla wheel-shaped, 1/2 in. across or less, +deeply cut into (usually) 7 tapering, spreading, petal-like +segments. Stem: A long horizontal rootstock, sending up smooth +stem-like branches 3 to 9 in. high, usually with a scale or two +below. (Trientalis = one-third of a foot, the usual height of a +plant.) Leaves: 5 to 10, in a whorl at summit; thin, tapering at +both ends, of unequal size, 1 1/2 to 4 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Moist shade of woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - From Virginia and Illinois far north. + + +Is any other blossom poised quite so airily above its whorl of +leaves as the delicate, frosty-white little starflower? It is +none of the anemone kin, of course, in spite of one of its +misleading folk names; but only the wind-flower has a similar +lightness and grace. No nectar rewards the small bee and fly +visitors; they get pollen only. Those coming from older blossoms +to a newly opened one leave some of the vitalizing dust clinging +to them on the moist and sticky stigma, which will wither to +prevent self-fertilization before the flower's own curved anthers +mature and shed their grains. Sometimes, when the blossoms do not +run on schedule time, or the insects are not flying in stormy +weather, this well laid plan may gang a-gley. An occasional lapse +matters little; it is perpetual self-fertilization that Nature +abhors. + + +INDIAN HEMP: AMY-ROOT + (Apocynum cannabinum) Dogbane family + +Flowers - Greenish white, about 1/4 in. across, on short +pedicels, in dense clusters at ends of branches and from the +axils. Calyx of 5 segments; corolla nearly erect, bell-shaped, +5-lobed, with 5 small triangular appendages alternating with the +stamens within its tube. Stem: 1 to 4 ft. high, branching, +smooth, often dull reddish, from a deep, vertical root. Leaves: +Opposite, entire, 2 to 6 in. long, mostly oblong, abruptly +pointed, variable. Fruit: A pair of slender pods, the numerous +seeds tipped with tufts of hairs. +Preferred Habitat - Gravelly soil, banks of streams, low fields. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Almost throughout the United States and British +Possessions. + +Instead of setting a trap to catch flies and hold them by the +tongue in a vise-like grip until death alone releases them, as +its heartless sister the spreading dogbane does (q.v.), this +awkward, rank herb lifts clusters of smaller, less conspicuous, +but innocent, flowers, with nectar secreted in rather shallow +receptacles, that even short-tongued insects may feast without +harm. Honey and mining bees, among others; wasps and flies in +variety, and great numbers of the spangled fritillary (Argynnis +cybele) and the banded hair-streak (Thecla calanus) among the +butterfly tribe; destructive bugs and beetles attracted by the +white color, a faint odor, and liberal entertainment, may be seen +about the clusters. Many visitors are useless pilferers, no +doubt; but certainly the bees which depart with pollen masses +cemented to their lips or tongues, to leave them in the stigmatic +cavities of the next blossoms their heads enter, pay a fair price +for all they get. + +>From the fact that Indians used to substitute this very common +plant's tough fiber for hemp in making their fishnets, mats, +baskets, and clothing, came its popular name; and from their use +of the juices to poison mangy old dogs about their camps, its +scientific one. + +WHORLED or GREEN-FLOWERED MILKWEED + (Asclepias verticillata) Milkweed family + +Flowers - White or greenish, on short pedicels, in several small +terminal clusters. Calyx inferior; corolla deeply 5-parted, the +oblong segments turned back; a 5-parted, erect crown of hooded +nectaries between them and the stamens, each shorter than the +incurved horn within. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 ft. tall, simple or +sparingly branched, hairy, leafy to summit, containing milky +juice. Leaves: In upright groups, very narrow, almost +thread-like, from 3 to 7 in each whorl. Fruit: 2 smooth, narrow, +spindle-shaped, upright pods, the seeds attached to silky fluff; +1 pod usually abortive. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, hills, uplands. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Maine and far westward, south to Florida and +Mexico. + +In describing the common milkweed (q.v.), so many statements were +made that apply quite as truly to this far daintier and more +ethereal species, the reader is referred back to the pink and +magenta section. Compared with some of its rank-growing, heavy +relatives, how exquisite is this little denizen of the uplands, +with its whorls of needle-like leaves set at intervals along a +slender swaying stem! The entire plant, with its delicate foliage +and greenish-white umbels of flowers, rather suggests a member of +the carrot tribe; and much the same class of small-sized, +short-tongued visitors come to seek its accessible nectar as we +find about the parsnips, for example. When little bees alight - +and these are the truest benefactors, however frequently larger +bees, wasps, flies, and even the almost useless butterflies come +around - their feet slip about within the low crown to find a +secure lodging. As they rise to fly away after sucking, the +pollen masses which have attached themselves to the hairs on the +lower part of their legs are drawn out, to be transferred to +other blossoms, perhaps today, perhaps not for a fortnight. +Annoying as they may be, it is very rarely, indeed, that an +insect can rid itself of the pollen masses carried from either +orchids or milkweeds, except by the method Nature intended; and +it is not until the long-suffering bee is outrageously loaded +that he attains his greatest usefulness to milkweed blossoms. "Of +ninety-two specimens bearing corpuscula of Asclepias +verticillata," says Professor Robertson, "eighty-eight have them +on hairs alone, and four on the hairs and claws." And again: "As +far as the mere application of pollen to an insect is concerned, +a flower with loose pollen has the advantage. But the advantage +is on the side of Asclepias after the insect is loaded with it. +It is only a general rule that insects keep to flowers of a +particular species on their honey and pollen gathering +expeditions. If a bee dusted with loose pollen visits flowers of +another species, it will not long retain pollen in sufficient +quantity to effectually fertilize flowers of the original +species. On the other hand, if an insect returns at any time +during the day, or even after a few days, to the species of +Asclepias from which it got a load of pollinia, it may bring with +it all or most of the pollinia which it has carried from the +first plants visited. The firmness with which the pollinia keep +their hold on the insect is one of the best adaptations for +cross-fertilization." + +Ants, the worst pilferers of nectar extant, find the hairy stem +of the whorled milkweed, as well as its sticky juice, most +discouraging, if not fatal, obstacles to climbing. How daintily +the goldfinch picks at the milkweed pods and sets adrift the +seeds attached to silky aeronautic fluff! + +WILD POTATO-VINE; MAN-OF-THE-EARTH; MECHA-MECK + (Ipomoea pandurata) Morning-glory family + +Flowers - Funnel form, wide-spread, 2 to 3 in. long, pure white +or pinkish purple inside the throat; the peduncles 1 to 5 +flowered. Stem: Trailing over the ground or weakly twining, 2 to +12 ft. long. Leaves: Heart, fiddle, or halbert shaped (rarely +3-lobed), on slender petioles. Root: Enormous, fleshy. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, sandy or gravelly fields or hills. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Ontario, Michigan, and Texas, east to the Atlantic +Ocean. + +No one need be told that this flaring, trumpet-shaped flower is +next of kin to the morning-glory that clambers over the trellises +of countless kitchen porches, and escapes back to Nature's garden +whenever it can. When the ancestors of these blossoms welded +their five petals into a solid deep bell, which still shows on +its edges the trace of five once separate parts, they did much to +protect their precious contents from rain; but some additional +protection was surely needed against the little interlopers not +adapted to fertilize the flower, which could so easily crawl down +its tube. Doubtless the hairs on the base of the filaments, +between which certain bumblebees and other long-tongued +benefactors can easily penetrate to suck the nectar secreted in a +fleshy disk below, act as a stockade to little would-be +pilferers. The color in the throat serves as a pathfinder to the +deep-hidden sweets. How pleasant the way is made for such insects +as a flower must needs encourage! For these the perennial wild +potato vine keeps open house far later in the day than its annual +relatives. Professor Robertson says it is dependent mainly upon +two bees, Entechnia taurea and Xenoglossa ipomoeae, the latter +its namesake. + +One has to dig deep to find the huge, fleshy, potato-like root +from which the vine derived its name of man-of-the-earth. Such a +storehouse of juices is surely necessary in the dry soil where +the wild potato lives. + +Happily, the COMMON MORNING-GLORY (I. purpurea) - the +Convolvulus major of seedsmen's catalogues - has so commonly +escaped from cultivation in the eastern half of the United States +and Canada as now to deserve counting among our wild flowers, +albeit South America is its true home. Surely no description of +this commonest of all garden climbers is needed; everyone has an +opportunity to watch how the bees cross-fertilize it. + +The vine has a special interest because of Darwin's illuminating +experiments upon it when he planted six self-fertilized seeds and +six seeds fertilized with the pollen brought from flowers on a +different vine, on opposite sides of the same pot. Vines produced +by the former reached an average height of five feet four inches, +whereas the cross-pollenized seed sent its stems up two feet +higher, and produced very many more flowers. If so marked a +benefit from imported pollen may be observed in a single +generation, is it any wonder that ambitious plants employ every +sort of ingenious device to compel insects to bring them pollen +from distant flowers of the same species? How punctually the +MOON-FLOWER (I. grandiflora), next of kin to the morning-glory, +opens its immense, pure white, sweet-scented flowers at night to +attract night-flying moths, because their long tongues, which +only can drain the nectar, may not be withdrawn until they are +dusted with vitalizing powder for export to some waiting sister. + + +GRONOVIUS' or COMMON DODDER; STRANGLE-WEED; LOVE VINE; ANGEL'S +HAIR + (Cuscuta gronovii) Dodder family + +Flowers - Dull white, minute, numerous, in dense clusters. Calyx +inferior, greenish white, 5-parted; corolla bell-shaped, the 5 +lobes spreading, 5 fringed scales within; 5 stamens, each +inserted on corolla throat above a scale; 2 slender styles. Stem: +Bright orange yellow, thread-like, twining high, leafless. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil, meadows, ditches, beside streams. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia and Manitoba, south to the Gulf +States. + +Like tangled yellow yarn wound spirally about the herbage and +shrubbery in moist thickets, the dodder grows, its beautiful +bright threads plentifully studded with small flowers tightly +bunched. Try to loosen its hold on the support it is climbing up, +and the secret of its guilt is out at once; for no honest vine is +this, but a parasite, a degenerate of the lowest type, with +numerous sharp suckers (haustoria) penetrating the bark of its +victim, and spreading in the softer tissues beneath to steal all +their nourishment. So firmly are these suckers attached, that the +golden thread-like stem will break before they can be torn from +their hold. + +Not a leaf now remains on the vine to tell of virtue in its +remote ancestors; the absence of green matter (chlorophyll) +testifies to dishonest methods of gaining a living (see Indian +pipe); not even a root is left after the seedling is old enough +to twine about its hard-working, respectable neighbors. Starting +out in life with apparently the best intentions, suddenly the +tender young twiner develops an appetite for strong drink and +murder combined, such as would terrify any budding criminal in +Five Points or Seven Dials! No sooner has it laid hold of its +victim and tapped it, than the now useless root and lower portion +wither away, leaving the dodder in mid-air, without any +connection with the soil below, but abundantly nourished with +juices already stored up, and even assimilated, at its host's +expense. By rapidly lengthening the cells on the outer side of +its stem more than on the inner side, the former becomes convex, +the latter concave; that is to say, a section of spiral is formed +by the new shoot, which, twining upward, devitalizes its +benefactor as it goes. Abundant, globular seed vessels, which +develop rapidly, while the blossoming continues unabated, soon +sink into the soft soil to begin their piratical careers close +beside the criminals which bore them; or better still, from their +point of view, float downstream to found new colonies afar. When +the beautiful jewelweed - a conspicuous sufferer - is hung about +with dodder, one must be grateful for at least such symphony of +yellows. + + +VIRGINIA WATERLEAF + (Hydrophyllum Virginicum) Waterleaf family + +Flowers - White or purplish tinged, in a single or forking +cluster on a long peduncle. Calyx deeply 5-parted, the spreading +segments very narrow, bristly hairy. Corolla erect, bell-shaped, +deeply 5-lobed; 5 protruding stamens, with soft hairs about their +middle; 2 styles united to almost the summit. Stem: Slender, +rather weak, to 3 ft. long, leafy, sparingly branched, from a +scaly rootstock. Leaves: Alternate, lower ones on long petioles, +6 to 10 in. long, pinnately divided into 5 to 7 oblong, sharply +toothed, acute leaflets or segments; upper leaves similar, but +smaller, and with fewer divisions. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods. +Flowering season - May-August. +Distribution - Quebec to South Carolina, west to Kansas and +Washington. + +So very many flowers especially adapted to the bumblebee are in +bloom when the cymes of the waterleaf uncoil, like the borages, +from their immature roll, that some special inducement to attract +this benefactor were surely needed. In high altitudes the +clusters became deeper hued; but much as the more specialized +bees love color, food appeals to them far more. Accordingly the +five lobes of each little flower stand erect to increase the +difficulty a short-tongued insect would have to drain its +precious stores; the stamens are provided with hairs for the same +reason; and even the calyx is bristly, to discourage crawling +ants, the worst pilferers out. By these precautions against +theft, plenty of nectar remains for the large bees. To prevent +self-fertilization, pollen is shed on visitors, which remove it +from a newly opened flower before the stigmas become receptive to +any; but in any case these are elevated in maturity above the +anthers, well out of harm's way. + +Early in spring the large lower leaves are calculated to hold the +drip from the trees overhead, hence the plant's scientific and +popular names. + + +JIMSONWEED; JAMESTOWN WEED; THORN APPLE; STRAMONIUM; DEVIL'S +TRUMPET + (Datura stramonium) Potato family + +Flowers - Showy, large, about 4 in. high, solitary, erect, +growing from the forks of branches. Calyx tubular, nearly half as +long as the corolla, 5-toothed, prismatic; corolla funnel-form, +deep-throated, the spreading limb 2 in. across or less, plaited, +5-pointed; stamens 5; 1 pistil. Stem: Stout, branching, smooth, 1 +to 5 ft. high. Leaves: Alternate, large, rather thin, petioled, +egg-shaped in outline, the edges irregularly wavy-toothed or +angled, rank-scented. Fruit: A densely prickly, egg-shaped +capsule, the lower prickles smallest. The seeds and stems contain +a powerful narcotic poison. +Preferred Habitat - Light soil, fields, waste land near +dwellings, rubbish heaps. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico, westward beyond +the Mississippi. + +When we consider that there are over five million Gypsies +wandering about the globe, and that the narcotic seeds of the +thorn apple, which apparently heal, as well as poison, have been +a favorite medicine of theirs for ages, we can understand at +least one means of the weed reaching these shores from tropical +Asia. (Hindoo, dhatura). Our Indians, who call it "white man's +plant," associate it with the Jamestown settlement - a plausible +connection, for Raleigh's colonists would have been likely to +carry with them to the New World the seeds of an herb yielding an +alkaloid more esteemed in the England of their day than the +alkaloid of opium known as morphine. Daturina, the narcotic, and +another product, known in medicine as stramonium, smoked by +asthmatics, are by no means despised by up-to-date practitioners. +Were it not for the rank odor of its leaves, the vigorous weed, +coarse as it is, would be welcome in men's gardens. Indeed, many +of its similar relatives adorn them. The fragrant petunia and +tobacco plants of the flower beds, the potato, tomato, and +egg-plant in the kitchen garden, call it cousin. + +Late in the afternoon the plaited corolla of this long +trumpet-shaped flower expands to welcome the sphinx moths. So +deep a tube implies their tongues; not that these are the +benefactors to which the blossom originally adapted itself - they +were doubtless left behind in Asia - but apparently our moths +make excellent substitutes, for there is no abatement of the +weed's vigor here, as there surely would be did it habitually +fertilize itself. Any time after four o'clock in the afternoon, +according to the light, the sphinx moth, a creature of the +gloaming, begins its rounds, to be mistaken for a hummingbird +seven times out of ten. Hovering about its chosen white or yellow +flowers, that open for it at the approach of twilight, it remains +poised above one a second, as if motionless - although the faint +hum of its wings, while sucking, indicates that no magic suspends +it - then darts swift as thought to another deep tube to feast +again, of course transferring pollen as it goes. But what if the +Jamestown weed miscalculate the hour of her lover's call and open +too soon? Mischievous bees, quick to seize so golden an +opportunity, squeeze into the flower when it begins to unfold +(flies and beetles following them), to steal pollen, which will +sometimes be entirely removed before the moth's arrival. + +The THORN-APPLE [now PURPLE THORN-APPLE, considered a variant of +JIMSONWEED]; PURPLE STRAMONIUM (D. tatula), a similar species, +usually with darker leaves, and pale lavender or violet flowers, +or with its long, slender tube white, has become at home in so +many fields and waste lands east of Minnesota and Texas that no +one thinks of it as belonging to tropical America. + +Only sphinx moths can reach its deep well of nectar, from which +bees are literally barred out by an inward turn of the stamens +toward the center of the tube. Caterpillars of our commonest +member of the sphinx tribe conceal themselves on the tomato vine +by a mimicry of its color so faultless that a bright eye only may +detect their presence. In the South the caterpillar of another of +these moths (Sphinx Carolina) does fearful havoc under its +appropriate alias of "tobacco worm." + + +CULVER'S-ROOT; CULVER'S PHYSIC +(Leptandra Virginica; Veronica Virginica of Gray) Figwort family + +Flowers - Small, white or rarely bluish, crowded in dense +spike-like racemes 3 to 9 in. long, usually several spikes at top +of stem or from upper axils. Calyx 4-parted, very small; corolla +tubular, 4-lobed; 2 stamens protruding; pistil. Stem: Straight, +erect, usually unbranched, 2 to 7 ft. tall. Leaves: Whorled, from +3 to 9 in a cluster, lance-shaped or oblong, and long-tapering, +sharply saw-edged. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods, thickets, meadows. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Alabama, west to Nebraska. + +Slender, erect white wands make conspicuous advertisements in +shady retreats at midsummer, when insect life is at its height +and floral competition for insect favors at its fiercest. Next of +kin to the tiny blue speedwell, these minute, pallid blossoms +could have little hope of winning wooers were they not living +examples of the adage, "In union there is strength.' Great +numbers crowded together on a single spike, and several spikes in +a cluster that towers above the woodland undergrowth, cannot well +be overlooked by the dullest insects, especially as nectar +rewards the search of those having midlength or long tongues. +Simply by crawling over the spikes, of which the terminal one +usually matures first, they fertilize the little flowers. The +pollen thrust far out of each tube in the early stage of bloom, +has usually all been brushed off on the underside of bees, wasps, +butterflies, flies, and beetles before the stigma matures; +nevertheless, when it becomes susceptible, the anthers spread +apart to keep out of its way lest any leftover pollen should +touch it. + +"The leaves of the herbage at our feet," says Ruskin, "take all +kinds of strange shapes, as if to invite us to examine them. +Star-shaped. heart-shaped, spear-shaped, arrow-shaped, fretted, +fringed, cleft, furrowed, serrated, in whorls, in tufts, in +wreaths, in spires, endlessly expressive, deceptive, fantastic, +never the same from footstalks to blossom, they seem perpetually +to tempt our watchfulness, and take delight in outstripping our +wonder." Doubtless light is the factor with the greatest effect +in determining the position of the leaves on the stem, if not +their shape. After plenty of light has been secured, any aid they +may render the flowers in increasing their attractiveness is +gladly rendered. Who shall deny that the brilliant foliage of the +sumacs, the dogwood, and the pokeweed in autumn does not greatly +help them in attracting the attention of migrating birds to their +fruit, whose seeds they wish distributed? Or that the clustered +leaves of the dwarf cornel and Culver's-root, among others, do +not set off to great advantage their white flowers which, when +seen by an insect flying overhead, are made doubly conspicuous by +the leafy background formed by the whorl? + + +BUTTONBUSH; HONEY-BALLS; GLOBE-FLOWER; BUTTON-BALL SHRUB; +RIVER-BUSH + (Cephalanthus occidentalis) Madder family + +Flowers - Fragrant, white, small, tubular, hairy within, +4-parted, the long, yellow-tipped style far protruding; the +florets clustered on a fleshy receptacle, in round heads (about 1 +in. across), elevated on long peduncles from leaf-axils or ends +of branches. Stem: A shrub 3 to 12 ft. high. Leaves: Opposite or +in small whorls, petioled, oval, tapering at the tip, entire. +Preferred Habitat - Beside streams and ponds; swamps, low ground. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Florida and Cuba, westward to +Arizona and California. + +Delicious fragrance, faintly suggesting jasmine, leads one over +marshy ground to where the buttonbush displays dense, +creamy-white globes of bloom, heads that Miss Lounsberry aptly +likens to "little cushions full of pins." Not far away the sweet +breath of the white-spiked clethra comes at the same season, and +one cannot but wonder why these two bushes, which are so +beautiful when most garden shrubbery is out of flower, should be +left to waste their sweetness, if not on desert air exactly, on +air that blows far from the homes of men. Partially shaded and +sheltered positions near a house, if possible, suit these water +lovers admirably. Cultivation only increases their charms. We +have not so many fragrant wild flowers that any can be neglected. +John Burroughs, who included the blossoms of several trees in his +list of fragrant ones, found only thirty-odd species in New +England and New York. + +Examine a well-developed ball of bloom on the button-bush under a +magnifying glass to appreciate its perfection of detail. After +counting two hundred and fifty minute florets, tightly clustered, +one's tired eyes give out. A honey-ball, with a well of nectar in +each of these narrow tubes, invites hosts of insects to its +hospitable feast; but only visitors long and slender of tongue +can drain the last drop, therefore the vicinity of this bush is +an excellent place for a butterfly collector to carry his net. +Butterflies are by far the most abundant visitors; honey-bees +also abound, bumblebees, carpenter and mining bees, wasps, a +horde of flies, and some destructive beetles; but the short +tongues can reach little nectar. Why do the pistils of the +florets protrude so far? Even before each minute bud opened, all +its pollen had been shed on the tip of the style, to be in a +position to be removed by the first visitor alighting on the ball +of bloom. After the removal of the pollen from the still immature +stigma, it becomes sticky, to receive the importation from other +blossoms. Did not the floret pass through two distinct stages, +first male, then female, self-fertilization, not +cross-fertilization, would be the inevitable result. The dull red +and green seed-balls, which take on brown and bronze tints after +frost, make beautiful additions to an autumn bouquet. The bush is +next of kin to the coffee. + + +PARTRIDGE VINE; TWIN-BERRY; MITCHELLA-VINE; SQUAW-BERRY + (Mitchella repens) Madder family + +Flowers - Waxy, white (pink in bud), fragrant, growing in pairs +at ends of the branches. Calyx usually 4-lobed; corolla +funnel-form, about 1/2 in. long, the 4 spreading lobes bearded +within; 4 stamens inserted on corolla throat; style with 4 +stigmas; the ovaries of the twin flowers united. (The style is +long when the stamens are short, or vice versa). Stem: Slender, +trailing, rooting at joints, 6 to 12 in. long, with numerous +erect branches. Leaves: Opposite, entire, short petioled, oval or +rounded, evergreen, dark, sometimes white veined. Fruit: A small, +red, edible, double berry-like drupe. +Preferred Habitat - Woods; usually, but not always, dry ones. +Flowering Season - April-June. Sometimes again in autumn. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Gulf States, westward to +Minnesota and Texas. + +A carpet of these dark, shining, little evergreen leaves, spread +at the foot of forest trees, whether sprinkled over in June with +pairs of waxy, cream-white, pink-tipped, velvety, lilac-scented +flowers that suggest attenuated arbutus blossoms, or with +coral-red "berries" in autumn and winter, is surely one of the +loveliest sights in the woods. Transplanted to the home garden in +closely packed, generous clumps, with plenty of leaf-mould, or, +better still, chopped sphagnum, about them, they soon spread into +thick mats in the rockery, the hardy fernery, or about the roots +of rhododendrons and the taller shrubs that permit some sunlight +to reach them. No woodland creeper rewards our care with greater +luxuriance of growth. Growing near our homes, the partridge vine +offers an excellent opportunity for study. + +The two flowers at the tip of a branch may grow distinct down to +their united ovaries, or their tubes may be partly united, like +Siamese twins - a union which in either case accounts for the odd +shape of the so-called berry, that shows further traces of +consolidation in its "two eyes," the remnants of eight calyx +teeth. Experiment proves that when only one of the twin flowers +is pollenized by insects (excluded from the other one by a net), +fruit is rarely set; but when both are, a healthy seeded berry +follows. To secure cross-fertilization, the partridge flower, +like the bluets (q.v.), occurs in two different forms on distinct +plants, seed from either producing after its kind. In one form +the style is low within the tube, and the stamens protrude; in +the other form the stamens are concealed, and the style, with its +four spreading stigmas, is exserted. No single flower matures +both its reproductive organs. Short-tongued small bees and flies +cannot reach the nectar reserved for the blossom's benefactors +because of the hairs inside the tube, which nearly close it; but +larger bees and butterflies coming to suck a flower with tall +stamens receive pollen on the precise spot on their long tongues +that will come in contact with the sticky stigmas of the +long-styled form visited later, and there rub the pollen off. The +lobes' velvety surface keeps insect feet from slipping. + +What endless confusion arises through giving the same popular +folk names to different species! The Bob White, which is called +quail in New England or wherever the ruffed grouse is known as +partridge, is called partridge in the Middle and Southern States, +where the ruffed grouse is known as pheasant. But as both these +distributing agents, like most winter rovers, whether bird or +beast, are inordinately fond of this tasteless partridge berry, +as well as of the spicy fruit of quite another species, the +aromatic wintergreen (q.v.), which shares with it a number of +common names, every one may associate whatever bird and berry +that best suit him. The delicious little twin-flower, beloved of +Linnaeus, also comes in for a share of lost identity through +confusion with the partridge vine. + +CLEAVERS; GOOSE-GRASS; BEDSTRAW + (Galium Aparine) Madder family + +Flowers - Small, white, 4-parted, inconspicuous, in clusters of 1 +to 3 on peduncles from the axils of upper leaves. Stem: 2 to 5 +ft. long, scrambling, weak, square; bristly on the angles. +Leaves: in whorls of 6 or 8, narrow, midrib and edges very rough. +Fruit: Rounded, twin seed-vessels, beset with many hooked +bristles. +Preferred Habitat - Shady ground. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Eastern half of United States and Canada. + +Among some seventy other English folk names by which cleavers are +known are the following, taken from Britton and Brown's +"Illustrated Flora": "CATCHWEED, BEGGAR-LICE, BURHEAD, +CLOVER-GRASS, CLING-RASCAL, SCRATCH-GRASS, WILD HEDGE-BURS, +HAIRIF or AIRIF, STICK-A-BACK or STICKLE-BACK, GOSLING-GRASS or +GOSLING-WEED, TURKEY-GRASS, PIGTAIL, GRIP or GRIP-GRASS, LOVEMAN, +SWEETHEARTS." From these it will be seen that the insignificant +little white flowers impress not the popular mind. But the twin +burs which steal a ride on every passing animal, whether man or +beast, in the hope of reaching new colonizing ground far from the +parent plant, rarely fail to make an impression on one who has to +pick trailing sprays beset with them off woollen clothing. + +Several other similar bur-bearing relatives there are, common in +various parts of America as they are in Europe. The SWEET-SCENTED +BEDSTRAW (G. trifolium), always with three little greenish +flowers at the end of a footstalk, or branched into three +pedicels that are one to three flowered, and with narrowly oval, +one-nerved leaves arranged in whorls of six on its square stem, +ranges from ocean to ocean on this continent, over northern +Europe, and in Asia from Japan to the Himalayas. It will be +noticed that plants depending upon the by hook or by crook method +of travel are among the best of globe trotters. This species +becomes increasingly fragrant as it dries. + + +COMMON ELDER; BLACK-BERRIED, AMERICAN or SWEET ELDER; ELDERBERRY + (Sambucus Canadensis) Honeysuckle family + +Flowers - Small, creamy, white, numerous, odorous, in large, +flat-topped, or convex cymes at ends of branches. Calyx tubular, +minute; corolla of 5 spreading lobes; 5 stamens; style short, +3-parted. Stem: A shrub 4 to 10 ft. high, smooth, pithy, with +little wood. Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compounded of 5 to 11 +(usually 7) oval, pointed, and saw-edged leaflets, heavy-scented +when crushed. Fruit: Reddish-black, juicy "berries" (drupes). +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist soil; open situation. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward +2,000 miles. + +Flowers far less beautiful than these flat-spread, misty +clusters, that are borne in such profusion along the country lane +and meadow hedgerows in June, are brought from the ends of the +earth to adorn our over-conventional gardens. Certain European +relatives, with golden or otherwise variegated foliage that looks +sickly after the first resplendent outburst in spring, receive +places of honor with monotonous frequency in American shrubbery +borders. + +Like the wild carrot among all the umbel-bearers, and the daisy +among the horde of composites, the elder flower has massed its +minute florets together, knowing that there was no hope of +attracting insect friends, except in such union. Where clumps of +elder grow - and society it ever prefers to solitude - few +shrubs, looked at from above, which, of course, is the winged +insect's point of view, offer a better advertisement. There are +people who object to the honey-like odor of the flowers. +Doubtless this is what most attracts the flies and beetles, while +the lesser bees, that frequent them also, are more strongly +appealed to through the eye. No nectar rewards visitors, +consequently butterflies rarely stop on the flat clusters; but +there is an abundant lunch of pollen for such as like it. Each +minute floret has its five anthers so widely spread away from the +stigmas that self-pollination is impossible; but with the help of +small, winged pollen carriers plenty of cross-fertilized fruit +forms. With the help of migrating birds, the minute nutlets +within the "berries" are distributed far and wide. + +When clusters of dark, juicy fruit make the bush top-heavy, it +is, of course, no part of their plan to be gathered into pails, +crushed and boiled and fermented into the spicy elderberry wine +that is still as regularly made in some old-fashioned kitchens as +currant jelly and pickled peaches. Both flowers and fruit have +strong medicinal properties. Snuffling children are not loath to +swallow sugar pills moistened with the homeopathic tincture of +Sambucus. The common European species (S. nigra), a mystic plant, +was once employed to cure every ill that flesh is heir to; not +only that, but, when used as a switch, it was believed to check a +lad's growth. Very likely! Every whittling schoolboy knows how +easy it is to remove the white pith from an elder stem. An +ancient musical instrument, the sambuca, was doubtless made from +many such hollow reed-like sticks properly attuned. + +A more woody species than the common elder, whose stems are so +green it is scarcely like a true shrub, is the very beautiful +RED-BERRIED or MOUNTAIN ELDER (S. pubens), found in rocky places, +especially in uplands and high altitudes, from the British +Possessions north of us to Georgia on the Atlantic Coast, and to +California on the Pacific. Coming into bloom in April or May, it +produces numerous flower clusters which are longer than broad, +pyramidal rather than flat-topped. They turn brown when drying. +In young twigs the pith is reddish-brown, not white as in the +common elder. Birds with increased families to feed in June are +naturally attracted by the bright red fruit; and while they may +not distribute the stones over so vast an area as autumn migrants +do those of the fall berries, they nevertheless have enabled the +shrub to travel across our continent. + + +HOBBLE-BUSH; AMERICAN WAYFARING TREE + (Viburnum alnifolium; V. lantanoides of Gray) Honeysuckle +family + +Flowers - In loose, compound, flat, terminal clusters, 3 to 5 in. +across; the outer, showy, white flowers each about 1 in. across, +neutral; inner ones very much smaller, perfect. Calyx 5-parted; +corolla 5-lobed; 5 stamens; 3 stigmas. Stem: A widely and +irregularly branching shrub, sometimes 10 ft. high; the young +twigs rusty scurfy. Leaves: Opposite, rounded or broadly ovate, +pointed at the tip, finely saw-edged, unevenly divided by midrib, +scurfy on veins beneath. Fruit: Not edible, berry-like, at first +coral-red, afterward darker. +Preferred Habitat - Cool, low, moist woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - North Carolina and Michigan, far northward. + +Widespread, irregular clusters of white bloom, that suggest heads +of hydrangea whose plan has somehow miscarried, form a very +decorative feature of the woods in May, when the shrubbery in +Nature's garden, as in men's, is in its glory. For what reason +are there two sizes and kinds of flowers in each cluster? Around +the outer margin are large showy shams: they lack the essential +organs, the stamens and pistil; therefore what use are they? +Undoubtedly they are mere advertisements to catch the eye of +passing insects - no small service, however. It is the +inconspicuous little flowers grouped within their circle that +attend to the serious business of life. The shrub found it good +economy to increase the size of the outer row of flowers, even at +the expense of their reproductive organs, simply to add to the +conspicuousness of the clusters, when so many blossoms enter into +fierce competition with them for insect trade. Many beetles, +attracted by the white color, come to feed on pollen, and often +destroy the anthers in their greed. But the lesser bees (Andrena +chiefly), and more flies, whose short tongues easily obtain the +accessible nectar, render constant service. These welcome guests +we have to thank for the clusters of coral-red berries that make +the shrub even more beautiful in September than in May. + +Because it sometimes sends its straggling branches downward in +loops that touch the ground and trip up the unwary pedestrian, +who presumably hobbles off in pain, the bush received a name with +which the stumbler will be the last to find fault. From the bark +of the Wayfaring Tree of the Old World (V. lantana), the tips of +whose procumbent branches often take root as they lie on the +ground, is obtained bird-lime. No warm, sticky scales enclose the +buds of our hardy hobble-bush; the only protection for its tender +baby foliage is in the scurfy coat on its twigs; yet with this +thin covering, or without it, the young leaves safely withstand +the intense cold of northern winters. + +The chief beauty of the HIGH BUSH-CRANBERRY, CRANBERRY TREE, or +WILD GUELDER-ROSE (V. Opulus) lies in its clusters of bright red, +oval, very acid "berries" (drupes), that are commonly used by +country people as a substitute for the fruit they so closely +resemble. This is a symmetrical, erect, tall, smooth shrub, found +in moist, low ground. Among the Berkshires it grows in +perfection. From New Jersey, Michigan, and Oregon far northward +is its range; also in Europe and Asia. The broadly ovate, +saw-edged, three-lobed leaves are more or less hairy along the +veins on the underside. Like the hobble-bush, this one produces +an outer circle of showy, neutral flowers, as advertisements, on +its peduncled, flat cluster; and small, perfect ones, to +reproduce the species, in June or July. As the flies and small +pollen-collecting bees move rapidly over a corymb to feast on the +layer of nectar freely exposed for their benefit, they usually +cross-fertilize the flowers; for, as Muller pointed out, the +anthers and stigmas of each come in contact with different parts +of the insect's feet or tongue. Beetles, which visit the clusters +in great numbers, often prove destructive visitors. Kerner claims +that nectar is secreted in the leaves of this species, whether in +the two glands that appear at the top of the petioles or not, he +does not say. Of what possible advantage to the plant could such +an arrangement be? Plants, as well as humans, are not in business +for philanthropy. + +No garden is complete - was garden ever complete? - without the +beautiful SNOWBALL BUSH, a sterile variety of this shrub, with +whose abundant balls of white flowers everyone is familiar. When +various members of the viburnum and the hydrangea tribes are +cultivated, the corollas of both the small interior flowers and +those in the showy exterior circle become largely developed, +while the reproductive organs of the former gradually become +abortive. The snowball bush rather overdoes its advertising +business; for however attractive its round white masses of +sterile bloom, the effect is of no advantage to itself. + +In light, dry, rocky woods, from North Carolina and Minnesota, +far northward, grows the common MAPLE-LEAVED ARROW-WOOD or +DOCKMACKIE (V. acerifolium), which one might easily mistake for a +maple sapling when it is not in flower or fruit. All the blossoms +in its slender peduncled, flat-topped, white clusters are +perfect; none are sterile for advertising purposes merely, as in +the cases of so many of its relatives. The five stamens protrude +from each five-lobed little flower for plain reasons. The +opposite leaves are broadly ovate, three-ribbed, three-lobed, +coarsely toothed, acute at the tip, and, except for their soft +hairiness underneath, are too like maple leaves to be mistaken. +In autumn, when they take on rich tints, and the clusters of +"berries" become first crimson, then nearly black, the shrub is a +delight to see. + +To become familiar with one of the Viburnum bushes is to +recognize any member of the tribe when in blossom or fruit, for +all spread more or less flattened, compound cymes of white +flowers in late spring or early summer, followed by red or very +dark "berries" (drupes); but it is on the leaves that we depend +to name a species. The opposite, slender petioled, pale leaves of +the ARROW-WOOD or MEALY-TREE (V. dentalum), have no lobes; but +are ovate, coarsely toothed, pointed at the tip, prominently +pinnately veined. All the flowers in a cyme are perfect; and the +drupes, which are at first blue, become nearly black when fully +ripe. In moist, or even wet, ground, from the Georgia mountains, +western New York, and Minnesota far northward, this smooth, +slender, gray shrub is found. Its wood once furnished the Indians +with arrows. + +A much lower growing, but similar, bush, the DOWNY-LEAVED +ARROW-WOOD (V. pubescens), formerly counted a mere variety of the +preceding, may be known by the velvety down on the under side of +its leaves. It grows in rocky, wooded places, often on some high +bank above a stream. Beetles and the less specialized bees visit +the flat-topped flower clusters abundantly in May. Short-tongued +visitors quickly lick up the abundant nectar secreted at the base +of each little style, cross-fertilizing their entertainers as +they journey across the cyme. So widely do the anthers diverge, +that pollen must often drop on the stigma of a neighboring +floret, and quite as often a flower is likely to be +self-fertilized through the curvature of the filaments. + +The WITHE-ROD OR APPALACHIAN TEA (V. cassinoides; V. nudum of +Gray) is found in swamps and wet ground from North Carolina and +Minnesota northward, flowering in May or June. Its dense clusters +of perfect, small white flowers, on a rather short peduncle, are +followed by oval "berries" that, although pink at first, soon +turn a dark blue, with a bloom like the huckleberry's. The +opposite, oval to oblong, rather thick, smooth leaves and the +somewhat scurfy twigs help the novice to name this common shrub, +whose tough, pliable branches make excellent binders for farmer's +bundles, but whose leaves cannot be recommended as a substitute +for tea. + +Beautiful enough for any gentleman's lawn is the SWEET VIBURNUM, +NANNY-BERRY, SHEEP-BERRY, or NANNY-BUSH, as it is variously +called (V. Lentago). Indeed, its name appears in many +nurserymen's catalogues. From Georgia, Indiana, and Missouri far +northward it grows in rich, moist soil, sometimes attaining the +height of a tree, more frequently that of a good-sized shrub. A +profusion of dense white, broad flower clusters, seated among the +rich green terminal leaves in May, indicate a feast for migrating +birds and hungry beasts, including the omnivorous small boy in +October, when the bluish-black, bloom-covered, sweet, edible +"berries" ripen. A peculiarity of the ovate, long-tapering, and +finely saw-edged leaves is that their long petioles often broaden +out and become wavy margined. + +Another Viburnum, with smooth, bluish-black, sweet, and edible +fruit, that ripens a month earlier than the nanny-berry's, is the +similar BLACK HAW, STAG-BUSH or SLOE (V. prunifolium). As its +Latin name indicates, the leaves suggest those of a plum tree. It +is a very early bloomer; the flat-topped white clusters appearing +in April, and lasting through June, in various parts of its range +from the Gulf States to southern New England and Michigan. Unlike +the hobble-bush and the withe-rod, both the nanny-berry and the +black haw have conspicuous winter buds, the latter bush often +clothing its tender undeveloped foliage with warm-looking reddish +down, although few of its naked kin have so southerly a range. + +ONE-SEEDED, BUR- or STAR CUCUMBER; NIMBLE KATE + + (Sicyos angulatus) Gourd family + +Flowers - Small, greenish-white, 5-parted, of 2 kinds: staminate +ones in a loose raceme on a very long peduncle; fertile ones +clustered in a little head on a short peduncle. Stem: A climbing +vine with branched tendrils; more or less sticky-hairy. Leaves: +Broad, 5-angled or 5-lobed, heart-shaped at base, rough, +sometimes enormous, on stout petioles. Fruit: From 3 to 10 +bur-like, yellowish, prickly seed-vessels in a star-shaped +cluster, each containing one seed. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, shady waste ground; banks of streams. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Quebec to the Gulf States, and westward beyond the +Mississippi. + +In a damp, shady, waste corner, perhaps the first weed to take +possession is the star cucumber, a poor relation of the musk and +water melons, the squash, cucumber, pumpkin, and gourd of the +garden. Its sole use yet discovered is to screen ugly fences and +rubbish heaps by climbing and trailing luxuriantly over +everything within reach. That it thinks more highly of its own +importance in the world than men do of it, is shown by the +precaution it takes to insure a continuance of its species. By +separating the sexes of its flowers, like Quakers at meeting, it +prevents self-fertilization, and compels its small-winged +visitors to carry the smooth-banded, rough pollen from the +staminate to the tiny pistillate group. By roughening its angled +stem and leaves, it discourages pilfering ants and other crawlers +from reaching the sweets reserved for legitimate benefactors. So +extremely sensitive are the tips of the tendrils that by rubbing +them with the finger they will coil up perceptibly; then +straighten out again if they find they have been deceived, and +that there is no stick for them to twine around. Give them a +stick, however, and the coils remain fixed. + + +RATTLESNAKE-ROOT; WHITE LETTUCE or CANKER-WEED; LION'S-FOOT + (Nabalus albus) Chickory family + +Flower-heads - Composite, numerous, greenish or cream white, or +tinged with lilac, fragrant, nodding; borne in loose, open, +narrow terminal, and axillary clusters. Each bell-like flowerhead +only about 1/4 in. across, composed of 8 to 15 ray flowers, +drooping from a cup-like involucre consisting of 8 principal, +colored bracts. Stem: 2 to 5 ft. high, smooth, green or dark +purplish red, leafy, from a tuberous, bitter root. Leaves: +Alternate, variable, sometimes very large, broad, hastate, ovate, +or heart-shaped, wavy-toothed, lobed, or palmately cleft; upper +leaves smaller, lance-shaped, entire. +Preferred Habitat - Woods; rich, moist borders; roadsides. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - Southern Canada to Georgia and Kentucky. + +Nodding in graceful, open clusters from the top of a shining +colored stalk, the inconspicuous little bell-like flowers of this +common plant spread their rays to release the branching styles +for contact with pollen-laden visitors. These styles presently +become a bunch of cinnamon-colored hairs, a seed-tassel +resembling a sable paint brush - the principal feature that +distinguishes this species from the smaller-flowered TALL WHITE +LETTUCE (N. altissimus), whose pappus is a light straw color. +Both these plants are most easily recognized when their fluffy, +plumed seeds are waiting for a stiff breeze to waft them to fresh +colonizing ground. + + +BONESET; COMMON THOROUGHWORT; AGUE-WEED; INDIAN SAGE + + (Eupatorium perfoliatum) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Composite, the numerous, small, dull, white heads +of tubular florets only, crowded in a scaly involucre and borne +in spreading, flat-topped terminal cymes. Stem: Stout, tall, +branching above, hairy, leafy. Leaves: Opposite, often united at +their bases, or clasping, lance-shaped, saw-edged, wrinkled. +Preferred Habitat - Wet ground, low meadows, roadsides. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - From the Gulf States north to Nebraska, Manitoba, +and New Brunswick. + +Frequently, in just such situations as its sister the Joe-Pye +weed selects (q.v.), and with similar intent, the boneset spreads +its soft, leaden-white bloom; but it will be noticed that the +butterflies, which love color, especially deep pinks and magenta, +let this plant alone, whereas beetles, that do not find the +butterfly's favorite, fragrant Joe-Pye weed at all to their +liking, prefer these dull, odorous flowers. Many flies, wasps, +and bees also, get generous entertainment in these tiny florets, +where they feast with the minimum loss of time, each head in a +cluster containing, as it does, from ten to sixteen restaurants. +An ant crawling up the stem is usually discouraged by its hairs +long before reaching the sweets. Sometimes the stem appears to +run through the center of one large leaf that is kinky in the +middle and taper-pointed at both ends, rather than between a pair +of leaves. + +An old-fashioned illness known as break-bone fever - doubtless +paralleled to-day by the grippe - once had its terrors for a +patient increased a hundredfold by the certainty he felt of +taking nauseous doses of boneset tea, administered by zealous old +women outside the "regular practice." Children who had to have +their noses held before they would - or, indeed, could - swallow +the decoction, cheerfully munched boneset taffy instead. + +The bright white, wide-spread inflorescence of the WHITE +SNAKEROOT, WHITE or INDIAN SANICLE, or DEERWORT BONESET (E. +ageratoides) is displayed from July to November in the hope of +getting relief from the fiercest competition for the visits of +butterflies, honey and other small bees, wasps, and flies. From +July to September the vast army of composites appear in such +hopeless predominance that prolonged bloom on the part of any of +their number is surely an advantage. In the rich, moist woods, or +by shady roadsides, where it prefers to dwell, the white sanicle +makes a fine show. Above its fringy bloom how often one sees the +exquisite little lavender-blue butterflies (Lycaena +pseudargiolus) pausing an instant to drain the tiny cups of +nectar, and usually transferring pollen from the protruding +styles (q.v.) as they flit to another cluster. + +The opposite, petioled leaves, broadly oval at the base, +taper-pointed, coarsely toothed, three-nerved, and veiny, are +thin and easily skeletonized by the insects that enjoy the leaves +of all this clan of plants. From one to four feet high, the White +Snakeroot grows in the United States and Canada as far west as +Nebraska. + +Closely allied to the eupatoriums, and with similar +inflorescence, is the CLIMBING BONESET or HEMPWEED (Willughbaeaa +scandens; Mikania scandens of Gray.) Straggling over bushes in +swamps, by the brookside thicket, or in moist, shady roadsides, +the vine reveals its kinship to the boneset instantly it comes +into bloom in midsummer, although its flower clusters are +occasionally pinkish. The opposite, petioled leaves are quite +different from the boneset's, however, being heart-shaped at the +base, and taper-pointed, somewhat triangular, two to four inches +long, and one or two inches wide. From Massachusetts and the +Middle States even to South America and the West Indies is its +range. + +WHITE ASTERS or STARWORTS + (Aster = a star) Thistle family + +In dry, open woodlands, thickets, and roadsides, from August to +October, we find the dainty WHITE WOOD ASTER (A. divaricatus; A. +corymbosus of Gray) its brittle zig-zag stem two feet high or +less, branching at the top, and repeatedly forked where loose +clusters of flower-heads spread in a broad, rather flat corymb. +Only a few white rays - usually from six to nine - surround the +yellow disk, whose forets soon turn brown. Range from Canada +southward to Tennessee. + +First to bloom among the white species, beginning in July, is the +UPLAND WHITE ASTER (A. ptarmicoides), which elects to grow in the +rocky or dry soil of high ground in the northern United States +westward to Colorado. The leaves, which resemble grayish-green +shining grass-blades, arranged alternately up the rigid stem, and +diminishing in size near the top until they become mere bracts +among the flowers, enable us to name the plant. The heads, in a +branching cluster, are not numerous; each measures barely an inch +across its ten to twenty snow-white rays; the center is of a pale +yellow-green, turning a light brown in maturity. + +The TALL WHITE or PANICLED ASTER (A. paniculatus), in bloom from +August to October in different parts of its wide range, attracts +great numbers of beetles, which do it more harm than good; but +many more butterflies (some of whose caterpillars feed on aster +foliage as a staple), quantities of flies, some moths, swarms of +bees, wasps, and miscellaneous winged visitors. Professor +Robertson found several thousand callers, representing +ninety-eight distinct species, on this one aster during four +October days. Such popularity as the asters have attained finds +its just reward in the triumphant progress of the lovely tribe +(q.v.). For the amateur to name each member of such a horde is +quite hopeless. In branching, raceme-like clusters, from August +to October, this aster displays its numerous flower-heads, less +than an inch across, each with a green cup formed of four or five +series of overlapping bracts, and many white rays, occasionally +violet tipped. The smooth stem, which rises from two to eight +feet above moist soil, is plentifully set with alternate, +pointed-tipped, lance-shaped leaves, tapering to a sessile or +partly clasping base, and sparingly saw-edged. Its range is from +Montana east to Virginia, south to Louisiana, north to Ontario +and New England. + +The bushy little WHITE HEATH ASTER (A. ericoides) every one must +know, possibly, as MICHAELMAS DAISY, FAREWELL SUMMER, WHITE +ROSEMARY, or FROSTWEED; for none is commoner in dry soil, +throughout the eastern United States at least. Its smooth, much +branched stem rarely reaches three feet in height, usually it is +not over a foot tall, and its very numerous flower-heads, white +or pink tinged, barely half an inch across, appear in such +profusion from September even to December as to transform it into +a feathery mass of bloom. + +Growing like branching wands of golden rod, the DENSE-FLOWERED, +WHITE-WREATHED, or STARRY ASTER (A. multiflorus) bears its minute +flower-heads crowded close along the branches, where many small, +stiff leaves, like miniature pine needles, follow them. Each +flower measures only about a quarter of an inch across. From +Maine to Georgia and Texas westward to Arizona and British +Columbia the common bushy plant lifts its rather erect, curving, +feathery branches perhaps only a foot, sometimes above a man's +head, from August till November, in such dry, open, sterile +ground as the white heath aster also chooses. + +No one not a latter-day, structural botanist could see why the +TALL, FLAT-TOP WHITE ASTER (Doellingeria umbella) is now an +outcast from the aster tribe into a separate genus. This common +species of moist soil and swamps has its numerous small heads +(containing ten to fifteen rays each) arranged in large, +terminal, compound clusters (corymbs). The stem, which rises from +two to eight feet, has its long-tapering, alternate leaves, hairy +on the veins beneath and rough margined. + +Late in the fall you may hear the rich tone of a Bombilius, one +of the commonest flies seen about flowers, as he darts rapidly +among the white asters. Unless you have been initiated, you may +mistake this fly for a bee. He sings a very similar song and +wears a similar dress; but he is not a very good imitation, after +all, and a little familiarity with him will give you courage to +catch him in your hand if you are quick enough, for he is +incapable of stinging or biting: he can merely make a noise out +of all proportion to his size. He is simply living from hour to +hour, and lays up no store for the winter, enjoying more or less +security from his resemblance to the industrious and dangerous +insect which he imitates. + + +DAISY FLEABANE; SWEET SCABIOUS + (Erigeron annus) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Numerous, daisy-like, about 1/2 in. across; from +40 to 70 long, fine, white rays (or purple- or pink-tinged), +arranged around yellow disk florets in a rough, hemispheric cup +whose bracts overlap. Stem: Erect, to 4 ft. high, branching +above, with spreading, rough hairs. Leaves: Thin, lower ones +ovate, coarsely toothed, petioled; upper ones sessile, becoming +smaller, lance-shaped. +Preferred Habitat: Fields, wasteland, roadsides. +Flowering Season: May-November. +Distribution: Nova Scotia to Virginia, westward to Missouri. + +At a glance one knows this flower to be akin to Robin's plantain +(q.v.) the the asters and daisy. A smaller, more delicate +species, with mostly entire leaves and appressed hairs (E. +ramosus; E. strigosum of Gray) has a similar range and season of +bloom. Both soon grow hoary-headed after they have been +fertilized by countless insects crawling over them (Erigeron = +early old). That either of these plants, or the pinkish, +small-flowered, strong-scented SALT-MARSH FLEABANE (Pluchea +camphorata), drive away fleas, is believed only by those who have +not used them dried, reduced to powder, and sprinkled in kennels, +from which, however, they have been known to drive away dogs. + + +GROUNDSEL-BUSH or -TREE; PENCIL-TREE + (Baccharis halimifolia) Thistle family + +Flower-heads: White or yellowish tubular florets, 1 to 5 in +peduncled clusters. Staminate and pistillate clusters on +different shrubs; the former almost round at first, the latter +conspicuous only when seeding; then their pappus is white, and +about 1/3 in. long. Stem: A smooth, branching shrub, 3 to 10 ft. +high. Leaves: Thick, lower ones ovate to wedge-shaped, coarsely +angular-toothed; upper ones smaller, few-toothed or entire. +Preferred Habitat: Salt marshes, tidewater streams, often far +from the coast. +Flowering Season: September-November +Distribution: The Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Maine to Texas. + +When the little bright white, silky cockades, clustered at the +ends of the branches, appear on a female groundsel-bush in +autumn, our eyes are attracted to the shrub for the first time. +But had not small pollen carriers discovered it weeks before, the +scaly, glutinous cups would hold no charming, plumed seeds ready +to ride on autumn gales. Self-fertilization has been guarded +against by precarious means, but the safest of all devices - +separation of the sexes on distinct plants. These are absolutely +dependent, of course, on insect messengers - not visitors merely. +Bees, which always show less inclination to dally from one +species of flower to another than any other guests, and more +intelligent directness of purpose when out for business are the +groundsel-bush's truest benefactors. This is the only shrub among +the multitudinous composite clan that most of us are ever likely +to see. + +PEARLY or LARGE-FLOWERED EVERLASTING; IMMORTELLE; SILVER LEAF; +MOONSHINE; COTTON-WEED; NONE-SO-PRETTY + + (Anaphalis margaritacea; Antennaria margaritacea of Gray) +Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Numerous pearly-white scales of the involucre +holding tubular florets only; borne in broad, rather flat, +compound corymbs at the summit. Stem: Cottony, to 3 ft. high, +leafy to the top. Leaves: Upper ones small, narrow, linear; lower +ones broader, lance-shaped, rolled backward, more or less woolly +beneath. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, hillsides, open woods, uplands. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - North Carolina, Kansas, and California, far north. + +When the small, white, overlapping scales of an everlasting's +oblong involucre expand stiff and straight, each pert little +flower-head resembles nothing so much as a miniature pond lily, +only what would be a lily's yellow stamens are in this case the +true flowers, which become brown in drying. It will be noticed +that these tiny florets, so well protected in the center, are of +two different kinds, separated on distinct heads: the female +florets with a tubular, five-cleft corolla, a two-cleft style, +and a copious pappus of hairy bristles; the staminate, or male, +florets more slender, the anthers tailed at the base. +Self-fertilization being, of course, impossible under such an +arrangement, the florets are absolutely dependent upon little +winged pollen carriers, whose sweet reward is well protected for +them from pilfering ants by the cottony substance on the wiry +stem, a device successfully employed by thistles also (q.v.). + +An imaginary blossom that never fades has been the dream of poets +from Milton's day; but seeing one, who loves it? Our amaranth has +the aspect of an artificial flower - stiff, dry, soulless, quite +in keeping with the decorations on the average farmhouse +mantelpiece. Here it forms the most uncheering of winter +bouquets, or a wreath about flowers made from the lifeless hair +of some dear departed. + +In open, rocky places, moist or dry, the CLAMMY EVERLASTING, +SWEET BALSAM, OR WINGED CUDWEED (Gnaphalium decurrens) prefers to +dwell. A wholesome fragrance, usually mingled with that of sweet +fern, pervades its neighborhood. Its yellowish-white little +flower-heads clustered at the top of an erect stem, and its pale +sage-green leaves, densely woolly beneath, the lower ones seeming +to run along the stem, need no further description: every one +knows the common everlasting. Its right to the Greek generic +name, meaning a lock of wool, no one will dispute. From +Pennsylvania and Arizona, north to Nova Scotia and British +Columbia, its amaranthine flowers are displayed from July to +September, the staminate and the pistillate heads on distinct +plants. Many insect visitors approach the flowers; some, like the +bees, are working for them in transferring pollen; others, like +the ants, which are trying to steal nectar, usually getting +killed on the sticky, cottony stem; and, hovering near, ever +conspicuous among the larger visitors, is the beautiful hunter's +butterfly (Pyrameis huntera), to be distinguished from its sister +the painted lady, always seen about thistles, by the two large +eye-like spots on the under side of the hind wings. What are +these butterflies doing about their chosen plants? Certainly the +minute florets of the everlasting offer no great inducements to a +creature that lives only on nectar. But that cocoon, compactly +woven with silk and petals, which hangs from the stem, tells the +story of the hunter's butterfly's presence. A brownish-drab +chrysalis, or a slate-colored and black-banded little caterpillar +with tufts of hairs on its back, and pretty red and white dots on +the dark stripes, shows our butterfly in the earlier stages of +its existence, when the everlastings form its staple diet. + +When the hepatica, arbutus, saxifrage, and adder's tongue are +running for first place among the earliest spring flowers, +another modest little competitor joins the race - the DWARF +EVERLASTING (Antennaria plantaginifolia), also known as +PLANTAIN-LEAVED, MOUSE-EAR, SPRING or EARLY EVERLASTING, WHITE +PLANTAIN, PUSSY-TOES and LADIES' TOBACCO. From March to June, in +different parts of its wide range, rocky fields, hillsides, and +dry, open woods are whitened with broad patches of it, formed by +runners; the fertile plants from six to eighteen inches high; the +male plants, in distinct patches, smaller throughout. At the base +the tufted leaves, which are green on the upper side, but silvery +beneath, often woolly when young, are broadly oval or spatulate, +the upper leaves oblong to lance-shaped, seated on the woolly +stem. Charming little rosettes remain all winter, ready to send +up the first flowers displayed by the vast host of composites. +Several little heads of fertile florets, resembling tufts of +silvery-white silk, are set in pale-greenish cups in a broad +cluster at the top of the stem; the staminate florets in whiter +cups with more rounded scales. Small bees, chiefly those of the +Andrena and Halictus tribe, and many flies, attend to +transferring pollen. Our friend, the hunter's butterfly, also +hovers near. Range from Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico, westward +to Nebraska. + + +YARROW; MILFOIL; OLD MAN'S PEPPER; NOSEBLEED + (Achillea Millefolium) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Grayish-white, rarely pinkish, in a hard, close, +flat-topped, compound cluster. Ray florets 4 to 6, pistillate, +fertile; disk florets yellow, afterward brown, perfect, fertile. +Stem: Erect, from horizontal rootstalk, 1 to 2 ft. high, leafy, +sometimes hairy. Leaves: Very finely dissected (Millefolium = +thousand leaf), narrowly oblong in outline. +Preferred Habitat - Waste land, dry fields, banks, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-November. +Distribution - Naturalized from Europe and Asia throughout North +America. + +Everywhere this commonest of common weeds confronts us; the +compact, dusty-looking clusters appearing not by waysides only, +around the world, but in the mythology, folklore, medicine, and +literature of many peoples. Chiron, the centaur, who taught its +virtues to Achilles that he might make an ointment to heal his +Myrmidons wounded in the siege of Troy, named the plant for this +favorite pupil, giving his own to the beautiful blue corn-flower +(Centaurea Cyanus). As a love-charm; as an herb-tea brewed by +crones to cure divers ailments, from loss of hair to the ague; as +an inducement to nosebleed for the relief of congestive headache; +as an ingredient of an especially intoxicating beer made by the +Swedes, it is mentioned in old books. Nowadays we are satisfied +merely to admire the feathery masses of lace-like foliage formed +by young plants, to whiff the wholesome, nutty, autumnal odor of +its flowers, or to wonder at the marvelous scheme it employs to +overrun the earth. + +Like the daisy, each small flower in a cluster, as symmetrically +arranged as brain coral, is made up of a large number of minute +but perfect florets, suited to attract insects by making a better +show than each could do alone, and by offering them accessible +feeding places close together, where they may feast with minimum +loss of time. Simultaneous cross-fertilization of many florets +must be effected by every visitor crawling over a cluster. The +florets in each disk open in regular array toward the centers. At +the expense of stamens, which are absent in the grayish-white ray +florets, they have attained their development, another instance +of "progress by loss" from the evolutionary standpoint. By +prolonging its season of bloom to get relief from the fierce +competition for insect visitors in midsummer; by increase through +seeds, and runners too; by contenting itself with neglected +corners of the earth, the yarrow gives us many valuable lessons +on how to succeed. + +DOG'S or FETID CAMOMILE; MAYWEED; PIG-STY DAISY; DILLWEED; +DOG-FENNEL + + (Anthemis Cotula; Maruta Cotula of Gray) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Like smaller daisies, about 1 in. broad; 10 to 18 +white, notched, neutral ray florets around a convex or conical +yellow disk, whose florets are fertile, containing both stamens +and pistil, their tubular corollas 5-cleft. Stem: Smooth, much +branched, 1 to 2 ft. high, leafy, with unpleasant odor and acrid +taste. Leaves: Very finely dissected into slender segments. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, dry wasteland, sandy fields. +Flowering Season - June-November. +Distribution - Throughout North America, except in circumpolar +regions. + +"Naturalized from Europe, and widely distributed as a weed in +Asia, Africa, and Australasia" (Britton and Brown's "Flora"). +Little wonder the camomile encompasses the earth, for it imitates +the triumphant daisy, putting into practice those business +methods of the modern department store, by which the composite +horde have become the most successful strugglers for survival. + +The unpleasant odor given forth by this bushy little plant repels +bees and other highly organized insects; not so flies, which, far +from objecting to a fetid smell, are rather attracted by it. They +visit the camomile in such numbers as to be the chief +fertilizers. As the development of bloom proceeds toward the +center, the disk becomes conical, to present the newly opened +florets, where a fly alighting on it must receive pollen, to be +transferred as he crawls and flies to another head. After +fertilization the white rays droop. Dog, used as a prefix by +several of the plant's folk names, implies contempt for its +worthlessness. It is quite another species, the GARDEN CAMOMILE +(A. nobilis) which furnishes the apothecary with those flowers +which, when steeped into a bitter aromatic tea, have been +supposed for generations to make a superior tonic and blood +purifier. + +Not so common a plant here, but almost as widespread as the +preceding species, is the similar, but not fetid, CORN or FIELD +CAMOMILE (A. arvensis), a pest to European farmers. Both are +closely related to the garden FEVERFEW, FEATHERFEW, OR PELLITORY +(Chrysanthemum Parthenium), which escapes from cultivation +whenever it can into waste fields and roadsides. + +COMMON DAISY; WHITE-WEED; WHITE OR OX-EYE DAISY; LOVE-ME, +LOVE-ME-NOT + + (Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Disk florets yellow, tubular, 4 or 5 toothed, +containing stamens and pistil; surrounded by white ray florets, +which are pistillate, fertile. Stem: Smooth, rarely branched, to +3 ft. high. Leaves: Mostly oblong in outline, coarsely toothed +and divided. +Preferred Habitat - Meadows, pastures, roadsides, wasteland. +Flowering Season - May-November. +Distribution - Throughout the United States and Canada; not so +common in the South and West. + +Myriads and myriads of daisies, whitening our fields as if a +belated blizzard had covered them with a snowy mantle in June, +fill the farmer with dismay, the flower-lover with rapture. When +vacation days have come; when chains and white-capped old women +are to be made of daisies by happy children turned out of +schoolrooms into meadows; when pretty maids, like Goethe's +Marguerite, tell their fortunes by the daisy "petals;" when music +bubbles up in a cascade of ecstasy from the throats of bobolinks +nesting among the daisies, timothy, and clover; when the blue sky +arches over the fairest scenes the year can show, and all the +world is full of sunshine and happy promises of fruition, must we +Americans always go to English literature for a song to fit our +joyous mood? + + "When daisies pied, and violets blue, + And lady-smocks all silver white, + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, + Do paint the meadows with delight-" + +sang Shakespeare. His lovely suggestion of an English spring +recalls no familiar picture to American minds. No more does +Burns's + + "Wee, modest crimson-tippit flower." + +Shakespeare, Burns, Chaucer, Wordsworth, and all the British +poets who have written familiar lines about the daisy, extolled a +quite different flower from ours - Bellis perennis, the little +pink and white blossom that hugs English turf as if it loved it - +the true day's-eye, for it closes at nightfall and opens with the +dawn. + +Now, what is the secret of the large, white daisy's triumphal +conquest of our territory? A naturalized immigrant from Europe +and Asia, how could it so quickly take possession? In the +over-cultivated Old World no weed can have half the chance for +unrestricted colonizing that it has in our vast unoccupied area. +Most of our weeds are naturalized foreigners, not natives. Once +released from the harder conditions of struggle at home (the +seeds being safely smuggled in among the ballast of freight +ships, or hay used in packing), they find life here easy, +pleasant; as if to make up for lost time, they increase a +thousandfold. If we look closely at a daisy - and a lens is +necessary for any but the most superficial acquaintance - we +shall see that, far from being a single flower, it is literally a +host in itself. Each of the so-called white "petals" is a female +floret, whose open corolla has grown large, white, and showy, to +aid its sisters in advertising for insect visitors - a prominence +gained only by the loss of its stamens. The yellow center is +composed of hundreds of minute tubular florets huddled together +in a green cup as closely as they can be packed. Inside each of +these tiny yellow tubes stand the stamens, literally putting +their heads together. As the pistil within the ring of stamens +develops and rises through their midst, two little hair brushes +on its tip sweep the pollen from their anthers as a rounded brush +would remove the soot from a lamp chimney. Now the pollen is +elevated to a point where any insect crawling over the floret +must remove it. The pollen gone, the pistil now spreads its two +arms, that were kept tightly closed together while any danger of +self-fertilization lasted. Their surfaces become sticky, that +pollen brought from another flower may adhere to them. Notice +that the pistils in the white ray florets have no hairbrushes on +their tips, because, no stamens being there, there is no pollen +to be swept out. Because daisies are among the most conspicuous +of flowers, and have facilitated dining for their visitors by +offering them countless cups of refreshment that may be drained +with a minimum loss of time, almost every insect on wings alights +on them sooner or later. In short, they run their business on the +principle of a cooperative department store. Immense quantities +of the most vigorous, because cross-fertilized, seed being set in +every patch, small wonder that our fields are white with daisies +- a long and a merry life to them! + + +Since all flowers must once have passed through a white stage +before attaining gay colors, so evolution teaches, it is not +surprising that occasional reversions to the white type should be +found even among the brightest-hued species. Again, some white +flowers which are in a transition state show aspirations after +color, often so marked in individuals as to mislead one into +believing them products of a far advanced colored type. Also, +pale colors blanch under a summer sun. These facts must be borne +in mind, and the blue, pink, and yellow blossoms should be +investigated before the reader despairs of identifying a flower +not found in the white group. + + + +YELLOW AND ORANGE FLOWERS + +"All variations which render the blossoms more attractive, either +by scent, color, size of corolla, or quantity of nectar, make the +insect visit more sure, and therefore the production of seed more +likely. Thus, the conspicuous blossoms secure descendants which +inherit the special variations of their parents, and so, +generation after generation, we have selections in favor of +conspicuous flowers, where insects are at work. Their +appreciation of color, because it has brought the blossom +possessing it more immediately into their view, and more surely +under their attention, has enabled them, through the ages, to be +preparing the specimens upon which man now operates, he taking up +the work where they have left it, selecting, inoculating, and +hybridizing, according to his own rules of taste, and developing +a beauty which insects alone could never have evolved. His are +the finishing touches, his the apparent effects, yet no less is +it true, that the results of his floriculture would never have +been attainable without insect helpers. It is equally certain, +that the beautiful perfume, and the nectar also, are, in their +present development, the outcome of repeated insect selection, +and here, it seems to me, we get an inkling of a deep mystery: +Why is life, in all its forms, so dependent upon the fusion of +two individual elements? Is it not, that thus the door of +progress has been opened? If each alone had reproduced, itself +all-in-all, advance would have been impossible, the insect and +human florists and pomologists, like the improvers of animal +races, would have had no platform for their operation, and not +only the forms of life, but life itself would have been +stereotyped unalterably, ever mechanically giving repetition to +identical phenomena." - Frank R. Cheshire in "Bees and +Bee-keeping." + + +YELLOW AND ORANGE FLOWERS + +GOLDEN CLUB + (Orontium aquaticum) Arum family + +Flowers - Bright yellow, minute, perfect, crowded on a spadix +(club) 1 to 2 in. long; the scape, 6 in. to 2 ft. tall, flattened +just below it; the club much thickened in fruit. Leaves: All from +root, petioled, oblong-elliptic, dull green above, pale +underneath, 5 to 12 in. long, floating or erect. +Preferred Habitat - Shallow ponds, standing water, swamps. +Flowering Season - April-May. +Distribution - New England to the Gulf States, mostly near the +coast. + +A first cousin of cruel Jack-in-the-pulpit, the skunk cabbage, +and the water-arum (q.v.), a poor relation also of the calla +lily, the golden club seems to be denied part of its tribal +inheritance - the spathe, corresponding to the pulpit in which +Jack preaches, or to the lily's showy white skirt. In the +tropics, where the lily grows, where insect life teems in myriads +and myriads, and competition among the flowers for their visits +is infinitely more keen than here, she has greater need to flaunt +showy clothes to attract benefactors than her northern relatives. +But the golden club, which looks something like a calla stripped +of her lovely white robe, has not lacked protection for its +little buds from the cold spring winds while any was needed. By +the time we notice the plant in bloom, however, its bract-like +spathe has usually fallen away, as if conscious that the pretty +mosaic club of golden florets, so attractive in itself, was quite +able to draw all the visitors needed without further help. Merely +by crawling over the clubs, flies and midges cross-fertilize +them. + + +PERFOLIATE BELLWORT; STRAW BELL + (Uvularia perfoliala) Bunch-flower family + +Flowers - Fragrant, pale yellow, about 1 in. long, drooping +singly (rarely 2) from tips of branches; perianth narrow, +bell-shaped, of 6 petal-like segments, rough within, spreading at +the tip; 6 stamens; 3 styles united to the middle. Stem: 6 to 20 +in. high, smooth, shining, forking about half way. Leaves: +Apparently strung on the slender stem, oval, tapering at tip. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich woods; thickets. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, west to Mississippi. + +Hanging like a palate (uvula) from the roof of a mouth, according +to imaginative Linnaeus, the little bellwort droops, and so +modestly hides behind the leaf its footstalk pierces that the eye +often fails to find it when so many more showy blossoms arrest +attention in the May woods. Slight fragrance helps to guide the +keen bumblebee to the pale yellow bell. The tips spreading apart +very little and the flower being pendent, how is she to reach the +nectar secreted at the base of each of its six divisions? Is it +not more than probable that the inner surface is rough, as if +dusted with yellow meal, to provide a foothold for her as she +clings? Now securely hanging from within the inhospitable flower, +her long tongue can easily drain the sweets, and in doing so she +will receive pollen, to be deposited, in all probability, on the +stigmatic style branches of the next bellwort entered. + +With a more westerly range than the perfoliate species, the +similar LARGE-FLOWERED BELLWORT (U. grandiflora) grows in like +situations. Its greenish lemon-yellow flowers, an inch to an inch +and a half long, appear from April to May, or when the female +bumblebees, that fly before their lords, are the only insects +large and strong enough to force an entrance. Mr. Trelease, who +noted them on the flowers near Madison, Wisconsin, saw that one +laden with pollen from another blossom came in contact with the +three sticky branches of the style, protruding between the +anthers, when she crawled between the anthers and sepals, as she +must, to reach the nectar secreted at the base. But the linear +anthers shedding their pollen longitudinally, there is a chance +that the flower may fertilize itself should no bee arrive before +a certain point is reached. + +The SESSILE-LEAVED BELLWORT, or WILD OAT (U. sessifolia), as its +name implies, has its thin, pale green leaves tapering at either +end, seated on the stem, not surrounding it, or apparently strung +on it. The smaller flower is cream colored. A sharply +three-angled capsule about an inch long follows. Range from +Minnesota and Arkansas to the Atlantic. + + +WILD YELLOW, MEADOW or FIELD LILY; CANADA LILY + (Lilium Canadense) Lily family + +Flowers - Yellow to orange-red, of a deeper shade within, and +speckled with dark reddish-brown dots. One or several (rarely +many) nodding on long peduncles from the summit. Perianth +bell-shaped, of 6 spreading segments 2 to 3 in. long, their tips +curved backward to the middle; 6 stamens, with reddish-brown +linear anthers; 1 pistil, club-shaped; the stigma 3-lobed. Stem: +2 to 5 ft. tall, leafy, from a bulbous rootstock composed of +numerous fleshy white scales. Leaves: Lance-shaped, to oblong; +usually in whorls of fours to tens, or some alternate. Fruit: An +erect, oblong, 3-celled capsule, the flat, horizontal seeds +packed in 2 rows in each cavity. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, low meadows; moist fields. Flowering +Season - June-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, westward beyond the +Mississippi. + +Not our gorgeous lilies that brighten the low-lying meadows in +early summer with pendent, swaying bells; possibly not a true +lily at all was chosen to illustrate the truth which those who +listened to the Sermon on the Mount, and we, equally anxious, +foolishly overburdened folk of to-day, so little comprehend. + + "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; + they toil not, neither do they spin + And yet I say unto you, + That even Solomon in all his glory + was not arrayed like one of these." + +Opinions differ as to the lily of Scripture. Eastern peoples use +the same word interchangeably for the tulip, anemone, ranunculus, +iris, the water-lilies, and those of the field. The superb +Scarlet Martagon Lily (L. chalcedonicum), grown in gardens here, +is not uncommon wild in Palestine; but whoever has seen the large +anemones there "carpeting every plain and luxuriantly pervading +the land" is inclined to believe that Jesus, who always chose the +most familiar objects in the daily life of His simple listeners +to illustrate His teachings, rested His eyes on the slopes about +Him glowing with anemones in all their matchless loveliness. What +flower served Him then matters not at all. It is enough that +scientists - now more plainly than ever before - see the +universal application of the illustration the more deeply they +study nature, and can include their "little brothers of the air" +and the humblest flower at their feet when they say with Paul, +"In God we live and move and have our being." + +Tallest and most prolific of bloom among our native lilies, as it +is the most variable in color, size, and form, the TURK'S CAP, or +TURBAN LILY (L. superburn), sometimes nearly merges its identity +into its Canadian sister's. Travelers by rail between New York +and Boston know how gorgeous are the low meadows and marshes in +July or August, when its clusters of deep yellow, orange, or +flame-colored lilies tower above the surrounding vegetation. Like +the color of most flowers, theirs intensifies in salt air. +Commonly from three to seven lilies appear in a terminal group; +but under skilful cultivation even forty will crown the stalk +that reaches a height of nine feet where its home suits it +perfectly; or maybe only a poor array of dingy yellowish caps top +a shriveled stem when unfavorable conditions prevail. There +certainly are times when its specific name seems extravagant. + +Its range is from Maine to the Carolinas, westward to Minnesota +and Tennessee. A well-conducted Turk's cap is not bell-shaped at +maturity, like the Canada lily: it should open much farther, +until the six points of its perianth curve so far backward beyond +the middle as to expose the stamens for nearly their entire +length. One of the purple-dotted divisions of the flower when +spread out flat may measure anywhere from two and a half to four +inches in length. Smooth, lance-shaped leaves, tapering at both +ends, occur in whorls of threes to eights up the stem, or the +upper ones may be alternate. Abundant food, hidden in a round, +white-shingled storehouse under ground, nourishes the plant, and +similarly its bulb-bearing kin, when emergency may require - a +thrifty arrangement that serves them in good stead during +prolonged drought and severe winters. + +Why, one may ask, are some lilies radiantly colored and speckled; +others, like the Easter lily, deep chaliced, white, spotless? +Now, in all our lily kin nectar is secreted in a groove at the +base of each of the six divisions of the flower, and upon its +removal by that insect best adapted to come in contact with +anthers and stigma as it flies from lily to lily depends all hope +of perpetuating the lovely race. For countless ages it has been +the flower's business to find what best pleased the visitors on +whom so much depended. Some lilies decided to woo one class of +insects; some, another. Those which literally set their caps for +color-loving bees and butterflies whose long tongues could easily +drain nectar deeply hidden from the mob for their special +benefit, assumed gay hues, speckling the inner side of their +spreading divisions, even providing lines as pathfinders to their +nectaries in some cases, lest a visitor try to thrust in his +tongue between the petal-like parts while standing on the +outside, and so defeat their well-laid plan. It is almost +pathetic to see how bright and spotted they are inside, that the +visitor may not go astray. Thus we find the chief pollenizers of +the Canada and the Turk's cap lilies to be specialized bees, the +interesting upholsterers, or 1eaf-cutters, conspicuous among the +throng. Nectar they want, of course; but the dark, rich pollen is +needed also to mix with it for the food supply of a generation +still unborn. Anyone who has smelled a lily knows how his nose +looks afterward. The bees have no difficulty whatever in removing +lily pollen and transferring it. So much for the colored lilies. + +The long, white, trumpet-shape type of lily chooses for her lover +the sphinx moth. For him she wears a spotless white robe - +speckles would be superfluous - that he may see it shine in the +dusk, when colored flowers melt into the prevailing blackness; +for him she breathes forth a fragrance almost overwhelming at +evening, to guide him to her neighborhood from afar; in +consideration of his very long, slender tongue she hides her +sweets so deep that none may rob him of it, taking the additional +precaution to weld her six once separate parts together into a +solid tube lest any pilferer thrust in his tongue from the side. + +The common orange-tan DAY LILY (Hemerocallis fulva) and the +commoner speckled, orange-red TIGER LILY (L. tigrinum) are not +slow in seizing opportunities to escape from gardens into +roadsides and fence corners. + + +YELLOW ADDER'S TONGUE; TROUT LILY; DOG-TOOTH "VIOLET" + (Erythronium Americanum) Lily family + +Flower - Solitary, pale russet yellow, rarely tinged with purple, +slightly fragrant, 1 to 2 in. long, nodding from the summit of a +footstalk 6 to 12 in. high, or about as tall as the leaves. +Perianth bell-shaped, of 6 petal-like, distinct segments, +spreading at tips, dark spotted within; 6 stamens; the +club-shaped style with 3 short, stigmatic ridges. Leaves: 2, +unequal, grayish green, mottled and streaked with brown or all +green, oblong, 3 to 8 in. long, narrowing into clasping petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Moist open woods and thickets, brooksides. +Flowering Season - March-May +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to the +Mississippi. + +Colonies of these dainty little lilies, that so often grow beside +leaping brooks where and when the trout hide, justify at least +one of their names; but they have nothing in common with the +violet or a dog's tooth. Their faint fragrance rather suggests a +tulip; and as for the bulb, which in some of the lily-kin has +tooth-like scales, it is in this case a smooth, egg-shaped corm, +producing little round offsets from its base. Much fault is also +found with another name on the plea that the curiously mottled +and delicately pencilled leaves bring to mind, not a snake's +tongue, but its skin, as they surely do. Whoever sees the sharp +purplish point of a young plant darting above ground in earliest +spring, however, at once sees the fitting application of adder's +tongue. But how few recognize their plant friends at all seasons +of the year! + +Every one must have noticed the abundance of low-growing spring +flowers in deciduous woodlands, where, later in the year, after +the leaves overhead cast a heavy shade, so few blossoms are to be +found, because their light is seriously diminished. The thrifty +adder's tongue, by laying up nourishment in its storeroom +underground through the winter, is ready to send its leaves and +flower upward to take advantage of the sunlight the still naked +trees do not intercept, just as soon as the ground thaws. But the +spring beauty, the rue-anemone, bloodroot, toothwort, and the +first blue violet (palmata) among other early spring flowers, +have not been slow to take advantage of the light either. Fierce +competition, therefore, rages among them to secure visits from +the comparatively few insects then flying - a competition so +severe that the adder's tongue often has to wait until afternoon +for the spring beauty to close before receiving a single caller. +Hive-bees, and others only about half their size, of the Andrena +and Halictus clans, the first to fly, the Bombylius frauds, and +common yellow butterflies, come in numbers then. Guided by the +speckles to the nectaries at the base of the flower, they must +either cling to the stamens and style while they suck, or fall +out. Thus cross-fertilization is commonly effected; but in the +absence of insects the lily can fertilize itself. Crawling +pilferers rarely think it worthwhile to slip and slide up the +smooth footstalk and risk a tumble where it curves to allow the +flower to nod - the reason why this habit of growth is so +popular. The adder's tongue, which is extremely sensitive to the +sunlight, will turn on its stalk to follow it, and expand in its +warmth. At night it nearly closes. + +A similar adder's tongue, bearing a white flower, purplish tinged +on the outside, yellow at the base within to guide insects to the +nectaries, is the WHITE ADDER'S TONGUE (E. albidum), rare in the +Eastern States, but quite common westward as far as Texas and +Minnesota. + + +YELLOW CLINTONIA + (Clintonia borealis) Lily-of-the-valley family + +Flowers - Straw color or greenish yellow, less than 1 in. long, 3 +to 6 nodding on slender pedicels from the summit of a leafless +scape 6 to 15 in. tall. Perianth of 6 spreading divisions, the 6 +stamens attached; style, 3-lobed. Leaves: Dark, glossy, large, +oval to oblong, 2 to 5 (usually 3), sheathing at the base. Fruit. +Oval blue berries on upright pedicels. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich, cool woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - From the Carolinas and Wisconsin far northward. + +To name canals, bridges, city thoroughfares, booming factory +towns after DeWitt Clinton seems to many appropriate enough; but +why a shy little woodland flower? As fitly might a wee white +violet carry down the name of Theodore Roosevelt to posterity! +"Gray should not have named the flower from the Governor of New +York," complains Thoreau. "What is he to the lovers of flowers in +Massachusetts? If named after a man, it must be a man of +flowers." So completely has Clinton, the practical man of +affairs, obliterated Clinton, the naturalist, from the popular +mind, that, were it not for this plant keeping his memory green, +we should be in danger of forgetting the weary, overworked +governor, fleeing from care to the woods and fields; pursuing in +the open air the study which above all others delighted and +refreshed him; revealing in every leisure moment a too-often +forgotten side of his many-sided greatness. + + +INDIAN CUCUMBER-ROOT + (Medeola Virginiana) Lily-of-the-valley family + +Flowers - Greenish yellow, on fine, curving footstalks, in a +loose cluster above a circle of leaves. Perianth of 6 wide-spread +divisions about 1/4 in. long; 6 reddish-brown stamens; 3 long +reddish-brown styles, stigmatic on inner side. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 +ft. high, unbranched, cottony when young. Leaves: Of flowering +plants, in 2 whorls; lower whorl of 5 to 9 large, thin, oblong, +taper-pointed leaves above the middle of stem; upper whorl of 3 +to 5 small, oval, pointed leaves 1 to 2 in. long, immediately +under flowers. Flowerless plants with a whorl at summit. Fruit: +Round, dark-purple berries. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia and Minnesota, southward nearly to the +Gulf of Mexico. + +Again we see the leaves of a plant coming to the aid of otherwise +inconspicuous flowers to render them more attractive. By placing +themselves in a circle just below these little spidery blossoms +of weak and uncertain coloring, some of the Indian cucumber's +leaves certainly make them at least noticeable, if not showy. It +would be short-sighted philanthropy on the leaves' part to help +the flowers win insect wooers at the expense of the plant's +general health; therefore those in the upper whorl are fewer and +much smaller than the leaves in the lower circle, and a +sufficient length of stem separates them to allow the sunlight +and rain to conjure with the chlorophyll in the group below. +While there is a chance of nectar being pilfered from the flowers +by ants, the stem is cottony and ensnares their feet. In +September, when small clusters of dark-purple berries replace the +flowers, and rich tints dye the leaves, the plant is truly +beautiful - of course to invite migrating birds to disperse its +seeds. It is said the Indians used to eat the horizontal, white, +fleshy rootstock, which has a flavor like a cucumber's. + + +CARRION-FLOWER + (Smilax herbacea) Smilax family + +Flowers - Carrion-scented, yellowish-green, 15 to 80 small, +6-parted ones clustered in an umbel on a long peduncle. Stem: +Smooth, unarmed, climbing with the help of tendril-like +appendages from the base of leafstalks. Leaves: Egg-shaped, +heart-shaped, or rounded, pointed tipped, parallel-nerved, +petioled. Fruit: Bluish-black berries. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil, thickets, woods, roadside fences. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Northern Canada to the Gulf States, westward to +Nebraska. + +"It would be safe to say," says John Burroughs, "that there is a +species of smilax with an unsavory name, that the bee does not +visit, herbacea. The production of this plant is a curious freak +of nature.... It would be a cruel joke to offer it to any person +not acquainted with it, to smell. It is like the vent of a +charnel-house." (Thoreau compared its odor to that of a dead rat +in a wall!) "It is first cousin to the trilliums, among the +prettiest of our native wild flowers," continues Burroughs, "and +the same bad blood crops out in the purple trillium or +birthroot." + +Strange that so close an observer as Burroughs or Thoreau should +not have credited the carrion-flower with being something more +intelligent than a mere repellent freak! Like the purple trillium +(q.v.), it has deliberately adapted itself to please its +benefactors, the little green flesh flies so commonly seen about +untidy butcher shops in summer. These, sharing with many beetles +the unthankful task of removing putrid flesh and fowl from the +earth, acting the part of scavengers for nature, are naturally +attracted to carrion-scented flowers. Of these they have an +ungrudged monopoly. But the purple trillium has an additional +advantage in both smelling and looking like the same thing - a +piece of raw meat past its prime. Bees and butterflies, with +their highly developed aesthetic sense, ever delighting in +beautiful colors, perfume, and nectar, naturally let such flowers +as these alone - another object aimed at by them, for then the +flies get all the pollen they can eat. Some they transfer, of +course, from the larger staminate flowers to the smaller +pistillate ones as they crawl over one umbel of the +carrion-flower, then alight on another. + +Presently fruit begins to set, and we can approach the luxuriant +vine without offence to our noses. The beautiful glossy green +foliage takes on resplendent tints in early autumn - again with +interested motives, for are there not seeds within the little +bluish-black berries, waiting for the birds to distribute them +during their migration? + +The vicious CATBRIER, GREENBRIER, or HORSEBRIER (S. +rotundifolia), similar to the preceding, except that its +four-angled stem is well armed with green prickles, its beautiful +glossy, decorative leaves are more rounded, and its greenish +flower umbels lack foul odor, scarcely needs description. Who has +not encountered it in the roadside and woodland thickets, where +it defiantly bars the way? + +In the most inaccessible part of such a briery tangle, that +rollicking polyglot, the yellow-breasted chat, loves to hide its +nest. Indeed, many birds can say with Br'er Rabbit that they were +"bred en bawn in a brier-patch." Throughout the eastern half of +the United $tates and Upper Canada the catbrier displays its +insignificant little blossoms from April to June for a +miscellaneous lot of flies - insects which are content with the +slightest floral attractions offered. The florist's staple vine +popularly known as "SMILAX" (Myrslphyllum asparagoides), a native +of the Cape of Good Hope, is not even remotely connected with +true Smilaceae. + + +YELLOW STAR-GRASS + (Hypoxis hirsuta; H. erecta of Gray) Amaryllis family + +Flowers - Bright yellow within, greenish and hairy outside, about +1/2 in. across, 6-parted; the perianth divisions spreading, +narrowly oblong; a few flowers at the summit of a rough, hairy +scape 2 to 6 in. high. Leaves: All from an egg-shaped corm; +mostly longer than scapes, slender, grass-like, more or less +hairy. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, open woods, prairies, grassy waste +places, fields. +Flowering Season - May-October. +Distribution - From Maine far westward, and south to the Gulf of +Mexico. + +Usually only one of these little blossoms in a cluster on each +plant opens at a time; but that one peers upward so brightly from +among the grass it cannot well be overlooked. Sitting in a meadow +sprinkled over with these yellow stars, we see coming to them +many small bees - chiefly Halictus - to gather pollen for their +unhatched babies' bread. Of course they do not carry all the +pollen to their tunneled nurseries; some must often be rubbed off +on the sticky pistil tip in the center of other stars. The +stamens radiate, that self-fertilization need not take place +except as a last extremity. Visitors failing, the little flower +closes, bringing its pollen-laden anthers in contact with its own +stigma. + + +BLACKBERRY LILY + (Gemmingia Ciminensis; Pardanthus Chinensis of Gray) Iris +family + +Flowers - Deep orange color, speckled irregularly with crimson +and purple within (Pardos = leopard; anthos = flower); borne in +terminal, forked clusters. Perianth of 6 oblong, petal-like, +spreading divisions; 6 stamens with linear anthers; style +thickest above, with 3 branches. Stem: 1 1/2 to 4 ft. tall, +leafy. Leaves: Like the iris; erect, folded blades, 8 to 10 in. +long. Fruit: Resembling a blackberry; an erect mass of round, +black, fleshy seeds, at first concealed in a fig-shaped capsule, +whose 3 valves curve backward, and finally drop off. +Preferred habitat - Roadsides and hills. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Connecticut to Georgia, westward to Indiana and +Missouri. + +How many beautiful foreign flowers, commonly grown in our gardens +here, might soon become naturalized Americans were we only +generous enough to lift a few plants, scatter a few seeds over +our fences into the fields and roadsides - to raise the bars of +their prison, as it were, and let them free! Many have run away, +to be sure. Once across the wide Atlantic, or wider Pacific, +their passage paid (not sneaking in among the ballast like the +more fortunate weeds), some are doomed to stay in prim, rigidly +cultivated flower beds forever; others, only until a chance to +bolt for freedom presents itself, and away they go. Lucky are +they if every flower they produce is not picked before a single +seed can be set. + +This blackberry lily of gorgeous hue originally came from China. +Escaping from gardens here and there, it was first reported as a +wild flower at East Rock, Connecticut; other groups of vagabonds +were met marching along the roadsides on Long Island; near +Suffern, New York; then farther southward and westward, until it +has already attained a very respectable range. Every plant has +some good device for sending its offspring away from home to +found new colonies, if man would but let it alone. Better still, +give the eager travelers a lift! + + +LARGE YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER; WHIPPOORWILL'S SHOE; YELLOW MOCCASIN +FLOWER + (Cypripedium hirsutum; C. pubescens of Gray) Orchid family + +Flower - Solitary, large, showy, borne at the top of a leafy stem +to 2 ft. high. Sepals 3, 2 of them united, greenish or yellowish, +striped with purple or dull red, very long, narrow; 2 petals, +brown, narrower, twisting; the third an inflated sac, open at the +top, 1 to 2 in. long, pale yellow, purple lined white hairs +within; sterile stamen triangular; stigma thick. Leaves: Oval or +elliptic, pointed, 3 to 5 in, long, parallel-nerved, sheathing. +Preferred Habitat - Moist or boggy woods and thickets; hilly +ground. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Alabama, westward to Minnesota and +Nebraska. + +Swinging outward from a leaf-clasped stem, this orchid attracts +us by its flaunted beauty and decorative form from tip to root, +not less than the aesthetic little bees for which its adornment +and mechanism are so marvelously adapted. Doubtless the heavy, +oily odor is an additional attraction to them. Parallel purplish +lines, converging toward the circular opening of the pale yellow, +inflated pouch, guide the visitor into a spacious banquet-hall +(labellum) such as the pink lady's slipper (q.v.) also entertains +her guests in. Fine hairs within secrete tiny drops of fluid at +their tips - a secretion which hardens into a brittle crust, like +a syrup's, when it dries. Darwin became especially interested in +this flower through a delightful correspondence with Professor +Asa Gray, who was the first to understand it, and he finally +secured a specimen to experiment on. + +"I first introduced some flies into the labellum through the +large upper opening," Darwin wrote, "but they were either too +large or too stupid, and did not crawl out properly. I then +caught and placed within the labellum a very small bee which +seemed of about the right size, namely Andrena parvula.... The +bee vainly endeavored to crawl out again the same way it entered, +but always fell backwards, owing to the margins being inflected. +The labellum thus acts like one of those conical traps with the +edges turned inwards, which are sold to catch beetles and +cockroaches in London kitchens. It could not creep out through +the slit between the folded edges of the basal part of the +labellum, as the elongated, triangular, rudimentary stamen here +closes the passage. Ultimately it forced its way out through one +of the small orifices close to one of the anthers, and was found +when caught to be smeared with the glutinous pollen. I then put +the same bee into another labellum; and again it crawled out +through one of the small orifices, always covered with pollen. I +repeated the operation five times, always with the same result. I +afterwards cut away the labellum, so as to examine the stigma, +and found its whole surface covered with pollen. It should be +noticed that an insect in making its escape, must first brush +past the stigma and afterwards one of the anthers, so that it +cannot leave pollen on the stigma, until being already smeared +with pollen from one flower it enters another; and thus there +will be a good chance of cross-fertilization between two distinct +plants.... Thus the use of all parts of the flower, - namely, the +inflected edges, or the polished inner sides of the labellum; the +two orifices and their position close to the anthers and stigma, +- the large size of the medial rudimentary stamen, - are rendered +intelligible. An insect which enters the labellum is thus +compelled to crawl out by one of the two narrow passages, on the +sides of which the pollen-masses and stigma are placed." + +These common orchids, which are not at all difficult to +naturalize in a well-drained, shady spot in the garden, should be +lifted with a good ball of earth and plenty of leaf-mould +immediately after flowering. Here we can note little American +Andrena bees unwittingly becoming the flower's slaves. Several +species of exotic cypripediums are so common in the city +florist's shops every one has an opportunity to study their +marvelous structure. + +The similar SMALL YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER (C. parviflorum), a +delicately fragrant orchid about half the size of its big sister, +has a brighter yellow pouch, and occasionally its sepals and +petals are purplish. As they usually grow in the same localities, +and have the same blooming season, opportunities for comparison +are not lacking. This fairer, sweeter, little orchid roams +westward as far as the State of Washington. + +YELLOW FRINGED ORCHIS + (Habenaria ciliaris) Orchid family + +Flowers - Bright yellow or orange, borne in a showy, closely set, +oblong spike, 3 to 6 in. long. The lip of each flower copiously +fringed; the slender spur 1 to 1 1/2 in. long; similar to white +fringed orchis (q.v.); and between the two, intermediate pale +yellow hybrids may be found. Stem: Slender, leafy, 1 to 2 1/2 +feet high. Leaves: Lance-shaped, clasping. +Preferred Habitat - Moist meadows and sandy bogs. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - Vermont to Florida; Ontario to Texas. + +Where this brilliant, beautiful orchid and its lovely white +sister grow together in the bog - which cannot be through a very +wide range, since one is common northward, where the other is +rare, and vice versa - the yellow fringed orchis will be found +blooming a few days later. In general structure the plants +closely resemble each other. Their similar method of enforcing +payment for a sip of nectar concealed in a tube so narrow and +deep none but a sphinx moth or butterfly may drain it all (though +large bumblebees occasionally get some too, from brimming +nectaries) has been described (q.v.), to which the interested +reader is referred. Both these orchids have their sticky discs +projecting unusually far, as if raised on a pedicel - an +arrangement which indicates that they "are to be stuck to the +face or head of some nectar-sucking insect of appropriate size +that visits the flowers," wrote Dr. Asa Gray over forty years +ago. Various species of hawk moths, common in different parts of +our area, of course have tongues of various lengths, and +naturally every visitor does not receive his load of pollen on +the same identical spot. At dusk, when sphinx moths begin their +rounds, it will be noticed that the white and yellow flowers +remain conspicuous long after blossoms of other colors have +melted into the general darkness. Such flowers as cater to these +moths, if they have fragrance, emit it then most strongly, as an +additional attraction. Again, it will be noticed that few such +flowers provide a strong projecting petal-platform for visitors +to alight on; that would be superfluous, since sphinx moths suck +while hovering over a tube, with their wings in exceedingly rapid +motion, just like a hummingbird, for which the larger species are +so often mistaken at twilight. This deep-hued orchid apparently +attracts as many butterflies as sphinx moths, which show a +predilection for the white species. + +>From Ontario and the Mississippi eastward, and southward to the +Gulf, the TUBERCLED or SMALL PALE GREEN ORCHIS (H. flava) lifts a +spire of inconspicuous greenish-yellow flowers, more attractive +to the eye of the structural botanist than to the aesthete. It +blooms in moist places, as most orchids do, since water with +which to manufacture nectar enough to fill their deep spurs is a +prime necessity. Orchids have arrived at that pinnacle of +achievement that it is impossible for them to fertilize +themselves. More than that, some are absolutely sterile to their +own pollen when it is applied to their stigmas artificially with +insect aid, however, a single plant has produced over 1,000,700 +seeds. No wonder, then, that, as a family, they have adopted the +most marvelous blandishments and mechanism in the whole floral +kingdom to secure the visits of that special insect to which each +is adapted, and, having secured him, to compel him unwittingly to +do their bidding. In the steaming tropical jungles, where +vegetation is luxuriant to the point of suffocation, and where +insect life swarms in mvriads undreamed of here, we can see the +best of reasons for orchids mounting into trees and living on air +to escape strangulation on the ground, and for donning larger and +more gorgeous apparel to attract attention in the fierce +competition for insect trade waged about them. Here, where the +struggle for survival is incomparably easier, we have terrestrial +orchids, small, and quietly clad, for the most part. + +Having the gorgeous, exotic air plants of the hothouse in mind, +this little tubercled orchis seems a very poor relation indeed. +In June and July, about a week before the ragged orchis comes +out, we may look for this small, fringeless sister. Its clasping +leaves, which decrease in size as they ascend the stem (not to +shut off the light and rain from the lower ones), are +parallel-veined, elliptic, or, the higher ones, lance-shaped. A +prominent tubercle, or palate, growing upward from the lip, +almost conceals the entrance to the nectary. and makes a side +approach necessary. Why? Usually an insect has free, straight +access down the center of a flower's throat, but here he cannot +have it. A slender tongue must be directed obliquely from above +into the spur, and it will enter the discal groove as a thread +enters the eye of a needle. By this arrangement the tongue must +certainly come in contact with one of the sticky discs to which +an elongated pollen gland is attached. The cement on the disc +hardening even while the visitor sucks, the pollen gland is +therefore drawn out, because firmly attached to his tongue. At +first the pollen mass stands erect on the proboscis; but in the +fraction of a moment which it takes a butterfly to flit to +another blossom, it has bent forward automatically into the exact +position required for it to come in contact with the sticky +stigma of the next tubercled orchis entered, where it will be +broken off. Now we understand the use of the palate. Butterfly +collectors often take specimens with remnants of these pollen +stumps stuck to their tongues. In his classical work "On the +Fertilization of Orchids by Insects," Darwin tells of finding a +mottled rustic butterfly whose proboscis was decorated with +eleven pairs of pollen masses, taken from as many blossoms of the +pyramidal orchis. Have these flowers no mercy on their +long-suffering friends? A bee with some orchid pollen-stumps +attached to its head was once sent to Mr. Frank Cheshire, the +English expert who had just discovered some strange bee diseases. +He was requested to name the malady that had caused so abnormal +an outgrowth on the bee's forehead! + +Often found growing in the same bog with the tubercled species is +the RAGGED or FRINGED GREEN ORCHIS (H. lacera), so inconspicuous +we often overlook it unawares. Examine one of the dingy, +greenish-yellow flowers that are set along the stern in a spike +to make all the show in the world possible, each with its +three-parted, spreading lip finely and irregularly cut into +thread-like fringe to hail the passing butterfly, and we shall +see that it, too, has made ingenious provision against the +draining of its spur by a visitor without proper pay for his +entertainment. Even without the gay color that butterflies ever +delight in, these flowers contain so much nectar in their spurs, +neither butterflies nor large bumblebees are long in hunting them +out. In swamps and wet woodland from Nova Scotia to Georgia, and +westward to the Mississippi, the ragged orchis blooms in June or +July. + + +LARGE YELLOW POND or WATER LILY; COW LILY; SPATTER-DOCK + (Nymphaea advena; Nupisar advena of Gray) Water-lily family + +Flowers - Yellow or greenish outside, rarely purple tinged, +round, depressed, 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 in. across. Sepals 6, unequal, +concave, thick, fleshy; petals stamen-like, oblong, fleshy, +short; stamens very numerous, in 5 to 7 rows; pistil compounded +of many carpels, its stigmatic disc pale red or yellow, with 12 +to 24 rays. Leaves: Floating, or some immersed, large, thick, +sometimes a foot long, egg-shaped or oval, with a deep cleft at +base, the lobes rounded. +Preferred Habitat - Standing water, ponds, slow streams. +Flowering Season - April-September. +Distribution - Rocky Mountains eastward, south to the Gulf of +Mexico, north to Nova Scotia. + +Comparisons were ever odious. Because the yellow water lily has +the misfortune to claim relationship with the sweet-scented white +species (q.v.), must it never receive its just meed of praise? +Hiawatha's canoe, let it be remembered, + + "Floated on the river + Like a yellow leaf in autumn, + Like a yellow water-lily." + +But even those who admire Longfellow's lines see no beauty in the +golden flower-bowls floating among the large, lustrous, leathery +leaves. + +By assuming the functions of petals, the colored sepals advertise +for insects. Beetles, which answer the first summons to a free +lunch, crowd in as the sepals begin to spread. In the center the +star-like disc, already sticky, is revealed, and on it any pollen +they have carried with them from older flowers necessarily rubs +off. At first, or while the stigma is freshly receptive to +pollen, an insect cannot make his entrance except by crawling +over this large, sticky plate. At this time, the anthers being +closed, self-fertilization is impossible. A day or two later, +after the pollen begins to ripen on countless anthers, the flower +is so widely open that visitors have no cause to alight in the +center; anyway, no harm could result if they did, +cross-fertilization having been presumably accomplished. While +beetles (especially Donacia) are ever abundant visitors, it is +likely they do much more harm than good. So eagerly do they gnaw +both petals and stamens, which look like loops of narrow yellow +ribbon within the bowl of an older flower, that, although they +must carry some pollen to younger flowers as they travel on, it +is probable they destroy ten times more than their share. Flies +transport pollen too. The smaller bees (Halictus and Andrena +chiefly) find some nectar secreted on the outer faces of the +stamen-like petals, which they mix with pollen to make their +babies' bread. + +The very beautiful native AMERICAN LOTUS (Nelumbo lutea), also +known as WATER CHINKAPIN or WANKAPIN, found locally in Ontario, +the Connecticut River, some lakes, slow streams, and ponds in New +Jersey, southward to Florida, and westward to Michigan and +Illinois, Indian Territory and Louisiana, displays its pale +yellow flowers in July and August. They measure from four to ten +inches across, and suggest a yellow form of the sweet-scented +white water lily; but there are fewer petals, gradually passing +into an indefinite number of stamens. The great round, ribbed +leaves, smooth above, hairy beneath, may be raised high above the +water, immersed or floating. Both leaf and flower stalks contain +several large air canals. The flowers which are female when they +expand far enough for a pollen-laden guest to crawl into the +center, are afterward male, securing cross-fertilization by this +means, just as the yellow pond lily does; only the small bees +must content themselves here with pollen only - a diet that +pleases the destructive beetles and the flies (Syrphidae) +perfectly. + +Japanese artists especially have taught us how much of the beauty +of a Nelumbo we should lose if it ripened its decorative +seed-vessel below the surface as the sweet-scented white water +lily does. This flat-topped receptacle, held erect, has its +little round nuts imbedded in pits in its surface, ready to be +picked out by aquatic birds, and distributed by them in their +wanderings. Both seeds and tubers are farinaceous and edible. In +some places it is known the Indians introduced the plant for +food. Professor Charles Goodyear has written an elaborate, +plausible argument, illustrated, with many reproductions of +sculpture, pottery, and mural painting in the civilized world of +the ancients to prove that all decorative ornamental design has +been evolved from the sacred Egyptian lotus (Nelumbo Nelumubo), +still revered throughout the East (q.v.). + + +MARSH MARIGOLD; MEADOW-GOWAN; AMERICAN COWSLIP + (Caltha palustris) Crowfoot family' + +Flowers - Bright, shining yellow, 1 to 1 1/2 in. across, a few in +terminal and axillary groups. No petals; usually 5 (often more) +oval, petal-like sepals; stamens numerous; many pistils (carpels) +without styles. Stem: Stout, smooth, hollow, branching, 1 to 2 +ft. high. Leaves: Mostly from root, rounded, broad, and +heart-shaped at base, or kidney-shaped, upper ones almost +sessile, lower ones on fleshy petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Springy ground, low meadows, swamps, river +banks, ditches. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Carolina to Iowa, the Rocky Mountains, and very +far north. + +Not a true marigold, and even less a cowslip, it is by these +names that this flower, which looks most like a buttercup, will +continue to be called, in spite of the protests of scientific +classifiers. Doubtless the first of these folk-names refers to +its use in church festivals during the Middle Ages as one of the +blossoms devoted to the Virgin Mary. + + "And winking Mary-buds begin + To ope their golden eyes," + +sing the musicians in "Cymbeline." Whoever has seen the watery +Avon meadows in April, yellow and twinkling with marsh marigolds +when "the lark at heaven's gate sings," appreciates why the +commentators incline to identify Shakespeare's Mary-buds with the +Caltha of these and our own marshes. + +Not for poet's rhapsodies, but for the more welcome hum of small +bees and flies intent on breakfasting do these flowers open in +the morning sunshine. Nectar secreted on the sides of each of the +many carpels invites a conscientious bee all around the center, +on which she should alight to truly benefit her entertainer. +Honey bees may be seen sucking only enough nectar to aid them in +storing pollen; bumblebees feasting for their own benefit, not +their descendants'; little mining bees and quantities of flies +also, although not many species are represented among the +visitors, owing to the flower's early blooming season. Always +conspicuous among the throng are the brilliant Syrphidae flies - +gorgeous little creatures which show a fondness for blossoms as +gaily colored as their own lustrous bodies. Indeed, these are the +principal pollinators. + +Some country people who boil the young plants declare these +"greens" are as good as spinach. What sacrilege to reduce crisp, +glossy, beautiful leaves like these to a slimy mess in a pot! The +tender buds, often used in white sauce as a substitute for +capers, probably do not give it the same piquancy where piquancy +is surely most needed - on boiled mutton, said to be Queen +Victoria's favorite dish. Hawked about the streets in tight +bunches, the marsh-marigold blossoms - with half their yellow +sepals already dropped - and the fragrant, pearly-pink arbutus +are the most familiar spring wild flowers seen in Eastern cities. + + +COMMON MEADOW BUTTERCUP; TALL CROWFOOT; KINGCUPS; CUCKOO FLOWER; +GOLDCUPS; BUTTER-FLOWERS; BLISTER-FLOWERS + + (Ranunculus acris) Crowfoot family + +Flowers - Bright, shining yellow, about 1 in. across, numerous, +terminating long slender footstalks. Calyx of 5 spreading sepals; +corolla of 5 petals; yellow stamens and carpels. Stem: Erect, +branched above, hairy (sometimes nearly smooth), 2 to 3 feet +tall, from fibrous roots. Leaves: In a tuft from the base, long +petioled, of 3 to 7 divisions cleft into numerous lobes; stem +leaves nearly sessile, distant, 3-parted. +Preferred Habitat - Meadows, fields, roadsides, grassy places. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Naturalized from Europe in Canada and the United +States; most common North. + +What youngster has not held these shining golden flowers under +his chin to test his fondness for butter? Dandelions and +marsh-marigolds may reflect their color in his clear skin too, +but the buttercup is every child's favorite. When + + "Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue + Do paint the meadows with delight," + +daisies, pink clover, and waving timothy bear them company here; +not the "daisies pied," violets, and lady-smocks of Shakespeare's +England. How incomparably beautiful are our own meadows in June! +But the glitter of the buttercup, which is as nothing to the +glitter of a gold dollar in the eyes of a practical farmer, fills +him with wrath when this immigrant takes possession of his +pastures. Cattle will not eat the acrid, caustic plant - a +sufficient reason for most members of the Ranunculaceae to stoop +to the low trick of secreting poisonous or bitter juices. +Self-preservation leads a cousin, the garden monk's hood, even to +murderous practices. Since children will put everything within +reach into their mouths, they should be warned against biting the +buttercup's stem and leaves, that are capable of raising +blisters. "Beggars use the juice to produce sores upon their +skin," says Mrs. Creevy. A designer might employ these +exquisitely formed leaves far more profitably. + +This and the bulbous buttercup, having so much else in common, +have also the same visitors. "It is a remarkable fact," says Sir +John Lubbock, "as Aristotle long ago mentioned, that in most +cases bees confine themselves in each journey to a single species +of plant; though in the case of some very nearly allied forms +this is not so; for instance, it is stated on good authority +(Muller) that Ranunculus acris, R. repens, and R. bulbosus are +not distinguished by the bees, or at least are visited +indifferently by them, as is also the case with two of the +species of clover." From what we already know of the brilliant +Syrphidae flies' fondness for equally brilliant colors, it is not +surprising to find great numbers of them about the buttercups, +with bees, wasps, and beetles - upwards of sixty species. Modern +scientists believe that the habit of feeding on flowers has +called out the color-sense of insects and the taste for bright +colors, and that sexual selection has been guided by this taste. +The most unscientific among us soon finds evidence on every hand +that flowers and insects have developed together through mutual +dependence. + +By having its nourishment thriftily stored up underground all +winter, the BULBOUS BUTTERCUP (R. bulbosus) is able to steal a +march on its fibrous-rooted sister that must accumulate hers all +spring; consequently it is first to flower, coming in early May, +and lasting through June. It is a low and generally more hairy +plant, but closely resembling the tall buttercup in most +respects, and, like it, a naturalized European immigrant now +thoroughly at home in fields and roadsides in most sections of +the United States and Canada. + +Much less common is the CREEPING BUTTERCUP (R. repens), which +spreads by runners until it forms large patches in fields and +roadsides, chiefly in the Eastern States. Its leaves, which are +sometimes blotched, are divided into three parts, the terminal +one, often all three, stalked. May-July. + +First to bloom in the vicinity of New York (from March to May) is +the HISPID BUTTERCUP (R. hispidus), densely hairy when young. The +leaves, which are pinnately divided into from three to five +leaflets, cleft or lobed, chiefly arise on long petioles from a +cluster of thickened fibrous roots. The flower may be only half +an inch or an inch and a half across. It is found in dry woods +and thickets throughout the eastern half of the United States; +whereas the much smaller flowered BRISTLY BUTTERCUP (R. +Pennsylvanicus) shows a preference for low-lying meadows and wet, +open ground through a wider, more westerly range. Its stout, +hollow, leafy stem, beset with stiff hairs, discourages the +tongues of grazing animals. June-August. + +Commonest of the early buttercups is the TUFTED BUTTERCUP (R. +fascicularis), a little plant seldom a foot high, found in the +woods and on rocky hillsides from Texas and Manitoba, east to the +Atlantic, flowering in April or May. The long-stalked leaves are +divided into from three to five parts; the bright yellow flowers, +with rather narrow, distant petals, measure about an inch across. +They open sparingly, usually only one or two at a time on each +plant, to favor pollination from another one. + +Scattered patches of the SWAMP or MARSH BUTTERCUP (P. +septentrionalis) brighten low, rich meadows also with their-large +satiny yellow flowers, whose place in the botany even the +untrained eye knows at sight. The smooth, spreading plant +sometimes takes root at the joints of its branches and sends +forth runners, but the stems mostly ascend. The large lower +mottled leaves are raised well out of the wet, or above the +grass, on long petioles. They have three divisions, each lobed +and cleft. From Georgia and Kentucky far northward this buttercup +blooms from April to July, opening only a few flowers at a time-a +method which may make it less showy, but more certain to secure +cross-pollination between distinct plants. + +The YELLOW WATER BUTTERCUP or CROWFOOT (R. deiphinifolius; R. +multifidus of Gray) found blooming in ponds through the summer +months, certainly justifies the family name derived from rana = a +frog. Many other members grow in marshes, it is true, but this +ranunculus lives after the manner of its namesake, sometimes +immersed, sometimes stranded on the muddy shore. Two types of +leaves occur on the same stem. Their waving filaments, which make +the immersed leaves look fringy, take every advantage of what +little carbonic acid gas is dissolved under the surface. +Moreover, they are better adapted to withstand the water's +pressure and possible currents than solid blades would be. The +floating leaves which loll upon the surface to take advantage of +the air and sunlight, expand three, four, or five divisions, +variously lobed. On this plant we see one set of leaves perfectly +adapted to immersion, and another set to aerial existence. The +stem, which may measure several feet in length, roots at the +joints when it can. Range from the Mississippi and Ontario +eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. + +The WHITE WATER-CROWFOOT (Batrachium trichophyllum; Ranunculus +aquatilis of Gray) has its fine thread-like leaves entirely +submerged; but the flowers, like a whale, as the old conundrum +put it, come to the surface to blow. The latter are small, white, +or only yellow at the base, where each petal bears a spot or +little pit that serves as a pathfinder to the flies. When the +water rises unusually high, the blossoms never open, but remain +submerged, and fertilize themselves. Seen underwater, the +delicate leaves, which are little more than forked hairs, spread +abroad in dainty patterns; lifted cut of the water these flaccid +filaments utterly collapse. In ponds and shallow, slow streams, +this common plant flowers from June to September almost +throughout the Union, the British Possessions north of us, and in +Europe and Asia. + +The WATER PLANTAIN SPEARWORT (K. obtusiusculus; R. a/isrnaefoiius +of Gray) flecks the marshes from June to August with its small +golden flowers, which the merest novice knows must be kin to the +buttercup. The smooth, hollow stem, especially thick at the base, +likes to root from the lower joints. A peculiarity of the +lance-shaped or oblong lance-shaped leaves is that the lower ones +have petioles so broad where they clasp the stem that they appear +to be long blades suddenly contracted just above their base. + + +BARBERRY; PEPPERIDGE-BUSH + (Berberis vulgaris) Barberry family + +Flowers - Yellow, small, odor disagreeable, 6-parted, borne in +drooping, many-flowered racemes from the leaf axils along arching +twigs. Stem: A much branched, smooth, gray shrub, to 8 ft. tall, +armed with sharp spines. Leaves: From the 3-pronged spines +(thorns); oval or obovate, bristly edged. Fruit: Oblong, scarlet, +acid berries. +Preferred Habitat - Thickets; roadsides; dry or gravelly soil. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Naturalized in New England and Middle States; less +common in Canada and the West. Europe and Asia. + +When the twigs of barberry bushes arch with the weight of +clusters of beautiful bright berries in September, everyone must +take notice of a shrub so decorative, which receives scant +attention from us, however, when its insignificant little flowers +are out. Yet these blossoms, small as they are, are up to a +marvelous trick, quite as remarkable as the laurel's (q.v.) or +the calopogon's (q.v.), to compel insects to do their bidding. +Three of the six sepals, by their size and color, attend to the +advertising, playing the part of a corolla; and partly by curving +inward at the tip, partly by the drooping posture of the flower, +help protect the stamens, pistil, and nectar glands within from +rain. Did the flowers hang vertically, not obliquely, such +curvature of the tips of sepals and petals would be unnecessary. +Six stamens surround a pistil, but each of their six anthers, +which are in reality little pollen boxes opening by trap-doors on +either side, is tucked under the curving tip of a petal at whose +base lie two orange-colored nectar glands. A small bee or fly +enters the flower: what happens? To reach the nectar, he must +probe between the bases of two exceedingly irritable stamens. The +merest touch of a visitor's tongue against them releases two +anthers, just as the nibbling mouse all unsuspectingly releases +the wire from the hook of the wooden trap he is caught in. As the +two stamens spring upward on being released, pollen instantly +flies out of the trap-doors of the anther boxes on the bee, which +suffers no greater penalty than being obliged to carry it to the +stigma of another flower. So short are the stamens, it is +improbable that a flower's pollen ever reaches its own stigma +except through the occasional confused fumbling of a visitor. +Usually he is so startled by the sudden shower of pollen that he +flies away instantly. + +In the barberry bushes, as in the gorse, when grown in dry, +gravelly situations, we see many leaves and twigs modified into +thorns to diminish the loss of water through evaporation by +exposing too much leaf surface to the sun and air. That such +spines protect the plants which bear them from the ravages of +grazing cattle is, of course, an additional motive for their +presence. Under cultivation, in well-watered garden soil - and +how many charming varieties of barberries are cultivated - the +thorny shrub loses much of its armor, putting forth many more +leaves, in rosettes, along more numerous twigs, instead. Even the +prickly-pear cactus might become mild as a lamb were it to +forswear sandy deserts and live in marshes instead. Country +people sometimes rob the birds of the acid berries to make +preserves. The wood furnishes a yellow dye. + +Curiously enough it is the EUROPEAN BARBERRY that is the common +species here. The AMERICAN BARBERRY (B. Canadensis), a lower +shrub, with dark reddish-brown twigs; its leaves more distantly +toothed; its flowers, and consequently its berries, in smaller +clusters, keeps almost exclusively to the woods in the Alleghany +region and in the southwest, in spite of its specific name. + + +SPICE-BUSH; BENJAMIN-BUSH; WILD ALLSPICE; FEVER-BUSH + (Benzoin Benzoin; Lindera Benzoin of Gray) Laurel family + +Flowers - Before the leaves, lemon yellow, fragrant, small, in +clusters close to the slender, brittle twigs. Six petal-like +sepals; sterile flowers with 9 stamens in 3 series; fertile +flowers with a round ovary encircled by abortive stamens. Stem: A +smooth shrub 4 to 20 ft. tall. Leaves: Alternate, entire, oval or +elliptic, 2 to 5 in, long. Fruit: Oblong, red, berry-like drupes. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woodlands, thickets, beside streams. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Central New England, Ontario, and Michigan, +southward to Carolina and Kansas. + +Even before the scaly catkins on the alders become yellow, or the +silvery velvet pussy willows expand to welcome the earliest bees +that fly, this leafless bush breathes a faint spicy fragrance in +the bleak gray woods. Its only rivals among the shrubbery, the +service-berry and its twin sister the shad-bush, have scarcely +had the temerity to burst into bloom when the little clusters of +lemon-yellow flowers, cuddled close to the naked branches, give +us our first delightful spring surprise. All the favor they ask +of the few insects then flying is that they shall transfer the +pollen from the sterile to the fertile flowers as a recompense +for the early feast spread. Inasmuch as no single blossom +contains both stamens and pistil, little wonder the flowers +should woo with color and fragrance the guests on whose +ministrations the continuance of the species absolutely depends. +Later, when the leaves appear, we may know as soon as we crush +them in the hand that the aromatic sassafras is next of kin. But +ages before Linnaeus published "Species Plantarum" butterflies +had discovered floral relationships. + +Sharp eyes may have noticed how often the leaves on both the +spice-bush and the sassafras tree are curled. Have you ever drawn +apart the leaf edges and been startled by the large, fat green +caterpillar, speckled with blue, whose two great black "eyes" +stare up at you as he reposes in his comfortable nest - a cradle +which also combines the advantages of a restaurant? This is the +caterpillar of the common spice-bush swallow-tail butterfly +(Papilio troilus), an exquisite, dark, velvety creature with pale +greenish-blue markings on its hind wings. (See Dr. Holland's +"Butterfly Book," Plate XLI.) The yellow stage of this +caterpillar (which William Hamilton Gibson calls the "spice-bush +bugaboo") indicates, he says, that "its period of transformation +is close at hand. Selecting a suitable situation, it spins a tiny +tuft of silk, into which it entangles its hindmost pair of feet, +after which it forms a V-shaped loop about the front portion of +its body, and hangs thus suspended, soon changing to a chrysalis +of a pale wood color. These chrysalides commonly survive the +winter, and in the following June the beautiful 'blue +swallow-tail' will emerge, and may be seen suggestively +fluttering and poising about the spice and sassafras bushes." +After the eggs she lays on them hatch, the caterpillars live upon +the leaves. Mrs. Starr Dana says the leaves were used as a +substitute for tea during the Rebellion; and the powdered berries +for allspice by housekeepers in Revolutionary days. + + +GREATER CELANDINE; SWALLOW-WORT + (Chelidonium majus) Poppy family + +Flowers - Lustreless yellow, about 1/2 in. across, on slender +pedicels, in a small umbel-like cluster. Sepals 2, soon falling; +4 petals, many yellow stamens, pistil prominent. Stem: Weak, to 2 +ft. high, branching, slightly hairy, containing bright orange +acrid juice. Leaves: Thin, 4 to 8 in. long, deeply cleft into 5 +(usually) irregular oval lobes, the terminal one largest. Fruit: +Smooth, slender, erect pods, 1 to 2 in, long, tipped with the +persistent style. +Preferred Habitat - Dry waste land, fields, roadsides, gardens, +near dwellings. +Flowering Season - April-September. +Distribution - Naturalized from Europe in Eastern United States. + +Not this weak invader of our roadsides, whose four yellow petals +suggest one of the cross-bearing mustard tribe, but the pert +little LESSER CELANDINE, PILEWORT, or FIGWORT BUTTERCUP (Ficaria +Ficaria), one of the Crowfoot family, whose larger solitary +satiny yellow flowers so commonly star European pastures, was +Wordsworth's special delight - a tiny, turf-loving plant, about +which much poetical association clusters. Having stolen passage +across the Atlantic, it is now making itself at home about +College Point, Long Island; on Staten Island; near Philadelphia, +and maybe elsewhere. Doubtless it will one day overrun our +fields, as so many other European immigrants have done. + +The generic Greek name of the greater celandine, meaning a +swallow, was given it because it begins to bloom when the first +returning swallows are seen skimming over the water and freshly +ploughed fields in a perfect ecstasy of flight, and continues in +flower among its erect seed capsules until the first cool days of +autumn kill the gnats and small winged insects not driven to +cover. Then the swallows, dependent on such fare, must go to +warmer climes where plenty still fly. Quaint old Gerarde claims +that the swallow-wort was so called because "with this herbe the +dams restore eye-sight to their young ones when their eye be put +out" by swallows. Coles asserts "the swallow cureth her dim eyes +with celandine." + +There can be little satisfaction in picking a weed which droops +immediately, poppy fashion, and whose saffron juice stains +whatever it touches. A drop of this acrid fluid on the tip of the +tongue is not soon forgotten. The luminous experiments of Darwin, +Lubbock, Wallace, Muller, and Sprengel, among others, have proved +that color in flowers exists for the purpose of attracting +insects. But how about colored juices in the blood-roots' and +poppies' stems, for example; the bright stalk of the pokeweed, +the orange-yellow root of the carrot, the exquisite tints of +autumn leaves, fungi, and seaweed? Besides the green color +(chlorophyll), the most necessary of all ingredients to a plant +are the lipochromes, which vary from yellow to red. These are +most conspicuous when they displace the chlorophyll in autumn +foliage. Then there are the anthocyans, ranging from magenta to +blue and violet. These vary according to the amount of acid or +alkali in the sap. Try the effect of immersing a blue morning +glory in an acid solution, or a deep pink one in an alkaline +solution. One theory to account for the presence of color is that +it exists to screen the plant's protoplasm from light; that it +has a physiological function with which insects have nothing +whatever to do; and that by its presence the temperature is +raised and the plant is protected from cold. Every one who has +handled the colorless Indian pipe knows how cold and clammy it +is. + + +The YELLOW or CELANDINE POPPY (Stylophorum diphyllum), with +shining yellow flowers double the size of the greater +celandine's, and similar pinnatifid leaves springing chiefly from +the base, blooms even in March and through the spring in the +Middle States and westward to Wisconsin and Missouri. Usually +only one of the few terminal blossoms opens at a time, but in +low, open woodlands it gleams like a miniature sun. Alas! that +the glorious CALIFORNIA POPPY, so commonly grown in Eastern +gardens (Eschscholtzia Californica), should confine itself to a +limited range on the Pacific Coast. We have no true native +poppies (Papaver) in America; such as are rarely to be seen in a +wild state, have only locally escaped from cultivation. + + +GOLDEN CORYDALIS + (Capnoides aureum; Corydalis aurea of Gray) Poppy family + +Flowers - Bright yellow, about 1/2 in. long, with a spur half the +length of the tubular corolla; irregular, lipped; each upheld by +a little bract, mostly at a horizontal; borne in a terminal, +short raceme. Stem: Smooth, 6 to 14 in. high, branching. Leaves: +Finely dissected, decom pound, petioled. Fruit: Sickle-shaped, +drooping pods, wavy lumped, and tipped with the style. +Preferred Habitat - Woods, rocky banks. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - Minnesota to Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania. + +A dainty little plant, next of kin to the pink corydalis (q.v.). + + +BLACK MUSTARD + (Brassica nigra) Mustard family + +Flowers - Bright yellow, fading pale, 1/4 to 1/2 in. across, +4-parted, in elongated racemes; quickly followed by narrow +upright 4-sided pods about 1/2 in. long appressed against the +stem. Stem: Erect, 2 to 7 ft. tall, branching. Leaves: Variously +lobed and divided, finely toothed, the terminal lobe larger than +the 2 to 4 side ones. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, fields, neglected gardens. +Flowering Season - June-November. +Distribution - Common throughout our area; naturalized from +Europe and Asia. + +"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, +which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is less than +all seeds but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and +becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in +the branches thereof." + +Commentators differ as to which is the mustard of the parable - +this common black mustard, or a rarer shrub-like tree (Salvadora +Persica), with an equivalent Arabic name, a pungent odor, and a +very small seed. Inasmuch as the mustard which is systematically +planted for fodder by Old World farmers grows with the greatest +luxuriance in Palestine, and the comparison between the size of +its seed and the plant's great height was already proverbial in +the East when Jesus used it, evidence strongly favors this +wayside weed. Indeed, the late Dr. Royle, who endeavored to prove +that it was the shrub that was referred to, finally found that it +does not grow in Galilee. + +Now, there are two species which furnish the most powerfully +pungent condiment known to commerce; but the tiny dark brown +seeds of the black mustard are sharper than the serpent's tooth, +whereas the pale brown seeds of the WHITE MUSTARD, often mixed +with them, are far more mild. The latter (Sinapis alba) is a +similar, but more hairy, plant, with slightly larger yellow +flowers. Its pods are constricted like a necklace between the +seeds. + +The coarse HEDGE MUSTARD (Sisymbrium officinale), with rigid, +spreading branches, and spikes of tiny pale yellow flowers, +quickly followed by awl-shaped pods that are closely appressed to +the stem, abounds in waste places throughout our area. It blooms +from May to November, like the next species. + +Another common and most troublesome weed from Europe is the FIELD +or CORN MUSTARD, CHARLOCK or FIELD KALE (Brassica arvensis; +Sinapis arvensis of Gray) found in grain fields, gardens, rich +waste lands, and rubbish heaps. The alternate leaves, which stand +boldly out from the stem, are oval, coarsely saw-toothed, or the +lower ones more irregular, and lobed at their bases, all rough to +the touch, and conspicuously veined. The four-parted yellow +flowers, measuring half an inch or more across, have six stamens +(like the other members of this cross-bearing family), containing +nectar at their bases. Two of them are shorter than the other +four. Honey-bees, ever abundant, the brilliant Syrphidae flies +which love yellow, and other small visitors after pollen and +nectar, to obtain the latter insert their tongues between the +stamens, and usually cross-fertilize the flowers. In stormy +weather, when few insects fly, the anthers finally turn their +pollen-covered tips upward; then, by a curvature of the tip of +the stamens, they are brought in contact with the flower's own +stigma; for it is obviously better that even self-fertilized seed +should be set than none at all. (See Ladies'-smock.) "The birds +of the air" may not lodge in the charlock's few and feeble +branches; nevertheless they come seeking the mild seeds in the +strongly nerved, smooth pods that spread in a loose raceme. +Domestic pigeons eat the seeds greedily. + +The highly intelligent honey-bee, which usually confines itself +to one species of plant on its flights, apparently does not know +the difference between the field mustard and the WILD RADISH, or +JOINTED or WHITE CHARLOCK (Raphanus Raphanistrum); or, knowing +it, does not care to make distinctions, for it may be seen +visiting these similar flowers indiscriminately. At first the +blossoms of the radish are yellow, but they quickly fade to +white, and their purplish veins become more conspicuous. Rarely +the flowers are all purplish. The entire plant is rough to the +touch; the leaves, similar to those of the garden radish, are +deeply cleft (lyrate-pinnatifid); the seed pods, which soon +follow the flowers up the spike, are nearly cylindric when fresh, +but become constricted between the seeds, as they dry, until each +little pod looks like a section of a bead necklace. + +The GARDEN RADISH of the market (R. sativus), occasionally +escaped from cultivation, although credited to China, is entirely +unknown in its native state. "It has long been held in high +esteem," wrote Peter Henderson, "and before the Christian era a +volume was written on this plant alone. The ancient Greeks, in +offering their oblations to Apollo, presented turnips in lead, +beets in silver, and radishes in vessels of beaten gold." Pliny +describes a radish eaten in Rome as being so transparent one +might see through the root. It was not until the sixteenth +century that the plant was introduced into England. Gerarde +mentions cultivating four varieties for Queen Elizabeth in Lord +Burleigh's garden. + +The YELLOW ROCKET, HERB OF ST. BARBARA, YELLOW BITTER-CRESS, +WINTER- or ROCKET-CRESS (Barbarca Barbarea; B. vulgaris of Gray) +sends up spikes of little flowers like a yellow sweet alyssum as +early as April, and continues in bloom through June. Smooth pods +about one inch long quickly follow. The thickish, shining, tufted +leaves, very like the familiar WATER-CRESS (Roripa Nasturtium), +were formerly even more commonly eaten as a salad. In rich but +dry soil the plant flourishes from Virginia far northward, +locally in the interior of the United States and on the Pacific +Coast. + + +WITCH-HAZEL + (Hamamelis Virginiana) Witch-hazel family + +Flowers - Yellow, fringy, clustered in the axils of branches. +Calyx 4-parted; 4 very narrow curving petals about 34 in. long; 4 +short stamens, also 4 that are scale-like; 2 styles. Stem: A +tall, crooked shrub. Leaves: Broadly oval, thick, wavy-toothed, +mostly fallen at flowering time. Fruit: Woody capsules maturing +the next season and remaining with flowers of the succeeding year +(Hama = together with; mela = fruit). +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods or thickets near streams. +Flowering Season - August-December. +Distribution - Nova Scotia and Minnesota, southward to the Gulf +States. + +To find a stray. apple blossom among the fruit in autumn, or an +occasional violet deceived by caressing Indian Summer into +thinking another spring has come, surprises no one; but when the +witch-hazel bursts into bloom for the first time in November, as +if it were April, its leafless twigs conspicuous in the gray +woods with their clusters of spidery pale yellow flowers, we +cannot but wonder with Edward Rowland Sill: + + "Has time grown sleepy at his post + And let the exiled Summer back? + Or is it her regretful ghost, + Or witchcraft of the almanac?" + +Not to the blue gentian but to the witch-hazel should Bryant have +addressed at least the first stanza of his familiar lines (See +Fringed Gentian). The shrub doubtless gives the small bees and +flies their last feast of the season in consideration of their +services in transferring pollen from the staminate to the fertile +flowers. Very slowly through the succeeding year the seeds within +the woody capsules mature until, by the following autumn, when +fresh flowers appear, they are ready to bombard the neighborhood +after the violets' method, in the hope of landing in moist +yielding soil far from the parent shrub to found a new colony. +Just as a watermelon seed shoots from between the thumb and +forefinger pinching it, so the large, bony, shining black, +white-tipped witch-hazel seeds are discharged through the elastic +rupture of their capsule whose walls pinch them out. To be +suddenly hit in the face by such a missile brings no smile while +the sting lasts. Witch-hazel twigs ripening indoors transform a +peaceful living room into a defenseless target for light +artillery practice. + +Nowhere more than in the naming of wild flowers can we trace the +homesickness of the early English colonists in America. Any plant +even remotely resembling one they had known at home was given the +dear familiar name. Now our witch-hazel, named for an English +hazel tree of elm lineage, has similar leaves it is true, but +likeness stops there; nevertheless, all the folklore clustered +about that mystic tree has been imported here with the title. By +the help of the hazel's divining-rod the location of hidden +springs of water, precious ore, treasure, and thieves may be +revealed, according to old superstition. Cornish miners, who live +in a land so plentifully stored with tin and copper lodes they +can have had little difficulty in locating seams of ore with or +without a hazel rod, scarcely ever sink a shaft except by its +direction. + +The literature of Europe is filled with allusions to it. Swift +wrote: + + "They tell us something strange and odd + About a certain magic rod + That, bending down its top divines + Where'er the soil has hidden mines + Where there are none, it stands erect + Scorning to show the least respect." + +A good story is told on Linnaeus in Baring-Gould's "Curious Myths +of the Middle Ages": "When the great botanist was on one of his +voyages, hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his +divining-wand, he was willing to convince him of its +insufficiency, and for that purpose concealed a purse of one +hundred ducats under a ranunculus, which grew by itself in a +meadow, and bid the secretary find it if he could. The wand +discovered nothing, and Linnaeus's mark was soon trampled down by +the company present, so that when he went to finish the +experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was utterly at a loss +where to find it. The man with the wand assisted him, and +informed him that it could not lie in the way they were going, +but quite the contrary so they pursued the direction of the wand, +and actually dug out the gold. Linnaeus said that another such +experiment would be sufficient to make a proselyte of him." + +Many a well has been dug even in this land of liberty where our +witch-hazel indicated; but here its kindly magic is directed +chiefly through the soothing extract distilled from its juices. + + +FIVE-FINGER; COMMON CINQUEFOIL + (Potentilla Canadensis) Rose family + +Flowers - Yellow, 1/4 to 1/2 in. across, growing singly on long +peduncles from the leaf axils. Five petals longer than the 5 +acute calyx lobes with 5 linear bracts between them; about 20 +stamens; pistils numerous, forming a head. Stem: Spreading over +ground by slender runners or ascending. Leaves: 5-fingered, the +digitate, saw-edged leaflets (rarely 3 or 4) spreading from a +common point, petioled; some in a tuft at base. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, roadsides, hills, banks. +Flowering Season - April-August. +Distribution - Quebec to Georgia, and westward beyond the +Mississippi. + +Everyone crossing dry fields in the eastern United States and +Canada at least must have trod on a carpet of cinquefoil (cinque += five, feuilles = leaves), and have noticed the bright little +blossoms among the pretty foliage, possibly mistaking the plant +for its cousin, the trefoliate barren strawberry (q.v.). Both +have flowers like miniature wild yellow roses. During the Middle +Ages, when misdirected zeal credited almost any plant with +healing virtues for every ill that flesh is heir to, the +cinquefoils were considered most potent remedies, hence their +generic name. + +The SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL, or PRAIRIE WEED (P. fructicosa), becomes +fairly troublesome in certain parts of its range, which extends +from Greenland to Alaska, and southward to New Jersey, Arizona, +and California; as well as over northern Europe and Asia. It is a +bushy, much branched, and leafy shrub, six inches to four feet +high), with bright yellow, five-parted flowers an inch across, +more or less, either solitary or in cymes at the tips of the +branches. They appear from June to September. The honeybee, +alighting in the center of a blossom and turning around, passes +its tongue over the entire nectar-bearing ring at the base of the +stamens, then proceeding to another flower to do likewise, +effects cross-fertilization regularly. On a sunny day the bright +blossoms attract many visitors of the lower grade out after +nectar and pollen, the beetles often devouring the anthers in +their greed. The leaves on this cinquefoil are usually compounded +of one terminal and four side leaflets that are narrowly oblong, +an inch or less in length, and silky hairy. Sometimes there may +be seven leaflets pinnately, not digitately, arranged. Although +the shrubby cinquefoil prefers swamps and moist, rocky places to +dwell in, it wisely adapts itself, as globe-trotters should, to +whatever conditions it meets. + +SILVERY or HOARY CINQUEFOIL (P. argentea), found in dry soil, +blooming from May to September from Canada to Delaware, Indiana, +Kansas, and Dakota, also in Europe and Asia, has yellow flowers +only about a quarter of an inch across, but foliage of special +beauty. From the tufted, branching, ascending stems, four to +twelve inches long, the finely cleft, five-foliate leaves are +spread on foot stems that diminish in size as they ascend, not to +let the upper leaves shut off the light from the lower ones. +These leaves are smooth and green above, silvery on the under +side, with fine white hairs, adapted for protection from +excessive sunlight and too rapid transpiration of precious +moisture. They entirely conceal the sensitive epidermis from +which they grow. + + +YELLOW AVENS; FIELD AVENS + (Geum strictum) Rose family + +Flowers - Golden yellow, otherwise much resembling the lower +growing white avens (q.v.). +Preferred Habitat - Low ground, moist meadows, swamps. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Arizona, far +northward. + +After the marsh marigolds have withdrawn their brightness from +low-lying meadows, blossoms of yellow avens twinkle in their +stead. In autumn the jointed, barbed styles, protruding from the +seed clusters, steal a ride by the same successful method of +travel to new colonizing ground adopted by burdocks, goose-grass, +tick-trefoils (q.v.), agrimony, and a score of other "tramps of +the vegetable world." + + +TALL or HAIRY AGRIMONY + (Agrimonia hirsuta; Eupatoria of Gray) Rose family + +Flowers - Yellow, small, 5-parted, in narrow, spike-like racemes. +Stem: Usua11y 3 to 4 ft. tall, sometimes less or more clothed, +with long, soft hairs. Leaves: Large, thin, bright green, +compounded of (mostly) 7 principal oblong, coarsely saw-edged +leaflets, with pairs of tiny leaflets between. +Preferred Habitat - Woods, thickets, edges of fields. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - North Carolina, westward to California, and far +north. + +Quite a different species, not found in this country, is the +common European Agrimony - A. Eupatoria of Linnaeus - which +figures so prominently in the writings of medieval herbalists as +a cure-all. Slender spires of green fruit below and yellow +flowers above curve and bend at the borders of woodlands here +apparently for no better reason than to enjoy life. Very few +insects visit them, owing to the absence of nectar - certainly +not the highly specialized and intelligent "Humble-Bee," to whom +Emerson addressed the lines: + + "Succory to match the sky, + Columbine with horn of honey, + Scented fern and agrimony, + Clover, catch-fly, adder's-tongue, + And brier-roses, dwelt among." + +It is true the bumblebee may dwell among almost any flowers, but +he has decided preferences for such showy ones as have adapted +themselves to please his love of certain colors (not yellow), or +have secreted nectar so deeply hidden from the mob that his long +tongue may find plenty preserved when he calls. Occasional +visitors alighting on the agrimony for pollen may distribute +some, but the little blossoms chiefly fertilize themselves. When +crushed they give forth a faint, pleasant odor. Pretty, nodding +seed urns, encircled with a rim of hooks, grapple the clothing of +man or beast passing their way, in the hope of dropping off in a +suitable place to found another colony. + + +SENSITIVE PEA; WILD or SMALL-FLOWERED SENSITIVE PLANT + (Cassia nictitans) Senna family + +Flowers - Yellow, regular, 5-parted, about 1/4 in. across; 2 or 3 +together in the axils. Stem: Weak, 6 to 15 in. tall, branching, +leafy. Leaves: Alternate, sensitive, compounded of 12 to 44 +small, narrowly oblong leaflets; a cup-shaped gland below lowest +pair; stipules persistent. Fruit: A pod, an inch long or more, +containing numerous seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, sandy wasteland, roadsides. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - New England westward to Indiana, south to Georgia +and Texas. + +How many of us ever pause to test the sensitiveness of this +exquisite foliage that borders the roadsides, and in appearance +is almost identical with the South American sensitive plant's, so +commonly cultivated in hothouses here? Failing to see its fine +little leaflets fold together instantly when brushed with the +hand, as they do in the tropical species (Mimosa pudica), many +pass on, concluding its title a misnomer. By simply touching the +leaves, however roughly, only a tardy and slight movement +follows. A sharp blow produces quicker effect, while if the whole +plant be shaken by forcibly snapping the stem with the finger, +all the leaves will be strongly affected; their sensitiveness +being apparently more aroused by vibration through jarring than +by contact with foreign bodies. The leaves, which ordinarily +spread out flat, partly close in bright sunshine and "go to +sleep" at night, not to expose their sensitive upper surfaces to +fierce heat in the first case, and to cold by radiation in the +second. "Lifeless things may be moved or acted on," says Asa +Gray; "living beings move and act - plants less conspicuously, +but no less really than animals. In sharing the mysterious gift +of life they share some of its simpler powers." + +The PARTRIDGE PEA or LARGE-FLOWERED SENSITIVE PLANT (C. +Chamaecrista) likewise goes to sleep; the ten to fifteen pairs of +leaflets which, with a terminal one, make up each pinnate leaf, +slowly turning their outer edges uppermost after sunset, and +overlapping as they flatten themselves against their common stem +until the entire aspect of the plant is changed. By day the +expanded foliage is feathery, fine, acacia-like; at night the +bushy, branching, spreading plant, that measures only a foot or +two high, appears to produce nothing but pods. These leaves +respond slowly to vibration, just as the sensitive pea's do. In +spite of their names, neither produces the butterfly-shaped +(papilionaceous) blossom of true peas. The partridge pea bears +from two to four showy flowers together, each measuring an inch +or more across, on a slender pedicel from the axils. It fully +expands only four of its five bright yellow petals; they are +somewhat unequal in size, the upper ones, with touches of red at +the base, as pathfinders, not, however, as nectar-guides, since +no sweets are secreted here. Curiously enough, both right and +left hand flowers are found upon the same plant; that is to say, +the sickle-shaped pistil turns either to the right or the left. +One lateral petal, instead of being flexible and spread like the +rest, stands so stiffly erect and incurved that it commonly +breaks on being bent back. Why? The pistil, it will be noticed, +points away from the ten long black anthers. Obviously, then, the +flower cannot fertilize itself. Its benefactors are bumblebee +females and workers out after pollen. Cup-shaped nectaries +("extra nuptial") are situated on the upper side and near the +base of the leaf stalks on these cassia plants, where they can +have no direct influence on the fertilization of the blossoms. +Apparently, they are free lunch-counters, kept open out of pure +charity. Landing upon the long black anthers with pores in their +tips to let out the pollen, the bumblebees "seize them between +their mandibles, says Professor Robertson, "and stroke them +downward with a sort of milking motion. The pollen...falls either +directly upon the bee or upon the erect lateral petal which is +pressed close against the bee's side. In this way the side of the +bee which is next to the incurved petal receives the most +pollen.... A bee visiting a left-hand flower receives pollen upon +the right side, and then flying to a right-hand flower, strikes +the same side against the stigma." When we find circular holes in +these petals we may know the leaf-cutter or upholsterer bee +(Megachile brevis) has been at work collecting roofs for her +nurseries (see Hairy Ruellia). The partridge pea, which has a +more westerly range than the sensitive pea's, extends it +southward even to Bolivia. Game birds, migrants and rovers, which +feed upon the seeds, have of course helped in their wider +distribution. The plant blooms from July to September. + + +WILD or AMERICAN SENNA + (Cassia Marylandica) Senna family + +Flowers - Yellow, about 3/4 in. broad, numerous, in short +axillary clusters on the upper part of plant. Calyx of 5 oblong +lobes; 5 petals, 3 forming an upper lip, 2 a lower one; 10 +stamens of 3 different kinds; 1 pistil. Stem: 3 to 8 ft. high, +little branched. Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compounded of 6 to +10 pairs of oblong leaflets. Fruit: A narrow, flat curving pod, 3 +to 4 in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Alluvial or moist, rich soil, swamps, +roadsides. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - New England, westward to Nebraska, south to the +Gulf States. + +Whoever has seen certain Long Island roadsides bordered with wild +senna, the brilliant flower clusters contrasted with the deep +green of the beautiful foliage, knows that no effect produced by +art along the drives of public park or private garden can match +these country lanes in simple charm. Bumblebees, buzzing about +the blossoms, may be observed "milking" the anthers just as they +do those of the partridge pea. No red spots on any of these +petals guide the visitors, as in the previous species, however; +for do not the three small, dark stamens, which are reduced to +mere scales, answer every purpose as pathfinders here? The +stigma, turned sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, +strikes the bee on the side; the senna being what Delpino, the +Italian botanist, calls a pleurotribe flower. + +While leaves of certain African and East Indian species of senna +are most valued for their medicinal properties, those of this +plant are largely collected in the Middle and Southern States as +a substitute. Caterpillars of several sulphur butterflies, which +live exclusively on cassia foliage, appear to feel no evil +effects from overdoses. + + +WILD INDIGO; YELLOW or INDIGO BROOM; HORSEFLY-WEED + (Baptisia tinctoria) Pea family + +Flowers - Bright yellow, papilionaceous, about 1/2 in. long, on +short pedicels, in numerous but few flowered terminal racemes. +Calyx light green, 4 or 5-toothed; corolla of 5 oblong petals, +the standard erect, the keel enclosing 10 incurved stamens and +pistil. Stem: Smooth, branched, 2 to 4 ft. high. Leaves: +Compounded of 3 ovate leaflets. Fruit: A many-seeded round or +egg-shaped pod tipped with the awl-shaped style. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy soil. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Maine and Minnesota to the Gulf States. + +Dark grayish green, clover-like leaves, and small, bright yellow +flowers growing in loose clusters at the ends of the branches of +a bushy little plant, are so commonly met with they need little +description. A relative, the true indigo-bearer, a native of +Asia, once commonly grown in the Southern States when slavery +made competition with Oriental labor possible, has locally +escaped and become naturalized. But the false species, although, +as Dr. Gray says, it yields "a poor sort of indigo," yields a +most valuable medicine employed by the homeopathists in malarial +fevers. The plant turns black in drying. As in the case of other +papilionaceous blossoms, bees are the visitors best adapted to +fertilize the flowers. When we see the little, sleepy, +dusky-winged butterfly (Thanaos brizo) around the plant we may +know she is there only to lay eggs, that the larvae and +caterpillars may find their favorite food at hand on waking into +life. + + +RATTLE-BOX + (Crotalaria sagittalis) Pea family + +Flowers - Yellow, 1/2 in. long or less, usually only 2 or 3 on a +long peduncle. Calyx 5-toothed, slightly 2-lipped; corolla +papilionaceous. Stem: 3 to 10 in. high, weak, hairy. Leaves: +Alternate, simple, oval to lance-shaped; stipules arrow-shaped +above and running along stem. Fruit: An inflated oblong pod 1 in, +long, blackish, seedy. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy, open situations. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - New England and Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. + +These insignificant little yellow flowers attract scant notice +from human observers accustomed to associate their generic name +with some particularly beautiful relatives from the West Indies +grown in hothouses here. But did not small bees alight on the +keel and depress it, as in the lupine, next of kin (q.v.) there +might be no seeds to rattle in the dark inflated pods that so +delight children. (Krotalon = a castanet.) + + +YELLOW SWEET CLOVER; YELLOW MELILOT + (Melilotus officinalis) Pea family + +Resembling the white sweet clover, except in color. (q.v.) + + +YELLOW or HOP CLOVER + (Trifotium agrarium) Pea family + +Flowers - Yellow, scale-like, overlapping in a densely +many-flowered oblong head about 1/2 in. long, becoming brown with +age. Stem: Ascending, branched, 6 to 18 in. high. Leaves: +3-foliate, very finely toothed. +Preferred Habitat - Waste places, fields, roadsides. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Virginia to Iowa, and far northward. + +What did the sulphur butterflies provide as food for their +caterpillar babies before the commonest clovers came over from +the Old World to possess the soil? Wherever a trifolium grows, +there one is sure to see + + "gallow-yellow butterflies, + Like blooms of lorn primroses blowing loose, + when autumn winds arise." + +The BLACKSEED HOP CLOVER, BLACK or HOP MEDIC (Medicago lupulina), +with even smaller, bright yellow oblong heads which turn black +when ripe, lies on the ground, its branches spreading where they +leave the root. A native of Europe and Asia, it is now +distributed as a common weed throughout our area, for there is +scarcely a month in the year when it does not bloom and set seed. +It is still another of the many plants known as the shamrock. + + +YELLOW WOOD-SORREL; LADY'S SORREL + (Oxalis stricta) Wood-sorrel family + +Flowers - Golden, fragrant, in long peduncled, small, terminal +groups. Calyx of 5 sepals; corolla of 5 petals, usually reddish +at base; stamens, 10; 1 pistil with 5 styles; followed by slender +pods. Stem: Pale, erect, 3 to 12 in. high, the sap sour. Leaves: +Palmately compound, of 3 heart-shaped, clover-like leaflets on +long petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Open woodlands, waste or cultivated soil, +roadsides. +Flowering Season - April-October. +Distribution - Nova Scotia and Dakota westward to the Gulf of +Mexico. + +An extremely common little weed, whose peculiarly sensitive +leaves children delight to set in motion by rubbing, or to chew +for the sour juice. Concerning the night "sleep" of wood-sorrel +leaves and the two kinds of flowers these plants bear, see the +white and violet wood-sorrels. + + +WILD or SLENDER YELLOW FLAX + (Linum Virginianum) Flax family + +Flowers - Yellow, about 1/3 in. across, each from a leaf axil, +scattered along the slender branches. Sepals, 5; 5 petals, 5 +stamens. Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high, branching, leafy. Leaves. +Alternate, seated on the stem; small, oblong, or lance-shaped, 1 +nerved. +Preferred Habitat - Dry woodlands and borders; shady places. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - New England to Georgia. + +Certainly in the Atlantic States this is the commonest of its +slender, dainty tribe; but in bogs and swamps farther southward +and westward to Texas the RIDGED YELLOW FLAX (L. striatum), with +leaves arranged opposite each other up to the branches and an +angled stem so sticky it "adheres to paper in which it is dried," +takes its place. + + "Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax," + +wrote Longfellow, as if blue flax were a familiar sight on this +side of the Atlantic. The charming little European plant (L. +usitatissimum), which has furnished the fiber for linen and the +oily seeds for poultices from time immemorial, is only a fugitive +from cultivation here. Unhappily, it is rarely met with along the +roadsides and railways as it struggles to gain a foothold in our +waste places. Possibly Longfellow had in mind the blue toad flax +(q.v.). + + +JEWEL-WEED; SPOTTED TOUCH-ME-NOT: SILVER CAP; WILD BALSAM: LADY'S +EARDROPS; SNAP WEED; WILD LADY'S SLIPPER + (Impatiens biflora; I. fulva of Gray) Jewel-weed family + +Flowers - Orange yellow, spotted with reddish-brown, irregular, 1 +in. long or less, horizontal, 2 to 4 pendent by slender +footstalks on a long peduncle from leaf axils. Sepals, 3, +colored; 1 large, sac-shaped, contracted into a slender incurved +spur and 2-toothed at apex; 2 other sepals small. Petals, 3; 2 of +them 2-cleft into dissimilar lobes; 5 short stamens, 1 pistil. +Stem: 2 to 5 ft. high, smooth, branched, colored, succulent. +Leaves: Alternate, thin, pale beneath, ovate, coarsely toothed, +petioled. Fruit: An oblong capsule, its 5 valves opening +elastically to expel the seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Beside streams, ponds, ditches; moist ground. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Oregon, south to Missouri and +Florida. + +These exquisite, bright flowers, hanging at a horizontal, like +jewels from a lady's ear, may be responsible for the plant's folk +name; but whoever is abroad early on a dewy morning, or after a +shower, and finds notched edges of the drooping leaves hung with +scintillating gems, dancing, sparkling in the sunshine, sees +still another reason for naming this the jewel-weed. In a brook, +pond, spring, or wayside trough, which can never be far from its +haunts, dip a spray of the plant to transform the leaves into +glistening silver. They shed water much as the nasturtium's do. + +When the tiny ruby-throated hummingbird flashes northward out of +the tropics to spend the summer, where can he hope to find nectar +so deeply secreted that not even the long-tongued bumblebee may +rob him of it all? Beyond the bird's bill his tongue can be run +out and around curves no other creature can reach. Now the early +blooming columbine, its slender cornucopias brimming with sweets, +welcomes the messenger whose needle-like bill will carry pollen +from flower to flower; presently the coral honeysuckle and the +scarlet painted-cup attract him by wearing his favorite color; +next the jewel-weed hangs horns of plenty to lure his eye; and +the trumpet vine and cardinal flower continue to feed him +successively in Nature's garden; albeit cannas, nasturtiums, +salvia, gladioli, and such deep, irregular showy flowers in men's +flower beds sometimes lure him away. These are bird flowers +dependent in the main on the ruby-throat, which is not to say +that insects never enter them, for they do; only they are not the +visitors catered to. Watch the big, velvety bumblebee approach a +roomy jewel-weed blossom and nearly disappear within. The large +bunch of united stamens, suspended directly over the entrance, +bears copious white pollen. So much comes off on his back that +after visiting a flower or two he becomes annoyed; clings to a +leaf with his fore legs while he thoroughly brushes his back and +wings with his middle and hind pairs, and then collects the +sticky grains into a wad on his feet which he presently kicks off +with disgust to the ground. Examine a jewel-weed blossom to see +that the clumsy bumblebee's pollen-laden back is not so likely to +come in contact with the short five-parted stigma concealed +beneath the stamens, as a hummingbird's slender bill that is +thrust obliquely into the spur while he hovers above. + +But, as if the plant had not sufficient confidence in its +visitors to rely exclusively on them for help in continuing the +lovely species, it bears also cleistogamous blossoms that never +open - economical products without petals, which ripen abundant +self-fertilized seed (see white wood sorrel). It is calculated +that each jewel-weed blossom produces about two hundred and fifty +pollen grains; yet each is by no means able to produce seed in +spite of its prodigality. Nevertheless, enough cross-fertilized +seed is set to save the species from the degeneracy that follows +close inbreeding among plants as well as animals. In England, +where this jewel-weed is rapidly becoming naturalized, Darwin +recorded there are twenty plants producing cleistogamous flowers +to one having showy blossoms which, even when produced, seldom +set seed. What more likely, since hummingbirds are confined to +the New World? Therefore why should the plant waste its energy on +a product useless in England? It can never attain perfection +there until hummingbirds are imported, as bumblebees had to be +into Australia before the farmers could harvest seed from their +clover fields (see red clover). + +Familiar as we may be with the nervous little seedpods of the +touch-me-not, which children ever love to pop and see the seeds +fly, as they do from balsam pods in grandmother's garden, they +still startle with the suddenness of their volley. Touch the +delicate hair-trigger at the end of a capsule, and the lightning +response of the flying seeds makes one jump. They sometimes land +four feet away. At this rate of progress a year, and with the +other odds against which all plants have to contend, how many +generations must it take to fringe even one mill pond with +jewel-weed; yet this is rapid transit indeed compared with many +of Nature's processes. The plant is a conspicuous sufferer from +the dodder (q.v.). + + +The PALE TOUCH-ME-NOT (I. aurea; I. pallida of Gray) most +abundant northward, a larger, stouter species found in similar +situations, but with paler yellow flowers only sparingly dotted +if at all, has its broader sac-shaped sepal abruptly contracted +into a short, notched, but not incurved spur. It shares its +sister's popular names. + + +VELVET LEAF; INDIAN MALLOW; AMERICAN JUTE + (Abutilon Abulilon; A. Avicennae of Gray) Mallow family + +Flowers - Deep yellow, 1/2 to 3/4 in. broad, 5-parted, regular, +solitary on stout peduncles from the leaf axils. Stem: 3 to 6 ft. +high, velvety, branched. Leaves: Soft velvety, heart-shaped, the +lobes rounded, long petioled. Fruit: In a head about 1 in. +across, 12 to 15 erect hairy carpels, with spreading sharp beaks. +Preferred Habitat - Escaped from cultivation to waste sandy loam, +fields, roadsides. +Flowering Season - August-October. +Distribution - Common or frequent, except at the extreme North. + +There was a time, not many years ago, when this now common and +often troublesome weed was imported from India and tenderly +cultivated in flower gardens. In the Orient it and allied species +are grown for their fiber, which is utilized for cordage and +cloth; but the equally valuable plant now running wild here has +yet to furnish American men with a profitable industry. Although +the blossom is next of kin to the veiny Chinese bell-flower, or +striped abutilon, so common in greenhouses, its appearance is +quite different. + + +ST. ANDREW'S CROSS + (Ascyrum hypericoides; A. Crux-Andreae of Gray) St. +John's-wort family + +Flowers - Yellow, 1/2 to 3/4 in. across, terminal and from the +leaf axils. Calyx of 4 sepals in 2 pairs; 4 narrow, oblong +petals; stamens numerous; 2 styles. Stem: Much branched and +spreading from base, 5 to 10 in. high, leafy. Leaves: Opposite, +oblong, small, seated on stem. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy soil; pine barrens. +Flowering Season - July-August. +Distribution - Nantucket Island (Mass.), westward to Illinois, +south to Florida and Texas. + +Because the four pale yellow petals of this flower approach each +other in pairs, suggesting a cross with equals arms, the plant +was given its name by Linnaeus in 1753. ST. PETER'S-WORT (A. +stans), a similar plant, found in the same localities, in bloom +at the same time, has larger flowers in small clusters at the +tips only of its upright branches. + + +COMMON ST. JOHN'S-WORT + (Hypericum perforatum) St. John's-wort family + +Flowers - Bright yellow, 1 in. across or less, several or many in +terminal clusters. Calyx of 5 lance-shaped sepals; 5 petals +dotted with black; numerous stamens in 3 sets 3 styles. Stem: to +2 ft. high, erect, much branched. Leaves: Small, opposite, +oblong, more or less black-dotted. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, waste lands, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Throughout our area, except the extreme North; +Europe, and Asia. + +"Gathered upon a Friday, in the hour of Jupiter when he comes to +his operation, so gathered, or borne, or hung upon the neck, it +mightily helps to drive away all phantastical spirits." These are +the blossoms which have been hung in the windows of European +peasants for ages on St. John's eve, to avert the evil eye and +the spells of the spirits of darkness. "Devil chaser" its Italian +name signifies. To cure demoniacs, to ward off destruction by +lightning, to reveal the presence of witches, and to expose their +nefarious practices, are some of the virtues ascribed to this +plant, which superstitious farmers have spared from the scythe +and encouraged to grow near their houses until it has become, +even in this land of liberty, a troublesome weed at times. "The +flower gets its name," says F. Schuyler Mathews, "from the +superstition that on St. John's day, the 24th of June, the dew +which fell on the plant the evening before was efficacious in +preserving the eyes from disease. So the plant was collected, +dipped in oil, and thus transformed into a balm for every wound." +Here it is a naturalized, not a native, immigrant. A blooming +plant, usually with many sterile shoots about its base, has an +unkempt, untidy look; the seed capsules and the brown petals of +withered flowers remaining among the bright yellow buds through a +long season. No nectar is secreted by the St. John's-worts, +therefore only pollen collectors visit them regularly, and +occasionally cross-fertilize the blossoms, which are best +adapted, however, to pollinate themselves. + +The SHRUBBY ST. JOHN'S-WORT (H. prolificum) bears yellow +blossoms, about half an inch across, which are provided with +stamens so numerous, the many flowered terminal clusters have a +soft, feathery effect. In the axils of the oblong, opposite +leaves are tufts of smaller ones, the stout stems being often +concealed under a wealth of foliage. Sandy or rocky places from +New Jersey southward best suit this low, dense, diffusely +branched shrub which blooms prolifically from July to September. + +Farther north, and westward to Iowa, the GREAT or GIANT ST. +JOHN'S-WORT (H. Ascyron) brightens the banks of streams at +midsummer with large blossoms, each on a long footstalk in a +few-flowered cluster. + +LONG-BRANCHED FROST-WEED; FROST-FLOWER; FROST-WORT; CANADIAN +ROCK-ROSE + (Helianthemum Canadense) Rock-rose family + +Flowers - Solitary, or rarely 2; about 1 in. across, 5-parted, +with showy yellow petals; the 5 unequal sepals hairy. Also +abundant small flowers lacking petals, produced from the axils +later. Stem: Erect, 3 in. to 2 ft. high; at first simple, later +with elongated branches. Leaves: Alternate, oblong, almost seated +on stem. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, sandy or rocky soil. +Flowering Season - Petal-bearing flowers, May-July. +Distribution - New England to the Carolinas, westward to +Wisconsin and Kentucky. + +Only for a day, and that must be a bright sunny one, does the +solitary frost-flower expand its delicate yellow petals. On the +next, after pollen has been brought to it by insect messengers +and its own carried away, the now useless petal advertisements +fall, and the numerous stamens, inserted upon the receptacle with +them, also drop off, leaving the club-shaped pistil to develop +with the ovary into a rounded, ovoid, three-valved capsule. +Notice how flat the stamens lie upon the petals to keep safely +out of reach of the stigma. Another flower, exactly like the +first, now expands, and the bloom continues for weeks. Why does +only one blossom open at a time? Because the whole aim of the +showy flowers is to set cross-fertilized seed, and when only one +at a time appears, pollination not only between distinct blossoms +but between distinct plants insures the healthiest, most vigorous +offspring - a wise precaution against degeneracy, in view of the +quantities of self-fertilized seed that will be set late in +summer by the tiny apetalous flowers that never open (see white +wood sorrel). Surely two kinds of blossoms should be enough for +any species; but why call this the frost-flower when its bloom is +ended by autumn? Only the witch-hazel may be said to flower for +the first time after frost. When the stubble in the dry fields is +white some cold November morning, comparatively few notice the +ice crystals, like specks of glistening quartz, at the base of +the stems of this plant. The similar HOARY FROST-WEED (H. majus), +whose showy flowers appear in clusters at the hoary stein's +summit, in June and July, also bears them. Often this ice +formation assumes exquisite feathery, whimsical forms, bursting +the bark asunder where an astonishing quantity of sap gushes +forth and freezes. Indeed, so much sap sometimes goes to the +making of this crystal flower, that it would seem as if an extra +reservoir in the soil must pump some up to supply it with its +large fantastic corolla. + + +BEACH or FALSE HEATHER; POVERTY GRASS + (Hudsonia tomentosa) Rock-rose family + +Flowers - Bright yellow, small, about 1/4 in. across, numerous, +closely ascending the upper part of the heath-like branches. +Sepals 5, unequal; 5 petals; stamens, 9 to 18. Stem: 4 to 8 in. +tall, tufted, densely branched and matted, hoary hairy, pale. +Leaves: Overlapping like scales, very small. +Preferred Habitat - Sands of the seashore, pine barrens, beaches +of rivers and lakes. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Maryland, west to Lake of the +Woods. + +Like the showy flowers of the frost-weed, these minute ones open +in the sunshine only, and then but for a single day. +Nevertheless, the hoary, heath-like little shrub, by growing in +large colonies and keeping up a succession of bright bloom, +tinges the sand dunes back of the beach with charming color that +artists delight to paint in the foreground of their marine +pictures. + + +YELLOW VIOLETS + (Viola) Violet family + +Fine hairs on the erect, leafy, usually single stem of the DOWNY +YELLOW VIOLET (V. pubescens), whose dark veined, bright yellow +petals gleam in dry woods in April and May, easily distinguish it +from the SMOOTH YELLOW VIOLET (V. scabriuscula), formerly +considered a mere variety in spite of its being an earlier +bloomer, a lover of moisture, and well equipped with basal leaves +at flowering time, which the downy species is not. Moreover, it +bears a paler blossom, more coarsely dentate leaves, often +decidedly taper-pointed, and usually several stems together. + +Our other common yellow species, the ROUND-LEAVED VIOLET (V. +rotundifolia), lifts smaller, pale, brown-veined, and bearded +blossoms above a tuffet of broad, shining leaves close to the +ground. The veins on the petals serve as pathfinders to the +nectary for the bee, and the beard as footholds, while she probes +the inverted blossoms. Such violets as have their side petals +bearded are most frequently visited by small greenish mason bees +(Osmia), with collecting brushes on their abdomen that receive +the pollen as it falls. Abundant cleistogamous flowers (see blue +violets and white wood sorrel) are borne on the runners late in +the season. Bryant, whose botanical lore did not always keep step +with his Muse, wrote of the yellow violet as the first spring +flower, because he found it "by the snowbank's edges cold," one +April day, when the hepaticas about his home at Roslyn, Long +Island, had doubtless been in bloom a month. + + "Of all her train the hands of Spring + First plant thee in the watery mould," + +he wrote, regardless of the fact that the round-leaved violet's +preferences are for dry, wooded, or rocky hillsides. Muller +believed that all violets were originally yellow, not white, +after they evoluted from the green stage. + + +EASTERN CACTUS; PRICKLY PEAR; INDIAN FIG + (Opuntia Opuntia; 0. vulgaris of Gray) Cactus family + +Flowers -Yellow, sometimes reddish at center, 2 to 3 in. across, +solitary, mostly seated at the side of joints. Calyx tube not +prolonged beyond ovary, its numerous lobes spreading. Petals +numerous; stamens very numerous; ovary cylindric; the style +longer than stamens, and with several stigmas. Stem: Prostrate or +ascending, fleshy, juicy, branching, the thick, flattened joints +oblong or rounded, 2 to 5 in. long. Leaves: Tiny, awl-shaped, +dotting the joints, but usually falling early; tufts of yellowish +bristles at their base. Plant unarmed, or with few solitary stout +spines. Fruit: Pear-shaped, pulpy, red, nearly smooth, 1 in. long +or over, edible. +Preferred Habitat - Sandy or dry or rocky places. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Massachusetts to Florida. + +Upwards of one hundred and fifty species of Opuntia, which elect +to grow in parching sands, beneath a scorching sun, often +prostrate on baking hot rocks, on glaring plains, beaches, and +deserts, from Massachusetts to Peru - for all are natives of the +New World - show so marvelous an adaptation to environment in +each instance that no group of plants is more interesting to the +botanist, more decorative in form and color from an artistic +standpoint, more distinctively characteristic. Plants choosing +such habitats as they have adopted, usually in tropical or +semi-tropical regions, had to resort to various expedients to +save loss of water through transpiration and evaporation. Now, as +leaves are the natural outlets for moisture thrown off by any +plant, manifestly the first thing to do was either to reduce the +number of branches and leaves, or to modify them into sharp +spines (not surface prickles like the rose's); to cultivate a low +habit of growth, not to expose unnecessary surface to sun and +air; to thicken the skin until little moisture could evaporate +through the leathery coat; and, finally, to utilize the material +thus saved in developing stems so large, fleshy, and juicy that +they should become wells in a desert, with powers of sustenance +great enough to support the plant through its fiery trials. A +common expedient of plants in dry situations, even at the north, +is to modify their leaves into spines, as the gorse and the +barberry, for example, have done. That such an armor also serves +to protect them against the ravages of grazing animals is an +additional advantage, of course; but not their sole motive in +wearing it. Popular to destruction would the cool juices of the +cacti be in thirsty lands, if only they might be obtained without +painful and often poisonous scratches. Given moist soil and +greater humidity of atmosphere to grow in, spiny plants at once +show a tendency to grow taller, to branch and become leafy. A +covering of hairs which reflect the light, thus diminishing the +amount that might reach the juicy interior area, has likewise +been employed by many cacti, among other denizens of dry soil. + +In this common prickly pear cactus of the Atlantic seaboard, +where the air is laden with moisture from the ocean, few or no +spines are produced; and dotted over the surface of its +branching, fleshy, flattened joints we find tiny, awl-shaped +leaves, whereas foliage is entirely wanting in the densely +prickly, rounded, solid, unbranched, hairy cacti of the +southwestern deserts, and the arid plains of Mexico. + +In sunshine the beautiful yellow blossom of our prickly pear +expands to welcome the bees, folding up its petals again for +several successive nights. William Hamilton Gibson says it +"encloses its buzzing visitor in a golden bower, from which he +must emerge at the roof as dusty as a miller," only to enter +another blossom and leave some pollen on its numerous stigmas. + +But the cochineal, not the bee, is forever associated with cacti +in the popular mind. Indeed, several species are extensively +grown on plantations, known as Nopaleries, which furnish food to +countless trillions of these tiny insects. Like its relative the +aphis of rose bushes (see wild roses), the cochineal fastens +itself to a cactus plant by its sucking tube, to live on the +juices. The males are winged, and only the female, which yields +the valuable dye, sticks tight to the plant. Three crops of +insects a year are harvested on a Mexican plantation. After three +months' sucking, the females are brushed off, dried in ovens, and +sold for about two thousand dollars a ton. The annual yield of +Mexico amounting to many thousands of tons, it is no wonder the +cactus plant, which furnishes so valuable an industry, should +appear on the coat-of-arms of the Mexican republic. Some cacti +are planted for hedges, the fruit of others furnishes a +refreshing drink in tropical climates, the juices are used as a +water color, and to dye candies - in short, this genus Opuntia +and allied clans have great commercial value. + +The WESTERN PRICKLY PEAR (0. humifusa; O. Rafnesquii of Gray) - a +variable species ranging from Minnesota to Texas, is similar to +the preceding, but bears a larger flower, and longer, more +rounded, deeper green joints, beset with not numerous spines, +scattered chiefly near their margins. A few deflexed spines in a +cluster leave the surface where a tiny awl-shaped leaf and a tuft +of reddish brown hairs are likewise usually found. + + +EVENING-PRIMROSE; NIGHT WILLOW-HERB + (Onagra biennis; Qenothera biennis of Gray) Evening-primrose +family + +Flowers - Yellow, fragrant, opening at evening, 1 to 2 in. +across, borne in terminal leafy-bracted spikes. Calyx tube +slender, elongated, gradually enlarged at throat, the 4-pointed +lobes bent backward; corolla of 4 spreading petals; 8 stamens; 1 +pistil; the stigma 4-cleft. Stem: Erect, wand-like, or branched, +to 1 to 5 ft. tall, rarely higher, leafy. Leaves: Alternate, +lance-shaped, mostly seated on stem, entire, or obscurely +toothed. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, dry fields, thickets, +fence-corners. +Flowering Season - June-October. +Distribution - Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico, west to the Rocky +Mountains. + +Like a ballroom beauty, the evening primrose has a jaded, +bedraggled appearance by day when we meet it by the dusty +roadside, its erect buds, fading flowers from last night's +revelry, wilted ones of previous dissipations, and hairy oblong +capsules, all crowded together among the willow-like leaves at +the top of the rank growing plant. But at sunset a bud begins to +expand its delicate petals slowly, timidly - not suddenly and +with a pop, as the evening primrose of the garden does. + +Now, its fragrance, that has been only faintly perceptible during +the day, becomes increasingly powerful. Why these blandishments +at such an hour? Because at dusk, when sphinx moths, large and +small, begin to fly (see Jamestown weed), the primrose's special +benefactors are abroad. All these moths, whose length of tongue +has kept pace with the development of the tubes of certain white +and yellow flowers dependent on their ministrations, find such +glowing like miniature moons for their special benefit, when +blossoms of other hues have melted into the deepening darkness. +If such have fragrance, they prepare to shed it now. Nectar is +secreted in tubes so deep and slender that none but the moths' +long tongues can drain the last drop. An exquisite, little, +rose-pink twilight flyer, his wings bordered with yellow, +flutters in ecstasy above the evening primrose's freshly opened +flowers, transferring in his rapid flight some of their abundant, +sticky pollen that hangs like a necklace from the outstretched +filaments. By day one may occasionally find a little fellow +asleep in a wilted blossom, which serves him as a tent, under +whose flaps the brightest bird eye rarely detects a dinner. After +a single night's dissipation the corolla wilts, hangs a while, +then drops from the maturing capsule as if severed with a sharp +knife. Few flowers, sometimes only one opens on a spike on a +given evening - a plan to increase the chances of +cross-fertilization between distinct plants; but there is a very +long succession of bloom. If a flower has not been pollenized +during the night it remains open a while in the morning. +Bumblebees now hurry in, and an occasional hummingbird takes a +sip of nectar. Toward the end of summer, when so much seed has +been set that the flower can afford to be generous, it distinctly +changes its habit and keeps open house all day. + +During our winter walks we shall see close against the ground the +rosettes of year-old evening primrose plants - exquisitely +symmetrical, complex stars from whose center the flower stalks of +another summer will arise. + +Floriform sunshine bursts forth from roadsides, fields, and +prairies when the COMMON SUNDROPS (Kneiffia fructicosa; formerly +Qenothera fructicosa) - is in flower. It is first cousin to the +similar evening primrose of taller, ranker growth. Often only one +blossom on a stalk expands at a time, to increase the chances of +cross-fertilization between distinct plants; but where colonies +grow it is a conspicuous acquaintance, for its large, bright +yellow corollas remain open all day. Bumblebees with their long +tongues, and some butterflies, drain the deeply hidden nectar; +smaller visitors get some only when it wells up high in the tube. +As the stigma surpasses the anthers, self-fertilization is +impossible unless an insect blunders by alighting elsewhere than +on the lower side, where the stigma is purposely turned to be +rubbed against his pollen-laden ventral surface when he settles +on a blossom. Unable to reach the nectar, mining and leaf-cutter +bees, wasps, flower flies, and beetles visit it for the abundant +pollen; and the common little white cabbage butterfly (Pieris +protodice) sucks here constantly. The capsules of the sundrops +are somewhat club-shaped and four-winged, angled above, with four +intervening ribs between. Range from Nova Scotia to Georgia, west +beyond the Mississippi. + +A similar, but smaller, diurnal species (K. pumilla), likewise +found blooming in dry soil from June to August, has a more +westerly range North and South. + + +WILD OR FIELD PARSNIP; MADNEP; TANK + (Pastinaca sativa) Carrot family + +Flowers - Dull or greenish yellow, small, without involucre or +involucels; borne in 7 to 15 rayed umbels, 2 to 6 in. across. +Stem: 2 to 5 ft. tall, stout, smooth, branching, grooved, from a +long, conic, fleshy, strong-scented root. Leaves: Compounded +(pinnately), of several pairs of oval, lobed, or cut, sharply +toothed leaflets; the petioled lower leaves often 1 1/2 ft. long. +Preferred Habitat - Waste places, roadsides, fields. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Common throughout nearly all parts of the United +States and Canada. Europe. + +Men are not the only creatures who feed upon such of the +umbel-bearing plants as are innocent - parsnips, celery, parsley, +carrots, caraway, and fennel, among others; and even those which +contain properties that are poisonous to highly organized men and +beasts, afford harmless food for insects. Pliny says that +parsnips, which were cultivated beyond the Rhine in the days of +Tiberius, were brought to Rome annually to please the emperor's +exacting palate; yet this same plant, which has overrun two +continents, in its wild state (when its leaves are a paler +yellowish green than under cultivation) often proves poisonous. A +strongly acrid juice in the very tough stem causes intelligent +cattle to let it alone - precisely the object desired. But +caterpillars of certain swallow-tail butterflies, particularly of +the common eastern swallow-tail (Papilio asterias), may be taken +on it - the same greenish, black-banded, and yellow-dotted fat +"worm" found on parsnips, fennel, and parsley in the kitchen +garden. Insects understood plant relationships ages before +Linnaeus defined them. When we see this dark, velvety butterfly, +marked with yellow, hovering above the wild parsnip, we may know +she is there only to lay eggs that her larvae may eat their way +to maturity on this favorite food store. After the flat, oval, +shining seeds with their conspicuous oil tubes are set in the +spreading umbels, the strong, vigorous plant loses nothing of its +decorative charm. + +>From April to June the lower-growing EARLY or GOLDEN MEADOW +PARSNIP (Zizia aurea) spreads its clearer yellow umbels above +moist fields, meadows, and swamps from New Brunswick and Dakota +to the Gulf of Mexico. Its leaves are twice or thrice compounded +of oblong, pointed, saw-edged, but not lobed leaflets. + +The HAIRY-JOINTED MEADOW PARSNIP (Thaspium barbinode), another +early bloomer, with pale-yellow flowers, most common in the +Mississippi basin, may always be distinguished by the little +tufts of hair at the joints of the stem, the compound leaves, and +often on the rays of the umbels. + +A yellow variety of the PURPLE MEADOW PARSNIP, which is popularly +known as GOLDEN ALEXANDERS (T. trifoliatum var. aureum), confines +itself chiefly to woodlands. The leaves are compounded of three +leaflets, longer and more lance-shaped in outline than those of +other yellow species. + + +FOUR-LEAVED or WHORLED LOOSESTRIFE; CROSSWORT + (Lysimachia quadrifolia) Primrose family + +Flowers - Yellow, streaked with dark red, 1/2 in. across or less; +each on a thread-like, spreading footstem from a leaf axil. +Calyx, 5 to 7 parted; corolla of 5 to 7 spreading lobes, and as +many stamens inserted on the throat; 1 pistil. Stem: Slender, +erect, to 3 ft. tall, leafy. Leaves: In whorls of 4 (rarely in +3's to 7's), lance-shaped or oblong, entire, black dotted. +Preferred Habitat - Open woodland, thickets, roadsides, moist, +sandy soil. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Georgia and Illinois, north to New Brunswick. + +Medieval herbalists usually recorded anything that "Plinie +saieth" with profoundest respect; not always so, quaint old +Parkinson. Speaking of the common (vulgaris), wild loosestrife of +Europe, a rather stout, downy species with terminal clusters of +good-sized, yellow flowers, that was once cultivated in our +Eastern States, and has sparingly escaped from gardens, he thus +refers to the reputation given it by the Roman naturalist: "It is +believed to take away strife, or debate between ye beasts, not +onely those that are yoked together, but even those that are wild +also, by making them tame and quiet...if it be either put about +their yokes or their necks," significantly adding, "which how +true, I leave to them shall try and find it soe." Our slender, +symmetrical, common loosestrife, with its whorls of leaves and +little star-shaped blossoms on thread-like pedicels at regular +intervals up the stem, is not even distantly related to the +wonderful purple loosestrife (q.v.). + +Another common, lower-growing species, the BULB-BEARING +LOOSESTRIFE (L. terrestris; L. stricta of Gray) - blooming from +July to September, lifts a terminal, elongated raceme of even +smaller, slender-pedicelled, yellow flowers streaked or dotted +with reddish; and in the axils of its abundant, opposite, +lance-shaped, black-dotted leaves, long bulblets, that are in +reality suppressed branches, are usually borne after the +flowering season. Occasionally no flowers are produced, only +these strange bulblets. In this state Linnaeus mistook the plant +for a terrestrial mistletoe. This species shows a decided +preference for swamps, moist thickets, and ditches throughout a +range which extends from Manitoba and Arkansas to the Atlantic +Ocean. + +MONEYWORT, or CREEPING LOOSESTRIFE (L. Nummularia), a native of +Great Britain, which has long been a favorite vine in American +hanging baskets and urns, when kept in moist soil, suspended from +a veranda, will produce prolific shoots two or three feet in +length, hanging down on all sides. Pairs of yellow, dark-spotted, +five-lobed flowers grow from the axils of the opposite leaves +from June to August. One often finds it running wild in moist +soil beyond the pale of old gardens from Pennsylvania and Indiana +northward into Canada. Slight encouragement in starting runaways +would easily induce the hardy little evergreen to be as common +here as it is in England. + +The LANCE-LEAVED LOOSESTRIFE (Steironema lanceolatum), most +common in the West and South, although it is by no means rare in +the northeastern States, produces either single blossoms or +few-flowered, spreading, axillary clusters on slender peduncles, +each unspotted, yellow corolla half an inch across or over; the +petal edges as if gnawed by the finest of teeth; the pointed +calyx segments showing between them. Sterile stamens in addition +to the fertile ones characterize this clan. In moist soil it +blooms from June to August. It is a strange fact that female bees +of the genus Macropis have never been taken on plants outside the +loosestrife connection. Here there appears to be the closest +interdependence between flower and insect. Even in Germany, +Muller found them by far the most abundant visitors, "diligently +sweeping the flowers (L. vulgaris) and piling large masses of +moistened pollen on their hind legs." He inclined to believe that +such blossoms in this group as have spots or streaks on their +petals - pathfinders for insect visitors - are largely dependent +on them, and cannot easily fertilize themselves; whereas the +unmarked blossoms, growing in such situations as are less +favorable to insect visits, are regularly self-fertile. + + +BUTTERFLY-WEED; PLEURISY-ROOT; ORANGE-ROOT; ORANGE MILKWEED + (Asclepias tuberosa) Milkweed family + +Flowers - Bright reddish orange, in many-flowered, terminal +clusters, each flower similar in structure to the common milkweed +(q.v.). Stem: Erect, 1 to 2 ft. tall, hairy, leafy, milky juice +scanty. Leaves: Usually all alternate, lance-shaped, seated on +stem. Fruit: A pair of erect, hoary pods, 2 to 5 in. long, at +least containing silky plumed seeds. +Preferred Habitat - Dry or sandy fields, hills, roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Maine and Ontario to Arizona, south to the Gulf of +Mexico. + +Intensely brilliant clusters of this the most ornamental of all +native milkweeds set dry fields ablaze with color. Above them +butterflies hover, float, alight, sip, and sail away - the great, +dark, velvety, pipe-vine swallow-tail (Papilio philenor), its +green-shaded hind wings marked with little white half moons; the +yellow and brown, common, Eastern swallow-tail (P. asterias), +that we saw about the wild parsnip and other members of the +carrot family the exquisite, large, spice-bush swallow-tail, +whose bugaboo caterpillar startled us when we unrolled a leaf of +its favorite food supply (see spice-bush); the small, common, +white, cabbage butterfly (Pieris protodice); the even more common +little sulphur butterflies, inseparable from clover fields and +mud puddles; the painted lady that follows thistles around the +globe; the regal fritillary (Argynnis idalia), its black and +fulvous wings marked with silver crescents, a gorgeous creature +developed from the black and orange caterpillar that prowls at +night among violet plants; the great spangled fritillary of +similar habit; the bright fulvous and black pearl crescent +butterfly (Phyciodes tharos), its small wings usually seen +hovering about the asters; the little grayish-brown, coral +hair-streak (Thecla titus), and the bronze copper (Chrysophanus +thoe), whose caterpillar feeds on sorrel (Rumex); the delicate, +tailed blue butterfly (Lycaena comyntas), with a wing expansion +of only an inch from tip to tip; all these visitors duplicated +again and again - these and several others that either escaped +the net before they were named, or could not be run down, were +seen one bright midsummer day along a Long Island roadside +bordered with butterfly weed. Most abundant of all was still +another species, the splendid monarch (Anosia plexippus), the +most familiar representative of the tribe of milkweed butterflies +(see common milkweed). Swarms of this enormously prolific species +are believed to migrate to the Gulf States, and beyond at the +approach of cold weather, as regularly as the birds, traveling in +numbers so vast that the naked trees on which they pause to rest +appear to be still decked with autumnal foliage. This milkweed +butterfly "is a great migrant," says Dr. Holland, "and within +quite recent years, with Yankee instinct, has crossed the +Pacific, probably on merchant vessels, the chrysalids being +possibly concealed in bales of hay, and has found lodgment in +Australia where it has greatly multiplied in the warmer parts of +the Island Continent, and has thence spread northward and +westward, until in its migrations it has reached Java and +Sumatra, and long ago took possession of the Philippines.... It +has established a more or less precarious foothold for itself in +southern England. It is well established at the Cape Verde +Islands, and in a short time we may expect to hear of it as +having taken possession of the Continent of Africa, in which the +family of plants upon which the caterpillars feed is well +represented." + +Surely here is a butterfly flower if ever there was one, and such +are rare. Very few are adapted to tongues so long and slender +that the bumblebee cannot help himself to their nectar; but one +almost never sees him about the butterfly-weed. While other bees, +a few wasps, and even the ruby-throated hummingbird, which ever +delights in flowers with a suspicion of red about them, sometimes +visit these bright clusters, it is to the ever-present butterfly +that their marvelous structure is manifestly adapted. Only +visitors long of limb can easily remove the pollinia, which are +usually found dangling from the hairs of their legs. We may be +sure that after generously feeding its guests, the flower does +not allow many to depart without rendering an equivalent service. +The method of compelling visitors to withdraw pollen-masses from +one blossom and deposit them in another - an amazing process - +has been already described under the common milkweed. Lacking the +quantity of sticky milky juice which protects that plant from +crawling pilferers, the butterfly-weed suffers outrageous +robberies from black ants. The hairs on its stem, not sufficient +to form a stockade against them, serve only as a screen to +reflect light lest too much may penetrate to the interior juices. +We learned, in studying the prickly pear cactus, how necessary it +is for plants living in dry soil to guard against the escape of +their precious moisture. + +Transplanted from Nature's garden into our own, into what Thoreau +termed "that meager assemblage of curiosities, that poor apology +for Nature and Art which I call my front yard," clumps of +butterfly-weed give the place real splendor and interest. It is +said the Indians used the tuberous root of this plant for various +maladies, although they could scarcely have known that because of +the alleged healing properties of the genus Linnaeus dedicated it +to Aesculapius, of whose name Asclepias is a Latinized +corruption. + + +HORSE-BALM; CITRONELLA; RICH-WEED; STONE-ROOT; HORSE-WEED + (Collinsonia Canadensis) Mint family + +Flowers - Light yellowish, lemon-scented, about 1/2 in. long, +mostly opposite, in numerous spreading racemes, forming long, +loose terminal clusters. Calyx bell-shaped, 2-lipped, upper lip +3-toothed, lower lip 2-cleft; corolla 5-lobed, 4 lobes nearly +equal, the fifth much larger, fringed; stamens protruding, 2 +anther-bearing; 1 long style, the stigma forked. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - New England, Ontario, and Wisconsin, south to +Florida and Kansas. + +Now that we have come to read the faces of flowers much as their +insect friends must have done for countless ages, we suspect at a +glance that the strong-scented horse-balm, with its profusion of +lemon-colored, irregular little blossoms, is up to some ingenious +trick. The lower lip, out of all proportion to the rest of the +corolla, flaunting its enticing fringes; the long stamens +protruding from some flowers, and only the long style from others +on the same plant, excite our curiosity. Where many fragrant +clumps grow in cool, shady woods at midsummer, is an excellent +place to rest a while and satisfy it. Presently a bumblebee, +attracted by the odor from afar, alights on the fringed platform +too weak to hold him. Dropping downward, he snatches the +filaments of the two long stamens to save himself; and, as he +does so, pollen jarred out of their anther sacs falls on his +thorax at the juncture of his wings. Hanging beneath the flower a +second, he sips its nectar and is off. Many bees, large and +small, go through a similar performance. Now the young, newly +opened flowers have the forked stigmas of the long style only +protruding at this stage, the miniature stamens being still +curled within the tube. Obviously a pollen-dusted bee coming to +one of these young flowers must rub off some of the vitalizing +dust on the sticky fork that purposely impedes his entrance at +the precise spot necessary. Notice that after a flower's stamens +protrude in the second stage of its development the fork is +turned far to one side to get out of harm's way - +self-fertilization being an abomination. It was the lamented +William Hamilton Gibson who first called attention to the +horse-balm's ingenious scheme to prevent it. + + +VIRGINIA GROUND CHERRY + (Physalis Virginiana; P. Pennsylvanica of Gray) Potato family + +Flowers - Sulphur or greenish yellow, with 5 dark purplish dots, +1 in. across or less, solitary from the leaf axils. Calyx +5-toothed, much inflated in fruit; corolla open bell-shaped, the +edge 5-cleft; 5 stamens, the anthers yellow, style slender, +2-cleft. Stem: l 1/2 to 3 ft. tall, erect, more or less hairy or +glandular, branched, from a thick rootstock. Leaves: Ovate to +lanceolate, tapering at both ends or wedge-shaped, often +yellowish green, entire or sparingly wavy-toothed. Fruit: An +inflated, 5-angled capsule, sunken at the base, loosely +surrounding the edible reddish berry. +Preferred Habitat - Open ground; rich, dry pastures; hillsides. +Flowering Season - July-September +Distribution - New York to Manitoba, south to the Gulf States. + +A common plant, so variable, however, that the earlier botanists +thought it must be several distinct species, lanceolata among +others. A glance within shows that the open flower is not so +generous as its spreading form would seem to indicate, for tufts +of dense hairs at each side of grooves where nectar is secreted, +conceal it from the mob, and, with the thickened filaments, +almost close the throat. Doubtless these hairs also serve as +footholds for the welcome bee clinging to its pendent host. The +dark spots are pathfinders. One anther maturing after another, a +visitor must make several trips to secure all the pollen, and if +she is already dusted from another blossom, nine chances out of +ten she will first leave some of the vitalizing dust on the +stigma poked forward to receive it before collecting more. +Professor Robertson says that all the ground cherries near his +home in Illinois are remarkable for their close mutual relation +with two bees of the genus Colletes. So far as is known, the +insignificant little greenish or purplish bell-shaped flowers of +the Alum-root (Heuchera Americana), with protruding orange +anthers, are the only other ones to furnish these females with +pollen for their babies' bread. Slender racemes of this species +are found blooming in dry or rocky woods from the Mississippi +eastward, from May to July, by which time the ground cherry is +ready to provide for the bee's wants. The similar Philadelphia +species was formerly cultivated for its "strawberry tomato." Many +birds which feast on all this highly attractive fruit disperse +the numerous kidney-shaped seeds. + + + +GREAT MULLEIN; VELVET or FLANNEL PLANT; MULLEIN DOCK; AARON'S ROD + (Verbascum Thapsus) Figwort family + +Flowers - Yellow, 1 in. across or less, seated around a thick, +dense, elongated spike. Calyx 5-parted; corolla of 5 rounded +lobes; 5 anther-bearing stamens, the 3 upper ones short, woolly; +1 pistil. Stem: Stout, 2 to 7 ft. tall, densely woolly, with +branched hairs. Leaves: Thick, pale green, velvety-hairy, oblong, +in a rosette on the ground; others alternate, strongly clasping +the stem. +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, banks, stony waste land. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Minnesota and Kansas, eastward to Nova Scotia and +Florida. Europe. + +Leaving the fluffy thistle-down he has been kindly scattering to +the four winds, the goldfinch spreads his wings for a brief +undulating flight, singing in waves also as he goes to where +tall, thick-set mullein stalks stand like sentinels above the +stony pasture. Here companies of the exquisite little black and +yellow minstrels delight to congregate with their somber families +and feast on the seeds that rapidly follow the erratic flowers up +the gradually lengthening spikes. + +Delpino long ago pointed out that the blossom is best adapted to +pollen-collecting bees, which, alighting on the two long, +protruding stamens, rub off pollen on their undersides while +clinging for support to the wool on the three shorter stamens, +whose anthers supply their needs. As a bee settles on another +flower, the stigma is calculated to touch the pollen on his under +side before he gets dusted with more; thus cross-pollination is +effected. Three stamens furnish a visitor with food, two others +clap pollen on him. Numerous flies assist in removing the pollen, +too. + +"I have come three thousand miles to see the mullein cultivated +in a garden, and christened the velvet plant," says John +Burroughs in "An October Abroad." But even in England it grows +wild, and much more abundantly in Southern Europe, while its +specific name is said to have been given it because it was so +common in the neighborhood of Thapsus; but whether the place of +that name in Africa, or the Sicilian town mentioned by Ovid and +Virgil, is not certain. Strange that Europeans should labor under +the erroneous impression that this mullein is native to America, +whereas here it is only an immigrant from their own land. Rapidly +taking its course of empire westward from our seaports into which +the seeds smuggled their passage among the ballast, it is now +more common in the Eastern States, perhaps, than any native. +Forty or more folk-names have been applied to it, mostly in +allusion to its alleged curative powers, its use for candlewick +and funeral torches in the Middle Ages. The generic title, first +used by Pliny, is thought to be a corruption of Barbascum = with +beards, in allusion to the hairy filaments, or, as some think, to +the leaves. + +Of what use is this felt-like covering to the plant? The +importance of protecting the delicate, sensitive, active cells +from intense light, draught, or cold, have led various plants to +various practices; none more common, however, than to develop +hairs on the epidermis of their leaves, sometimes only enough to +give it a downy appearance, sometimes to coat it with felt, as in +this case, where the hairs branch and interlace. Fierce sunlight +in the exposed, dry situations where the mullein grows; prolonged +drought, which often occurs at flowering season, when the +perpetuation of the species is at stake; and the intense cold +which the exquisite rosettes formed by year-old plants must +endure through a winter before they can send up a flower-stalk +the second spring - these trials the well-screened, juicy, warm +plant has successfully surmounted through its coat of felt. +Hummingbirds have been detected gathering the hairs to line their +tiny nests. The light, strong stalk makes almost as good a cane +as bamboo, especially when the root end, in running under a +stone, forms a crooked handle. Pale country beauties rub their +cheeks with the velvety leaves to make them rosy. + + +MOTH MULLEIN + (Verbascum Blattaria) Figwort family + +Flowers - Yellow, or frequently white, 5-parted, about 1 in. +broad, marked with brown; borne on spreading pedicles in a long, +loose raceme; all the filaments with violet hairs; 1 protruding +pistil. Stem: Erect, slender, simple, about 2 ft. high, sometimes +less, or much taller. Leaves: Seldom present at flowering time; +oblong to ovate, toothed, mostly sessile, smooth. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, open wasteland; roadsides, fields. +Flowering Season - June-November. +Distribution - Naturalized from Europe and Asia, more or less +common throughout the United States and Canada. + +Quite different from its heavy and sluggish looking sister is +this sprightly, slender, fragile-flowered mullein. "Said to repel +the cockroach (Blatta). hence the name Blattaria; frequented by +moths, hence moth mullein." (Britton and Brown's "Flora.") Are +the latter frequent visitors? Surely there is nothing here to a +moth's liking. New England women used to pack this plant among +woolen garments in summer to keep out the tiny clothes moths. The +flower, whose two long stamens and pistil protrude as from the +great mullein's blossom, and whose filaments are tufted with +violet wool footholds - unnecessary provisions for moths, which +rarely alight on any flower, but suck with their wings in motion +- are cross-fertilized by pollen-collecting bees and flies as +described in the account of the great mullein. + +"Of beautiful weeds quite a long list might be made without +including any of the so-called wild flowers," says John +Burroughs. "A favorite of mine is the little moth mullein that +blooms along the highway, and about the fields, and maybe upon +the edge of the lawn." Even in winter, when the slender stem, set +with round brown seed-vessels, rises above the snow, the plant is +pleasing to the human eye, as it is to that of hungry birds. + + +BUTTER-AND-EGGS; YELLOW TOAD-FLAX; EGGS-AND-BACON; FLAXWEED; +BRIDEWEED + (Linaria Linaria; L. vulgaris of Gray) Figwort family + +Flowers - Light canary yellow and orange, 1 in. long or over, +irregular, borne in terminal, leafy-bracted spikes. Corolla +spurred at the base, 2-lipped, the upper lip erect, 2-lobed; the +lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, its base an orange-colored palate +closing the throat; 4 stamens in pairs within; 1 pistil. Stem: 1 +to 3 ft. tall, slender, leafy. Leaves: Pale, grass-like. +Preferred Habitat - Wasteland, roadsides, banks, fields. +Flowering Season - June-October. +Distribution - Nebraska and Manitoba, eastward to Virginia and +Nova Scotia. Europe and Asia. + +An immigrant from Europe, this plebeian perennial, meekly content +with waste places, is rapidly inheriting the earth. Its beautiful +spikes of butter-colored cornucopias, apparently holding the yolk +of a diminutive Spanish egg, emit a cheesy odor, suggesting a +close dairy. Perhaps half the charm of the plant consists in the +pale bluish-green grass-like leaves with a bloom on the surface, +which are put forth so abundantly from the sterile shoots. (See +blue toad-flax.) + +Guided by the orange palate pathfinder to where the curious, +puzzling flower opens, the big velvety bumblebee alights, his +weight depressing the lower lip until a comfortable entrance +through the gaping mouth is offered him. In he goes, and his long +tongue readily reaches the nectar in the deep spur, while his +back brushes off pollen from the stamens in his way overhead. +Then he backs out, and the gaping mouth springs shut after him - +for the linaria is akin to the snapdragon in the garden. As its +stamens are of two lengths, the flower is able to fertilize +itself in stormy weather, insects failing to transfer its pollen. +To drain ten of these spurs a minute is no difficult task for the +bumblebee. But how slowly, painfully, the little lightweight +hive-bees and leaf-cutters squeeze in between the tight lips. An +occasional butterfly inserts its long, thin tongue, and, without +transferring a grain of pollen for the flower, robs it of sweets +clearly intended for the bumblebee alone. Even when ants - the +worst pilferers extant - succeed in entering, they cannot reach +the nectar, owing to the hairy stockade bordering the groove +where it runs. Beetles, out for pollen, also occasionally steal +an entrance, if nothing more. Grazing cattle let the plant alone +to ripen seed in peace, for it secretes disagreeable juices in +its cells - juices that were once mixed with milk by farmers' +wives to poison flies. + + +DOWNY FALSE FOXGLOVE +(Dasystoma flava; Gerardia flava of Gray) Figwort family + +Flowers - Pale yellow, 1 1/2 to 2 in. long; in showy, terminal, +leafy-bracted racemes. Calyx bell-shaped, 5-toothed; corolla +funnel form, the 5 lobes spreading, smooth outside, woolly +within; 4 stamens in pairs, woolly; 1 pistil. Stem: Grayish, +downy, erect, usually simple, 2 to 4 ft. tall. Leaves: Opposite, +lower ones oblong in outline, more or less irregularly lobed and +toothed; upper ones small, entire. +Preferred Habitat - Gravelly or sandy soil, dry thickets, open +woods. +Flowering Season - July-August +Distribution - "Eastern Massachusetts to Ontario and Wisconsin, +south to southern New York, Georgia, and Mississippi." (Britton +and Brown.) + +In the vegetable kingdom, as in the spiritual, all degrees of +backsliding sinners may be found, each branded with a mark of +infamy according to its deserts. We have seen how the dodder vine +lost both leaf and roots after it consented to live wholly by +theft of its hardworking host's juices through suckers that +penetrate to the vitals; how the Indian pipe's blanched face +tells the story of guilt perpetrated under cover of darkness, in +the soil below; how the broom-rape and beech-drops lost their +honest green color; and, finally, the foxgloves show us plants +with their faces so newly turned toward the path of perdition, +their larceny so petty, that only the expert in criminal botany +cases condemns them. Like its cousins the gerardias (q.v.), the +downy false foxglove is only a partial parasite, attaching its +roots by disks or suckers to the roots of white oak or witch +hazel (q.v.); not only that, but, quite as frequently, groping +blindly in the dark, it fastens suckers on its own roots, +actually thieving from itself! It is this piratical tendency +which makes transplanting of foxgloves into our gardens so very +difficult; even when lifted with plenty of their beloved +vegetable mould. The term false foxglove, it should be explained, +is by no means one of reproach for dishonesty; it was applied +simply to distinguish this group of plants from the true +foxgloves cultivated, not wild, here, which yield digitalis to +the doctors. + +But if these foxgloves live at others' expense, there are +creatures which in turn prey upon them. Caterpillars of a peacock +butterfly, known as the buckeye (Junonia coenia), with eye-like +spots on its tawny, reddish-gray wings, divide their unwelcome +attentions between various species of plantain, the snapdragon in +the garden, gerardias, and foxgloves. + +The SMOOTH FALSE FOXGLOVE (D. Virginica; G. quercifolia of Gray) +- which delights in rich woods, moist or dry, bears similar, but +slightly larger, blossoms on a smooth, usually branched, and +taller stem, whose lower leaves especially are much cleft +(pinnatifid). This species is commoner South and West, blooming +from July to September. All the foxgloves elevate their sticky +stigmas to the mouth of their tubes, that the pollen-dusted +bumblebee may leave some of the vitalizing dust brought from +another flower on its surface before she turns upside down and +enters in this unusual fashion to receive a fresh supply on her +way to the nectar in the base of the tube. Her pressure against +the pointed anther-tips causes the light, dry pollen to sift out; +on the removal of her pressure the gaping chinks close to save it +from small bees and flies. It falls out, therefore, only when the +bee is in the right position to receive it for export to another +foxglove's stigma. Hairy footholds on anthers and filaments are +provided lest the bee fall while reversed and sifting out the +pollen. + +The FERN-LEAVED or LOUSEWORT FALSE FOXGLOVE (D. pedicularia; G. +pedicularia of Gray) - a very leafy species found in dry woods +and thickets from the Mississippi and Ontario eastward to the +Atlantic, north and south, has all its leaves once or twice +pinnatifid, the lobes much cut and toothed. It is a rather +sticky, hairy, slender, and much branched plant, growing from one +to four feet tall; the broad, trumpet-shaped, yellow flower, +which is sticky outside, measures an inch or an inch and a half +long, and is sometimes almost as wide across. "The most abundant +visitor, and the one for which the flower is most perfectly +adapted," says Professor Robertson, "is Bombus Americanorum. This +bee always turns head downwards on entering the flower. When it +enters, or backs out, the basal joints of its legs strike the +tips of the anther-cells, when the pollen falls out. I had often +wondered why this bee turned upside down to enter the flower.... +I discovered that the form of the flower requires it. The +modification which requires the bees to reverse is associated +with the peculiar mode of pollen discharge. Smaller bumblebees +and some other bees which never or rarely try to suck hang under +the anthers and work out the pollen by striking the trigger-like +awns. They reverse of their own accord, since they are so small +they are not compelled to do so on account of the form of the +flower. The tube is large...so that most bumblebee workers could +easily reach the nectar if the tube were not curved in the +opposite direction from that of most flowers, and if the anthers +did not obstruct the entrance." Sometimes small bees, despairing +of getting into the tube through the mouth, suck at holes in the +flower's sides, because legitimate feasting was made too +difficult for the poor little things. The ruby-throated +hummingbird, hovering a second above the tube, drains it with +none of the clown-like performances exacted from the bumblebee. +Pilfering ants find death as speedy on the sticky surfaces here +as on any catchfly. + + +GREATER BLADDERWORT; HOODED WATER-MILFOIL; POP-WEED + (Utricularia vulgaris) Bladderwort family + +Flowers - Yellow, about 1/2 in. across, 3 to 20 on short pedicels +in a raceme at the top of a stout, naked scape 3 to 14 in. high. +Calyx deeply 2-lobed; corolla 2-lipped, the upper lip erect, the +lower lip larger, its palate prominent, the lip slightly 3-lobed, +and spurred at the base; 2 stamens; 1 pistil; the stigma +2-lipped. Leaves: Very finely divided into threadlike segments, +bearing little air bladders. +Preferred Habitat - Floating free in ponds and slow streams, or +rooting in mud. +Flowering Season - June-August. +Distribution - Throughout nearly the whole of North America, +Cuba, and Mexico. Europe and Asia. + +Here is an extraordinary little plant indeed, which, by its +amazing cleverness, now overruns the globe - one of the higher +order of intelligence so closely akin to the animals that the +gulf which separates such from them seems not very wide after +all. In studying the water-crowfoots (q.v.) and other aquatic +plants, we learned why submerged leaves must be so finely cut; +but what mean the little bladders tipped with bristles among the +pop-weed's threadlike foliage? Formerly these were regarded as +mere floats - a thoughtless theory, for branches without bladders +might have been observed floating perfectly. It is now known they +are traps for capturing tiny aquatic creatures: nearly every +bladder you examine under a microscope contains either minute +crustaceans or larvae, worms, or lower organisms, some perhaps +still alive, but most of them more or less advanced toward +putrefaction - a stage hastened, it is thought, by a secretion +within the bladders; for the plant cannot digest fresh food; it +can only absorb, through certain processes within the bladder's +walls, the fluid products of decay. The little insectivorous +sundew (q.v.), on the contrary, not only digests, but afterward +absorbs, animal matter. Tiny aquatic creatures, ever seeking +shelter from larger ones ready to devour them, enter the pop-weed +bladders by bending inward the free edge of the valve, which, +being strongly elastic, snaps shut again behind them instantly. +"Abandon hope, all ye who enter here," might be written above the +entrance. No victim ever escapes from that prison. Scientists are +not agreed that the bristles draw creatures into the bladder. +Whatever touches the sensitive valves is at once drawn in. "To +show how closely the edge fits," says Charles Darwin, "I may +mention that my son found a daphnia which had inserted one of its +antennae into the slit, and it was thus held fast during a whole +day. On three or four occasions I have seen long narrow larvae, +both dead and alive, wedged between the corner of the valve and +collar, with half their bodies within the bladder and half out. +Professor Cohn of Germany tells of immersing a plant of this +bladderwort one evening in clear water swarming with tiny +crustaceans, and by the next morning most of the bladders +contained them, entrapped and swimming around in their prisons. + +So much for what is going on below the surface of the water: what +above it? Several flowers on the showy spike attract numerous +insects. One alighting on the lower lip must thrust his tongue +beneath the upper one to reach the nectar in the spur, passing on +its way the irritable stigma, which receives any pollen he has +brought in. Instantly it is touched, the stigma folds up to be +out of the way of the tongue when it is withdrawn from the spur +now laden with fresh pollen. It is thus that self-fertilization +is escaped. Many vigorous seeds follow in each capsule. This +marvelous piece of mechanism is what Thoreau termed "a +dirty-conditioned flower, like a sluttish woman with a gaudy +yellow bonnet"! + +Not through its seeds alone, however, has the little plant +succeeded in firmly establishing itself. In early autumn the +stems terminate in large buds which, falling off, lie dormant all +winter at the bottom of the pond. In spring they root and put +forth leaves bearing bladders, which at this stage of existence +are filled with water to help anchor the plant. As flowering +season approaches, the bladders undergo an internal change to fit +them for a change of function; they now fill with air, when the +buoyed plant rises toward the surface to send up its flowering +scape, while the bladders proceed with their nefarious practices +to nourish it more abundantly while its system is heavily taxed. + +The HORNED BLADDERWORT (U. cornuta), found in sandy swamps, along +the borders of ponds, marshy lake margins, and in bogs from +Newfoundland to Florida, westward to Minnesota and Texas, bears +from one to six deliciously fragrant yellow flowers on its +leafless scape from June to August. It is "perhaps the most +fragrant flower we have," says John Burroughs. "In a warm moist +atmosphere its odor is almost too strong.... Its perfume is sweet +and spicy in an eminent degree." The low scape, rooting in the +mud, has some root-like stems and branches, sometimes with a few +entire leaves and bladders. Its benefactors, bumblebees and +butterflies, with their highly developed aesthetic taste, are +attracted from afar by this pleasing flower, whose acute, curved +spur filled with nectar may not be drained by small fry, to whom +the hairy throat is an additional discouragement. + + +SWEET WILD HONEYSUCKLE, or WOODBINE; ITALIAN OR PERFOLIATE +HONEYSUCKLE + (Lonicera Caprifoliuin; L. grata of Gray) Honeysuckle family + +Flowers - White within, the tube pinkish, soon fading yellow, 1 +to 1 1/2 in. long, very fragrant; borne in terminal whorls seated +in the united pair of upper leaves. Calyx small, 5-toothed; +corolla slender, tubular, 2-lipped; upper lip 4-lobed; lower lip +narrow, curved downward; 5 stamens and 1 style far protruding. +Stem: Climbing high, smooth. Leaves: Upper pairs united around +the stem into an oval disk or shallow cup; lower leaves opposite, +but not united oval, entire. Fruit: Red berries, clustered. +Preferred Habitat - Thickets, wayside hedges, rocky woodlands. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - New England and Michigan to the Southern States. + +"Escaped from cultivation and naturalized." How does it happen +that this vine, a native of Europe, is now so common in the +Eastern United States as to be called the American woodbine? Had +Columbus been a botanist and wandered about our continent in +search of flowers, he would have found very few that were +familiar to him at home, except such as were common both to +Europe and Asia also. Where the Aleutian Islands jut far out into +the Pacific, and the strongest of ocean currents flows our way, +must once have been a substantial highroad for beasts, birds, and +vegetables, if not for men as well; but in the wide, briny +Atlantic no European seed could live long enough to germinate +after drifting across to our shores, if, indeed, it ever reached +here. Once the American colonies came to be peopled, with +homesick Europeans, who sent home for everything portable they +had loved there, enormous numbers of trees, shrubs, plants, and +seeds were respectably carried across in ships; the seeds of +others stole a passage, as they do this day, among the hay used +in packing. This was the chance for expansion they had been +waiting for for ages. While many cultivated species found it +practically impossible to escape from the vigilance of gardeners +here, others, with a better plan for disseminating seed, quickly +ran wild. Now some of the commonest plants we have are of +European origin. This honeysuckle, by bearing red berries to +attract migrating birds in autumn, soon escaped the confines of +gardens. Its undigested seeds, dropped in the woodland far from +the parent vine, germinated quite as readily as in Europe, and +pursued in peace their natural mode of existence, until here too +we now have banks + + "Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine." + +The HAIRY HONEYSUCKLE, or ROUGH WOODBINE (L. hirsuta), with a +more northerly and westerly range, bears clusters of flowers that +are yellow on the outside, and orange within the tube, the +terminal clusters slightly elevated above a united pair of dull +green leaves that are softly hairy underneath. The slender flower +tube is sticky outside to protect it from pilfering ants, and the +hairs at the base of the stamens serve to hide the nectar from +unbidden guests. Berries, bright orange. Flowering season, +June-July. + +The deliciously fragrant CHINESE or JAPANESE HONEYSUCKLE (L. +Japonica), as commonly grown on garden trellises and fences here +as the morning-glory, has freely escaped from cultivation from +New York southward to West Virginia and North Carolina. Everyone +must be familiar with the pairs of slender, tubular, two-lipped, +white or pinkish flowers, quickly turning yellow, which are borne +in the leaf axils along the sprays. The smooth, dark green, +opposite leaves, pale beneath, cling almost the entire year +through. The stem, in winding, follows the course taken by the +hands of a clock. Were the berries red instead of black, they +would, doubtless, have attracted more birds to disperse their +seeds, and the vine would have traveled as fast in its wild state +as the Italian honeysuckle has done. It blooms from June to +August, and sparingly again in autumn. +When daylight begins to fade, these long, slender-tubed buds +expand to welcome their chosen benefactors, the sphinx moths, +wooing them with fragrance so especially strong and sweet at this +time that, long after dark, guests may be guided from afar by it +alone, and entertaining them with copious draughts of deeply +hidden nectar, which their long tongues alone may drain. Poised +above the blossoms, they sip without pause of their whirring +wings, and it is not strange that many people mistake them in the +half light for hummingbirds. Indeed, they are often called +hummingbird moths. Darting away suddenly and swift as thought, +they have also earned the name of hawk moths. Because the +caterpillars have a curious trick of raising the fore part of +their bodies and remaining motionless so long (like an Egyptian +sphinx), the commoner name seems most appropriate. A sphinx moth +at rest curls up its exceedingly long tongue like .a watch- +spring: in action only the hummingbird can penetrate to such +depths; hence that honeysuckle which prefers to woo the tiny +bird, whose decided preference is for red, is the TRUMPET or +CORAL HONEYSUCKLE; whereas the other twiners developed deep, +tubular flowers that are white or yellow, so that the moths may +see them in the dark, when red blossoms are engulfed in the +prevailing blackness. Moreover, the latter bloom at a season when +the crepuscular and nocturnal moths are most abundant. Rough +rounded pollen grains, carried on the hairs and scales on the +under side of the moth's body from his head to his abdomen, +including antennae, tongue, legs, and wings, cannot but be rubbed +off on the protruding sticky stigma of the next honeysuckle tube +entered; hence cross-fertilization is regularly effected by moths +alone. The next day such interlopers as bees, flies, butterflies, +and even the outwitted hummingbird, may take whatever nectar or +pollen remains. If the previous evening has been calm and fine, +they will find little or none; but if the night has been wild and +stormy, keeping the moths under cover, the tubes will brim with +sweets. After fertilization the corolla turns yellow to let +visitors know the mutual benefit association has gone out of +business. + + +BUSH HONEYSUCKLE; GRAVEL-WEED + (Diervilla Diervilla; D. trifida of Gray) Honeysuckle family + +Flowers - Yellow, small, fragrant, 1 to 5 (usually 3) together on +a peduncle from upper leaf-axils. Calyx tube slender, elongated; +corolla narrowly funnel-form, about 3/4 in. long, its 5 lobes +spreading, 3 of them somewhat united; 5 stamens; 1 pistil +projecting. Stem: A smooth, branching shrub 2 to 4 ft. high. +Leaves. Opposite, oval, and taper-pointed, finely saw-edged. +Fruit: Slender, beaked pods crowned with the 5 calyx lobes. +Preferred Habitat - Dry or rocky soil, woodlands, hills. +Flowering Season - May-August. +Distribution - British Possessions southward to Michigan and +North Carolina. + +The coral honeysuckle determined to woo the hummingbird by +wearing his favorite color; the twining white and yellow +honeysuckles of our porches chose for their benefactors the +sphinx moths, attracting them by delicious fragrance and deeply +hidden nectar in slender tubes that are visible even in the dark; +whereas the small-flowered bush honeysuckles still cater to the +bees which, in all probability, once sufficed for the entire +family. For them a conspicuous landing place has been provided in +the more highly colored lower lobe of this flower, from which the +visitor cannot fail to find the pocket full of nectar that swells +the base of the tube but when he alights, pollen laden from +another blossom, he must pay toll by leaving some of the +vitalizing dust on the projecting stigma before he feasts and +dusts himself afresh. After they have been plundered, and +consequently fertilized, all the honeysuckles change color, this +one taking on a deeper yellow to let the bees know the larder is +empty, that they may waste no precious time, but confine their +visits where they are needed. "Many flowers adapted to bees show +butterflies, hawk moths and hummingbirds as intruders," says +Professor Robertson; "and this is important, since it enables us +to understand how bee-flowers might become modified to suit them" +- just as certain of the honeysuckles have done. Once the +Oriental pink weigelias, grown in nearly every American garden, +were thought to belong to the Diervilla clan, from which +later-day systematists have banished them. + +The EARLY FLY or TWIN HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera ciliata), found in +moist, cool woods from Pennsylvania and Michigan far northward, +sends forth pairs of funnel-form, honey-yellow flowers, about +three-quarters of an inch long, with five, regular lobes, on a +slender footstalk from the leaf axils in May. It is a straggling, +shrubby bush from three to five feet tall. The opposite leaves +are thin, oval, bright green on both sides, the edges hairy. Two +little ovoid, light red berries follow the flowers. + +Another species, a shrubby SWAMP FLY-HONEYSUCKLE (L. +oblongifolia), found in wet ground and bogs throughout a similar +range, blooming about two weeks later, coats the under side of +its young leaves with fine hairs to prevent their pores from +clogging with vapors arising from its moist retreats. The little +pale yellow flowers, also growing in pairs on a footstalk from +the leaf axils, have their tubular corollas strongly cleft into +two lips. Reddish markings within serve as pathfinders for the +bumblebee, who finds so much nectar at the base that a tiny +bulging pocket had to be provided to hold it. Sometimes the two +flowers join below like Siamese twins, in which case the pair of +crimson berries become more or less united. + + "So we grew together, + Like to a double cherry, seeming parted." + + +One occasionally finds the pink and white twin-flowered TARTARIAN +BUSH HONEYSUCKLE (L. Tartarica) escaped from cultivation in the +Eastern States through the agency of birds which feast upon its +little round, red, translucent berries. + + +COMMON DANDELION; BLOWBALL; LION'S-TOOTH; PEASANT'S CLOCK + (Taraxacum Taraxacum; T. Densleonis of Gray) Chicory family + +Flower-head - Solitary, golden yellow, to 2 in. across, +containing 150 to 200 perfect ray florets on a flat receptacle at +the top of a hollow, milky scape 2 to 18 in. tall. Leaves: From a +very deep, thick, bitter root; oblong to spatulate in outline, +irregularly jagged. +Preferred Habitat - Lawns, fields, grassy waste places. +Flowering Season - Every month in the year. +Distribution - Around the civilized world. + + "Dear common flower that grow'st beside the way, + Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold. + . . . . + Gold such as thine ne'er drew the Spanish prow + Through the primeval hush of Indian seas, + Nor wrinkled the lean brow + Of age, to rob the lover's heart of ease. + 'Tis the spring's largess, which she scatters now + To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand + Though most hearts never understand + To take it at God's value, but pass by + The offered wealth with unrewarded eye." + +Let the triumphant Anglo-Saxon with dreams of expansion that +include the round earth, the student of sociology who wishes an +insight into cooperative methods as opposed to individualism, the +young man anxious to learn how to get on, parents with children +to be equipped for the struggle for existence, business men and +employers of labor, all sit down beside the dandelion and take +its lesson to heart. How has it managed without navies and armies +- for it is no imperialist - to land its peaceful legions on +every part of the civilized world and take possession of the +soil? How can this neglected wayside composite weed triumph over +the most gorgeous hothouse individual on which the horticulturist +expends all the science at his command; to flourish where others +give up the struggle defeated; to send its vigorous offspring +abroad prepared for similar conquest of adverse conditions +wherever met to attract myriads of customers to its department +store, and by consummate executive ability to make every visitor +unwittingly contribute to its success? Any one who doubts the +dandelion's fitness to survive, should humble himself by spending +days and weeks on his knees, trying to eradicate the plant from +even one small lawn with a knife, only to find the turf starred +with golden blossoms, or, worse still from his point of view, +hoary with seed balloons, the following spring. + +Deep, very deep, the stocky bitter root penetrates where heat and +drought affect it not, nor nibbling rabbits, moles, grubs of +insects, and other burrowers break through and steal. Cut off the +upper portion only with your knife, and not one, but several, +plants will likely sprout from what remains; and, however late in +the season, will economize stem and leaf to produce flowers and +seeds, cuddled close within the tuft, that set all your pains at +naught. "Never say die" is the dandelion's motto. An exceedingly +bitter medicine is extracted from the root of this dandelion, +formerly known as T. officinale. Likewise are the leaves bitter. +Although they appear so early in the spring, they must be +especially tempting to grazing cattle and predaceous insects, the +rosettes remain untouched, while other succulent, agreeable +plants are devoured wholesale. Only Italians and other thrifty +Old-World immigrants, who go about then with sack and knife +collecting the fresh young tufts, give the plants pause but even +they leave the roots intact. When boiled like spinach or eaten +with French salad dressing, the bitter juices are extracted from +the leaves or disguised - mean tactics by an enemy outside the +dandelion's calculation. All nations know the plant by some +equivalent for the name dent de lion = lion's tooth, which the +jagged edges of the leaves suggest. + +Presently a hollow scape arises to display the flower above the +surrounding grass. Bridge builders and constructing engineers +know how yielding and economical, yet how invincibly strong, is +the hollow tube. March winds may buffet and bend the dandelion's +stem without harm. How children delight to split this slippery +tube, and run it in and out of their mouths until curls form! At +the top of the scape is a double involucre of narrow, green, +leaf-like scales similar to what all composites have. Half the +involucre bends downward to protect the flower from crawling +pilferers, half stands erect to play the role for the community +of florets within that the calyx does for individual blossoms. +When it is time to close the dandelion shop, business being ended +for the day, this upper-half of the involucre protects it like +the heavy shutters merchants put up at their windows. + +Seated on a fleshy receptacle, not one flower, but often two +hundred minute, perfect florets generously cooperate. "In union +there is strength" is another motto adopted, not only by the +chicory clan, but by the entire horde of composites. Each floret +of itself could hope for no attention from busy insects; united, +how gorgeously attractive these disks of overlapping rays are! +Doubtless each tiny flower was once a five-petaled blossom, for +in the five teeth at the top and the five lines are indications +that once distinct parts have been welded together to form a more +showy and suitable corolla. Each floret insures cross-pollination +from insects crawling over the head, much as the minute yellow +tubes in the center of a daisy do (q.v.). Quantities of small +bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles - over a hundred +species of insects - come seeking the nectar that wells up in +each little tube, and the abundant pollen, which are greatly +appreciated in early spring, when food is so scarce. In rainy +weather and at night, when its benefactors are not flying, the +canny dandelion closes completely to protect its precious +attractions. Because the plant, which is likely to bloom every +month in the year, may not always certainly reckon on being +pollinated by insects, each neglected floret will curl the two +spreading, sticky branches of its style so far backward that they +come in contact with any pollen that has been carried out of the +tube by the sweeping brushes on their tips. Occasional +self-fertilization is surely better than setting no seed at all +when insects fail. Not a chance does the dandelion lose to "get +on." + +After flowering, it again looks like a bud, lowering its head to +mature seed unobserved. Presently rising on a gradually +lengthened scape to elevate it where there is no interruption for +the passing breeze from surrounding rivals, the transformed head, +now globular, white, airy, is even more exquisite, set as it is +with scores of tiny parachutes ready to sail away. A child's +breath puffing out the time of day, a vireo plucking at the +fluffy ball for lining to put in its nest, the summer breeze, the +scythe, rake, and mowing machines, sudden gusts of winds sweeping +the country before thunderstorms - these are among the agents +that set the flying vagabonds free. In the hay used for packing +they travel to foreign lands in ships, and, once landed, readily +adapt themselves to conditions as they find them. After soaking +in the briny ocean for twenty-eight days - long enough for a +current to carry them a thousand miles along the coast - they are +still able to germinate. + +The DWARF DANDELION, CYNTHIA, or VIRGINIA GOATSBEARD (Adepogon +Virginicum; formerly Krigia Virginica) - with from two to six +long-peduncled, flat, deep yellow or reddish-orange flower heads, +about an inch and a half across, on the summit of its stem from +May to October, elects to grow in moist meadows, woodlands, and +shady rocky places. How it glorifies them! From a tuffet of +spatulate, wavy-toothed or entire leaves, the smooth, shining, +branching stem arises bearing a single oblong, clasping leaf +below the middle. Particularly beautiful is its silvery +seed-ball, the pappus consisting of about a dozen hairlike +bristles inside a ring of small oblong scales, on which the seed +sails away. Range, from Massachusetts to Manitoba, south to +Georgia and Kansas. + +A charming little plant, the CAROLINA DWARF DANDELION or KRIGIA +(A. Carolinianum), once confounded with the above, sends up +several unbranched scapes from the same tuffet. It blooms in dry, +sandy soil from April to August, from Maine and Minnesota to the +Gulf States. + +Like a small edition of Lowell's "dear common flower" is the TALL +DANDELION, or AUTUMNAL HAWKBIT (Leontodon autumnale), its +slender, wiry, branching scape six inches to two feet high, +terminated by several flower-heads, each on a separate peduncle, +which is usually a little thickened and scaly just below it. Only +forty to seventy five-toothed ray florets spread in a flat golden +disk from an oblong involucre. They close in rainy weather and at +night. From June to November, in spite of its common name, it +blooms in fields and along roadsides, its brownish seed-plumes +rapidly following; but these are produced at the frightfully +extravagant cost of over two hundred thousand grains of pollen to +each head, it is estimated. The Greek generic name, meaning +lion's tooth, refers to the shape of the lobes of the narrowly +oblong leaves in a tuft at the base. Range, from New Jersey and +Ohio far northward. Naturalized from Europe and Asia. + + +FIELD SOW-THISTLE; MILK THISTLE + (Sonchus arvensis) Chicory family + +Flower-heads - Bright yellow, very showy, to 2 in. across, +several or numerous, on rough peduncles in a spreading cluster. +Involucre nearly 1 in. high; the scales narrow, rough. Stem: 2 to +4 ft. high, leafy below, naked, and paniculately branched above, +from deep roots and creeping rootstocks. Leaves: Long, narrow, +spiny, but not sharp-toothed; deeply cut, mostly clasping at +base. +Preferred Habitat - Meadows, fields, roadsides, saltwater +marshes. +Flowering Season - July-October. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Minnesota and Utah, south to New +Jersey. + +It cannot be long, at their present rate of increase, before this +and its sister immigrant become very common weeds throughout our +entire area, as they are in Europe and Asia. + +The ANNUAL SOW-THISTLE or HARE'S LETTUCE (S. oleraceus), its +smaller, pale yellow flower-heads, with smooth involucres more +closely grouped, now occupies our fields and waste places with +the assurance of a native. Honeybees chiefly, but many other +bees, wasps, brilliant little flower-flies (Syrphidae), and +butterflies among other winged visitors which alight on the +flowers, from May to November, are responsible for the copious, +soft, fine, white-plumed seeds that the winds waft away to fresh +colonizing ground. The leaves clasp the stem by deep ear-like or +arrow-shaped lobes, or the large lower ones are on petioles, +lyrate-pinnatifid, the terminal division commonly large and +triangular; the margins all toothed. Frugal European peasants use +them as a potherb or salad. One of the plant's common folk-names +in the Old World is hare's palace. According to the "Grete +Herbale," if "the hare come under it, he is sure no beast can +touch hym!' That was the spot Brer Rabbit was looking for when +Brer Fox lay low! Another early writer declares that "when hares +are overcome with heat they eat of an herb called hare's-lettuce, +hare's-house, hare's-palace; and there is no disease in this +beast the cure whereof she does not seek for in this herb." Who +has detected our cottontails nibbling the succulent leaves? + + +TALL or WILD LETTUCE; WILD OPIUM + (Lactuca Canadensis) Chicory family + +Flower-heads - Numerous small, about 1/4 in. across, involucre +cylindric, rays pale yellow; followed by abundant, soft, bright +white pappus; the heads growing in loose, branching, terminal +clusters. Stem: Smooth, 3 to 10 ft. high, leafy up to the flower +panicle; juice milky. Leaves: Upper ones lance shaped; lower ones +often 1 ft. long, wavy-lobed, often pinnatifid, taper pointed, +narrowed into flat petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, open ground; roadsides. +Flowering Season - June-November. +Distribution - Georgia, westward to Arkansas, north to the +British Possessions. + +Few gardeners allow the table lettuce (sativa) to go to seed but +as it is next of kin to this common wayside weed, it bears a +strong likeness to it in the loose, narrow panicles of +cream-colored flowers, followed by more charming, bright white +little pompons. Where the garden varieties originated, or what +they were, nobody knows. Herodotus says lettuce was eaten as a +salad in 550 B.C.; in Pliny's time it was cultivated, and even +blanched, so as to be had at all seasons of the year by the +Romans. Among the privy-purse expenses of Henry VIII is a reward +to a certain gardener for bringing "lettuze" and cherries to +Hampton Court. Quaint old Parkinson, enumerating "the vertues of +the lettice," says, "They all cool a hot and fainting stomache." +When the milky juice has been thickened (lactucarium), it is +sometimes used as a substitute for opium by regular practitioners +- a fluid employed by the plants themselves, it is thought, to +discourage creatures from feasting at their expense (see +milkweed). Certain caterpillars, however, eat the leaves readily; +but offer lettuce or poppy foliage to grazing cattle, and they +will go without food rather than touch it. + + "What's one man's poison, Signor, + Is another's meat or drink." + +Rabbits, for example, have been fed on the deadly nightshade for +a week without injury. + +The HAIRY or RED WILD LETTUCE (L. hirsuta), similar to the +preceding, but often with dark reddish stem, peduncles, and tiny +flower-cups, the ray florets varying from yellow to pale reddish +or purplish, has longer leaves, deeply cut or lobed almost to the +wide midrib. After what we learned when studying the barberry and +the prickly pear cactus, for example, about plants that choose to +live in dry soil, it is not surprising to find that this is a +lower, less leafy, and more hairy plant than the moisture-loving +tall lettuce. + +An European immigrant, naturalized here but recently, the PRICKLY +LETTUCE (L. Scariola) has nevertheless made itself so very much +at home in a short time that it has already become a troublesome +weed from New England to Pennsylvania, westward to Minnesota and +Missouri. But when we calculate that every plant produces over +eight thousand fluffy white-winged seeds on its narrow panicle, +ready to sail away on the first breeze, no wonder so well endowed +and prolific an invader marches triumphantly across continents. +The long, pale green, spiny-margined, milky leaves, with stiff +prickles on the midrib beneath, are doubly protected against +insect borers and grazing cattle. + + "Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head from the +meadow; + See how its leaves all point to the North as true as the +magnet." + +While Longfellow must have had the coarse-growing, +yellow-flowered, daisy-like PRAIRIE ROSIN-WEED (Silphium +laciniatum) in mind when he wrote this stanza of "Evangeline," +his lines apply with more exactness to the delicate prickly +lettuce, our eastern compass plant. Not until 1895 did Professor +J. C. Arthur discover that when the garden lettuce is allowed to +flower, its stem leaves also exhibit polarity. The great lower +leaves of the rosin-weed, which stand nearly vertical, with their +faces to the east and west, and their edges to the north and +south, have directed many a traveler, not from Acadia only, +across the prairie until it has earned the titles pilot-weed, +compass or polar plant. Various theories have been advanced to +account for the curious phenomenon, some claiming that the leaves +contained sufficient iron to reader them magnetic - a theory +promptly exploded by chemical analysis. Others supposed that the +resinous character of the leaves made them susceptible to +magnetic influence; but as rosin is a non-conductor of +electricity, of course this hypothesis likewise proved untenable. +At last Dr. Asa Gray brought forward the only sensible +explanation: inasmuch as both surfaces of the rosin-weed leaf are +essentially alike, there being very nearly as many stomata on the +upper side as on the under, both surfaces are equally sensitive +to sunlight; therefore the leaf twists on its petiole until both +sides share it as equally as is possible. While the polarity of +the prickly lettuce leaves is by no means so marked, Dr. Gray's +theory about the rosin-weed may be applied to them as well. + + +ORANGE or TAWNY HAWKWEED; GOLDEN MOUSE-EAR HAWKWEED; DEVIL'S +PAINT-BRUSH + (Hieracium aurantiacum) Chicory family + +Flower-beads - Reddish orange; 1 in. across or less, the +5-toothed rays overlapping in several series; several heads on +short peduncles in a terminal cluster. Stem: Usually leafless, or +with 1 to 2 small sessile leaves; 6 to 20 in. high, slender, +hairy, from a tuft of hairy, spatulate, or oblong leaves at the +base. +Preferred Habitat - Fields, woods, roadsides, dry places. +Flowering Season - June-September. +Distribution - Pennsylvania and Middle States northward into +British Possessions. + +Peculiar reddish-orange disks, similar in shade to the butterfly +weed's umbels, attract our eyes no less than those of the bees, +flies, and butterflies for whom such splendor was designed. After +cross-fertilization has been effected, chiefly through the agency +of the smaller bees, a single row of slender, brownish, +persistent bristles attached to the seeds transforms the head +into the "devil's paint-brush." Another popular title in England, +from whence the plant originally came, is Grimm the Collier. All +the plants in this genus take their name from hierax = a hawk, +because people in the old country once thought that birds of prey +swooped earthward to sharpen their eyesight with leaves of the +hawkweed, hawkbit, or speerhawk, as they are variously called. +Transplanted into the garden, the orange hawkweed forms a +spreading mass of unusual, splendid color. + +The RATTLESNAKE-WEED, EARLY or VEIN-LEAF HAWKWEED, SNAKE or POOR +ROBIN'S PLANTAIN (H. venosum), with flower-heads only about half +an inch across, sends up a smooth, slender stem, paniculately +branched above, to display the numerous dandelion-yellow disks as +early as May, although October is not too late to find this +generous bloomer in pine woodlands, dry thickets, and sandy soil. +Purplish-veined oval leaves, more or less hairy, that spread in a +tuft next the ground, are probably as efficacious in curing +snakebites as those of the rattlesnake plantain (q.v.). When a +credulous generation believed that the Creator had indicated with +some sign on each plant the special use for which each was +intended, many leaves were found to have veinings suggesting the +marks on a snake's body; therefore, by simple reasoning, they +must extract venom. How delightful is faith cure! + +Unlike the preceding, the CANADA HAWKWEED (H. Canadense), lacks a +basal tuft at flowering time, but its firm stem, that may be any +height from one to five feet, is amply furnished with oblong to +lance-shaped leaves seated on it, their midrib prominent, the +margins sparingly but sharply toothed. In dry, open woods and +thickets, and along shady roadsides, its loosely clustered heads +of clear yellow, about one inch across, are displayed from July +to September; and later the copious brown bristles remain for +sparrows to peck at. + +The ROUGH HAWKWEED (H. scabrum), with a stout, stiff stem crowned +with a narrow branching cluster of small yellow flower-heads on +dark bristly peduncles, also lacks a basal tuft at flowering +time. Its hairy oblong leaves are seated on the rigid stem. In +dry, open places, clearings, and woodlands from Nova Scotia to +Georgia, and westward to Nebraska, it blooms from July to +September. + +More slender and sprightly is the HAIRY HAWKWEED (H. Gronovii), +common in sterile soil from Massachusetts and Illinois to the +Gulf States. The basal leaves and lower part of the stiff stem, +especially, are hairy, not to allow too free transpiration of +precious moisture. + + +GOLDEN ASTER + (Chrysopsis Mariana) Thistle family + +Plower-heads - Composite, yellow, 1 in. wide or less, a few +corymbed flowers on glandular stalks; each composed of perfect +tubular disk florets surrounded by pistillate ray florets the +involucre campanulate, its narrow bracts overlapping in several +series. Stem: Stout, silky-hairy when young, nearly smooth later, +1 to 2 1/2 ft. tall. Leaves: Alternate, oblong to spatulate, +entire. +Preferred Habitat - Dry soil, or sandy, not far inland. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - Long Island and Pennsylvania to the Gulf States. + +Whoever comes upon clumps of these handsome flowers by the dusty +roadside cannot but be impressed with the appropriateness of +their generic name (Chrysos = gold; opsis = aspect). Farther +westward, north and south. it is the HAIRY GOLDEN ASTER (C. +villosa), a pale, hoary-haired plant with similar flowers borne +at midsummer, that is the common species. + + +GOLDENRODS + (Solidago) Thistle family + +When these flowers transform whole acres into "fields of the +cloth-of-gold," the slender wands swaying by every roadside, and +purple asters add the final touch of imperial splendor to the +autumn landscape, already glorious with gold and crimson, is any +parterre of Nature's garden the world around more gorgeous than +that portion of it we are pleased to call ours? Within its limits +eighty-five species of goldenrod flourish, while a few have +strayed into Mexico and South America, and only two or three +belong to Europe, where many of ours are tenderly cultivated in +gardens, as they should be here, had not Nature been so lavish. +To name all these species, or the asters, the sparrows, and the +warblers at sight is a feat probably no one living can perform; +nevertheless, certain of the commoner goldenrods have +well-defined peculiarities that a little field practice soon +fixes in the novice's mind. + +Along shady roadsides, and in moist woods and thickets, from +August to October, the BLUE-STEMMED, WREATH or WOODLAND GOLDENROD +(S. caesia) sways an unbranched stem with a bluish bloom on it. +It is studded with pale golden clusters of tiny florets in the +axils of lance-shaped, feather-veined leaves for nearly its +entire length. Range from Maine, Ontario, and Minnesota to the +Gulf States. None is prettier, more dainty, than this common +species. + +In rich woodlands and thicket borders we find the ZIG-ZAG or +BROAD-LEAVED GOLDENROD (S. flexicaulis; S. latifolia of Gray) its +prolonged, angled stem that grows as if waveringly uncertain of +the proper direction to take, strung with small clusters of +yellow florets, somewhat after the manner of the preceding +species. But its saw-edged leaves are ovate, sharply tapering to +a point, and narrowed at the base into petioles. It blooms from +July to September. Range from New Brunswick to Georgia, and +westward beyond the Mississippi. + +During the same blooming period, and through a similar range, our +only albino, with an Irish-bull name, the WHITE GOLDENROD, or +more properly SILVER-ROD (S. bicolor), cannot be mistaken. Its +cream-white florets also grow in little clusters from the upper +axils of a usually simple and hairy gray stem six inches to four +feet high. Most of the heads are crowded in a narrow, terminal +pyramidal cluster. This plant approaches more nearly the idea of +a rod than its relatives. The leaves; which are broadly oblong +toward the base of the stem, and narrowed into long margined +petioles, are frequently quite hairy, for the silver-rod elects +to live in dry soil, and its juices must be protected from heat +and too rapid transpiration. + +In swamps and peat bogs the BOG GOLDENROD (S. uliginosa) sends up +two to four feet high a densely flowered, oblong, terminal spire; +its short branches so appressed that this stem also has a +wand-like effect. The leaves, which are lance-shaped or oblong, +gradually increase in size and length of petiole until the lowest +often measure nine inches long. Season, July to September. Range, +from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania and westward beyond the +Mississippi. + +Now we leave the narrow, unbranched, wand goldenrods strung with +clusters of minute florets, which, however slender and charming, +are certainly far less effective in the landscape than the +following members of their clan which have their multitudes of +florets arranged in large, compound, more or less widely +branching, terminal, pyramidal clusters. On this latter plan the +SHOWY or NOBLE GOLDENROD (S. speciosa) displays its splendid, +dense, ascending branches of bloom from August to October. +European gardeners object to planting goldenrods, complaining +that they so quickly impoverish a rich bed that neighboring +plants starve. This noble species becomes ignoble indeed, unless +grown in rich soil, when it spreads in thrifty circular tufts. +The stout stem, which often assumes reddish tints, rises from +three to seven feet high, and the smooth, firm, broadly oval, +saw-toothed lower leaves are long-petioled. Range, from Nova +Scotia to the Carolinas, westward to Nebraska. + +When crushed in the hand, the dotted, bright green, lance-shaped, +entire leaves of the SWEET GOLDENROD or BLUE MOUNTAIN TEA (S. +odora) cannot be mistaken, for they give forth a pleasant anise +scent. The slender, simple, smooth stem is crowned with a +graceful panicle, whose branches have the florets seated all on +one side. Dry soil. New England to the Gulf States, July to +September. + +The WRINKLE-LEAVED or TALL, HAIRY GOLDENROD or BITTERWEED (S. +rugosa), a perversely variable species, its hairy stem perhaps +only a foot high, or, maybe, over seven feet, its rough leaves +broadly oval to lance-shaped, sharply saw-edged, few if any +furnished with footstems, lifts a large, compound, and gracefully +curved panicle, whose florets are seated on one side of its +spreading branches. Sometimes the stem branches at the summit. +One usually finds it blooming in dry soil from July to November, +throughout a range extending from Newfoundland and Ontario to the +Gulf States. + +Usually the ELM-LEAVED GOLDENROD (S. ulmifolia) sends up several +slender, narrow spires of deep yellow bloom from about the same +point at the summit of the smooth stem, like long, tapering +fingers. Small, oblong, entire leaves are seated on these +elongated sprays, while below the inflorescence the large leaves +taper to a sharp point, and are coarsely and sharply toothed. In +woods and copses from Maine and Minnesota to Georgia and Texas +this common goldenrod blooms from July to September. + +The unusually beautiful, spreading, recurved, branching panicle +of bloom borne by the EARLY, PLUME, or SHARP-TOOTHED GOLDENROD or +YELLOW-TOP (S. juncea), so often dried for winter decoration, may +wave four feet high, but usually not over two, at the summit of a +smooth, rigid stem. Toward the top, narrow, elliptical, uncut +leaves are seated on the stalk; below, much larger leaves, their +sharp teeth slanting forward, taper into a broad petiole, whose +edges may be cut like fringe. In dry, rocky soil this is, +perhaps, the first and last goldenrod to bloom, having been found +as early as June, and sometimes lasting into November. Range, +from North Carolina and Missouri very far north. + +West of the Mississippi how beautiful are the dry prairies in +autumn with the MISSOURI GOLDENROD (S. Missouriensis), its short, +broad, spreading panicle waving at the summit of a smooth, +slender stem from two to five feet tall. Its firm, rather thick +leaves are lance-shaped, triple-nerved, entire, very +rough-margined, or perhaps the lowest ones with a few scattered +teeth. + +Perhaps the commonest of all the lovely clan east of the +Mississippi, or throughout a range extending from Arizona and +Florida northward to British Columbia and New Brunswick, is the +CANADA GOLDENROD or YELLOW-WEED (S. Canadensis). Surely everyone +must be familiar with the large, spreading, dense-flowered +panicle, with recurved sprays, that crowns a rough, hairy stem +sometimes eight feet tall, or again only two feet. Its +lance-shaped, acutely pointed, triple-nerved leaves are rough, +and the lower ones saw-edged. From August to November one cannot +fail to find it blooming in dry soil. + +Most brilliantly colored of its tribe is the low-growing GRAY or +FIELD GOLDENROD or DYER'S WEED (S. nemoralis). The rich, deep +yellow of its little spreading, recurved, and usually one-sided +panicles is admirably set off by the ashy gray, or often cottony, +stem, and the hoary, grayish-green leaves in the open, sterile +places where they arise from July to November. Quebec and the +Northwest Territory to the Gulf States. + +No longer classed as a true Solidago, but the type of a distinct +genus, the LANCE-LEAVED, BUSHY, or FRAGRANT GOLDENROD (Euthamia +graminifolia; formerly S. lanceolata) lifts its flat-topped, +tansy-like, fragrant clusters of flower-heads from two to four +feet above moist ground. From July to September it transforms +whole riverbanks, low fields, and roadsides into a veritable El +Dorado. Its numerous leaves are very narrow, lance-shaped, triple +or five nerved, uncut, sometimes with a few resinous dots. Range, +from New Brunswick to the Gulf, and westward to Nebraska. + + "Along the roadside, like the flowers of gold + That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought, + Heavy with sunshine droops the goldenrod." + +Bewildered by the multitude of species, and wondering at the +enormous number of representatives of many of them, we cannot but +inquire into the cause of such triumphal conquest of a continent +by a single genus. Much is explained simply in the statement that +goldenrods belong to the vast order of Compositae, flowers in +reality made up sometimes of hundreds of minute florets united +into a far-advanced socialistic community having for its motto, +"In union there is strength." (See Daisy) In the first place, +such an association of florets makes a far more conspicuous +advertisement than a single flower, one that can be seen by +insects at a great distance; for most of the composite plants +live in large colonies, each plant, as well as each floret, +helping the others in attracting their benefactors' attention. +The facility with which insects are enabled to collect both +pollen and nectar makes the goldenrods exceedingly popular +restaurants. Finally, the visits of.insects are more likely to +prove effectual, because any one that alights must touch several +or many florets, and cross-pollinate them simply by crawling over +a head. The disk florets mostly contain both stamens and pistil, +while the ray florets in one series are all male. Immense numbers +of wasps, hornets, bees, flies, beetles, and "bugs" feast without +effort here indeed, the budding entomologist might form a large +collection of Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera +from among the. visitors to a single field of goldenrod alone. +Usually to be discovered among the throng are the velvety black +Lytta or Cantharis, that impostor wasp-beetle, the black and +yellow wavy-banded, red-legged locust-tree borer, and the painted +Clytus, banded with yellow and sable, squeaking contentedly as he +gnaws the florets that feed him. + +Where the slender, brown, plume-tipped wands etch their charming +outline above the snow-covered fields, how the sparrows, finches, +buntings, and juncos love to congregate, of course helping to +scatter the seeds to the wind while satisfying their hunger on +the swaying, down-curved stalks. Now that the leaves are gone, +some of the goldenrod stems are seen to bulge as if a tiny ball +were concealed under the bark. In spring a little winged tenant, +a fly, will emerge from the gall that has been his cradle all +winter. + + +ELECAMPANE; HORSEHEAL; YELLOW STARWORT + (Inula Helenium) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Large, yellow, solitary or a few, 2 to 4 in. +across; on long, stout peduncles; the scaly green involucre +nearly 1 in. high, holding disk florets surrounded by a fringe of +long, very narrow, 3-toothed ray florets. Stem: Usually +unbranched, 2 to 6 ft. high, hairy above. Leaves: Alternate, +large, broadly oblong, pointed, saw-edged, rough above, woolly +beneath some with heart-shaped, clasping bases. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, fields, fence rows, damp pastures. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, and westward to +Minnesota and Missouri. + +"September may be described as the month of tall weeds;" says +John Burroughs. "Where they have been suffered to stand, along +fences, by roadsides, and in forgotten corners,- redroot, +ragweed, vervain, goldenrod, burdock, elecampane, thistles, +teasels, nettles, asters, etc. - how they lift themselves up as +if not afraid to be seen now! They are all outlaws; every man's +hand is against them yet how surely they hold their own. They +love the roadside, because here they are comparatively safe and +ragged and dusty, like the common tramps that they are, they form +one of the characteristic features of early fall." + +Yet the elecampane has not always led a vagabond existence. Once +it had its passage paid across the Atlantic, because special +virtue was attributed to its thick, mucilaginous roots as a +horse-medicine. For over two thousand years it has been employed +by home doctors in Europe and Asia; and at first Old World +immigrants thought they could not live here without the plant on +their farms. Once given a chance to naturalize itself, no +composite is slow in seizing it. The vigorous elecampane, rearing +its fringy, yellow disks above lichen-covered stone walls in New +England, the Virginia rail fence, and the rank weedy growth along +barbed-wire barriers farther west, now bids fair to cross the +continent. + + +CUP-PLANT; INDIAN-CUP; RAGGED CUP; ROSIN-PLANT + (Silphium perfoliatum) Thistle family + +Plower-heads - Yellow, nearly flat; 2 to 3 in. across; 20 to 30 +narrow, pistillate ray florets, about 1 in. long, overlapping in +2 or 3 series around the perfect but sterile disk florets. Stem: +4 to 8 ft. tall, square, smooth, usually branched above. +Leaves: Opposite, ovate, upper ones united by their bases to form +a cup; lower ones large, coarsely toothed, and narrowed into +margined petioles; all filled with resinous juice. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil, low ground near streams. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Ontario, New York, and Georgia, westward to +Minnesota, Nebraska, and Louisiana. + +It behooves a species related to the wonderful compass-plant +(q.v.) to do something unusual with its leaves; hence this one +makes cups to catch rain by uniting its upper pairs. Darwin's +experiments with infinitesimal doses of ammonia in stimulating +leaf activity may throw some light on this singular arrangement. +So many plants provide traps to catch rain, although fourteen +gallons of it contain only one grain of ammonia, that we must +believe there is a wise physiological reason for calling upon the +leaves to assist the roots in absorbing it, A native of Western +prairies, the cup-plant has now become naturalized so far east as +the neighborhood 6f New York City. + + +FALSE SUNFLOWER; OX-EYE + (Heliopsis helianthoides; H. laevis of Gray) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Entirely golden yellow, daisy-like, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 +in. across, the perfect disk florets inserted on a convex, chaffy +receptacle, and surrounded by pistillate, fertile, 3-toothed ray +florets; usually numerous solitary heads borne on long peduncles +from axils of upper leaves. Stem: 3 to 5 ft. tall, branching +above, smooth. Leaves: Opposite, ovate, and tapering to a sharp +point, sharply and evenly toothed. +Preferred Habitat - Open places; rich, low ground; beside +streams. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Southern Canada to Florida, westward to Illinois +and Kentucky. + +Along the streams the numerous flower-heads of this gorgeous +sunbearer shine out from afar, brightening a long, meandering +course across the low-lying meadows. Like heralds of good things +to come, they march a little in advance of the brilliant pageant +of wild flowers that sweeps across the country from midsummer +till killing frost. Most people mistake them for true, +yellow-disked sunflowers, whose ray florets are neutral, not +fertile as these long persistent ones are, But no one should +confuse them with the dark cone-centered ox-eye daisy. Small +bees, wasps, hornets, flies, little butterflies, beetles, and +lower insects come to feast on the nectar and pollen within the +minute tubular disk florets. The bright fulvous and black pearl +crescent butterfly, with a trifle over an inch wing expanse; the +common hairstreak; the even commoner little white butterfly; and +the tiny black sooty wing, among others, appear to find generous +entertainment here. The last named little fellow, when in the +caterpillar stage, formed a cradle for himself by folding +together a leaf of the ubiquitous green-flowered pigweed or +lamb's quarters (Cizenopodium album) and stitching the edges +together with a few silken threads. Here it slept by day, +emerging only at night to feed. Usually one has not long to wait +before discovering the white-dotted sooty wing among the +midsummer composites. + + +BLACK-EYED SUSAN; YELLOW or OX-EYE DAISY; NIGGER-HEAD; GOLDEN +JERUSALEM; PURPLE CONE-FLOWER + (Rudbeckia hirta) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - From 10 to 20 orange-yellow neutral rays around a +conical, dark purplish-brown disk of florets containing both +stamens and pistil. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. tall, hairy, rough, usually +unbranched, often tufted. Leaves: Oblong to lance-shaped, thick, +sparingly notched, rough. +Preferred Habitat - Open sunny places; dry fields. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Ontario and the Northwest Territory south to +Colorado and the Gulf States. + +So very many weeds having come to our Eastern shores from Europe, +and marched farther and farther west year by year, it is but fair +that black-eyed Susan, a native of Western clover fields, should +travel toward the Atlantic in bundles of hay whenever she gets +the chance, to repay Eastern farmers in their own coin. Do these +gorgeous heads know that all our showy rudbeckias - some with +orange red at the base of their ray florets - have become prime +favorites of late years in European gardens, so offering them +still another chance to overrun the Old World, to which so much +American hay is shipped? Thrifty farmers may decry the +importation into their mowing lots, but there is a glory to the +cone-flower beside which the glitter of a gold coin fades into +paltry nothingness. Having been instructed in the decorative +usefulness of all this genus by European landscape gardeners, we +Americans now importune the Department of Agriculture for seeds +through members of Congress, even Representatives of States that +have passed stringent laws against the dissemination of "weeds." +Inasmuch as each black-eyed Susan puts into daily operation the +business methods of the white daisy (q.v.), methods which have +become a sort of creed for the entire composite horde to live by, +it is plain that she may defy both farmers and legislators. Bees, +wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles could not be kept away +from an entertainer so generous; for while the nectar in the +deep, tubular brown florets may be drained only by long, slender +tongues, pollen is accessible to all. Anyone who has had a jar of +these yellow daisies standing on a polished table indoors, and +tried to keep its surface free from a ring of golden dust around +the flowers, knows how abundant their pollen is. There are those +who vainly imagine that the slaughter of dozens of English +sparrows occasionally is going to save this land of liberty from +being overrun with millions of the hardy little gamins that have +proved themselves so fit in the struggle for survival. As vainly +may farmers try to exterminate a composite that has once taken +possession of their fields. + +Blazing hot sunny fields, in which black-eyed Susan feels most +comfortable, suit the TALL or GREEN-HEADED CONE-FLOWER OR +THIMBLEWEED (R. laciniata) not at all. Its preference is for +moist thickets such as border swamps and meadow runnels. +Consequently it has no need of the bristly-hairy coat that +screens the yellow daisy from too tierce, sunlight, and great +need of more branches and leaves. (See prickly pear.) This is a +smooth, much branched plant, towering sometimes twelve feet high, +though commonly not even half that height; its great lower +leaves, on long petioles, have from three to seven divisions +variously lobed and toothed; while the stem leaves are +irregularly three to five parted or divided. The numerous showy +heads, which measure from two and a half to four inches across, +have from six to ten bright yellow rays drooping a trifle around +a dull greenish-yellow conical disk that gradually lengthens to +twice its breadth, if not more, as the seeds mature. +July-September, Quebec to Montana, and southward to the Gulf of +Mexico. + + +TALL or GIANT SUNFLOWER + (Heliainthus giganteus) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Several, on long, rough-hairy peduncles; 1 1/2 to +2 1/4 in. broad; 10 to 20 pale yellow neutral rays around a +yellowish disk whose florets are perfect, fertile. Stem: 3 to 12 +ft. tall, bristly-hairy, usually branching above, often reddish +from a perennial, fleshy root. Leaves: Rough, firm, lance-shaped, +saw-toothed, sessile. +Preferred Habitat - Low ground, wet meadows, swamps. Flowering +Season - August-October. +Distribution - Maine to Nebraska and the Northwest Territory, +south to the Gulf of Mexico. + +To how many sun-shaped golden disks with outflashing rays might +not the generic name of this clan (helios = the sun, anthos = a +flower) be as fittingly applied: from midsummer till frost the +earth seems given up to floral counterparts of his worshipful +majesty. If, as we are told, one-ninth of all flowering plants in +the world belong to the composite order, of which over sixteen +hundred species are found in North America north of Mexico, +surely over half this number are made up after the daisy pattern +(q.v.), the most successful arrangement known, and the majority +of these are wholly or partly yellow. Most conspicuous of the +horde are the sunflowers, albeit they never reach in the wild +state the gigantic dimensions and weight that cultivated, dark +brown centered varieties produced from the COMMON SUNFLOWER (H. +annus) have attained. For many years the origin of the latter +flower, which suddenly shone forth in European gardens with +unwonted splendor, was in doubt. Only lately. it was learned that +when Champlain and Segur visited the Indians on Lake Huron's +eastern shores about three centuries ago, they saw them +cultivating this plant, which must have been brought by them from +its native prairies beyond the Mississippi - a plant whose stalks +furnished them with a textile fiber, its leaves fodder, its +flowers a yellow dye, and its seeds, most valuable of all, food +and hair oil. Early settlers in Canada were not slow in sending +home to Europe so decorative and useful an acquisition. Swine, +poultry, and parrots were fed on its rich seeds. Its flowers, +even under Indian cultivation had already reached abnormal size. +Of the sixty varied and interesting species of wild sunflowers +known to scientists, all are North American. +Moore's pretty statement, + + "As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets + The same look which she turn'd when he rose," + +lacks only truth to make it fact. The flower does not travel +daily on its stalk from east to west. Often the top of the stem +turns sharply toward the light to give the leaves better +exposure, but the presence or absence of a terminal flower +affects its action not at all. + +Formerly the garden species was thought to be a native, not of +our prairies, but of Mexico and Peru, because the Spanish +conquerors found it employed there as a mystic and sacred symbol, +much as the Egyptians employed the lotus in their sculpture. In +the temples the handmaidens wore upon their breasts plates of +gold beaten into the likeness of the sunflower. But none of the +eighteen species of helianthus found south of our borders +produces under cultivation the great plants that stand like a +golden-helmeted phalanx in every old-fashioned garden at the +North. Many birds, especially those of the sparrow and finch +tribe, come to feast on the oily seeds; and where is there a more +charming sight than when a family of goldfinches settle upon the +huge, top-heavy heads, unconsciously forming a study in sepia and +gold? + +On prairies west of Pennsylvania to South Dakota, Missouri, and +Texas, the SAW-TOOTH SUNFLOWER (H. grosse-serratus) is common. +Deep yellow instead of pale rays around a yellowish disk +otherwise resemble the tall sunflower's heads in appearance as in +season of bloom. The smooth stalk, with a bluish-hoary bloom on +its surface, may have hairs on the branches only. Long, +lance-shaped, pointed leaves, the edges of lower ones especially +sharply saw-toothed, their upper surface rough, and underneath +soft-hairy, are on slender, short petioles, the lower ones +opposite, the upper ones alternate. Honeybees find abundant +refreshment in the tubular disk florets in which many of their +tribe may be caught sucking; brilliant little Syrphidae, the +Bombilius cheat, and other flies come after pollen; butterflies +feast here on nectar, too and greedy beetles, out for pollen, +often gnaw the disks with their pinchers. + +Very common in dry woodlands and in roadside thickets from +Ontario to Florida, and westward to Nebraska, is the ROUGH OR +WOODLAND SUNFLOWER (H. divaricatus). Its stem, which is smooth +nearly to the summit, does not often exceed three feet in height, +though it may be less, or twice as high. Usually all its +wide-spread leaves are opposite, sessile, lance-shaped to ovate, +slightly toothed, and rough on their upper surface. Few or +solitary flower-heads, about two inches across, have from eight +to fifteen rays round a yellow disk. + +The THIN-LEAVED or TEN-PETALLED SUNFLOWER (H. decapetalus), on +the contrary, chooses to dwell in moist woods and thickets, +beside streams, no farther west than Michigan and Kentucky. Its +smooth, branching stem may be anywhere from one foot to five feet +tall; its thin, membranous, sharply saw-edged leaves, from ovate +to lance-shaped, with a rounded base, roughest above and soft +underneath, are commonly alternate toward the summit, while the +lower ones, on slender petioles, are opposite. There are by no +means always ten yellow rays around the yellow disks produced in +August and September; there may be any number from eight to +fifteen, although this free-flowering species, like the +PALE-LEAVED WOOD SUNFLOWER (H. strumosus), an earlier bloomer, +often arranges its "petals" in tens. + +JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, EARTH APPLE, CANADA POTATO, GIRASOLE (H. +tuberosus), often called WILD SUNFLOWER, too, has an interesting +history similar to the dark-centered, common garden sunflower's. +In a musty old tome printed in 1649, and entitled "A Perfect +Description of Virginia," we read that the English planters had +"rootes of several kindes, Potatoes, Sparagus, Carrets and +Hartichokes" - not the first mention of the artichoke by +Anglo-Americans. Long before their day the Indians, who taught +them its uses, had cultivated it; and wherever we see the bright +yellow flowers gleaming like miniature suns above roadside +thickets and fence rows in the East, we may safely infer the spot +was once an aboriginal or colonial farm. White men planted it +extensively for its edible tubers, which taste not unlike celery +root or salsify. As early as 1617 the artichoke was introduced +into Europe, and only twelve years later Parkinson records that +the roots had become very plentiful and cheap in London. The +Italians also cultivated it under the name Girasole Articocco +(sunflower artichoke), but it did not take long for the girasole +to become corrupted into Jerusalem, hence the name Jerusalem +Artichoke common to this day. When the greater value of the +potato came to be generally recognized, the use of artichoke +roots gradually diminished. Quite different from this sunflower +is the true artichoke (Cynara Scolymus), a native of Southern +Europe, whose large, unopened flower-heads offer a tiny edible +morsel at the base of each petal-like part. + +The Jerusalem artichoke sends up from its thickened, fleshy, +tuber-bearing rootstock, hairy, branching stems six to twelve +feet high. Especially are the flower-stalks rough, partly to +discourage pilfering crawlers. The firm, oblong leaves, taper +pointed at the apex and saw-edged, are rough above, the lower +leaves opposite each other on petioles, the upper alternate. The +brilliant flower-heads, which are produced freely in September +and October, defying frost, are about two or three inches across, +and consist of from twelve to twenty lively yellow rays around a +dull yellow disk. The towering prolific plant prefers moist but +not wet soil from Georgia and Arkansas northward to New Brunswick +and the Northwest Territory. Omnivorous small boys are not always +particular about boiling, not to say washing, the roots before +eating them. + + +LANCE-LEAVED TICKSEED; GOLDEN COREOPSIS + (Coreopsis lanceolata) Thistle family + +Flowers-heads - Showy, bright golden yellow, the 6 to io +wedge-shaped, coarsely toothed ray florets around yellowish disk +florets soon turning brown; each head on a very long, smooth, +slender footstalk. Stems. 1 to 2 ft. high, tufted. Leaves: A few +seated on stem, lance-shaped to narrowly oblong; or lower ones +crowded, spatulate, on slender petioles. +Preferred Habitat - Open, sunny places, moist or dry. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Western Ontario to Missouri and the Gulf States; +escaped from gardens in the East. + +Glorious masses of this prolific bloomer persistently outshine +all rivals in the garden beds throughout the summer. Cut as many +slender-stalked flowers and buds as you will for vases indoors, +cut them by armfuls, and two more soon appear for every one +taken. From seeds scattered by the wind over a dry, sandy field +adjoining a Long Island garden one autumn, myriads of these +flowers swarmed like yellow butterflies the next season. Very +slight encouragement induces this coreopsis to run wild in the +East. Grandiflora, with pinnately parted narrow leaves and +similar flowers, a Southwestern species, is frequently a runaway. +Bees and flies, attracted by the showy neutral rays which are +borne solely for advertising purposes, unwittingly +cross-fertilize the heads as they crawl over the tiny, tubular, +perfect florets massed together in the central disk; for some of +these florets having the pollen pushed upward by hair brushes and +exposed for the visitor's benefit, while others have their sticky +style branches spread to receive any vitalizing dust brought to +them, it follows that quantities of vigorous seed must be set. + +"There is a natural rotation of crops, as yet little understood," +says Miss Going. "Where a pine forest has been cleared away, oaks +come up; and a botanist can tell beforehand just what flowers +will appear in the clearings of pine woods. In northern Ohio, +when a piece of forestland is cleared, a particular sort of grass +appears. When that is ploughed under, a growth of the golden +coreopsis comes up, and the pretty yellow blossoms are followed +in their turn by the plebeian rag-weed which takes possession of +the entire field." + +The charmingly delicate, wiry GARDEN TICKSEED, known in +seedsmen's catalogues as CALLIOPSIS (Coreopsis tinctoria), which +has also locally escaped to roadsides and waste places eastward, +is at home in moist, rich soil from Louisiana, Arizona, and +Nebraska northward into Minnesota and the British Possessions. +>From May to September its fine, slender, low-growing stems are +crowned with small yellow composite flowers whose rays are +velvety maroon or brown at the base. (Coreopsis = like a bug, +from the shape of the seeds.) + + +LARGER or SMOOTH BUR-MARIGOLD; BROOK SUNFLOWER + (Bidens laevis; B. chrysanthemoides of Gray) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Showy golden yellow, 1 to 2 1/2 in. across, +numerous, on short peduncles; 8 to 10 neutral rays around a dingy +yellowish or brown disk of tubular, perfect, fertile florets. +Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves: Opposite, sessile, lance-shaped, +regularly saw-toothed. +Preferred Habitat - Wet ground, swamps, ditches, meadows. +Flowering Season - August-November. +Distribution - Quebec and Minnesota, southward to the Gulf States +and Lower California. + +Next of kin to the golden coreopsis, it behooves some of the +bur-marigolds to redeem their clan's reputation for ugliness and +certainly the brook sunflower is a not unworthy relative. How gay +the ditches and low meadows are with its bright, generous bloom +in late summer, and until even the goldenrod wands turn brown! +Yet all this show is expended merely for advertising purposes. +The golden ray florets, sacrificing their fertility to the +general welfare of the cooperative community, which each +flower-head is in reality, have grown conspicuous to attract bees +and wasps, butterflies, flies, and some beetles to the dingy mass +of tubular florets in the center, in which nectar is concealed, +while pollen is exposed for the visitors to transfer as they +crawl. The rays simply make a show; within the minute, +insignificant looking tubes is transacted the important business +of life. + +Later in the season, when the bur-marigolds are transformed into +armories bristling with rusty, two-pronged, and finely-barbed +pitchforks (Bidens = two teeth), our real quarrel with the tribe +begins. The innocent passerby - man, woman, or child, woolly +sheep, cattle with switching tails, hairy dogs or foxes, indeed, +any creature within reach of the vicious grappling-hooks - must +transport them on his clothing; for it is thus that these tramps +have planned to get away from the parent plant in the hope of +being picked off, and the seeds dropped in fresh colonizing +ground; travelling in the disreputable company of their kinsmen +the beggar-ticks and Spanish needles, the burdock burs, cleavers, +agrimony, and tick-trefoils. + +BEGGAR-TICKS, STICK-TIGHT, RAYLESS MARIGOLD, BEGGAR-LICE, +PITCHFORKS, or STICK-SEED (B. frondosa) sufficiently explains its +justly defamed character in its popular names. Numerous dull, +dark, tawny orange flower-heads without, rays, or with +insignificant ones scarcely to be detected, and surrounded by +taller leaf-like bracts, add little to the beauty of the moist +fields and roadsides where they rear themselves on long peduncles +from July to October. The smooth, erect, branched, and often +reddish, stem may be anywhere from two to nine feet tall. Usually +the upper leaves are not divided, but the lower ones are +pinnately compounded of three to five divisions, the segments +lance-shaped or broader, and sharply toothed. As in all the +bur-marigolds, we find each floret's calyx converted into a +barbed implement - javelin, pitchfork, or halberd - for grappling +the clothing of the first innocent victim unwittingly acting as a +colonizing agent. + + +SNEEZEWEED; SWAMP SUNFLOWER + (Helenium autumnale) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Bright yellow, to 2 in. across, numerous, borne on +long peduncles in corymb-like clusters; the rays 3 to 5 cleft, +and drooping around the yellow or yellowish-brown disk. Stem: 2 +to 6 ft. tall, branched above. Leaves: Alternate, firm, +lance-shaped to oblong, toothed, seated on stem or the bases +slightly decurrent; bitter. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, wet ground, banks of streams. +Flowering Season - August-October. +Distribution - Quebec to the Northwest Territory; southward to +Florida and Arizona. + +September, which also brings out lively masses of the swamp +sunflower in the low-lying meadows, was appropriately called our +golden month by an English traveler who saw for the first time +the wonderful yellows in our autumn foliage, the surging seas of +goldenrod; the tall, showy sunflowers, ox-eyes, rudbeckias, +marigolds, and all the other glorious composites in Nature's +garden, as in men's, which copy the sun's resplendent disk and +rays to brighten with one final dazzling outburst the somber face +of the dying year. + +To the swamp sunflowers honey-bees hasten for both nectar and +pollen, velvety bumblebees suck the sweets, leaf-cutter and mason +bees, wasps, some butterflies, flies, and beetles visit them +daily, for the round disks mature their perfect fertile florets +in succession. Since the drooping ray flowers, which are +pistillate only, are fertile too, there is no scarcity of seed +set, much to the farmer's dismay. Most cows know enough to +respect the bitter leaves' desire to be let alone; but many a +pail of milk has been spoiled by a mouthful of Helenium among the +herbage. Whoever cares to learn from experience why this was +called the sneezeweed, must take a whiff of snuff made of the +dried and powdered leaves. + +The PURPLE-HEAD SNEEZEWEED (H. nudiflorum), its yellow rays +sometimes wanting, occurs in the South and West. + + +TANSY; BITTER-BUTTONS + (Tanacetum vulgare) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Small, round, of tubular florets only, packed +within a depressed involucre, and borne, in flat-topped corymbs. +Stem: 1 1/2 to 3 ft. tall, leafy. Leaves: Deeply and pinnately +cleft into narrow, toothed divisions; strong scented. +Preferred Habitat - Roadsides; commonly escaped from gardens. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia, westward to Minnesota, south to +Missouri and North Carolina. Naturalized from Europe. + +"In the spring time, are made with the leaves hereof newly sprung +up, and with eggs, cakes or Tansies which be pleasant in taste +and goode for the Stomache," wrote quaint old Gerarde. That these +were popular dainties in the seventeenth century we further know +through Pepys, who made a "pretty dinner" for some guests, to +wit: "A brace of stewed carps, six roasted chickens, and a jowl +of salmon, hot, for the first course; a tansy, and two neat's +tongues, and cheese, the second." Cole's "Art of Simpling," +published in 1656, assures maidens that tansy leaves laid to soak +in buttermilk for nine days "maketh the complexion very fair." +Tansy tea, in short, cured every ill that flesh is heir to, +according to the simple faith of mediaeval herbalists - a faith +surviving in some old women even to this day. The name is said to +be a corruption of athanasia, derived from two Greek words +meaning immortality. When some monks in reading Lucian came +across the passage where Jove, speaking of Ganymede to Mercury, +says, "Take him hence, and when he has tasted immortality let him +return to us," their literal minds inferred that this plant must +have been what Ganymede tasted, hence they named it athanasia! So +great credence having been given to its medicinal powers in +Europe, it is not strange the colonists felt they could not live +in the New World without tansy. Strong-scented pungent tufts +topped with bright yellow buttons - runaways from old gardens - +are a conspicuous feature along many a roadside leading to +colonial homesteads. + + +GOLDEN RAGWORT; GROUNDSEL; SQUAW-WEED + (Senecio aureus) Thistle family + +Flower-heads - Golden yellow, about 3/4 in. across, borne on +slender peduncles in a loose, leafless cluster; rays 8 to 12 +around minute disk florets. Stem: Slender, 1 to 2 1/2 ft. high, +solitary or tufted, from a strong-scented root. Leaves: From the +root, on long petioles, rounded or heart-shaped, scalloped-edged, +often purplish; stem leaves variable, lance-shaped or lyrate, +deeply cut, sessile. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, wet ground, meadows. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Gulf States northward to Missouri, Ontario, and +Newfoundland. + +While the aster clan is the largest we have in North America, +this genus Senecio is really the most numerous branch of the +great composite tribe, numbering as it does nearly a thousand +species, represented in all quarters of the earth. It is said to +take its name from senex = an old man, in reference to the white +hairs on many species; or, more likely, to the silky pappus that +soon makes the fertile disks hoary headed. "I see the downy heads +of the senecio gone to seed, thistle like but small," wrote +Thoreau in his journal under date of July 2nd, when only the +pussy-toes everlasting could have plumed its seeds for flight +over the dry uplands in a similar fashion. Innumerable as the +yellow, daisy-like composites are, most of them appear in late +summer or autumn, and so the novice should have little difficulty +in naming these loosely clustered, bright, early blooming small +heads. + + + +RED AND INDEFINITES + +"I want the inner meaning and the understanding of the +wildflowers in the meadow. Why are they? What end? What purpose? +The plant knows, and sees, and feels; where is its mind when the +petal falls? Absorbed in the universal dynamic force, or what? +They make no shadow of pretence, these beautiful flowers, of +being beautiful for my sake; of bearing honey for me; in short, +there does not seem to be any kind of relationship understood +between us, and yet . . . language does not express the dumb +feelings of the mind any more than the flower can speak. I want +to know the soul of the flowers! . . . All these life-laboured +monographs, these classifications, works of Linnaeus, and our own +classic Darwin, microscope, physiology - and the flower has not +given us its message yet.' ' - Richard Jeffries. + + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT; INDIAN TURNIP + (Arisaema triphyllum) Arum family + +Flowers - Minute, greenish yellow, clustered on the lower part of +a smooth, club-shaped, slender spadix within a green and maroon +or whitish-striped spathe that curves in a broad-pointed flap +above it. Leaves: 3-foliate, usually overtopping the spathe, +their slender petioles 9 to 30 in. high, or as tall as the scape +that rises from an acrid corm. Fruit: Smooth, shining red berries +clustered on the thickened club. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woodland and thickets. +Flowering Season - April-June. +Distribution - Nova Scotia westward to Minnesota, and southward +to the Gulf States. + +A jolly looking preacher is Jack, standing erect in his +particolored pulpit with a sounding-board over his head; but he +is a gay deceiver, a wolf in sheep's clothing,, literally a +"brother to dragons," an arrant upstart, an ingrate, a murderer +of innocent benefactors! "Female botanizing classes pounce upon +it as they would upon a pious young clergyman," complains Mr. +Ellwanger. A poor relation of the stately calla lily one knows +Jack to be at a glance, her lovely white robe corresponding to +his striped pulpit, her bright yellow spadix to his sleek +reverence. In the damp woodlands where his pulpit is erected +beneath leafy cathedral arches, minute flies or gnats, recently +emerged from maggots in mushrooms, toadstools, or decaying logs, +form the main part of his congregation. + +Now, to drop the clerical simile, let us peep within the +sheathing spathe, or, better still, strip it off altogether. Dr. +Torrey states that the dark-striped spathes are the fertile +plants, those with green and whitish lines, sterile. Within are +smooth, glossy columns, and near the base of each we shall find +the true flowers, minute affairs, some staminate; others, on +distinct plants, pistillate, the berry bearers; or rarely both +male and female florets seated on the same club, as if Jack's +elaborate plan to prevent self-fertilization were not yet +complete. Plants may be detected in process of evolution toward +their ideals: just as nations and men are. Doubtless, when Jack's +mechanism is perfected, his guilt will disappear. A little way +above the florets the club enlarges abruptly, forming a +projecting ledge that effectually closes the avenue of escape for +many a guileless victim. A fungus gnat, enticed perhaps by the +striped house of refuge from cold spring winds, and with a +prospect of food below, enters and slides down the inside walls +or the slippery colored column: in either case descent is very +easy; it is the return that is made so difficult, if not +impossible, for the tiny visitors. Squeezing past the projecting +ledge, the gnat finds himself in a roomy apartment whose floor - +the bottom of the pulpit - is dusted over with fine pollen; that +is, if he is among staminate flowers already mature. To get some +of that pollen, with which the gnat presently covers himself, +transferred to the minute pistillate florets waiting for it in a +distant chamber is, of course, Jack's whole aim in enticing +visitors within his polished walls; but what means are provided +for their escape? Their efforts to crawl upward over the slippery +surface only land them weak and discouraged where they started. +The projecting ledge overhead prevents them from using their +wings; the passage between the ledge and the spathe is far too +narrow to permit flight. Now, if a gnat be persevering, he will +presently discover a gap in the flap where the spathe folds +together in front, and through this tiny opening he makes his +escape, only to enter another pulpit, like the trusted, but too +trusting, messenger he is, and leave some of the vitalizing +pollen on the fertile florets awaiting his coming. + +But suppose the fly, small as he is, is too large to work his way +out through the flap, or too bewildered or stupid to find the +opening, or too exhausted after his futile efforts to get out +through the overhead route to persevere, or too weak with hunger +in case of long detention in a pistillate trap where no pollen +is, what then? Open a dozen of Jack's pulpits, and in several, at +least, dead victims will be found - pathetic little corpses +sacrificed to the imperfection of his executive system. Had the +flies entered mature spathes, whose walls had spread outward and +away from the polished column, flight through the overhead route +might have been possible. However glad we may be to make every +due allowance for this sacrifice of the higher life to the lower, +as only a temporary imperfection of mechanism incidental to the +plant's higher development, Jacks present cruelty shocks us no +less. Or, it may be, he will become insectivorous like the +pitcher plant in time. He comes from a rascally family, anyhow. +(See cuckoo pint.) + +In June and July the thick-set club, studded over with bright +berries, becomes conspicuous, to attract hungry woodland rovers +in the hope that the seeds will be dropped far from the parent +plant. The Indians used to boil the berries for food. The +farinaceous root (corm) they likewise boiled or dried to extract +the stinging, blistering juice, leaving an edible little +"turnip," however insipid and starchy. + +The GREEN DRAGON, or DRAGON-ROOT (A. Dracontium), to which Jack +is brother, is found in similar situations or beside streams in +wet, shady ground, and sends up a narrow greenish or whitish +tapering spathe, one or two inches long, enwrapping a slender, +pointed spadix, that projects sometimes seven inches beyond its +tip. Within, tiny pistillate florets are seated around the base, +while on the staminate plants the inflorescence extends higher. A +large, solitary, dark green leaf, divided into from five to +seventeen oblong, pointed segments, spreads above. Large ovoid +heads of reddish-orange berries are the plant's most conspicuous +feature. + + +SKUNK OR SWAMP CABBAGE + (Spathyema fetida; Symplocarpus fetidus of Gray) Arum family + +Flowers - Minute, perfect, fetid; many scattered over a thick, +rounded, fleshy spadix, and hidden within a swollen, +shell-shaped, purplish-brown to greenish-yellow, usually mottled, +spathe, close to the ground, that appears before the leaves. +Spadix much enlarged and spongy in fruit, the bulb-like berries +imbedded in its surface. Leaves: In large crowns like cabbages, +broadly ovate, often 1 ft. across, strongly nerved, their +petioles with deep grooves, malodorous. +Preferred Habitat - Swamps, wet ground. +Flowering Season - February-April. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, and westward to Minnesota +and Iowa. + +This despised relative of the stately calla lily proclaims spring +in the very teeth of winter, being the first bold adventurer +above ground. When the lovely hepatica, the first flower worthy +the name to appear, is still wrapped in her fuzzy furs, the skunk +cabbage's dark incurved horn shelters within its hollow, tiny, +malodorous florets. Why is the entire plant so fetid that one +flees the neighborhood, pervaded as it is with an odor that +combines a suspicion of skunk, putrid meat, and garlic? After +investigating the carrion-flower (q.v.) and the purple trillium, +among others, we learned that certain flies delight in foul odors +loathsome to higher organisms; that plants dependent on these +pollen carriers woo them from long distances with a stench, and +in addition sometimes try to charm them with color resembling the +sort of meat it is their special mission, with the help of +beetles and other scavengers of Nature, to remove from the face +of the earth. In such marshy ground as the skunk cabbage lives +in, many small flies and gnats live in embryo under the fallen +leaves during the winter. But even before they are warmed into +active life, the hive-bees, natives of Europe, and with habits +not perfectly adapted as yet to our flora (nor our flora's habits +to theirs - see milkweed), are out after pollen. Where would they +find any so early, if not within the skunk cabbage's livid horn +of plenty? Not even an alder catkin or a pussy willow has +expanded yet. In spite of the bee's refined taste in the matter +of perfume and color, she has no choice, now, but to enter so +generous an entertainer. At the top of the thick rounded spadix +within, the skunk cabbage florets there first mature their +stigmas, and pollen must therefore be carried to them on the +bodies of visitors. Later these stigmas wither, and abundant +pollen is shed from the now ripe anthers. Meantime the lower, +younger florets having matured their stigmas, some pollen may +fall directly on them from the older flowers above. A bee +crawling back and forth over the spadix gets thoroughly dusted, +and flying off to another cluster of florets cross-fertilizes +them - that is, if all goes well. But because the honeybee never +entered the skunk cabbage's calculations, useful as the immigrant +proved to be, the horn that was manifestly designed for smaller +flies often proves a fatal trap. Occasionally a bee finds the +entrance she has managed to squeeze through too narrow and +slippery for an exit, and she perishes miserably. + +"A couple of weeks after finding the first bee," says Mr. William +Trelease in the "American Naturalist," "the spathes will be found +swarming with the minute black flies that were sought in vain +earlier in the season, and their number is attested not only by +the hundreds of them which can be seen, but also by the many +small but very fat spiders whose webs bar the entrance to +three-fourths of the spathes. During the present spring a few +specimens of a small scavenger beetle have been captured within +the spathes of this plant.... Finally, other and more attractive +flowers opening, the bees appear to cease visiting those of this +species, and countless small flies take their place, compensating +for their small size by their great numbers." These, of course, +are the benefactors the skunk cabbage catered to ages before the +honeybee reached our shores. + +After the flowering time come the vivid green crowns of leaves +that at least please the eye. Lizards make their home beneath +them, and many a yellowthroat, taking advantage of the plant's +foul odor, gladly puts up with it herself and builds her nest in +the hollow of the cabbage as a protection for her eggs and young +from four-footed enemies. Cattle let the plant alone because of +the stinging, acrid juices secreted by it, although such tender, +fresh, bright foliage must be especially tempting, like the +hellebore's, after a dry winter diet. Sometimes tiny insects are +found drowned in the wells of rain water that accumulate at the +base of the grooved leafstalks. + + +RED, WOOD, FLAME, or PHILADELPHIA LILY + (Lilium Philadelphicum) Lily family + +Flowers - Erect, tawny or red-tinted outside; vermilion, or +sometimes reddish orange, and spotted with madder brown within; 1 +to 5, on separate peduncles, borne at the summit. Perianth of 6 +distinct, spreading, spatulate segments, each narrowed into a +claw, and with a nectar groove at its base; 6 stamens; 1 style, +the club-shaped stigma 3-lobed. Stem: 1 to 3 ft. tall, from a +bulb composed of narrow, jointed, fleshy scales. Leaves: In +whorls of 3's to 8's, lance-shaped, seated at intervals on the +stem. +Preferred Habitat - Dry woods, sandy soil, borders, and thickets. +Flowering Season - June-July. +Distribution - Northern border of United States, westward to +Ontario, south to the Carolinas and West Virginia. + +Erect, as if conscious of its striking beauty, this vivid lily +lifts a chalice that suggests a trap for catching sunbeams from +fiery old Sol. Defiant of his scorching rays in its dry habitat, +it neither nods nor droops even during prolonged drought; and vet +many people confuse it with the gracefully pendent, swaying bells +of the yellow Canada lily, which will grow in a swamp rather than +forego moisture. Li, the Celtic for white, from which the family +derived its name, makes this bright-hued flower blush to own it. +Seedmen, who export quantities of our superb native lilies to +Europe, supply bulbs so cheap that no one should wait four years +for flowers from seed, or go without their splendor in our +over-conventional gardens. Why this early lily is radiantly +colored and speckled is told in the description of the Canada +lily (q.v.). + +The WESTERN RED LILY (L. umbellatum), that takes the place of the +Philadelphia species from Ohio, Minnesota, and the Northwest +Territory, southward to Missouri, Arkansas, and Colorado, lifts +similar but smaller red, orange, or yellow flowers on a more +slender stem, two feet high or less, set with narrow, linear, +alternate leaves, or perhaps the upper ones in whorls. It blooms +in June or July, in dry soil, preferably in open, sandy +situations. + + +LARGE CORAL-ROOT + (Corallorhiza multiflora) Orchid family + +Flowers - Dull brownish purple, about 1/2 in. high; 10 to 30 +borne in a raceme 2 to 8 in. long. Petals about the length of +sepals, and somewhat united at the base; spur yellowish, the oval +lip white, spotted and lined with purplish; 3-lobed, wavy edged. +Scape, 8 to 20 in. tall, colored, furnished with several flat +scales. Leaves: None. Root: A branching, coral-like mass. +Preferred Habitat - Dry woods. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Nova Scotia, westward to British Columbia; south +to Florida, Missouri, and California. + +To the majority of people the very word orchid suggests a +millionaire's hothouse, or some fashionable florist's show +window, where tropical air plants send forth gorgeous blossoms, +exquisite in color, marvelous in form; so that when this +insignificant little stalk pokes its way through the soil at +midsummer and produces some dull flowers of indefinite shades and +no leaves at all to help make them attractive, one feels that the +coral-root is a very poor relation of theirs indeed. The prettily +marked lower lip, at once a platform and nectar guide to the +insect alighting on it, is all that suggests ambition worthy of +an orchid. + +If poverty of men and nations can be traced to certain radical +causes by the social economist, just as surely can the botanist +account for loss of leaves - riches - by closely examining the +poverty-stricken plant. Every phenomenon has its explanation. A +glance at the extraordinary formation under ground reveals the +fact that the coral-roots, although related to the most +aristocratic and highly organized plants in existence, have +stooped to become ghoulish saprophytes. An honest herb abounds in +good green coloring matter (chlorophyll), that serves as a light +screen to the cellular juices of leaf and stem. It also forms +part of its digestive apparatus, aiding a plant in the +manufacture of its own food out of the soil, water, and gases; +whereas a plant that lives by piracy - a parasite - or a +saprophyte, that sucks up the already assimilated products of +another's decay, loses its useless chlorophyll as surely as if it +had been kept in a cellar. In time its equally useless leaves +dwindle to bracts, or disappear. Nature wastes no energy. Fungi, +for example, are both parasites and saprophytes; and so when +plants far higher up in the evolutionary scale than they lose +leaves and green color too, we may know they are degenerates +belonging to that disreputable gang of branded sinners which +includes the Indian-pipe, broom-rape, dodder, pine-sap, and +beech-drops. Others, like the gerardias and foxgloves, may even +now be detected on the brink of a fall from grace. + +The EARLY CORAL-ROOT (C. Corallorhiza; C. innata of Gray) + - a similar but smaller species, whose loose spike of dull +purplish flowers likewise terminates a scaly purplish or +yellowish scape arising from a mass of short, thick, whitish, +fleshy, blunt fibers, may be found in the moist woods blooming in +May or June. It has a more northerly range, however, extending +from the mountains of Georgia, it is true, but chiefly from the +northern boundary of the United States, from New England westward +to the State of Washington, and northward to Nova Scotia and +Alaska. + + +ADAM AND EVE; PUTTY-ROOT + (Aplectrum spicatum; A. hyemale of Gray)) Orchid family + +Flowers - Dingy yellowish brown and purplish, about 1 in. long, +each on a short pedicel, in a few-flowered, loose, bracted raceme +2 to 4 in. long. No spur; sepals and petals similar, small and +narrow, the lip wavy-edged. Scape: to 2 ft. high, smooth, with +about 3 sheathing scales. Leaf: Solitary, rising from the corm in +autumn, elliptic, broad, plaited-nerved, 4 to 6 in. long. Root: A +corm usually attached to one of the preceding season. +Preferred Habitat - Moist woods or swamps. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Georgia, Missouri, and California northward, into +British Possessions. + +More curious than beautiful is this small orchid whose dingy +flowers of indefinite color and without spurs interest us far +less than the two corms barely hidden below ground. These +singular solid bulbs, about an inch thick, are connected by a +slender stalk, suggesting to the imaginative person who named the +plant our first parents standing hand in hand in the Garden of +Eden. + +But usually several old corms - not always two, by any means - +remain attached to the nearest one, a bulb being produced each +year until Cain and Abel often join Adam and Eve to make up quite +a family group. A strong, glutinous matter within the corms has +been used as a cement, hence the plant's other popular name. From +the newest bulb added, a solitary large leaf arises in late +summer or autumn, to remain all winter. The flower stalk comes up +at one side of it the following spring. Meantime the old corms +retain their life, apparently to help nourish the young one still +joined to them, while its system is taxed with flowering. + + +WILD GINGER; CANADA SNAKEROOT; ASARABACCA + (Asarum Canadense) Birthwort family + +Flower - Solitary, dull purplish brown, creamy white within, +about 1 in. broad when expanded, borne on a short peduncle close +to or upon the ground. Calyx cup-shaped, deeply cleft, its 3 +acutely pointed lobes spreading, curved; corolla wanting; 12 +short, stout stamens inserted on ovary; the thick style 6-lobed, +its stigmas radiating on the lobes. Leaves: A single pair, dark +green, reniform, 4 to 7 in. broad, on downy petioles 6 to 12 in. +high, from a creeping, thick, aromatic, pungent rootstock. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods; hillsides. +Flowering Season - March-May. +Distribution - North Carolina, Missouri, and Kansas, northward, +to New Brunswick and Manitoba. + +Like the wicked servant who buried the one talent entrusted to +his care, the wild ginger hides its solitary flower if not +actually under the dry leaves that clothe the ground in the still +leafless woodlands, then not far above them. Why? When most +plants flaunt their showy blossoms aloft, where they may be seen +of all, why should this one bear only one dull, firm cup, +inconspicuous in color as in situation? In early spring - and it +is one of the earliest flowers - gnats and small flies are +warming into active life from the maggots that have lain under +dead leaves and the bark of decaying logs all winter. To such +guests a flower need offer few attractions to secure them in +swarms. Bright, beautiful colors, sweet fragrance, luscious +nectar, with which the highly specialized bees, butterflies, and +moths are wooed, would all be lost on them, lacking as they do +esthetic taste. For flies, a snug shelter from cold spring winds +such as Jack-in-the-pulpit, the marsh calla, the pitcher-plant, +or the skunk cabbage offers; sometimes a fetid odor like the +latter's, or dull purplish red or brownish color resembling stale +meat, which the purple trillium likewise wears as an additional +attraction, are necessary when certain carrion flies must be +catered to; and, above all, an abundance of pollen for food - +with any or all of these seductions a flower dependent on flies +has nothing to fear from neglect. Therefore the wild ginger does +not even attempt to fertilize itself. Within the cozy cup one can +usually find a contented fly seeking shelter or food. Close to +the ground it is warm and less windy. When the cup first opens, +only the stigmas are mature and sticky to receive any pollen the +visitors may bring in on their bodies from other asylums where +they have been hiding. These stigmas presently withering, up rise +the twelve stamens beside them to dust with pollen the flies +coming in search of it. Only one flower from a root compels +cross-fertilizing between flowers of distinct plants - a means to +insure the most vigorous seed, as Darwin proved. Evidently the +ginger is striving to attain some day the ambitious mechanism for +temporarily imprisoning its guests that its cousin the Dutchman's +pipe has perfected. After fertilization the cup nods, inverted, +and the leathery capsule following it bursts irregularly, +discharging many seeds. + +No ruminant will touch the leaves, owing to their bitter juices, +nor will a grub or nibbling rodent molest the root, which bites +like ginger; nevertheless credulous mankind once utilized the +plant as a tonic medicine. + + +DUTCHMAN'S PIPE; PIPE-VINE + (Aristolochia macrophylla; A. Sipho of Gray)) + +Flower - An inflated, curved, yellowish-green, veiny tube +(calyx), pipe-shaped, except that it abruptly broadens beyond the +contracted throat into 3 flat, spreading, dark purplish or +reddish-brown lobes; pipe 1 to 1 1/2 in. long, borne on a long, +drooping peduncle, either solitary or 2 or 3 together, from the +bracted leaf-axils; 6 anthers, without filaments, in united pairs +under the 3 lobes of the short, thick stigma. Stem: A very long, +twining vine, the branches smooth and green. Leaves: Thin, +reniform to heart-shaped, slender petioled, downy underneath when +young; 6 to 15 in. broad when mature. Fruit: An oblong, cylindric +capsule, containing quantities of seeds within its six sections. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Pennsylvania, westward to Minnesota, south to +Georgia and Kansas. Escaped from cultivation further north. + +After learning why the pitcher plant, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and +skunk cabbage are colored and shaped as they are, no one will be +surprised on opening this curious flower to find numbers of +little flies within the pipe. Certain relatives of this vine +produce flowers that are not only colored like livid, putrid meat +around the entrance, but also emit a fetid odor to attract +carrion flies especially. (See purple trillium.) + +In May, when the pipe-vine blooms, gauzy-winged small flies and +gnats gladly seek food and shelter from the wind within so +attractive an asylum as the curving tube offers. They enter +easily enough through the narrow throat, around which fine hairs +point downward - an entrance resembling an eel trap's. Any pollen +they may bring in on their bodies now rubs off on the sticky +stigma lobes, already matured at the bottom of a newly opened +flower, in which they buzz, crawl, slide, and slip, seeking an +avenue of escape. None presents itself: they are imprisoned. The +hairs at the entrance, approached from within, form an +impenetrable stockade. Must the poor little creatures perish? Is +the flower heartless enough to murder its benefactors, on which +the continuance of its species depends? By no means is it so +shortsighted! A few tiny drops of nectar exuding from the center +table prevent the visitors from starving. Presently the +fertilized stigmas wither, and when they have safely escaped the +danger of self-fertilization, the pollen hidden under their lobes +ripens and dusts afresh the little flies so impatiently awaiting +the feast. Now, and not till now, it is to the advantage of the +species that the prisoners be released, that they may carry the +vitalizing dust to stigmas waiting for it in younger flowers. +Accordingly, the slippery pipe begins to shrivel, thus offering a +foothold; the once stiff hairs that guarded its exit grow limp, +and the happy gnats, after a generous entertainment and snug +protection, escape uninjured, and by no means unwilling to repeat +the experience. Evidently the wild ginger, belonging to a genus +next of kin, is striving to perfect a similar prison. In the +language of the street, the ginger flower does not yet "work" +its.visitors "for all they are worth." + +Later, when we see the exquisite dark, velvety, blue-green, +pipe-vine, swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio philenor) hovering +about verandas or woodland bowers that are shaded with the +pipe-vine's large leaves, we may know she is there only to lay +eggs that her caterpillar descendants may find themselves on +their favorite food store. + +The VIRGINIA SNAKEROOT or SERPENTARY (A. serpentaria), found in +dry woods, chiefly in the Middle States and South, although its +range extends northward to Connecticut, New York, and Michigan, +is the species whose aromatic root is used in medicine. It is a +low-growing herb, not a vine; its heart-shaped leaves, which are +narrow and tapering to a point, are green on both sides, and the +curious, greenish, S-shaped flower, which grows alone at the tip +of a scaly footstalk from the root, appears in June or July. +Sometimes the flowers are cleistogamous (see violet wood-sorrel). + + +FIRE PINK; VIRGINIA CATCHFLY + (Silene Virginica) Pink family + +Flowers - Scarlet or crimson, 1 1/2 in. broad or less, a few on +slender pedicels from the upper leaf-axils. Calyx sticky, +tubular, bell-shaped, 5-cleft, enlarged in fruit; corolla of 5 +wide-spread, narrow, notched petals, sometimes deeply 2-cleft; 10 +stamens; 3 styles. Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high; erect, slender, sticky. +Leaves: Thin, spatulate, 3 to 5 in. long; or upper ones oblong to +lance-shaped. +Preferred Habitat - Dry, open woodland. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Southern New Jersey to Minnesota, south to Georgia +and Missouri. + +The rich, glowing scarlet of these pinks that fleck the Southern +woodland as with fire, will light up our Northern rock gardens +too, if we but sow the seed under glass in earliest spring, and +set out the young plants in well-drained, open ground in May. +Division of old perennial roots causes the plants to sulk; +dampness destroys them. + +To the brilliant blossoms butterflies chiefly come to sip (see +wild pink), and an occasional hummingbird, fascinated by the +color that seems ever irresistible to him, hovers above them on +whirring wings. Hapless ants, starting to crawl up the stem, +become more and more discouraged by its stickiness, and if they +persevere in their attempts to steal from the butterfly's +legitimate preserves, death overtakes their erring feet as +speedily as if they ventured on sticky fly paper. How humane is +the way to protect flowers from crawling thieves that has been +adopted by the high-bush cranberry and the partridge pea (q.v.), +among other plants! These provide a free lunch of sweets in the +glands of their leaves to satisfy pilferers, which then seek no +farther, leaving the flowers to winged insects that are at once +despoilers and benefactors. + + +WILD COLUMBINE + (Aquilegia Canadensis) Crowfoot family + +Flower - Red outside, yellow within, irregular, 1 to 2 in. long, +solitary, nodding from a curved footstalk from the upper +leaf-axils. Petals 5, funnel-shaped, but quickly narrowing into +long, erect, very slender hollow spurs, rounded at the tip and +united below by the 5 spreading red sepals, between which the +straight spurs ascend; numerous stamens and 5 pistils projecting. +Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high; branching, soft-hairy or smooth. Leaves: +More or less divided, the lobes with rounded teeth; large lower +compound leaves on long petioles. Fruit: An erect pod, each of +the 5 divisions tipped with a long, sharp beak. +Preferred Habitat - Rocky places, rich woodland. +Flowering Season - April-July. +Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territory; southward +to the Gulf States. Rocky Mountains. + +Although under cultivation the columbine nearly doubles its size, +it never has the elfin charm in a conventional garden that it +possesses wild in Nature's. Dancing in red and yellow petticoats +to the rhythm of the breeze, along the ledge of overhanging +rocks, it coquettes with some Punchinello as if daring him to +reach her at his peril. Who is he? Let us sit a while on the +rocky ledge and watch for her lovers. + +Presently a big muscular bumblebee booms along. Owing to his +great strength, an inverted, pendent blossom, from which he must +cling upside down, has no more terrors for him than a trapeze for +the trained acrobat. His long tongue - if he is one of the +largest of our sixty-two species of Bombus - can suck almost any +flower unless it is especially adapted to night-flying sphinx +moths, but can he drain this? He is the truest benefactor of the +European columbine (q.v.), whose spurs suggested the talons of an +eagle (aquila) to imaginative Linnaeus when he gave this group of +plants its generic name. Smaller bumblebees, unable through the +shortness of their tongues to feast in a legitimate manner, may +be detected nipping holes in the tips of all columbines, where +the nectar is secreted, just as they do in larkspurs, Dutchman's +breeches, squirrel corn, butter and eggs, and other flowers whose +deeply hidden nectaries make dining too difficult for the little +rogues. Fragile butterflies, absolutely dependent on nectar, +hover near our showy wild columbine with its five tempting horns +of plenty, but sail away again, knowing as they do that their +weak legs are not calculated to stand the strain of an inverted +position from a pendent flower, nor are their tongues adapted to +slender tubes unless these may be entered from above. The tongues +of both butterflies and moths bend readily only when directed +beneath their bodies. It will be noticed that our columbine's +funnel-shaped tubes contract just below the point where the +nectar is secreted - doubtless to protect it from small bees. +When we see the honeybee or the little wild bees - Haliclus +chiefly - on the flower, we may know they get pollen only. + +Finally a ruby-throated hummingbird whirs into sight. Poising +before a columbine, and moving around it to drain one spur after +another until the five are emptied, he flashes like thought to +another group of inverted red cornucopias, visits in turn every +flower in the colony, then whirs away quite as suddenly as he +came. Probably to him, and no longer to the outgrown bumblebee, +has the flower adapted itself. The European species wears blue, +the bee's favorite color according to Sir John Lubbock; the +nectar hidden in its spurs, which are shorter, stouter, and +curved, is accessible only to the largest humblebees. There are +no hummingbirds in Europe. (See jewel-weed.) Our native +columbine, on the contrary, has longer, contracted, straight, +erect spurs, most easily drained by the ruby-throat which, like +Eugene Field, ever delights in "any color at all so long as it's +red." + +To help make the columbine conspicuous, even the sepals become +red; but the flower is yellow within, it is thought to guide +visitors to the nectaries. The stamens protrude like a golden +tassel. After the anthers pass the still immature stigmas, the +pollen of the outer row ripens, ready for removal, while the +inner row of undeveloped stamens still acts as a sheath for the +stigmas. Owing to the pendent position of the flower, no pollen +could fall on the latter in any case. The columbine is too highly +organized to tolerate self-fertilization. When all the stamens +have discharged their pollen, the styles then elongate; and the +feathery stigmas, opening and curving sidewise, bring themselves +at the entrance of each of the five cornucopias, just the +position the anthers previously occupied. Probably even the small +bees, collecting pollen only, help carry some from flower to +flower but perhaps the largest bumblebees, and certainly the +hummingbird, must be regarded as the columbine's legitimate +benefactors. Caterpillars of one of the dusky wings (Papilio +lucilius) feed on the leaves. + +Very rarely is the columbine white, and then its name, derived +from words meaning two doves, does not seem wholly misapplied. + + "O Columbine, open your folded wrapper + Where two twin turtle-doves dwell," + +lisp thousands of children speaking the "Songs of Seven" as a +first "piece" at school. How Emerson loved the columbine! Dr. +Prior says the flower was given its name because "of the +resemblance of the nectaries to the heads of pigeons in a ring +around a dish - a favorite device of ancient artists." + +This exquisite plant was forwarded from the Virginia colony to +England for the gardens of Hampton Court by a young kinsman of +Tradescant, gardener and herbalist to Charles I. + + +PITCHER-PLANT; SIDE-SADDLE FLOWER; HUNTSMAN'S CUP; INDIAN DIPPER + (Sarracenea purpurea) Pitcher-plant family + +Flower - Deep reddish purple, sometimes partly greenish, pink, or +red, 2 in. or more across, globose; solitary, nodding from scape +1 to 2 ft. tall. Calyx of 5 sepals, with 3 or 4 bracts at base; 5 +overlapping petals, enclosing a yellowish, umbrella-shaped +dilation of the style, with 5 rays terminating in 5-hooked +stigmas; stamens indefinite. Leaves: Hollow, pitcher-shaped +through the folding together of their margins, leaving a broad +wing; much inflated, hooded, yellowish green with dark maroon or +purple lines and veinings, 4 to 12 in. long, curved, in a tuft +from the root. +Preferred Habitat - Peat bogs; spongy, mossy swamps. +Flowering Season - May-June. +Distribution - Labrador to the Rocky Mountains, south to Florida, +Kentucky, and Minnesota. + + "What's this I hear + About the new carnivora? + Can little piants + Eat bugs and ants + And gnats and flies? - + A sort of retrograding: + Surely the fare + Of flowers is air + Or sunshine sweet + They shouldn't eat + Or do aught so degrading!" + +There must always be something shocking in the sacrifice of the +higher life to the lower, of the sensate to what we are pleased +to call the insensate, although no one who has studied the +marvelously intelligent motives that impel a plant's activities +can any longer consider the vegetable creation as lacking +sensibility. Science is at length giving us a glimmering of the +meaning of the word universe, teaching, as it does, that all +creatures in sharing the One Life share in many of its powers, +and differ from one another only in degree of possession, not in +kind. The transition from one so-called kingdom into another +presumably higher one is a purely arbitrary line marked by man, +and often impossible to define. The animalcule and the +insectivorous plant know no boundaries between the animal and the +vegetable. And who shall say that the sun-dew or the bladderwort +is not a higher organism than the amoeba? Animated plants, and +vegetating. animals parallel each other. Several hundred +carnivorous plants in all parts of the world have now been named +by scientists. + +It is well worth a journey to some spongy, sphagnum bog to gather +clumps of pitcher-plants which will furnish an interesting study +to an entire household throughout the summer while they pursue +their nefarious business in a shallow bowl on the veranda. A +modification of the petiole forms a deep hollow pitcher having +for its spout a modification of the blade of the leaf. Usually +the pitchers are half filled with water and tiny drowned victims +when we gather them. Some of this fluid must be rain, but the +open pitcher secretes much juice too. Certain relatives, whose +pitchers have hooded lids that keep out rain, are nevertheless +filled with fluid. On the Pacific Coast the golden jars of +Darlingtonia Californica, with their overarching hoods, are often +so large and watery as to drown small birds and field mice. Note +in passing that these otherwise dark prisons have translucent +spots at the top, whereas our pitcher-plant is lighted through +its open transom. + +A sweet secretion within the pitcher's rim, which some say is +intoxicating, others, that it is an anaesthetic, invites insects +to a fatal feast. It is a simple enough matter for them to walk +into the pitcher over the band of stiff hairs, pointing downward +like the withes of a lobster pot, that form an inner covering, or +to slip into the well if they attempt crawling over its polished +upper surface. To fly upward in a perpendicular line once their +wings are wet is additionally hopeless, because of the hairs that +guard the mouth of the trap; and so, after vain attempts to fly +or crawl out of the prison, they usually sink exhausted into a +watery grave. + +When certain plants live in soil that is so poor in nitrogen +compounds that protein formation is interfered with, they have +come to depend more or less on a carnivorous diet. The sundew +(q.v.) actually digests its prey with the help of a gastric juice +similar to what is found in the stomach of animals; but the +bladderwort (q.v.) and pitcher-plants can only absorb in the form +of soup the products of their victims' decay. Flies and gnats +drowned in these pitchers quickly yield their poor little bodies; +but owing to the beetle's hard-shell covering, many a rare +specimen may be rescued intact to add to a collection. + +A similar ogre plant is the YELLOW-FLOWERED TRUMPET-LEAF (S. +flava) found in bogs in the Southern States. + + +GROUND-NUT + (Apios Apios; A. tuberosa of Gray) Pea family + +Flowers - Fragrant, chocolate brown and reddish purple, numerous, +about 1/2 in. long, clustered in racemes from the leaf-axils. +Calyx 2-lipped, corolla papilionaceous, the broad standard petal +turned backward, the keel sickle-shaped; stamens within it 9 and +1. Stem: From tuberous, edible rootstock; climbing, slender, +several feet long, the juice milky. Leaves: Compounded of 5 to 7 +ovate leaflets. Fruit: A leathery, slightly curved pod, 2 to 4 +in. long. +Preferred Habitat - Twining about undergrowth and thickets in +moist or wet ground. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick to Ontario, south to the Gulf States +and Kansas. + +No one knows better than the omnivorous "barefoot boy" that + + "where the ground-nut trails its vine" + +there is hidden something really good to eat under the soft, +moist soil where legions of royal fern, usually standing guard +above it, must be crushed before he digs up the coveted tubers. +He would be the last to confuse it with the WILD KIDNEY BEAN or +BEAN VINE (Phaseolus polystachyus; P. perennis of Gray). The +latter has loose racemes of smaller purple flowers and leaflets +in threes; nevertheless it is often confounded with the +ground-nut vine by older naturalists whose knowledge was "learned +of schools." + +Usually a bee, simply by alighting on the wings of a blossom +belonging to the pea family, releases the stamens and pistil from +the keel; not so here. The sickle-shaped keel of the ground-nut's +flower rests its tip firmly in a notch of the standard petal, nor +will any jar or pressure from outside release it. A bee, guided +to the nectary by the darker color of the underside of the curved +keel which spans the open cavity of the flower, enters, at least +partially, and so releases by his pressure, applied from +underneath, the tip of the sickle from its notch in the standard. +Now the released keel curves all the more, and splits open to +release the stigmatic tip of the style that touches any pollen +the bee may have brought from another blossom. Continuing to +curve and coil while the bee sucks, it presently dusts him afresh +with pollen from the now released anthers. A mass of pulp between +anthers and stigma prevents any of the flower's own pollen from +self-fertilizing it. These little blossoms, barely half an inch +long, with their ingenious mechanism to compel +cross-fertilization, repay the closest study. + +At midnight the leaves of the ground-nut.and wild bean "are +hardly to be recognized in their queer antics," says William +Hamilton Gibson. "The garden beans too play similar pranks. Those +lima bean poles of the garden hold a sleepy crowd." + + +PINE SAP; FALSE BEECH-DROPS; YELLOW BIRD'S-NEST + (Hypopitis Hypopitis; Monolropa Hypopitis of Gray) Indian-pipe +family + +Flowers - Tawny, yellow,ecru, brownish pink, reddish, or bright +crimson, fragrant, about 1/2 in. long; oblong bell-shaped; borne +in a one-sided, terminal, slightly drooping raceme, becoming +erect after maturity. Scapes: Clustered from a dense mass of +fleshy, fibrous roots; 4 to 12 in. tall, scaly bracted, the +bractlets resembling the sepals. Leaves: None. +Preferred Habitat - Dry woods, especially under fir, beech, and +oak trees. +Flowering Season - June-October. +Distribution - Florida and Arizona, far northward into British +Possessions. Europe and Asia. + +Branded a sinner, through its loss of leaves and honest green +coloring matter (chlorophyll), the pine sap stands among the +disreputable 'gang' of thieves that includes its next of kin the +Indian-pipe, the broom-rape, dodder, coral-root, and beech-drops +(q.v.). Degenerates like these, although members of highly +respectable, industrious, virtuous families, would appear to be +as low in the vegetable kingdom as any fungus, were it not for +the flowers they still bear. Petty larceny, no greater than the +foxglove's at first, then greater and greater thefts, finally +lead to ruin, until the pine-sap parasite either sucks its food +from the roots of the trees under which it takes up its abode, or +absorbs, like a ghoulish saprophyte, the products of vegetable +decay. A plant that does not manufacture its own dinner has no +need of chlorophyll and leaves, for assimilation of crude food +can take place only in those cells which contain the vital green. +This substance, universally found in plants that grub in the soil +and literally sweat for their daily bread, acts also as a +moderator of respiration by its absorptive influence on light, +and hence allows the elimination of carbon dioxide to go on in +the cells which contain it. Fungi and these degenerates which +lack chlorophyll usually grow in dark, shady woods. + +Within each little fragrant pine-sap blossom a fringe of hairs, +radiating from the style, forms a stockade against short-tongued +insects that fain would pilfer from the bees. As the plant grows +old, whatever charm it had in youth disappears, when an +unwholesome mold overspreads its features. + + +SCARLET PIMPERNEL; POOR MAN'S or SHEPHERD'S WEATHER-GLASS; RED +CHICKWEED; BURNET ROSE; SHEPHERD'S CLOCK + (Anagallis arvensis) Primrose family + +Flower - Variable, scarlet, deep salmon, copper red, flesh +colored, or rarely white; usually darker in the center; about 1/4 +in. across; wheel-shaped; 5-parted; solitary, on thread-like +peduncles from the leaf-axils. Stem: Delicate; 4-sided, 4 to 12 +in. long, much branched, the sprays weak and long. Leaves: Oval, +opposite, sessile, black dotted beneath. +Preferred Habitat - Waste places, dry fields and roadsides, sandy +soil. +Flowering Season - May-August. +Distribution - Newfoundland to Florida, westward to Minnesota and +Mexico. + +Tiny pimpernel flowers of a reddish copper or terra cotta color +have only to be seen to be named, for no other blossoms on our +continent are of the same peculiar shade. Thrifty patches of the +delicate little annuals have spread themselves around the +civilized globe; dying down every autumn, and depending on seeds +alone to keep the foothold once gained here, in Mexico and South +America, Europe, Egypt, Abyssinia, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, +New Holland, Nepal, Persia, and China. What amazing travelers +plants are! The blue-flowered plants are now believed to be a +distinct species (A. coerulea). + +Notwithstanding the fact that many birds delight to feast on the +seeds, or perhaps because of it, for many must be dropped +undigested, the scarlet pimpernel is one of the most widely +distributed species known. + +Before a storm, when the sun goes under a cloud, or on a dull +day, each little weather prophet closes. A score of pretty folk +names given it in every land it adopts testifies to its +sensitiveness as a barometer. Under bright skies the flower may +be said to open out flat at about nine in the morning and to +begin to close at three in the afternoon. No nectar is secreted +unless there may be some in the colored hairs which clothe the +filaments. As if it knew perfectly well that however.desirable +insect visitors are - and it has an excellent device for +compelling them to transfer pollen - it is likewise independent +of them, it takes no risk in exposing the precious vitalizing +dust to wind and rain, but closes up tight, thereby bringing its +pollen-laden stamens in contact with its stigma. Manifestly, it +is better for a plant having aspirations to colonize the globe to +set even self-fertilized seed than none at all. + + +HOUND'S TONGUE; GYPSY FLOWER + (Cynoglossum officinale) Borage family + +Flowers - Dull purplish red, about 1/3 in. across, borne in a +curved raceme or panicle that straightens as the bloom advances +upward. Calyx 5-parted; corolla salverform, its 5 lobes +spreading; 5 stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: Erect, stout, hairy, leafy, +usually branched, 1 1/2 to 3 ft. high. Leaves: Rather pale, lower +ones large, oblong, slender petioled; upper ones lance-shaped, +sessile, or clasping. (Thought to resemble a dog's tongue.) +Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, waste places. +Flowering Season - May-September. +Distribution - Quebec to Minnesota, south to the Carolinas and. +Kansas. + +This is still another weed "naturalized from Europe" which, by +contenting itself with waste land, has been able in an incredibly +short time to overrun half our continent. How easy conquest of +our vast unoccupied area is for weeds that have proved fittest +for survival in the overcultivated Old World! Protected from the +ravages of cattle by a disagreeable odor suggesting a nest of +mice, and foliage that tastes even worse than it smells; by hairs +on its stem that act as a light screen as well as a stockade +against pilfering ants; by humps on the petals that hide the +nectar from winged trespassers on the bees' and butterflies' +preserves, the hound's tongue goes into the battle of life +further armed with barbed seeds that sheep must carry in their +fleece, and other animals, including most unwilling humans, +transport to fresh colonizing ground. For a plant to shower its +seeds beside itself is almost fatal; so many offspring impoverish +the soil and soon choke each other to death, if, indeed, ants and +such crawlers have not devoured the seeds where they lie on the +ground. Some plants like the violet, jewelweed, and witch-hazel +forcibly eject theirs a few inches, feet or yards. The wind blows +millions about with every gust. Streams and currents of water +carry others; ships and railroads give free transportation to +quantities among the hay used in packing; birds and animals lift +many on their feet - Darwin raised 537 plants from a ball of mud +carried between the toes of a snipe! - and such feathered and +furred agents as feed on berries and other fruits sometimes drop +the seeds a thousand miles from the parent. but it will be +noticed that such vagabonds as travel by the hook or by crook +method, getting a lift in the world frpm every passer-by +-.burdocks, beggar-ticks, cleavers, pitchforks, Spanish needles, +and scores of similar tramps that we pick off our clothing after +every walk in autumn - make, perhaps, the most successful +travelers on the globe. The hound's tongue's four nutlets, +grouped in a pyramid, and with barbed spears as grappling-hooks, +imbed themselves in our garments until they pucker the cloth. +Wool growers hurl anathemas at this whole tribe of plants. + +A near relative, the common VIRGINIA STICKSEED (Lappula +Virginiana; C. Morisoni of Gray) produces similar little barbed +nutlets, following insignificant, tiny, palest blue or white +flowers up the spike. These bristling seeds, shaped like +sad-irons, reflect in their title the ire of the persecuted man +who named them Beggar's Lice. If as Emerson said, a weed, is a +plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered, the hound's +tongue, the similar but blue-flowered WILD COMFREY (C. +Virginicum), next of kin, and the stickseed are no weeds; for +ages ago the caterpillars of certain tiger moths learned to +depend on their foliage as a food store, + + +OSWEGO TEA; BEE BALM; INDIAN'S PLUME; FRAGRANT BALM; MOUNTAIN +MINT + (Monarda didyma) Mint family + +Flowers - Scarlet, clustered in a solitary, terminal, rounded +head of dark-red calices, with leafy bracts below it. Calyx +narrow, tubular, sharply 5-toothed; corolla tubular, widest at +the mouth, 2-lipped, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long; 2 long, +anther-bearing stamens ascending, protruding; 1 pistil; the style +2-cleft. Stem: 2 to 3 ft. tall. Leaves: Aromatic, opposite, dark +green, oval to oblong lance-shaped, sharply saw-edged, often +hairy beneath, petioled; upper leaves and bracts often red. +Preferred Habitat - Moist soil, especially near streams, in hilly +or mountainous regions. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - Canada to Georgia, west to Michigan. + +Gorgeous, glowing scarlet heads of bee balm arrest the dullest +eye, bracts and upper leaves often taking on blood-red color, +too, as if it had dripped from the lacerated flowers. Where their +vivid doubles are reflected in a shadowy mountain stream, not +even the cardinal flower is more strikingly beautiful. Thrifty +clumps transplanted from Nature's garden will spread about ours +and add a splendor like the flowers of salvia, next of kin, if +only the roots get a frequent soaking. + +With even longer flower tubes than the wild bergamot's (q.v.), +the bee balm belies its name, for, however frequently bees may +come about for nectar when it rises high, only long-tongued +bumblebees could get enough to compensate for their trouble. +Butterflies, which suck with their wings in motion plumb the +depths. The ruby-throated hummingbird - to which the Brazilian +salvia of our gardens has adapted itself - flashes about these +whorls of Indian plumes just as frequently - of course +transferring pollen on his needle-like bill as he darts from +flower to flower. Even the protruding stamens and pistil take on +the prevailing hue. Most of the small, blue or purple flowered +members of the mint family cater to bees by wearing their +favorite color; the bergamot charms butterflies with magenta, and +tubes so deep the short-tongued mob cannot pilfer their sweets; +and from the frequency of the hummingbird's visits, from the +greater depth of the bee balm's tubes and their brilliant, +flaring red - an irresistibly attractive color to the ruby-throat +- it would appear that this is a bird flower. Certainly its +adaptation is quite as perfect as the salvia's. Mischievous bees +and wasps steal nectar they cannot reach legitimately through +bungholes of their own making in the bottom of the slender casks. + +"This species," says Mr. Ellwanger, "is said to give a decoction +but little inferior to the true tea, and was largely used as a +substitute" by the Indians and the colonists, who learned from +them how to brew it. + + +SCARLET PAINTED CUP; INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH + (Castilleja coccinea) Figwort family + +Flowers - Greenish yellow, enclosed by broad, vermilion, 3-cleft +floral bracts; borne in a terminal spike. Calyx flattened, +tubular, cleft above and below into 2 lobes; usually green, +sometimes scarlet; corolla very irregular, the upper lip long and +arched, the short lower lip 3-lobed; 4 unequal stamens; pistil. +Stem: 1 to 2 ft. high, usually unbranched, hairy. Leaves: Lower +ones tufted, oblong, mostly uncut; stem leaves deeply cleft into +3 to 5 segments, sessile. +Preferred Habitat - Meadows; prairies; moist, sandy soil; +thickets. +Flowering Season - May-July. +Distribution - Maine to Manitoba, south to Virginia, Kansas, and +Texas. + +Here and there the fresh green meadows show a touch of as vivid a +red as that in which Vibert delighted to dip his brush. + + "Scarlet tufts + Are glowing in the green like flakes of fire; + The wanderers of the prairie know them well, + And call that brilliant flower the 'painted cup.'" + +Thoreau, who objected to this name, thought flame flower a better +one, the name the Indians gave to Oswego tea; but here the floral +bracts, not the flowers themselves, are on fire. Lacking good, +honest, deep green, one suspects from the yellowish tone of +calices, stem, and leaves, that this plant is something of a +thief. That it still possesses foliage, proves only petty larceny +against it, similar to the foxglove's (q.v.). Caterpillars of +certain checker-spot butterflies in turn prey upon Castilleja. +Under cover of darkness, in the soil below, the roots of our +painted cup occasionally break in and steal from the roots of its +neighbors such juices as the plant must work over into vegetable +tissue. Therefore it still needs leaves, indispensable parts of a +digestive apparatus. Were it wholly given up to piracy, like the +dodder, or as parasitic as the Indian pipe, even the green and +the leaf that it hath would be taken away from this slothful +servant. + +But even without honest leaf green (chlorophyll), we know that +plants as low in the scale as fungi often take on the most +brilliant of yellows and reds. In the painted cup the bracts, +which enfold the insignificant yellowish cloistered flowers like +a cape, render them great service in attracting the ruby-throated +hummingbird by donning his favorite color. No lip landing place +is provided for insects, as in other members of the figwort +family dependent on bees; although bumblebees, which desire one, +and butterflies, which suck with their wings in motion, may be +rarely caught robbing the short tubes. Among the wild flowers, +only the columbine, with an almost parallel blooming season, +rivals the painted cup for the bird's beneficent attentions. The +latter flowers at about the time the ruby-throat flashes +northward out of the tropics to spend the summer. Professor +Robertson of Illinois says, "In 1886 the first hummingbird seen +was on May 5, visiting the Castilleja." + + +WOOD BETONY; LOUSEWORT; BEEFSTEAK PLANT; HIGH HEAL-ALL + {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. + + +BEECH-DROPS + (Septamnium Virginianum; Epifegus Virginiana of Gray) +Broom-rape family + +Flowers - Small, dull purple and white, tawny, or brownish +striped; scattered along loose, tiny bracted, ascending branches. +Stem: Brownish or reddish tinged, slender, tough, branching +above, 6 in. to 2 ft. tall, from brittle, fibrous roots. +Preferred Habitat - Under beech, oak, and chestnut trees. +Flowering Season - August-October. +Distribution - New Brunswick, westward to Ontario and Missouri, +south to the Gulf States. + +Nearly related to the broom-rape is this less attractive pirate, +a taller, brownish-purple plant, with a disagreeable odor, whose +erect, branching stem without leaves is still furnished with +brownish scales, the remains of what were once green leaves in +virtuous ancestors, no doubt. But perhaps even these relics of +honesty may one day disappear. Nature brands every sinner +somehow; and the loss of green from a plant's leaves may be taken +as a certain indication that theft of another's food stamps it +with this outward and visible sign of guilt. The grains of green +to which foliage owes its color are among the most essential of +products to honest vegetables that have to grub in the soil for a +living, since it is only in such cells as contain it that +assimilation of food can take place. As chlorophyll, or +leaf-green, acts only under the influence of light and air, most +plants expose all the leaf surface possible; but a parasite, +which absorbs from others juices already assimilated, certainly +has no use for chlorophyll, nor for leaves either; and in the +broom-rape, beech-drops, and Indian pipe, among other thieves, we +see leaves degenerated into bracts more or less without color, +according to the extent of their crime. Now they cannot +manufacture carbohydrates, even if they would, any more than +fungi can. + +On the beech-drop's slender branches two kinds of flowers are +seated: below are the minute fertile ones, which never open, but, +without imported pollen, ripen an abundance of seed with +literally the closest economy. Nevertheless, to save the species +from still deeper degeneracy through perpetual +self-fertilization, small purplish-striped flowers above them +mature stigmas and anthers on different days, and invite insect +visits to help them produce a few cross-fertilized seeds. Even a +few will save it. Every plant which bears cleistogamous or blind +flowers - violets, wood-sorrel, jewelweed, among others - must +also display some showy ones. + + +TRUMPET-FLOWER; TRUMPET-CREEPER + (Tecoma radicans) Trumpet-creeper family + +Flowers - Red and veined within, paler and inclined toward tawny +without, trumpet-shaped, about 2 1/2 in. long, the limb with 5 +rounded lobes; 2 to 9 flowers in the terminal clusters; +anther-bearing stamens 4, in pairs, under upper part of tube; 1 +pistil. Stem: A woody vine 20 to 40 ft. long, prstrate or +climbing. Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compounded of 7 to 11 +ovate, saw-edged leaflets. +Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich woods and thickets. +Flowering Season - August-September. +Distribution - New Jersey and Pennsylvania, westward to Illinois, +and soutb to the Gulf States. Occasionally escaped from gardens +farther north. + +>From early May untll the middle of October, the ruby-throated +hummingbird forsakes the tropics to spend the flowery months with +us. Which wild flowers undertake to feed him? Years before showy +flowers were brought from all corners of the earth to adorn our +gardens, about half a dozen natives in that parterre of Nature's +east of the Mississippi catered to him in orderly succeswsion. In +feasting at their board he could not choose but reciprocate the +favor by transferring their pollen as they took pains to arrange +matters. Nectar and tiny insects he is ever seeking. Of course +hundreds of flowers secrete nectar which taxes them little; and +while the vast majority of these are avowedly adapted to insect +benefactors; what is to prevent the bird's needle-like bill from +probing the sweets from most of them? Certain flowers dependent +on him, finding that the mere offering of nectar was not enough +to insure his fidelity, that he was constantly lured away, had to +offer some especially strong attractions to make his regular +visits sure. How did these learn that red is irresistibly +fascinating to him, and orange scarcely less so, perhaps for the +sake of the red that is mixed with the yellow? Today we find such +flowers as need him sorely, wearing his favorite colors. But even +this delicate attention is not enough. He demands that his +refreshments shall be reserved for him in a tube so deep or +inaccessible that, when he calls, he will find all he desires, +notwithstanding the occasional intrusion of such long-tongued +insects as bumblebees, butterflies, and moths. First the +long-spurred red and yellow columbine and the painted cup, then +the coral honeysuckle, jewelweed, trumpet-creeper, Oswego tea, +and cardinal flower have the honor of catering to the exacting +little sprite from spring to autumn. His sojourn in our gardens +is prolonged until his beloved gladioli, cannas, honeysuckles, +nasturtiums, and salvia succumb to frost. + +Where a trumpet vine climbs with the help of its aerial roots, +like an ivy's, and sends forth clusters of brilliant tubes at the +tips of long, wiry branches, there one is sure to see sooner or +later, the ruby-throat flashing, whirring, darting from flower to +flower. Eight birds at once were counted about a vine one sunny +morning. The next, a pair of tame pigeons walked over the roof of +the summer-house where the creeper grew luxuriantly, and +punctured, with a pop that was distinctly heard fifty feet away, +the base of every newly opened nectar-filled trumpet on it! That +afternoon all the corollas discolored, and no hummers came near. + + +CORAL or TRUMPET HONEYSUCKLE + (Lonicera sempervirens) Honeysuckle family + +Flowers - Red outside, orange yellow within; whorled round +terminal spikes. Calyx insignificant; corolla tubular, slender, 1 +1/2 in. long or less, slightly spread below the 5-lobed limb; 5 +stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: A high, twining vine. Leaves: Evergreen +in the South only; opposite, rounded oval, dark, shining green +above, the upper leaves united around the stem by their bases to +form a cup. Fruit: An interrupted spike of deep orange-red +berries. +Preferred Habitat - Rich, light, warm soil; hillsides, thickets. +Flowering Season - April-September. +Distribution - Connecticut, westward to Nebraska, and south to +the Gulf States. Occasionally escaped from cultivation farther +north,. + +Small-flowered bush honeysuckles elected to serve and be served +by bees; those with longer tubes welcomed bumblebees; the white +and yellow flowered twining honeysuckles, deep of tube and +deliciously fragrant, especially after dark, when they are still +visible, cater to the sphinx moths (see sweet wild honeysuckle); +but surely the longest-tongued bumblebee could not plumb the +depths of this slender-tubed trumpet honeysuckle, nor the +night-flying moth discover a flower that has melted into the +prevailing darkness when he begins his rounds, and takes no pains +to guide him with perfume. What creature, then, does it cater to? +After reading of the aims of the trumpet-flower on the preceding +page, no one will be surprised to hear that the ruby-throated +hummingbird's visits are responsible for most of the berries that +follow these charming, generous, abundant flowers, so eminently +to his liking. Larger migrants than he, in search of fare so +attractive, distribute the seeds far and wide. Is any other +species more wholly dependent on birds? + + +CARDINAL FLOWER; RED LOBELIA + (Lobelia cardinalis) Bellflower family + +Flowers - Rich vermilion, very rarely rose or white, 1 to 1 1/2 +in, long, numerous, growing in terminal, erect, green-bracted, +more or less 1-sided racemes. Calyx 5-cleft; corolla tubular, +split down one side, 2-lipped; the lower lip with 3 spreading +lobes, the upper lip 2-lobed, erect; 5 stamens united into a tube +around the style; 2 anthers with hairy tufts. Stem: 2 to 4 1/2 +ft. high, rarely branched. Leaves: Oblong to lance-shaped, +slightly toothed, mostly sessile. +Preferred Habitat - Wet or low ground, beside streams, ditches, +and meadow runnels. +Flowering Season - July-September. +Distribution - New Brunswick to the Gulf States, westward to the +Northwest Territory and Kansas. + +By the depth and brilliancy of its incomparable hue, the shade +with which Vibert delighted to illumine his rich canvases, the +color of the famous hat worn by seventy ecclesiastical princes of +the Roman Church, but a richer red than the bird which shares the +name can boast, the cardinal flower proclaims its title to all +beholders. Because its vivid beauty cannot be hid, and few +withstand the temptation to pick it, its extermination goes on as +rapidly as its bird namesake's. + + "Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? + Loved the wood rose and left it on its stalk?" + +The easy cultivation from seed of this peerless wildflower - and +it is offered in many trade catalogues - might save it to those +regions in Nature's wide garden that now know it no more. The +ranks of floral missionaries need recruits. + +Curious that the great blue lobelia should be the cardinal +flower's twin sister! Why this difference of color? Sir John +Lubbock proved by tireless experiment that the bees' favorite +color is blue, and the shorter-tubed blue lobelia elected to woo +them as her benefactors. Whoever has made a study of the +ruby-throated hummingbird's habits must have noticed how red +flowers entice him - columbines, painted cups, coral honeysuckle, +Oswego tea, trumpet flower, and cardinal in Nature's garden; +cannas, salvia, gladioli, pelargoniums, fuchsias, phloxes, +verbenas, and nasturtiums among others in ours. How the cardinal +flower's wonderful mechanism works to utilize his visits has +already been told under great lobelia, in the description of the +blue lobelia of similar construction. But with a bird so much +greater than the ruby-throat that the jeweled-feathered atom +could be concealed under one of its talons is the red lobelia +forever associated: + + "The cardinal, and the blood-red spots, + Its double in the stream + As if some wounded eagle's breast, + Slow throbbing o'er the plain, + Had left its airy path impressed + In drops of scarlet rain." + + + + A P P E N D I C E S + + +FRAGRANT FLOWERS OR LEAVES. + +Baby's Breath. Large Purple-fringed Orchis. Smaller +Purple-fringed Orchis. Hepatica (occasionally). Purple Marsh +Clematis. English Violet. Wild Phlox. Catnip. Pennyroyal. Wild +Thyme. Peppermint. Spear Mint. Wild Mint. Pasture Thistle. Pink +Moccasin Flower. Showy Orchis. Rose Pogonia. Arethusa. Calopogon. +Night-flowering Catchfly. Bouncing Bet. Purple-flowering +Raspberry. Queen-of-the-Prairie. Wild Rose. Red Clover. Musk +Mallow. Prince's Pine. Bog Wintergreen. Pink Azalea. White +Azalea. Trailing Arbutus. Sabbatia. Fly-trap Dogbane. Four-leaved +Milkweed. Field Bindweed. Wild Bergamot. Twin-flower. Joe-Pye +Weed (slightly). Wild Spikenard (slightly). White-fringed Orchis. +Ladies' Tresses. Lizard's Tail. Bladder Campion. White Water +Lily. Laurel Magnolia. Squirrel Corn. White Sweet Clover. Wild +Grape. Sweet White Violet. Canada Violet. Sweet-Cicely. Sweet +Pepperbush. Pyrola. Shin-leaf. Wintergreen. Button-bush. +Partridge Vine. Elder. Clammy Everlasting. Bellwort. Adders +Tongue. Small Yellow Lady's Slipper. Spice-bush. Yellow Sweet +Clover. Yellow Wood-sorrel. Evening Primrose. Horse-balm. Horned +Bladderwort. Honeysuckles. Fragrant Goldenrod. Ground-nut. Pine +Sap. Oswego Tea. + + +UNPLEASANTLY SCENTED + +Purple Trillium. Black Cohosh. Mandrake. Jamestown Weed. +Salt-marsh Fleabane. Camomile. Carrion-flower. Barberry. Skunk +Cabbage. Hound's Tongue. Beech-drops. + + +PLANTS AND SHRUBS CONSPICUOUS IN FRUIT + +RED AND REDDISH: Nightshade. Twisted-stalk. American Cranberry. +Marsh Calla. Wild Spikenard (pale red speckled berries). +Two-leaved Solomon's Seal (pale red speckled). Wake-robins. Red +Baneberry. Red Raspberry. Strawberries. Red Choke-berry. +June-berry. Shad-bush. Hawthorns. Harmless Sumacs. Hollies. +Bittersweet. Winterberry (Black Alder). American Spikenard. +Flowering Dogwood. Dwarf Cornel or Bunebberry. Wintergreen. Red +Bearberry. Partridge Vine. Hobble-bush. Red-berried Elder. High +Bush Cranberry. Barberry. Spice-bush. Ground Cherry. Wild +Honeysuckies. Jack-in-the-Pulpit. + +BLUISH AND BLACK: Deadly Nightshade. Star-flowered Solomon's +Seal. True Solomon's Seal. Large-flowered Wake-robin. Black +Raspberry. Bush Blackberry. Dewberry. Black Choke-berry. Wild +Grapes. Virginia Creeper. Cornels. Pokeweed. Huckleberry. +Blueberries. Elder. Arrow-woods. Viburnums. Nanny-berry. +Blackberry Lily. + +WHITE: White Baneberry (black eye). Poison Sumac. Poison Ivy. +Panicled Dogwood. Snowberry. + +FLUFFY: Thistles. Virginia Clematis. Milkweeds. White lettuce +(cinnamon). Groundsel-bush. Spring Everlasting. Dandelions. +Sow-thistle. Lettuces. Hawkweeds (brown). + + + +PLANT FAMILIES REPRESENTED + +WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY (Alismaceae) + Water-plantain. Arrow-head. + +ARUM FAMILY (Araceae) + Jack-in-the-pulpit. Green dragon. Arrow-arum. Water-arum. Skunk +cabbage. Golden-club. Calamus-root. + +SPIDERWORT FAMILY (Commelinaceae) + Day-flowers. Spiderwort. Wandering Jew. + +PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY (Pontederiaceae) + Pickerel-weed. + +BUNCH-FLOWER FAMILY (Melanthaceae) + White hellebore. Bellworts. + +LILY FAMILY (Liliaceae) + Lilies. Adder's tongue. Hyacinths. Star-of-Bethlehem. +Colic-root. + +LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY FAMILY (Convallariaceae) + Clintonia. Wild spikenard. Solomon's seals. False +lily-of-the-valley. Twisted-stalks. Indian cucumber-root. +Wake-robins. Carrion-flower. Cat-brier. + +AMARYLLIS FAMILY (Amaryilidaceae) + Yellow star-grass. + +IRIS FAMILY (Iridaceae) + Irises. Blackberry lily. Blue-eyed grass. + +ORCHID FAMILY (Orchidaceae) + Ladies' slippers. Orchises. Rose pogonia. Arethusa. Ladies' +tresses. Rattlesnake plantains. Twayblades. Calypso. Coral-roots. +Calopogon. Adam and Eve. + +LIZARD'S-TAIL FAMILY (Saururaceae) + Lizard's-tail. + +BIRTHWORT FAMILY (Aristoltochiaceae) + Wild ginger. Dutchman's pipe. Serpentary. + +BUCKWHEAT FAMILY (Polygonaceae) + Persicarias. Smartweed. Water pepper. Lady's thumb. Pink +knotweed. Climbing false buckwheat. Tear-thumb. Coast jointweed. + +POKEWEED FAMILY (Phytolaccaceae) + Pokeweed. + +PURSLANE FAMILY (Portulacaceae) + Spring beauty. Pussley. Portulaca. + +PINK FAMILY (Caryophyllaceae) + Corn cockle. Campions. Catchflies. Pinks. Bouncing Bet. +Chickweed. + +WATER-LILY FAMILY (Nymphaeaceae) + Water-shield. Pond-lilies. Lotus. + +MAGNOLIA FAMILY (Magnoliaceae) + Laurel magnolia. + +CROWFOOT FAMILY (Ranunculaceae) + Marsh-marigold. Gold-thread. Bane-berries. Black Cohosh. +Columbines. Larkspurs. Anemones. Hepatica. Virgin's bower. +Clematis. Water-crowfoots. Spearworts. Buttercups. Meadow-rues. + +BARBERRY FAMILY (Berberidaceae) + Barberries. Twin-leaf. Wild mandrake. + +LAUREL FAMILY (Lauraceae) + Spice-bush. + +POPPY FAMILY (Papaveraceae) + Bloodroot. Celandine poppies. California poppy. Dutchman's +breeches. Squirrel corn. Bleeding-heart. Climbing fumitory. Pink +and Golden corydalis. + +MUSTARD FAMILY (Cruciferae) + Mustards. Charlock. Cresses. Rocket. Radish. Ladies' smock. +Toothworts. Shepherd's purse. Vernal whitlow grass. + +PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY (Sarraceniaceae) + Pitcher-plant. Sundew. + +ORPINE FAMILY (Crassulaceae) + Live-forever. + +SAXIFRAGE FAMILY (Saxifragaceae) + Early saxifrage. Foam-flower. Mitrewort. Grass-of-Parnassus. +Hydrangea. + +WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY (Hamamelidaceae) + Witch-hazel. + +ROSE FAMILY (Rosaceae) + Ninebark. Meadow-sweet. Steeplebush. Goat's beard. Indian +physic. Ipecac. Raspberries. Blackberries. Dalibarda. +Strawberries. Cinquefoils. Avens. Queen-of-the-prairie. Agrimony. +Roses. + +APPLE FAMILY (Pomaceae) + Chokeberries. June-berry. Shadbush. Hawthorns. + +SENNA FAMILY (Caesalpinaceae) + Sensitive Pea. Partridge pea. Wild senna. + +PEA FAMILY (Papilionaceae) + Wild indigo. Rattle-box. Wild lupine. Clovers. Sweet clovers. +Goat's rue. Tick-trefoils. Bush-clovers. Blue vetches. Pea vine. +Seaside pea. Butterfly-pea. Hog peanut. Milk-pea. Wild bean. + +GERANIUM FAMILY (Geraniaceae) + Wild geranium. Herb Robert. Cranesbill. + +WOOD-SORREL FAMILY (Oxalidaceae) + Wood-sorrels. + +FLAX FAMILY (Linaceae) + Flax. Slender yellow and Ridged flax. + +MILKWORT FAMILY (Polygalaceae) + Milkworts. Fringed polygala. + +SPURGE FAMILY (Euphorbiaceae) + Flowering spurge. + +SUMAC FAMILY (Anacardiaceae) + Sumacs. Poison ivy. Smoke bush. + +HOLLY FAMILY (Ilicaceae) + Hollies. Winter-berry (black alder). + +STAFF-TREE FAMILY (Celastraceae) + Climbing bitter-sweet. + +JEWEL-WEED FAMILY (Balsaminaceae) + Jewel-weed. Pale touch-me-not. + +BUCKTHORN FAMILY (Rhamnaceae) + New Jersey tea. + +GRAPE FAMILY (Vitaceae) + Wild grapes. Virginia creeper. Ampelopsis. + +MALLOW FAMILY (Malvaceae) + Mallows. Velvet leaf. Althaea. + +ST. JOHNS-WORT FAMILY (Hypericaceae) + St. Peter's-wort. St. Andrew's cross. St. John's-worts. + +ROCK-ROSE FAMILY (Cistaceae) + Frost-flowers. Poverty grass. + +VIOLET FAMILY (Violaceae) + Violets. Pansies. + +CACTUS FAMILY (Cactaceae) + Prickly pears. + +LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY (Lythraceae) + Purple loosestrife. Blue wax-weed. + +MEADOW-BEAUTY FAMILY (Melastomaceae) + Meadow-beauty. Deer-grass. + +EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY (Onagraceae) + Fire-weed. Willow-herbs. Evening-primrose. Sundrops. +Enchanter's nightshade. + +GINSENG FAMILY (Ariliaceae) + American spikenard. Wild sarsaparilla. Ginsings. + +CARROT FAMILY (Umbelliferae) + Wild carrot. Cowbane. Parsnips. Parsley. Sanicle. Fennel. +Pimpernel. Water-hemlock. Sweet-Cicely. Poison hemlock. +Water-parsnip. + +DOGWOOD FAMILY (Cornaceae) + Cornels or Dogwoods. + +WHITE-ALDER FAMILY (Clethraceae) + Sweet pepperbush. + +WINTERGREEN FAMILY (Pyrolaceae) + Wintergreens. Shin-leaf. Prince's pine. + +INDIAN-PIPE FAMILY (Monotrotaceae) + Indian-pipe. Pine sap. + +HEATH FAMILY (Ericaceae) + Labrador tea. Azaleas. Laurels. Rhodora. Rhododendrons. +Leucothoe. Wild rosemary. Fetter-bush, Stagger-bush. Andromeda. +Cassandra. Sourwood. Trailing arbutus. Creeping wintergreen. +Bearberries. + +HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY (Vacciniaceae) + Huckleberries. Blueberries. Squaw huckleberry. Creeping +snowberry. Cranberry. + +DIAPENSIA FAMILY (Diapensiaceae) + Pyxie. + +PRIMROSE FAMILY (Primulaceae) + Loosestrifes. Moneywort. Star-flower. Scarlet pimpernel. +Shooting star. + +PLUMBAGO FAMILY (Plumbaginaceae) + Marsh rosemary. + +GENTIAN FAMILY (Gentianaceae) + Sabbatia. Sea-pink. Marsh pink. Gentians. + +DOGBANE FAMILY (Apocynaceae) + Dogbane. Indian hemp. + +MILKWEED FAMILY (Asclepiadaceae) + Miikweeds. Butterfly weed. + +MORNING-GLORY FAMILY (Convolvulaceae) + Wild potato vine. Bindweeds. + +DODDER FAMILY (Cascutaceae) + Gronovius' dodder. + +PHLOX FAMILY (Polemoniaceae) + Phloxes. Moss pink. + +WATER-LEAF FAMILY (Hydrophyllaceae) + Virginia water-leaf. + +BORAGE FAMILY (Boraginaceae) + Hound's tongue. Comfrey. Stick-seeds. Virginia cowslip. +Lungwort. Forget-me-not. Viper's bugloss. Vervains. Verbena. + +MINT FAMILY (Labiatae) + Blue curls. Skullcaps. Catnip. Gill-over-the-ground. Self-heal. +Obedient plant. Motherwort. Oswego tea. Wild bergamot. +Pennyroyal. Sweet basil. Hyssop. Mints. Wild thyme. Dittany. +Peppermint. Citronella. + +POTATO FAMILY (Solanaceae) + Ground cherry. Nightshades. Thorn apples. (Jamestown weed.) + +FIGWORT FAMILY (Scrophulariaceae) + Mulleins. Butter-and-eggs. Blue toad-flax. Figwort. +Turtle-head. Beard tongues. Blue-eyed Mary. Monkey-flower. +Speedwells. Brooklime. Culver's-root. False foxgloves. Gerardias. +Scarlet painted cup. Wood betony. + +BLADDERWORT FAMILY (Lentibulariaceae) + Bladderworts. + +BROOM-RAPE FAMILY (Orobanchaceae) + Broom-rape. Beech-drops. + +TRUMPET-CREEPER FAMILY (Bignoniaceae) + Trumpet-flower. + +ACANTHUS FAMILY (Acanthaceae) + Hairy ruellia. + +MADDER FAMILY (Rubiaceae) + Bluets. Button-bush. Partridge-vine. Cleavers. Bedstraw. + +HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY (Caprifoliaceae) + Elder bushes. Hobble-bush. Bush cranberry. Arrow-woods. +Withe-rod. Sweet viburnum. Black haw. Twin-flower. Snowberry. +Honeysuckles. Fly-honeysuckles. Bush-honeysuckles. + +TEASEL FAMILY (Dipsacaceae) + Card teasel. + +GOURD FAMILY (Cucurbitaceae) + Star-cucumber. + +BELL-FLOWER FAMILY (Campanulaceae) + Harebell. Bellflowers. Venus' looking-glass. Cardinal flower. +Lobelias. Indian tobacco. + +CHICORY FAMILY (Cichoriaceae) + Chicory. Cynthia. Dwarf goat's beard. Fall dandelion. +Dandelions. Sow-thistles. Wild lettuces. Hawk-weeds. +Rattlesnake-weed. White lettuce. + +THISTLE FAMILY (Compositae) + Iron-weed. Joe-Pye weed. Boneset or Thoroughwort. White +sanicle. Climbing hempweed. Blazing-star. Button snake-root. +Golden aster. Goldenrods. Asters. Robin's plantain. Flea-banes. +Sweet scabious. Groundsel-bush. Everlastings. Elecampane. +Cup-plant. Compass-plant. Ox-eyes. Cone-flowers. Black-eyed +Susan. Sunflowers. Jerusalem artichoke. Tickseeds. Bur-marigolds. +Beggar-ticks. Sneezeweed. Yarrow. Camomiles. Daisy. Tansy. +Ragwort. Burdock. Thistles. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg etext of Wid Flowers. + |