The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Flowers Worth Knowing, by Neltje Blanchan
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Title: Wild Flowers Worth Knowing
Author: Neltje Blanchan
Posting Date: August 20, 2012 [EBook #8866]
Release Date: September, 2005
First Posted: August 16, 2003
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD FLOWERS WORTH KNOWING ***
Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
WILD FLOWERS WORTH KNOWING
ADAPTED BY
ASA DON DICKINSON
From _Nature's Garden_
BY NELTJE BLANCHAN
_1917_
PREFACE
A still more popular edition of what has proved to the author to be a
surprisingly popular book, has been prepared by the able hand of Mr. Asa
Don Dickinson, and is now offered in the hope that many more people will
find the wild flowers in Nature's garden all about us well worth
knowing. For flowers have distinct objects in life and are everything
they are for the most justifiable of reasons, _i.e._, the perpetuation
and the improvement of their species. The means they employ to
accomplish these ends are so various and so consummately clever that, in
learning to understand them, we are brought to realize how similar they
are to the fundamental aims of even the human race. Indeed there are few
life principles that plants have not worked out satisfactorily. The
problems of adapting oneself to one's environment, of insuring healthy
families, of starting one's children well in life, of founding new
colonies in distant lands, of the cooperative method of conducting
business as opposed to the individualistic, of laying up treasure in the
bank for future use, of punishing vice and rewarding virtue--these and
many other problems of mankind the flowers have worked out with the help
of insects, through the ages. To really understand what the wild flowers
are doing, what the scheme of each one is, besides looking beautiful, is
to give one a broader sympathy with both man and Nature and to add a
real interest and joy to life which cannot be too widely shared.
Neltje Blanchan.
_Oyster Bay, New York, January_ 2, 1917.
_Editor's Note_.--The nomenclature and classification of Gray's New
Manual of Botany, as rearranged and revised by Professors Robinson and
Fernald, have been followed throughout the book. This system is based
upon that of Eichler, as developed by Engler and Prantl. A variant form
of name is also sometimes given to assist in identification.--A.D.D.
CONTENTS
Preface, and Editor's Note
WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY _(Alismaceae)_
Broad-leaved Arrow-head
ARUM FAMILY _(Araceae)_
Jack-in-the-Pulpit;
Skunk Cabbage
SPIDERWORT FAMILY _(Commelinaceae)_
Virginia or Common Day-flower
PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY _(Pontederiaceae)_
Pickerel Weed
LILY FAMILY _(Liliaceae)_
American White Hellebore;
Wild Yellow, Meadow,
Field or Canada Lily;
Red, Wood, Flame or Philadelphia Lily;
Yellow Adder's Tongue or Dog-tooth "Violet";
Yellow Clintonia;
Wild Spikenard or False Solomon's Seal;
Hairy, True or Twin-flowered Solomon's Seal;
Early or Dwarf Wake-Robin;
Purple Trillium;
Ill-scented Wake-Robin or Birth-root;
Carrion flower
AMARYLLIS FAMILY _(Amaryllidaceae)_
Yellow Star-grass
IRIS FAMILY _(Iridaceae)_
Larger Blue Flag, Blue Iris or Fleur-de-lis;
Blackberry Lily;
Pointed Blue-eyed Grass, Eye-bright or Blue Star
ORCHIS FAMILY _(Orchidaceae)_
Large Yellow Lady's Slipper, Whippoorwill's Shoe or Yellow Moccasin
Flower;
Moccasin Flower or Pink, Venus' or Stemless Lady's Slipper;
Showy, Gay or Spring Orchis;
Large, Early or Purple-fringed Orchis;
White-fringed Orchis;
Yellow-fringed Orchis;
Calopagon or Grass Pink;
Arethusa or Indian Pink;
Nodding Ladies' Tresses
BUCKWHEAT FAMILY _(Polygonaceae)_
Common Persicaria, Pink Knotweed or Jointweed or Smartweed
POKEWEED FAMILY _(Phytolaccaceae)_
Pokeweed, Scoke, Pigeon-berry, Ink-berry or Garget
PINK FAMILY _(Caryophyllaceae)_
Common Chickweed;
Corn Cockle, Corn Rose, Corn or Red Campion, or Crown-of-the-Field;
Starry Campion;
Wild Pink or Catchfly;
Soapwort, Bouncing Bet or Old Maid's Pink
PURSLANE FAMILY _(Portulacaceae)_
Spring Beauty or Claytonia
WATER-LILY FAMILY _(Nymphaeaceae)_
Large Yellow Pond or Water Lily, Cow Lily or Spatterdock;
Sweet-scented White Water or Pond Lily
CROWFOOT FAMILY _(Ranunculaceae)_
Common Meadow Buttercup, Tall Crowfoot or Cuckoo Flower;
Tall Meadow Rue; Liver-leaf, Hepatica, Liverwort or Squirrel Cup;
Wood Anemone or Wind Flower;
Virgin's Bower, Virginia Clematis or Old Man's Beard;
Marsh Marigold, Meadow-gowan or American Cowslip;
Gold-thread or Canker-root;
Wild Columbine;
Black Cohosh, Black Snakeroot or Tall Bugbane;
White Bane-berry or Cohosh
BARBERRY FAMILY _(Berberidaceae)_
May Apple, Hog Apple or Mandrake;
Barberry or Pepperidge-bush
POPPY FAMILY _(Papaveraceae)_
Bloodroot;
Greater Celandine or Swallow-wort
FUMITORY FAMILY _(Fumariaceae)_
Dutchman's Breeches;
Squirrel Corn
MUSTARD FAMILY _(Cruciferae)_
Shepherd's Purse;
Black Mustard
PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY _(Sarraceniaceae)_
Pitcher-plant, Side-saddle Flower or Indian Dipper
SUNDEW FAMILY _(Dioseraceae)_
Round-leaved Sundew or Dew-plant
SAXIFRAGE FAMILY _(Saxifragaceae)_
Early Saxifrage;
False Miterwort, Coolwort or Foam Flower;
Grass of Parnassus
WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY _(Hamamelidaceae)_
Witch-hazel
ROSE FAMILY _(Rosaceae)_
Hardhack or Steeple Bush;
Meadow-Sweet or Quaker Lady;
Common Hawthorn, White Thorn, Red Haw or Mayflower;
Five-finger or Common Cinquefoil;
High Bush Blackberry, or Bramble;
Purple-flowering or Virginia Raspberry;
Wild Roses
PULSE FAMILY _(Leguminosae)_
Wild or American Senna;
Wild Indigo, Yellow or Indigo Broom, or Horsefly-Weed;
Wild Lupine, Sun Dial or Wild Pea;
Common Red, Purple, Meadow or Honeysuckle Clover;
White Sweet, Bokhara or Tree Clover;
Blue, Tufted or Cow Vetch or Tare;
Ground-nut;
Wild or Hog Peanut
WOOD-SORREL FAMILY _(Oxalidaceae)_
White or True Wood-sorrel or Alleluia;
Violet Wood-sorrel
GERANIUM FAMILY _(Geraniaceae)_
Wild or Spotted Geranium or Crane's-Bill;
Herb Robert, Red Robin or Red Shanks
MILKWORT FAMILY _(Polygalaceae)_
Fringed Milkwort or Polygala or Flowering Wintergreen;
Common Field or Purple Milkwort
TOUCH-ME-NOT FAMILY _(Balsaminaceae)_
Jewel-weed, Spotted Touch-me-not or Snap Weed
BUCKTHORN FAMILY _(Rhamnaceae)_
New Jersey Tea
MALLOW FAMILY _(Malvaceae)_
Swamp Rose-mallow or Mallow Rose
ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY _(Hypericaceae)_
Common St. John's-wort
ROCKROSE FAMILY _(Cistaceae)_
Long-branched Frost-weed or Canadian Rockrose
VIOLET FAMILY _(Violaceae)_
Blue and Purple Violets;
Yellow Violets;
White Violets
EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY _(Onagraceae)_
Great or Spiked Willow-herb or Fire-weed;
Evening Primrose or Night Willow-herb
GINSENG FAMILY _(Araliaceae)_
Spikenard or Indian Root
PARSLEY FAMILY _(Umbelliferae)_
Wild or Field Parsnip;
Wild Carrot or Queen Anne's Lace
DOGWOOD FAMILY _(Cornaceae)_
Flowering Dogwood
HEATH FAMILY _(Ericaceae)_
Pipsissewa or Prince's Pine;
Indian Pipe, Ice-plant, Ghost flower or Corpse-plant;
Pine Sap or False Beech-drops;
Wild Honeysuckle, Pink, Purple or Wild Azalea, or Pinxter-flower;
American or Great Rhododendron, Great Laurel, or Bay;
Mountain or American Laurel or Broad-leaved Kalmia;
Trailing Arbutus or Mayflower;
Creeping Wintergreen, Checker-berry or Partridge-berry
PRIMROSE FAMILY _(Primulaceae)_
Four-leaved or Whorled Loosestrife;
Star-flower;
Scarlet Pimpernel, Poor Man's Weatherglass or Shepherd's Clock;
Shooting Star or American Cowslip
GENTIAN FAMILY _(Gentianaceae)_
Bitter-bloom or Rose-Pink;
Fringed Gentian;
Closed or Blind Gentian
DOGBANE FAMILY _(Apocynaceae)_
Spreading or Fly-trap Dogbane
MILKWEED FAMILY _(Asclepiadaceae)_
Common Milkweed or Silkweed;
Butterfly-weed
CONVOLVULUS FAMILY _(Convolvulaceae)_
Hedge or Great Bindweed;
Gronovius' or Common Dodder or Strangle-weed
POLEMONIUM FAMILY _(Polemoniaceae)_
Ground or Moss Pink
BORAGE FAMILY _(Boraginaceae)_
Forget-me-not;
Viper's Bugloss or Snake-flower
VERVAIN FAMILY _(Verbenaceae)_
Blue Vervain, Wild Hyssop or Simpler's Joy
MINT FAMILY _(Labiatae)_
Mad-dog Skullcap or Madweed;
Self-heal, Heal-all, Blue Curls or Brunella;
Motherwort;
Oswego Tea, Bee Balm or Indian's Plume;
Wild Bergamot
NIGHTSHADE FAMILY _(Solanaceae)_
Nightshade, Blue Bindweed or Bittersweet;
Jamestown Weed, Thorn Apple or Jimson Weed
FIGWORT FAMILY _(Scrophulariaceae)_
Great Mullein, Velvet or Flannel Plant or Aaron's Rod;
Moth Mullein;
Butter-and-eggs or Yellow Toadflax;
Blue or Wild Toadflax or Blue Linaria;
Hairy Beard-tongue;
Snake-head, Turtle-head or Cod-head;
Monkey-flower;
Common Speedwell, Fluellin or Paul's Betony;
American Brooklime;
Culver's-root;
Downy False Foxglove;
Large Purple Gerardia;
Scarlet Painted Cup or Indian Paint-brush;
Wood Betony or Loosewort
BROOM-RAPE FAMILY (_Orobanchaceae_)
Beech-drops
MADDER FAMILY (_Rubiaceae_)
Partridge Vine or Squaw-berry;
Button-bush or Honey-balls;
Bluets, Innocence or Quaker Ladies
BLUEBELL FAMILY (_Campanulaceae_)
Harebell, Hairbell or Blue Bells of Scotland; Venus' Looking-glass
or Clasping Bellflower
LOBELIA FAMILY (_Lobeliaceae_)
Cardinal Flower;
Great Lobelia
COMPOSITE FAMILY (_Compositae_)
Iron-weed or Flat Top;
Joe Pye Weed, Trumpet Weed, or Tall or Purple Boneset or Thoroughwort;
Golden-rods;
Blue and Purple Asters or Starworts;
White Asters or Starworts;
Golden Aster;
Daisy Fleabane or Sweet Scabious;
Robin's or Robert's Plantain or Blue Spring Daisy;
Pearly or Large-flowered Everlasting or Immortelle, Elecampane
or Horseheal;
Black-eyed Susan or Yellow or Ox-eye Daisy;
Tall or Giant Sunflower;
Sneezeweed or Swamp Sunflower;
Yarrow or Milfoil;
Dog's or Fetid Camomile or Dog-fennel;
Common Daisy, Marguerite, or White Daisy;
Tansy or Bitter Buttons;
Thistles; Chicory or Succory;
Common Dandelion;
Tall or Wild Lettuce;
Orange or Tawny Hawkweed or Devil's Paint-brush
COLOR KEY
GENERAL INDEX OF NAMES
WILD FLOWERS
WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY _(Alismaceae)_
Broad-leaved Arrow-head
_Sagittaria latifolia (S. variabilis)_
_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 grass-like; 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, "O 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.
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 arrow-head, 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.
ARUM FAMILY _(Araceae)_
Jack-in-the-Pulpit; Indian Turnip
_Arisaema triphyllum_
_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 parti-colored
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. Doctor 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 fungous 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,
Jack's 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. His cousin, 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.
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.
Skunk or Swamp Cabbage
_Symplocarpus foetidus_
_Flowers_--Minute, perfect, foetid; 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 foetid 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 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, are out after pollen.
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.
SPIDERWORT FAMILY _(Commelinaceae)_
Virginia, or Common Day-flower
_Commelina virginica_
_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, 1 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." Soon after noon, the
day-flower's petals roll up, never to open again.
PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY _(Pontederiaceae)_
Pickerel Weed
_Pontederia cordata_
_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, 1
to 4 ft. tall, not often over 2 ft. above water line. _Leaves_: Several
bract-like, sheathing stem at base; 1 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 bullrush
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.
Of the three kinds of blossoms, one raises its stigma on a long style
reaching to the top of the flower; a second form reaches its stigma only
half-way up, and the third keeps its stigma in the bottom of the tube.
The visiting bee gets his abdomen, his chest, and his tongue dusted with
pollen from long, middle-length, and short stamens respectively. When he
visits 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 brushes off each lot of pollen just where it will
do the most good.
LILY FAMILY _(Liliaceae)_
American White Hellebore; Indian Poke; Itch-weed
_Veratrum viride_
_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 homoeopaths 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. But the flies which cross-fertilize this plant
seem to be uninjured by its nectar.
Wild Yellow, Meadow, or Field Lily; Canada Lily
_Lilium canadense_
_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. superbum)_, sometimes nearly merges its identity into its Canadian
sister's. Travellers 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
shrivelled stem when unfavorable conditions prevail. There certainly
are times when its specific name seems extravagant.
Red, Wood, Flame, or Philadelphia Lily
_Lilium philadelphicum_
_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 yet 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. _La_, the Celtic
for white, from which the family derived its name, makes this
bright-hued flower blush to own it. Seedsmen, 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.
Yellow Adder's Tongue; Trout Lily; Dog-tooth "Violet"
_Erythronium americanum_
_Flower_--Solitary, pale russet yellow, rarely tinged with purple,
slightly fragrant, 1 to 2 in. long, nodding from the summit of a
root-stalk 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 toothlike 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.
Yellow Clintonia
_Clintonia borealis_
_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
De Witt 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.
Wild Spikenard; False Solomon's Seal; Solomon's Zig-zag
_Smilacina racemosa_
_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
former plant feasts them with blue-black fruit.
Hairy, or True, or Twin-flowered Solomon's Seal
_Polygonatum biflorum_
_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.
Early or Dwarf Wake-Robin
_Trillium nivale_
_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. 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.
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 centre the decorative
flower arises on a long peduncle.
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. 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_ or _T. erythrocarpum_). 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.
Purple Trillium, Ill-scented Wake-Robin, or Birth-root
_Trillium erectum_
_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 16 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.
Carrion-flower
_Smilax herbacea_
_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 Birth-root."
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, it has
deliberately adapted itself to please its benefactors, the little green
flesh-flies so commonly seen about untidy butcher shops in summer.
AMARYLLIS FAMILY _(Amaryllidaceae)_
Yellow Star-grass
_Hypoxis hirsuta (H. erecta)_
_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 tunnelled nurseries; some must
often be rubbed off on the sticky pistil tip in the centre 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.
IRIS FAMILY _(Iridaceae)_
Larger Blue Flag; Blue Iris; Fleur-de-lis; Flower-de-luce
_Iris versicolor_
_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.
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
marvellously guarded against fertilization from its own pollen. The bee,
flying off to another iris, must first brush past the projecting lip of
the overarching 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 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."
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.
Blackberry Lily
_Belamcanda chinensis_ (_Pardanthus chinensis_)
_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 travellers a lift!
Pointed Blue-eyed Grass; Eye-bright; Blue Star
_Sisyrinchium angustifolium_
_Flowers_--From blue to purple, with a yellow centre; a Western
variety, white; usually several buds at the end of the 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 on 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_.
ORCHIS FAMILY _(Orchidaceae)_
Large Yellow Lady's Slipper; Whippoorwill's Shoe; Yellow Moccasin
Flower
_Cypripedium pubescens (C. hirsutum)_
_Flower_--Solitary, large, showy, borne at the top of a leafy stem 1 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
marvellously adapted. Doubtless the heavy, oily odor is an additional
attraction to them.
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.
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.
Moccasin Flower; Pink, Venus', or Stemless Lady's Slipper
_Cypripedium acaule_
_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 more than 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_
_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. _Stem:_ 4 to 12 in. high,
thick, fleshy, 5-sided. _Leaves:_ 2, large, broadly ovate, glossy green,
silvery on underside, 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 marvellous 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.
Large, or Early, Purple-fringed Orchis
_Habenaria fimbriata (H. grandiflora)_
_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 marvellous
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 discs 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 centre, 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 centre--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.
White-fringed Orchis
_Habenaria blephariglottis_
_Flowers_--Pure white, fragrant, borne on a spike from 3 to 6 in. long.
Spur long, slender; oval sepals; smaller petal 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.
Yellow-fringed Orchis
_Habenaria ciliaris_
_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
(see above); 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.
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 more than 1,000,700 seeds. No
wonder, then, that as a family, they have adopted the most marvellous
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 myriads 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.
Calopogon; Grass Pink
_Calopogon pulchellus (Limodorum tuberosum)_
_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.
Arethusa; Indian Pink
_Arethusa bulbosa_
_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.
Nodding Ladies' Tresses or Traces
_Spiranthes cernua_
_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 base. _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 marvellous 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 blossoms 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 marvellous 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."
BUCKWHEAT FAMILY _(Polygonaceae)_
Common Persicaria, Pink Knotweed, or Jointweed; Smartweed
_Polygonum pennsylvanicum_
_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 troublesome and wide-ranging
weed called lady's thumb is a near relative.
POKEWEED FAMILY _(Phytolaccaceae)_
Pokeweed; Scoke; Pigeon-berry; Ink-berry; Garget
_Phytolacca decandra_
_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
travelling 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.
PINK FAMILY _(Caryophyllaceae)_
Common Chickweed
_Stellaria media (Alsine media)_
_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, actually 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.
Corn Cockle; Corn Rose; Corn or Red Campion; Crown-of-the-Field
_Agrostemma Githago_
_Flowers_--Magenta or bright purplish crimson, 1 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 Byron in
"Love's Labor's 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: to-day its range is north.
Starry Campion
_Silene stellata_
_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!
Wild Pink or Catchfly
_Silene pennsylvanica (S. caroliniana)_
_Flowers_--Rose pink, deep or very pale; about 1 inch broad, on slender
footstalks, in terminal clusters. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, much
enlarged in fruit, sticky; 5 petals with claws enclosed in calyx,
wedge-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.
Soapwort; Bouncing Bet; Hedge Pink; Bruisewort; Old Maid's Pink;
Fuller's Herb
_Saponaria officinalis_
_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:_ 1 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 travelled 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.
PURSLANE FAMILY _(Portulacaceae)_
Spring Beauty; Claytonia
_Claytonia virginica_
_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.
Very early in the spring a race is run with the hepatica, arbutus,
adder's tongue, bloodroot, squirrel corn, and anemone for the honor of
being the earliest wild flower; and although John Burroughs and Doctor
Abbot 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.
WATER-LILY FAMILY _(Nymphaeaceae)_
Large Yellow Pond, or Water, Lily; Cow Lily; Spatterdock
_Nymphaea advena (Nuphar advena)_
_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
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 less beauty in the
golden flower-bowls floating among the large, lustrous, leathery leaves.
Sweet-scented White Water-lily; Pond Lily; Water Nymph; Water
Cabbage
_Castalia odorata (Nymphaea odorata)_
_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 centre 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 centre Brahma came forth; Buddha, too, whose
symbol is the lotus, first appeared floating on the mystic flower
_(Nelumbo nelumbo)_. 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 may be 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.
CROWFOOT FAMILY _(Ranunculaceae)_
Common Meadow Buttercup; Tall Crowfoot; Kingcups; Cuckoo Flower;
Goldcups; Butter-flowers; Blister-flowers
_Ranunculus acris_
_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.
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.
Commonest of the early buttercups is the Tufted species _(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 _(R. 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.
Tall Meadow-rue
_Thalictrum polygamum (T. Cornuti)_
_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 fleecy 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 super-abundance 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.
Liver-leaf; Hepatica; Liverwort; Round-lobed, or Kidney Liver-leaf;
Noble Liverwort; Squirrel Cup
_Hepatica triloba (H. Hepatica)_
_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 gazes 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."
Pollen-feeding flies and female hive bees frequent these blossoms on the
first warm days. Whether or not they are rewarded by finding nectar is
still a mooted question. They seem to do so.
Wood Anemone; Wind-flower
_Anemone quinquefolia_
_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 gusts' 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."
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 _(Anemonella
thalictroides_ or _Syndesmon thalictroides_ or _Thalictrum
anemonoides)_ 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.
Virgin's Bower; Virginia Clematis; Traveller's Joy; Old Man's Beard
_Clematis virginiana_
_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 more
than 1 in. long in fruit. _Stem:_ Climbing, slightly woody. _Leaves:_
Opposite, slender petioled, divided into 3 pointed and 2 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.
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.
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.
Marsh Marigold; Meadow-gowan; American Cowslip
_Caltha palustris_
_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.
But we know well that not for poets' high-flown rhapsodies but rather
for the more welcome hum of bees and flies intent on breakfasting, do
these flowers open in the morning sunshine.
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.
Gold-thread; Canker-root
_Coptis trifolia_
_Flowers_--Small, white, solitary, on a slender scape 3 to 6 in. high.
Sepals 5 to 7, petal-like, falling early; petals 5 to 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.
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.
Wild Columbine
_Aquilegia canadensis_
_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 _(A. vulgaris)_, 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 honey-bee or the little wild bees--_Halictus_ chiefly--on the
flower, we may know they get pollen only.
Finally a ruby-throated humming bird 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 bumblebees.
There are no humming birds in Europe. 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 humming bird, must be regarded as the
columbine's legitimate benefactors. Caterpillars of one of the dusky
wings (_Papilio lucilius_) feed on the leaves.
Black Cohosh; Black Snakeroot; Tall Bugbane
_Cimicifuga racemosa_
_Flowers_--Foetid, 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 foetid 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.
White Baneberry; Cohosh
_Actaea alba_
_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, 1 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 "dolls' 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.
BARBERRY FAMILY _(Berberidaceae)_
May Apple; Hog Apple; Mandrake; Wild Lemon
_Podophyllum peltatum_
_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 rootstock), 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 the 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 Doctor
Gray's to be printed on every one of these big loaded pills, if that is
what they are really made of."
Barberry; Pepperidge-bush
_Berberis vulgaris_
_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, 5 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, every one must take notice of a
shrub so decorative, which receives scant attention from us, however,
when its insignificant little flowers are out.
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.
POPPY FAMILY _(Papaveraceae)_
Bloodroot; Indian Paint; Red Puccoon
_Sanguinaria canadensis_
_Flowers_--Pure white, rarely pinkish, golden centred, 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-centred 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 to-morrow, 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 rootstock, 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.
Greater Celandine; Swallow-wort
_Chelidonium majus_
_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, 1 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 eyesight to their young ones when their eye be
put out" by swallows. Coles asserts "the swallow cureth her dim eyes
with Celandine."
FUMITORY FAMILY _(Fumariaceae)_
Dutchman's Breeches; White Hearts; Soldier's Cap; Ear-drops
_Dicentra Cucullaria_
_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.
Squirrel Corn
_Dicentra canadensis_
_Flowers_--Irregular, greenish white tinged with rose, slightly
fragrant, heart-shaped, with 2 short rounded spurs, more than 1/2 in.
long, nodding on a slender 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.
_Preferred 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 _(Dicentra 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.
MUSTARD FAMILY _(Cruciferae)_
Shepherd's Purse; Mother's Heart
_Capsella Bursa-pastoris_
_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 candytuft 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
waste land, 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.
Black Mustard
_Brassica nigra_
_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 Doctor 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 (_Brassica 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_) 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.
PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY _(Sarracenaceae)_
Pitcher-plant; Side-saddle Flower; Huntsman's Cup; Indian Dipper
_Sarracenea purpurea_
_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 plants
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 marvellously 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 sundew 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 anesthetic, 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 proteid formation is interfered with, they have come to depend more
or less on a carnivorous diet. The sundew actually digests its prey with
the help of a gastric juice similar to what is found in the stomach of
animals; but the bladderwort 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.
SUNDEW FAMILY _(Droseraceae)_
Round-leaved Sundew; Dew-plant
_Drosera rotundifolia_
_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 shall see, 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 more than three hundred absorbingly
interesting pages of his "Insectivorous Plants," should be read by
every one 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
leaf's 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 secrets 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!
SAXIFRAGE FAMILY _(Saxifragaceae)_
Early Saxifrage
_Saxifraga virginiensis_
_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_ = I 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.
Foam-flower; False Miterwort; Cool wort; Nancy-over-the-Ground
_Tiarella cordifolia_
_Flowers_--White, small, feathery, borne in a close raceme at the top of
a scape 6 to 12 in. high. Calyx white, 5-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.
Grass of Parnassus
_Parnassia caroliniana_
_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.
WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY _(Hamamelidaceae)_
Witch-hazel
_Hamamelis virginiana_
_Flowers_--Yellow, fringy, clustered in the axils of branches. Calyx
4-parted; 4 very narrow curving petals about 3/4 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).
The literature of Europe is filled with allusions to the witch-hazel,
which, however, is quite distinct from our shrub. 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. Its yellow,
thread-like blossoms are the latest to appear in the autumn woods.
ROSE FAMILY _(Rosaceae)_
Hardhack; Steeple Bush
_Spiraea tomentosa_
_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.
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 underside 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.
Meadow-sweet; Quaker Lady; Queen-of-the-Meadow
_Spiraea salicifolia_
_Flowers_--Small, white, or flesh pink, clustered in dense, pyramidal
terminal panicles. Calyx 5 cleft; corolla 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,
flies, 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.
Common Hawthorn; White Thorn; Scarlet-fruited Thorn; Red Haw;
Mayflower
_Crataegus coccinea_
_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 marvellous tales about the hawthorns, and the banshees which
have a predilection for them.
Five-finger; Common Cinquefoil
_Potentilla canadensis_
_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.
Every one 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. 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.
High Bush Blackberry; Bramble
_Rubus villosus_
_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.
Purple-flowering or Virginia Raspberry
_Rubus odoratus_
_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 equalled 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 to-day understand the color, the
flower is not; but rather the purple of ancient Orientals. On cool,
cloudy days the petals are a deep rose that fades into bluish pink when
the sun is hot.
Wild Roses
_Rosa_
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 to-day 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.
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 Smoother, 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 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.
How fragrant are the pages of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare with the
Eglantine! This delicious plant, known here as Sweetbrier (_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!
PULSE FAMILY _(Leguminosae)_
Wild or American Senna
_Cassia marylandica_
_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:_
Alternately 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.
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_
_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 1 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 Doctor Gray says, it yields "a poor sort of
indigo," yields a most valuable medicine employed by the homoeopathists
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.
Wild Lupine; Old Maid's Bonnets; Wild Pea; Sun Dial
_Lupinus perennis_
_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 stem; calyx 2-lipped, deeply toothed.
_Stem:_ Erect, branching, leafy, 1 to 2 ft. high. _Leaves:_ Palmate,
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."
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."
Common Red, Purple, Meadow, or Honeysuckle Clover
_Trifolium pratense_
_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
centre; stipules egg-shaped, sharply pointed, strongly veined, more than
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
feed 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.
White Sweet Clover; Bokhara or Tree Clover; White Melilot; Honey
Lotus
_Melilotus alba_
_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_--Waste lands, roadsides.
_Flowering Season_--June-November.
_Distribution_--United States, Europe, Asia.
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 woollens 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. 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.
Blue, Tufted, or Cow Vetch or Tare; Cat Peas; Tinegrass
_Vicia Cracca_
_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, waste land.
_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. Doctor 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.
Ground-nut
_Apios tuberosa (A. Apios)_
_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_). 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."
Wild or Hog Peanut
_Amphicarpa monoica (Falcata comosa)_
_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, 1 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.
_Amphicarpa_ ("seed at both ends"), the Greek name by which this
graceful vine is sometimes 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.
This plant should not be confused with pig-nut (_carya porcina_), which
is a species of hickory.
WOOD-SORREL FAMILY _(Oxalidaceae)_
White or True Wood-sorrel; Alleluia
_Oxalis acetosella_
_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 more than three and a half millions!
As self-fertilization is impossible, the showy blossoms of the
wood-sorrel are a necessity not a luxury; for the insects must not be
allowed to overlook them.
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_
_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. 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.
GERANIUM FAMILY _(Geraniaceae)_
Wild or Spotted Geranium or Crane's-Bill; Alum-root
_Geranium maculatum_
_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; 1 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 marvellous 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.
Herb Robert; Red Robin; Red Shanks; Dragon's Blood
_Geranium Robertianum_
_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 18 in. high. _Leaves_: Strongly scented, opposite,
thin, of 3 divisions, much subdivided and cleft. _Fruit_: Capsular,
elastic, the beak 1 in. long, awn-pointed.
_Preferred 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.
MILKWORT FAMILY _(Polygalaceae)_
Fringed Milkwort or Polygala; Flowering Wintergreen; Gay Wings
_Polygala paucifolia_
_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; 1 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.
Common, Field, or Purple Milkwort; Purple Polygala
_Polygala sanguinea (P. viridescens)_
_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.
TOUCH-ME-NOT FAMILY _(Balsaminaceae)_
Jewel-weed; Spotted Touch-me-not; Silver Cap; Wild Balsam; Lady's
Eardrops; Snap Weed; Wild Lady's Slipper
_Impatiens biflora (I. fulva)_
_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
nasturtiums do.
When the tiny ruby-throated humming bird 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.
Familiar as we may be with the nervous little seed-pods 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.
* * * * *
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.
BUCKTHORN FAMILY _(Rhamnaceae)_
New Jersey Tea; Wild Snowball; Red-root
_Ceanothus americanus_
_Flowers_--Small, white, on white pedicels, crowded in dense, oblong,
terminal clusters. Calyx white, hemispheric, 5-lobed; 5 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 home-made
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.
MALLOW FAMILY _(Malvaceae)_
Swamp Rose-mallow; Mallow Rose
_Hibiscus Moscheutos_
_Flowers_--Very large, clear rose pink, sometimes white, often with
crimson centre, 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 5 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 traveller
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 worth while 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.
ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY _(Hypericaceae)_
Common St. John's-wort
_Hypericum perforatum_
_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_: 1 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 immigrant, not a native. 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.
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.
ROCKROSE FAMILY _(Cistaceae)_
Long-branched Frost-weed; Frost-flower; Frost-wort; Canadian
Rockrose
_Helianthemum canadense_
_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.
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 stem'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.
VIOLET FAMILY _(Violaceae)_
Blue and Purple Violets
Lacking perfume only to be a perfectly satisfying flower, the Common
Purple, Meadow, or Hooded Blue Violet (_V. cucullata_) 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 centre 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.
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.
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 downward 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 drier, 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."
Yellow Violets
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.
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. Mueller believed
that all violets were originally yellow, not white, after they developed
from the green stage.
White Violets
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. primulifolia)_, 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.
EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY _(Onagraceae)_
Great or Spiked Willow-herb; Fire-weed
_Epilobium angustifolium (Chamaenerion angustifolium)_
_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 fireweed, but none so
quickly beautifies the blackened clearings of the pioneer, nor blossoms
over the charred trail in the wake of the locomotive. Whole
mountainsides in Alaska are dyed crimson with it. 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.
Evening Primrose; Night Willow-herb
_Oenothera biennis_
_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, 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 ball-room 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,
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 humming bird 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.
GINSENG FAMILY (_Araliaceae_)
Spikenard; Indian Root; Spignet
_Aralia racemosa_
_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.
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.
It should be understood that the Wild Spikenard, or False Solomon's
Seal, has not the remotest connection with this tribe of plants.
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.
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.
PARSLEY FAMILY (_Umbelliferae_)
Wild or Field Parsnip; Madnep; Tank
_Pastinaca sativa_
_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.
Wild Carrot; Queen Anne's Lace; Bird's-nest
_Daucus Carota_
_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_--Waste lands, 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!
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_.
DOGWOOD FAMILY _(Cornaceae)_
Flowering Dogwood
_Cornus florida_
_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 centre, 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."
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. canadensis)_, 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.
Even more abundant is the Silky Cornel, Kinnikinnick, or Swamp Dogwood
(_C. Amomum_) 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.
HEATH FAMILY (_Ericaceae_)
Pipsissewa; Prince's Pine
_Chimaphila umbellata_
_Flowers_--Flesh-colored, or pinkish, fragrant, waxy, usually with deep
pink ring around centre, 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.
Indian Pipe; Ice-plant; Ghost-flower; Corpse-plant
_Monotropa uniflora_
_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 fibres, 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 has need no
longer, until we find it to-day without color and its leaves degenerated
into mere scaly bracts. Nature had 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
broom-rape, Pine Sap, beech-drops, 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.
Pine Sap; False Beech-drops; Yellow Bird's-nest
_Monotropa Hypopitis_
_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. 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.
Wild Honeysuckle; Pink, Purple, or Wild Azalea; Pinxter-flower
_Rhododendron nudiflorum_
_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 horticulturists, 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.
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 (_Rhododendron viscosum_), 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.
American or Great Rhododendron; Great Laurel; Rose Tree, or Bay
_Rhododendron maximum_
_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; 1 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
mountainsides 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" where pioneer explorers wandered, lost
themselves and perished; 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.
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_
_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 travelled 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. Lime in the soil and manure are fatal to
it as well as to rhododendrons and azaleas. All they require is a mulch
of leaves kept on winter and summer that their fine fibrous roots may
never dry out.
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 apiculturists against honey made
from laurel nectar, the bees themselves ignore all warnings and
apparently without evil results--happily for the 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 bee-hives. 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 _Kalmia latifolia_ by an inquiry instituted under
direction of the American government.
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.
Trailing Arbutus; Mayflower; Ground Laurel
_Epigaea repens_
_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 snowdrifts, 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! 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!"
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!
Creeping Wintergreen; Checker-berry; Partridge-berry; Mountain Tea;
Ground Tea, Deer, Box, or Spice Berry
_Gaultheria procumbens_
_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.
"Where cornels arch their cool, dark boughs o'er beds of wintergreen,"
wrote Bryant; yet it is safe to say that nine colonies out of ten of
this hardy little plant are under evergreens, not dogwood trees. Poets
make us feel the _spirit_ of Nature in a wonderful way, but--look out
for their facts!
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 partridge-berry, 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 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 gayly 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.
PRIMROSE FAMILY _(Primulaceae)_
Four-leaved or Whorled Loosestrife; Crosswort
_Lysimachia quadrifolia_
_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, 1 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 lllinois, 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.
Another common, lower-growing species, the Bulb-bearing Loosestrife (_L.
terrestris_), blooms from July to September and shows a decided
preference for swamps and ditches throughout a range which extends from
Manitoba and Arkansas to the Atlantic Ocean.
Star-flower; Chickweed Wintergreen; Star Anemone
_Trientalis americana_
_Flowers_--White, solitary, or a few rising on slender, wiry footstalks
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 star-flower? 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.
Scarlet Pimpernel; Poor Man's or Shepherd's Weatherglass; Red
Chickweed; Burnet Rose; Shepherd's Clock
_Anagallis arvensis_
_Flower_--Variable, scarlet, deep salmon, copper red, flesh colored, or
rarely white; usually darker in the centre; 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.
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.
Shooting Star; American Cowslip; Pride of Ohio
_Dodecatheon Meadia_
_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 wild flowers are
not unknown in florists' shops in Eastern cities.
Few bee workers are abroad at the shooting star's season. The female
bumblebees, which, by striking the protruding stigma before they jar
out any pollen, cross-fertilize it, are the flower's chief
benefactors, but one often sees the little yellow puddle butterfly
about it. Very different from the bright yellow cowslip of Europe is
our odd, misnamed blossom.
GENTIAN FAMILY _(Gentianaceae)_
Bitter-bloom; Rose Pink; Square-stemmed Sabbatia; Rosy Centaury
_Sabbatia angularis_
_Flowers_--Clear rose pink, with greenish star in centre, 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 often-times 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 by
herb-gatherers for use 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 they are! Whole meadows are radiant with their
blushing loveliness. 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 wild
flowers 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.
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.
Fringed Gentian
_Gentiana crinita_
_Flowers--Deep_, bright blue, rarely white, several or many, about 2
in. high, stiffly erect, and solitary at ends of very long footstalk.
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 fall
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
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.
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.
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.
DOGBANE FAMILY (_Apocynaceae_)
Spreading Dogbane; Fly-trap Dogbane; Honey-bloom; Bitter-root
_Apocynum androsaemifolium_
_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.
MILKWEED FAMILY (_Aselepiadaceae_)
Common Milkweed or Silkweed
_Asclepias syriaca (A. cornuti)_
_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 hi 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 more than nineteen hundred species located chiefly in
those tropical and warm temperate regions that teem with the insects
whose cooperation they seek.
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 saddle-bags 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!
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 house-fly, 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 saddle-bags 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.
Doctor 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 then-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 Doctor 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. Humming birds 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.
Butterfly-weed; Pleurisy-root; Orange-root; Orange Milkweed
_Asclepias tuberosa_
_Flowers--_Bright reddish orange, in many-flowered, terminal clusters,
each flower similar in structure to the common milkweed (see above).
_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, 1 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; 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 hairstreak
_(Thecla titus)_, and the bronze copper _(Chrysophanus thoe)_, whose
caterpillar feeds on sorrel _(Rumex);_ the delicate, tailed blue
butterfly _(Lycena 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.
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 Asklepios is the Greek form.
CONVOLVULUS FAMILY _(Convolvulaceae)_
Hedge or Great Bindweed; Wild Morning-glory; Rutland Beauty; Bell-bind;
Lady's Nightcap
_Convolvulus sepium_
_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.
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
lustre. Even on the morning-glory in our gardens we may sometimes find
these jewelled 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.
Gronovius' or Common Dodder; Strangle-weed; Love Vine; Angel's Hair
_Cuscuta Gronovii_
_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 jewel-weed--a conspicuous sufferer--is hung about with
dodder, one must be grateful for at least such symphony of yellows.
POLEMONIUM FAMILY _(Polemoniaceae)_
Ground or Moss Pink
_Phlox subulata_
_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.
BORAGE FAMILY _(Boraginaceae)_
Forget-me-not; Mouse-ear; Scorpion Grass; Snake Grass; Love Me
_Myosotis scorpioides (M. palustris)_
_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 thread-like; 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 centre 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.
Viper's Bugloss; Blue-weed; Viper's Herb or Grass; Snake-flower; Blue
Thistle; Blue Devil
_Echium vulgare_
_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.
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 viper.
VERVAIN FAMILY _(Verbenaceae)_
Blue Vervain; Wild Hyssop; Simpler's Joy
_Verbena hastata_
_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
centre, 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 asleep
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
centred about that plant which herb-gatherers, or simplers, truly
delighted to see, since none was once more salable.
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.
MINT FAMILY _(Labiatae)_
Mad-dog Skullcap or Helmet-flower; Mad weed; Hoodwort
_Scutellaria lateriflora_
_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; 1 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 their good friends, the bees.
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.
Self-heal; Heal-all; Blue Curls; Heart-of-the-Earth; Brunella;
Carpenter-weed
_Prunella vulgaris_
_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 of the 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.
Motherwort
_Leonurus Cardiaca_
_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.
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.
Oswego Tea; Bee Balm; Indian's Plume; Fragrant Balm; Mountain Mint
_Monarda didyma_
_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, of ten 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 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 humming bird--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 humming bird'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.
Wild Bergamot
_Monarda fistulosa_
_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.
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 penwiper. 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.
NIGHTSHADE FAMILY _(Solanaceae)_
Nightshade; Blue Bindweed; Felonwort; Bittersweet; Scarlet or Snake
Berry; Poison-flower; Woody Nightshade
_Solanum Dulcamara_
_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 then-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.
Jamestown Weed; Thorn Apple; Stramonium; Jimson Weed; Devil's
Trumpet
_Datura Stramonium_
_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 more than 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.
FIGWORT FAMILY _(Scrophulariaceae)_
Great Mullein; Velvet or Flannel Plant; Mullein Dock; Aaron's Rod
_Verbascum Thapsus_
_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 oil 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 sombre families and feast on the seeds that
rapidly follow the erratic flowers up the gradually lengthening spikes.
"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 candle-wick 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. Humming birds 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_
_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 waste land; roadsides, fields.
_Flowering Season_--June-November.
_Distribution_--Naturalized from Europe and Asia, more or less common
throughout the United States and Canada.
"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 Toadflax; Eggs-and-bacon; Flaxweed;
Brideweed
_Linaria vulgaris_
_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_--Waste land, 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
egg, emit a cheesy odor, suggesting a close dairy. Perhaps half the
charm of the plant--and its charms increase greatly when it is grown in
a garden--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.
Blue or Wild Toadflax; Blue Linaria
_Linaria canadensis_
_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.
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.
Hairy Beard-tongue
_Pentstemon hirsutus_ (P. _pubescens_)
_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-shaped, 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 centre 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. A western species of the
beard-tongue has been selected by gardeners for hybridizing into showy
but often less charming flowers.
Snake-head; Turtle-head; Balmony; Shellflower; Cod-head
_Chelone glabra_
_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, 1 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.
Monkey-flower
_Mimulus ringens_
_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;
1 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.
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.
Common Speedwell; Fluellin; Paul's Betony; Groundhele
_Veronica officinalis_
_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 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_.
American Brooklime
_Veronica americana_
_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 still
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 more
than 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.
Culver's-root; Culver's Physic
_Veronica virginica (Leplandra virginica)_
_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; 1 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.
"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?
Downy False Foxglove
_Gerardia flava (Dasystoma flava)_
_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 degree of backsliding
sinners may be found, each branded with a mark of infamy according to
its deserts. We see how the dodder vine lost both leaf and roots after
it consented to live wholly by theft of its hard-working 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, 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; 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.
Large Purple Gerardia
_Gerardia purpurea_
_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.
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 except with a large ball of soil, 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.
Scarlet Painted Cup; Indian Paint-brush
_Castilleja coccinea_
_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; 1 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, mountains, moist, sandy soil.
_Flowering Season_--May-July.
_Distribution_--Maine to Manitoba, south to Virginia, Kansas, and Texas.
Here and there the 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. Whole mountainsides in the
Canadian Rockies are ablaze with the Indian Paint-brushes that range in
color there from ivory white and pale salmon through every shade of red
to deep maroon--a gorgeous conflagration of color. 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. 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.
Wood Betony; Lousewort; Beefsteak Plant; High Heal-all
_Pedicularis canadensis_
_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 some one 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.
BROOM-RAPE FAMILY (_Orobanchaceae_)
Beech-drops
_Epifagus virginiana_
_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 carbo-hydrates, even if they would, any more than fungi can.
The beech-drop bears cleistogamous or blind flowers in addition to the
few showy ones needed to attract insects.
MADDER FAMILY (_Rubiaceae_)
Partridge Vine, Twin-berry; Mitchella Vine; Squaw-berry
_Mitchella repens_
_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; 1 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.
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, which shares with it a number
of common names, every one may associate whatever bird and berry 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.
Button-bush; Honey-balls; Globe-flower; Button-ball Shrub;
River-bush
_Cephalanthus occidentalis_
_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 jessamine, leads one over
marshy ground to where the button-bush 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.
Bluets; Innocence; Houstonia; Quaker Ladies; Quaker Bonnets;
Venus' Pride
_Houstonia caerulea_
_Flowers_--Very small, light to purplish blue or white, with yellow
centre, 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-stalk:_ 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 Doctor Houston, a young English physician, botanist, and
collector, who died in South America in 1733, after an exhausting tramp
about the Gulf of Mexico. Flies, beetles, and the common little meadow
fritillary butterfly visit these flowers. But small bees are best
adapted to it.
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.
BLUEBELL FAMILY (_Campanulaceae_)
Harebell or Hairbell; Blue Bells of Scotland; Lady's Thimble
_Campanula rotundifolia_
_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; 5 slender stamens alternate with lobes of corolla, and
borne on summit of calyx tube, which is adherent to ovary; 1 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.
Venus' Looking-glass; Clasping Bellflower
_Specularia perfoliata (Legouzia perfoliata)_
_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; 1 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 are 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.
LOBELIA FAMILY (_Lobeliaceae_)
Cardinal Flower; Red Lobelia
_Lobelia cardinalis_
_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.
The easy cultivation from seed of this peerless wild flower--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 humming bird'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.
Great Lobelia; Blue Cardinal Flower
_Lobelia syphilitica_
_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 humming birds do; our scarcity of red flowers being due, we
must believe, to the scarcity of humming birds, which chiefly fertilize
them. But how bees love the blue blossoms!
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.
COMPOSITE FAMILY (_Compositae_)
Iron-weed; Flat Top
_Vernonia noveboracensis_
_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
centre 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 comfounded by the novice is
the Joe-Pye Weed, a far paler, old-rose colored flower, as one who does
not meet them both afield may see on comparing the colored plates in
this book.
Joe-Pye Weed; Trumpet Weed; Purple Thoroughwort; Gravel or Kidney-root;
Tall or Purple Boneset
_Eupatorium purpureum_
_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
golden-rods, 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 to-day.
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.
Boneset; Common Thorough wort; Agueweed; Indian Sage
_Eupatorium perfoliatum_
_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, 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
centre 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.
Golden-rods
_Solidago_
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
golden-rod 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 would 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 golden-rods 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 Golden-rod (_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 Golden-rod (_S. latifolia_)--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 Golden-rod, 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.
When crushed in the hand, the _dotted_, bright green, lance-shaped,
entire leaves of the Sweet Golden-rod 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 Golden-rod or Bitterweed (_S.
rugosa_), a perversely variable species, its hairy stem perhaps only a
foot high, or, maybe, more than 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.
The unusually beautiful, spreading, recurved, branching panicle of bloom
borne by the early, Plume, or Sharp-toothed Golden-rod or Yellow-top
(_S. juncea_), so often dried for winter decoration, may wave four feet
high but, usually not more than 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 golden-rod to bloom,
having been found as early as June, and sometimes lasting into November.
Range from North Carolina and Missouri very far north.
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 Golden-rod or
Yellow-weed (_S. canadensis_). Surely every one 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
Golden-rod 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.
"Along the roadside, like the flowers of gold
That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought,
Heavy with sunshine droops the golden-rod."
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 golden-rods 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." 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 golden-rods
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 golden-rod 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 golden-rod
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.
Blue and Purple Asters or Starworts
_Aster_
Evolution teaches us that thistles, daisies, sunflowers, asters, and all
the triumphant horde of composites were once very different flowers from
what we see to-day. 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 to-day 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
golden-rod 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 every one:
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.
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.
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.
White Asters or Starworts
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 florets soon turn
brown. Range from Canada southward to Tennessee.
The bushy little White Heath Aster (_A. ericoides_) every one must know,
possibly, as Michaelmas Daisy, Farewell Summer, White Rosemary, or
Frost-weed; 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 more than 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.
Golden Aster
_Chrysopsis mariana_
_Flower-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.
Daisy Fleabane; Sweet Scabious
_Erigeron annuus_
_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, 1 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, waste land, 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, 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.
Robin's, or Poor Robin's, or Robert's Plantain; Blue Spring Daisy;
Daisy-leaved Fleabane
_Erigeron pulchellus_
_Flower-heads_--Composite, daisy-like, 1 to 1-1/2 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.
Pearly, or Large-flowered, Everlasting; Immortelle, Silver Leaf;
Moonshine; Cottonweed; None-so-pretty
_Anaphalis margaritacea_
_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, 1 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 centre, 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.
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.
Elecampane; Horseheal; Yellow Starwort
_Inula Helenium_
_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.
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 more than 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.
Black-eyed Susan; Yellow or Ox-eye Daisy; Nigger-head; Golden
Jerusalem; Purple Cone-flower
_Rudbeckia hirta_
_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, 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. Any one 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. The black-eyed Susan, like the English sparrow, has come to
stay--let farmers and law-makers do what they will.
Tall or Giant Sunflower
_Helianthus giganteus_
_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 more than sixteen hundred species are found in North
America north of Mexico, surely more than half this number are made up
after the daisy pattern, 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 centred
varieties produced from the common sunflower 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 fibre, 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.
Sneeze weed; Swamp Sunflower
_Helenium autumnale_
_Flower-heads_--Bright yellow, 1 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.
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 sneezeweed, must take a whiff of snuff made of the dried
and powdered leaves.
Yarrow; Milfoil; Old Man's Pepper; Nosebleed
_Achillea Millefolium_
_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 root-stalk, 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, folk-lore, 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 Cornflower (_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 marvellous scheme it employs to
overrun the earth.
Dog's or Foetid Camomile: Mayweed; Pig-sty Daisy; Dillweed;
Dog-fennel
_Anthemis Cotula (Maruta Cotula)_
_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 waste land, 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.
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.
Common Daisy; White-weed; White or Ox-eye Daisy; Marguerite; Love-me,
Love-me-not
_Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum_
_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, 1 to 3 ft. high.
_Leaves:_ Mostly oblong in outline, coarsely toothed and divided.
_Preferred Habitat_--Meadows, pastures, roadsides, waste land.
_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 bring 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 centre 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 hair brushes 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!
Tansy; Bitter-buttons
_Tanacetum vulgare_
_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 medieval 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.
Common or Plumed Thistle
_Cirsium_
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. lanceolatum_
or _Carduus lanceolatus_), 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 I 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 fibres 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. pumilum_ or _Carduus
odoratus_) 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.
Chicory; Succory; Blue Sailors; Bunk
_Cichorium Intybus_
_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, 1 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.
_Distribution_--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."
Common Dandelion; Blowball; Lion's-tooth; Peasant's Clock
_Taraxacum officinale (T. Dens-leonis)_
_Flower-head_--Solitary, golden yellow, 1 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. 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.
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.
Tall or Wild Lettuce; Wild Opium; Horse-weed
_Lactuca canadensis_
_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. 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, Signer,
Is another's meat or drink."
Rabbits, for example, have been fed on the deadly nightshade for a week
without injury.
Orange or Tawny Hawkweed; Golden Mouse-ear Hawkweed; Devil's
Paint-brush
_Hieracium aurantiacum_
_Flower-heads_--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.
A 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 shake bites as those of the Rattlesnake Plantain.
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!
COLOR KEY
BLUE TO PURPLE FLOWERS
Asters, Blue and Purple
Beard-tongues
Bittersweet (Nightshade)
Bluets
Brooklime, American
Chicory
Day-flowers
Eye-bright
Flags, Blue
Fluellin
Forget-me-nots
Gentians
Harebell
Iron-weed
Liverwort
Monkey-flower
Orchids, Purple-fringed
Peanut, Hog
Pickerel-weed
Plantain, Robin's
Self-heal
Skullcaps
Speedwells
Tare, Blue
Thistles
Toadflax, Blue
Venus' Looking Glass
Vervain, Blue
Violets, Blue and Purple
Viper's Bugloss
MAGENTA TO PINK
Arbutus, Trailing
Arethusa
Bergamot, Wild
Bindweed, Hedge
Bitter-bloom
Calopogon
Campion, Corn
Catch-flies
Clovers
Dogbanes
Geraniums, Wild
Gerardias
Hardhack
Herb-Robert
Honeysuckle, Wild
Joe-Pye weed
Knotwood, Pink
Laurels
Lobelias, Blue
Lupine, Wild
Milkworts
Moccasin Flower, Pink
Motherwort
Orchid, Showy
Persicaria, Common
Pink, Moss
Pipsissewa
Polygala, Fringed
Raspberry, Purple-flowering
Rhododendron, American
Rose, Mallow
Roses, Wild
Snake-head
Soapwort
Willow-herb, Spiked
Wood-sorrel, Violet
Wood-sorrel, White
WHITE AND GREENISH
Anemone, Wood
Arrow-head, Broad-leaved
Aster, White
Baneberries
Blackberries
Bloodroot
Button-Bush
Camomile
Campion, Starry
Carrot, Wild
Chickweed, Common
Clover, White Sweet
Cohosh, Black
Coolwort
Culver's Root
Dodder, Gronovius'
Dogwoods
Dutchman's Breeches
Everlastings
Gold-thread
Grass of Parnaoeas
Hawthorn, Common
Hellebore, White
Indian Pipe
Jamestown weed
Ladies' Tresses
May Apple
Meadow-rues
Meadow-sweets
Mitrewort, False
New Jersey Tea
Orchids, White-fringed
Partridge Vine
Pokeweed
Saxifrage, Early
Shepherd's Purse
Solomon's Seals
Spikenard, American
Spikenard, Wild
Spring Beauty
Squirrel Corn
Star-flower
Star-grass
Sundews
Violets, White
Virgin's Bower
Wake-Robin, Early
Water-lily, White
Wintergreen, Creeping
Yarrow
YELLOW AND ORANGE
Adder's Tongue, Yellow
Aster, Golden
Barberry, American
Black-eyed Susan
Butter-and-eggs
Buttercups
Butterfly-weed
Carrion-flower
Celandine, Greater
Clintonia, Yellow
Dandelions
Devil's Paint-brush
Elecampane
Evening Primrose
Five-finger
Foxgloves, False
Golden-rods
Hawkweeds
Indigo, Wild
Jewel-weed
Lettuce, Wild
Lily, Blackberry
Lily, Wild Yellow
Marigold, Marsh
Meadow-gowan
Moccasin-flower, Yellow
Mullein, Great
Mullein, Moth
Mustards
Orchis, Yellow-fringed
Parsnips, Wild
Rockrose, Canadian
St. John's-wort
Senna, Wild
Sneezeweed
Star-grass
Tansy
Violets, Yellow
Water-lily, Yellow
Witch-hazel
RED AND INDEFINITES
Betony, Wood
Cardinal Flower
Columbine, Wild
Ground-nut
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Lily, Red, Wood
Oswego Tea
Painted Cups, Scarlet
Pine Sap
Pitcher-plant
Skunk Cabbage
GENERAL INDEX OF NAMES
Aaron's rod
_Achillea Millefolium_
_Actaea alba_
Adder's tongue
_Agrostemma Githago_
Agueweed
_Alismaceae_
Alleluia
_Alsine media_
_Althaea officinalis_
Alum-root
_Amaryllidaceae_
Amaryllis family
American brooklime
American cowslip
American laurel
American rhododendron
American senna
American white hellebore
_Amphicarpa monoica_
_Anagallis arvensis_
_Anaphalis margarilacea_
Anemone, Star
Anemone, Wood
_Anemonella thalictroides_
Angel's hair
_Anthemis Cotula_
_Apios_
_Apocynaceae_
_Apocynum androsaemifolium_
Apple, May or Hog
Apple, Thorn
_Aquilegia canadensis_
_Araceae_
_Aralia_
_Araliaceae_
Arbutus, Trailing
Arethusa
_Arisaema triphyllum_
Arrow-head, Broad-leaved
Arum family
_Asclepiadaceae_
_Asclepias_
Asters, Blue and Purple
Aster, Golden
Asters, White
Azalea, Clammy
Azalea, Pink, Purple, or Wild
Azalea, White
Balm, Bee or Fragrant
Balmony
Balsam, Wild
_Balsaminaceae_
Baneberry, White
Bank thistle
_Baptisia tinctoria_
Barberry
Barberry family
Bay
Beard-tongue, Hairy
Bee balm
Beech-drops
Beech-drops, False
Beefsteak plant
_Belamcanda chinensis_
Bell-bind
Bellflower, Clasping
Bell thistle
_Berberidaceae_
_Berberis vulgaris_
Bergamot, Wild
Berry, Scarlet or Snake
Betony, Paul's
Betony, Wood
Bindweed, Blue
Bindweed, Hedge or Great
Bird's-foot violet
Bird's-nest
Bird's-nest, Yellow
Birth-root
Bishop's cap
Bitter-bloom
Bitter-buttons
Bitter-root
Bittersweet
Bitterweed
Blackberry, Highbush
Blackberry lily
Black-eyed Susan
Blind gentian
Blister-flower
Bloodroot
Blowball
Blue bells of Scotland
Blue Curls
Blue-devil
Blue-eyed grass, Pointed
Blue Mountain tea
Blue-sailors
Blue star
Blue-stemmed golden-rod
Blue-thistle
Blue-weed
Bluebell family
Bluets
Bokhara clover
Boneset
Boneset, Tall or Purple
Borage family
_Boraginaceae_
Bottle gentian
Bouncing Bet
Boxberry
Bramble
Branching aster
_Brassica_
Brideweed
Broad-leaved golden-rod
Broad-leaved aster
Broad-leaved kalmia
Brooklime, American
Broom, Yellow or Indigo
Broom-rape family
Bruisewort
Brunella
Buckthorn family
Buckwheat family
Bugbane, Tall
Bulbous buttercup
Bull thistle
Bunchberry
Bunk
Burnet rose
Burr thistle
Butter-and-eggs
Buttercups
Butter-flower
Butterfly-weed
Button-ball shrub
Button-bush
Button thistle
Calf-kill
Calico bush
Calmoun
Calopogon
_Caltha palustris_
Camomile, Dog's or Foetid
_Campanula rotundifolia_
_Campanulaceae_
Campion, Corn or Red
Campion, Starry
Canada golden-rod
Canada lily
Canadian rockrose
Canker-root
_Capsella Bursa-pastoris_
Cardinal flower
Cardinal flower, Blue
_Carduus_
Carpenter weed
Carrion-flower
Carrot, Wild
_Caryophyllaceae_
_Cassia marylandica_
_Castalia odorata_
_Castilleja coccinea_
Catchfly
_Ceanothus americanus_
Celandine, Greater
Centaury, Rosy
_Cephalanthus occidentalis_
_Chamaenerion angustifolium_
Charlock
Checker-berry
_Chelidonium majus_
_Chelone glabra_
Cherokee rose
Chickweed, Common
Chickweed, Red
Chickweed wintergreen
Chicory
_Chimaphila_
_Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum_
_Chrysopsis_
_Cichorium Intybus_
_Cimicifuga racemosa_
Cinquefoil, Common
_Cirsium_
_Cistaceae_
Clammy Azalea
Clasping bell-flower
Claytonia
Clematis, Virginia
Clintonia
Closed gentian
Clover, Common red, Purple, Meadow or Honeysuckle
Clover, White or Dutch
Clover, White sweet, Bokhara, or Tree
Cocash
Cockle, Corn
Cod-head
Cohosh
Cohosh, Black
Columbine, Wild
_Commelina virginica_
_Commelinaceae_
_Compositae_
Composite family
Cone-flower, Purple
_Convolvulaceae_
Convolvulus family
Coolwort
_Coptis trifolia_
Corn campion
Corn cockle, rose or campion
Corn mustard
Corn, Squirrel
_Cornaceae_
Cornel, Low or Dwarf
Cornel, Silky
_Cornus_
Corpse-plant
Cottonweed
Cow lily
Cow vetch
Cowslip, American
Crane's-bill
_Crataegus coccinea_
Creeping wintergreen
Crosswort
Crowfoot family
Crowfoot, Tall
Crown-of-the-field
_Cruciferae_
Cuckoo flower
Culver's root or physic
Curls, Blue
_Cuscuta gronovii_
_Cypripedium acaule_
_Cypripedium pubescens or hirsutum_
Daisy, Blue spring
Daisy, Common
Daisy fleabane
Daisy-leaved fleabane
Daisy, Michaelmas
Daisy, Ox-eye
Daisy, Pig-sty
Daisy, Purple
Daisy, White or Ox-eye
Daisy, Yellow or Ox-eye
Dandelion, Common
_Dasystoma flava_
_Daucus carota_
Day-flower
Deer berry
Dense-flowered aster
Devil's paint-brush
Devil's trumpet
Dew-plant
_Dicentra canadensis_
_Dicentra Cucuilaria_
Dillweed
Dock, Mullein
Dodder, Gronovius' or Common
_Dodecathon Meadia_
Dog-fennel
Dog-tooth "violet"
Dogbane family
Dogbane, Spreading or Fly-trap
Dog's Camomile
Dogwood family
Dogwood, Flowering
Dogwood, Swamp
Downy false foxglove
Downy yellow violet
Dragon's blood
_Droseraceae_
Dutch clover
Dutchman's breeches
Dwarf cornel
Dwarf wake-robin
Dyer's weed
Ear-drops
Early hawkweed
Early purple aster
Early saxifrage
Eggs-and-bacon
Elecampane
English violet
_Epifagus virginiana_
_Epigaea repens_
_Epilobium angustifolium_
_Ericaceae_
_Erigeron_
_Erythronium americanum_
_Eupatorium_
Evening primrose
Evening primrose family
Everlasting, Pearly or Large-flowered
Eye-bright
_Falcata comosa_
False beech-drops
False foxglove, Downy
False miterwort
False sarsaparilla
False Solomon's seal
Farewell summer
Felonwort
Field golden-rod
Field lily
Field milkwort
Field mustard or kale
Field parsnip
Figwort family
Fire-weed
Five-finger
Flag, Larger blue
Flame lily
Flannel plant
Flat top
Flaxweed
Fleabane, Daisy
Fleabane, Daisy-leaved
Fleabane, Salt-marsh
Fleur-de-lis
Flower-de-luce
Flowering dogwood
Flowering wintergreen
Fluellin
Fly-trap dogbane
Foam-flower
Foetid camomile
Forget-me-not
Four-leaved loosestrife
Foxglove, Downy false
Fragrant balm
Fragrant thistle
Fringed gentian
Fringed milkwort
Frost-flower or Frost-wort
Frost-weed
Frost-weed, Hoary
Frost-weed, Long-branched
Fuller's herb
_Fumariaceae_
Fumitory family
Garget
_Gaultheria procumbens_
Gay orchis
Gay wings
Gentian, Closed, Blind, or Bottle
Gentian family
Gentian, Fringed
_Gentiana_
_Gentianaceae_
_Geraniaceae_
Geranium family
Geranium Robertianum
Geranium, Wild or Spotted
_Gerardia_
Gerardia, Large purple
Ghost-flower
Giant St. John's-wort
Giant sunflower
Ginseng family
Globe-flower
Gold-thread
Goldcups
Golden Jerusalem
Golden mouse-ear hawkweed
Golden-rods
Grass of Parnassus
Grass pink
Gravel-root
Great bindweed
Great laurel
Great lobelia
Great mullein
Great rhododendron
Great St. John's-wort
Great willow-herb
Greater celandine
Gronovius' dodder
Ground laurel
Ground-nut
Ground pink
Groundhele
Gulf orchis
_Habenaria blephariglottis_
_Habenaria ciliaris_
_Habenaria fimbriata_ or _grandiflora_
_Habenaria flava_
Hairbell
Hairy beard-tongue
Hairy golden aster
_Hamamelidaceae_
Hardhack
Harebell
Haw, Red
Hawkweed, Early or Vein leaf
Hawkweed, Golden mouse-ear
Hawkweed, Orange or Tawny
Hawthorn
Heal-all
Heal-all, High
Heart-leaved aster
Heart-of-the-earth
Hearts, White
Heath aster, White
Heath family
Hedge bindweed
Hedge mustard
Hedge pink
_Helenium autumnale_
_Helianthemum_
_Helianthus giganteus_
Hellebore
Helmet-flower
Hepatica
Herb Robert
_Hibiscus Moscheutos_
_Hieracium_
Highbush blackberry
High heal-all
Hoary frost-weed
Hog apple
Hog peanut
Honey-balls
Honey-bloom
Honey lotus
Honeysuckle clover
Honeysuckle, Swamp
Honeysuckle, Wild
Hooded blue violet
Hoodwort
Horse thistle
Horse-weed
Horsefly-weed
Horseheal
Houstonia
Huntsman's cup
_Hypericaceae_
_Hypericum_
_Hypoxis hirsuta_ or _erecta_
Hyssop, Wild
Ice-plant
Ill-scented wake-robin
Immortelle
_Impatiens aurea_ or _pallida_
_Impatiens biflora_ or _fulva_
Indian dipper
Indian paint
Indian paint-brush
Indian pink
Indian pipe
Indian poke
Indian root
Indian sage
Indian turnip
Indian's plume
Indigo broom
Indigo, Wild
Ink-berry
Innocence
_Inula Helenium_
_Iridaceae_
Iris, Blue
Iris family
_Iris versicolor_
Iron-weed
Itch-weed
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Jamestown weed
Jewel-weed
Jimson weed
Joe-Pye weed
Jointweed, Pink
_Kalmia_
Kalmia, Broad-leaved
Kidney liver-leaf
Kidney-root
Kingcup
Kinnikinnick
Knotweed, Pink
_Labiatae_
_Lactuca canadensis_
Lady's eardrops
Lady's nightcap
Lady's slippers
Lady's thimble
Lady's tresses or traces, Nodding
Lamb-kill
Lance-leaved violet
Large aster
Larger blue flag
Large-flowered everlasting
Large-flowered wake-robin
Large purple gerardia
Large yellow lady's slipper
Large yellow pond or water lily
Late purple aster
Laurel, Great
Laurel, Ground
Laurel, Mountain or American
Laurel, Narrow-leaved
_Legouzia perfoliata_
_Leguminosae_
Lemon, Wild
_Leonurus Cardiaca_
_Leptandra virginica_
Lettuce, Tall or Wild
_Liliaceae_
_Lilium canadense_
_Lilium philadelphicum_
_Lilium superbum_
Lily, Cow
Lily family
Lily, Large yellow pond or water
Lily, Pond
Lily, Sweet-scented white water
_Limodorum tuberosum_
_Linaria_
Lion's Tooth
Liver-leaf
Liverwort
Lobelia family
Lobelia, Great
Lobelia, Red
_Lobeliaceae_
Long-branched frost-weed
Loosestrife, Four-leaved or Whorled
Lotus, Honey
Lousewort
Love-me, love-me-not
Love me
Love vine
Low cornel
Low purple aster
Lupine, Wild
_Lupinus perennis_
_Lysimachia quadrifolia_
Mad-dog skullcap
Madder family
Madnep
Madweed
Mallow family
Mallow, Marsh
Mallow rose
_Malvaceae_
Mandrake
March violet
Marguerite
Marigold, Marsh
Marsh buttercup
Marsh mallow
Marsh marigold
Marsh pink
_Maruta Cotula_
May apple
May weed
Mayflower
Meadow buttercup, Common
Meadow clover
Meadow-gowan
Meadow lily
Meadow rose
Meadow-rues
Meadow scabish
Meadow-sweet
Meadow violet
Melilot, White
_Melilotus alba_
Michaelmas daisy
Milfoil
Milkweed, Common
Milkweed family
Milkweed, Orange
Milkweed, Purple
Milkwort, Common, Field, or Purple
Milkwort family
Milkwort, Fringed
_Mimulus ringens_
Mint family
Mitchella vine
Miterwort
Miterwort, False
_Mitella diphylla_
Moccasin flowers
_Monarda_
Monkey-flower
_Monotropa Hypopitis_
_Monotropa uniflora_
Moonshine
Morning-glory, Wild
Moss pink
Moth mullein
Mother's heart
Motherwort
Mountain laurel
Mountain mint
Mountain tea
Mouse-ear
Mouse-ear hawkweed, Golden
Mullein dock
Mullein, Great
Mullein, Moth
Mustard family
Mustards
_Myosotis scorpioides_ or _palustris_
Nancy-over-the-ground
Narrow-leaved laurel
New England aster
New Jersey tea
Nigger-head
Night willow-herb
Nightshade
Nightshade family
Noble liverwort
Nodding ladies' tresses or traces
Nodding wake-robin
None-so-pretty
Nosebleed
_Nuphar advena_
_Nymphaea advena_
_Nymphaea odorata_
_Nymphaeaceae_
_Oenothera biennis_
Old maid's bonnets
Old maid's pink
Old man's beard
Old man's pepper
_Onagraceae_
Opium, Wild
Orange-root
_Orchidaceae_
Orchis family
Orchis, Gulf, Tubercled, or Small pale
green
Orchis, Large or Early purple-fringed
_Orchis spectabilis_
Orchis, White-fringed
Orchis, Yellow-fringed
_Orobanchaceae_
Oswego tea
Ox-eye daisy
_Oxalidaceae_
_Oxalis acetosella_
_Oxalis violacea_
Paint-brush, Devil's
Paint-brush, Indian
Paint, Indian
Painted cup, Scarlet
Painted trillium
Pale touch-me-not
_Papaveraceae_
_Pardanthus chinensis_
_Parnassia_
Parnassus, Grass of
Partridge-berry
Partridge vine
Parsley family
Parsnip, Wild or Field
_Pastinaca sativa_
Pasture thistle
Paul's betony
Pea, Wild
Peanut, Wild or Hog
Pearly everlasting
Peasant's clock
_Pedicularis canadensis_
_Pentstemon hirsutus_ or _pubescens_
Pepperidge-bush
Persicaria, Common
Philadelphia lily
_Phlox subulata_
Physic, Culver's
_Phytolaccaceae_
Pickerel-weed
Pig-sty daisy
Pigeon-berry
Pimpernel, Scarlet
Pine, Prince's
Pine sap
Pink family
Pink, Grass
Pink, Ground or Moss
Pink, Hedge or Old maid's
Pink, Indian
Pink, Sea or Marsh
Pink, Swamp
Pink, Wild
Pinxter flower
Pipe, Indian
Pipsissewa
Pipsissewa, Spotted
Pitcher-plant
Pitcher-plant family
Plantain, Snake or Poor Robin's
Pleurisy-root
Plume golden-rod
Plume thistle
Plumed thistle
_Podophyllum peltatum_
Pointed blue-eyed grass
Poison-flower
Pokeweed family
_Polemoniaceae_
Polemonium family
Polygala, Fringed
Polygala, Purple
_Polygala sanguinea_ or _viridescens_
_Polygalaceae_
_Polygonaceae_
_Polygonatum biflorum_
_Polygonum pennsylvanicum_
Pond lily
_Pontederia cordata_
Poor man's weatherglass
Poor Robin's plantain
Poppy family
_Portulacaceae_
_Potentilla canadensis_
Pride of Ohio
Primrose, Evening
Primrose family
Primrose-leaved violet
_Primulaceae_
Prince's pine
_Prunella vulgaris_
Puccoon, Red
Pulse family
Purple-flowering raspberry
Purple-fringed orchis, Large or Early
Purple-stemmed aster
Purslane family
Quaker bonnets
Quaker ladies
Quaker lady
Queen Anne's lace
Queen-of-the-meadow
_Ranunculaceae_
_Ranunculus acris_
Raspberry, Purple-flowering or Virginia
Rattlesnake-weed
Red-root
Red-stalked aster
_Rhamnaceae_
Rhododendron, American or Great
_Rhododendron maximum_
_Rhododendron nudiflorum_
_Rhododendron viscosum_
River-bush
Roadside thistle
Robert, Herb
Robert's plantain
Robin, Red
Robin's plantain
Rockrose, Canadian
Rockrose family
Root, Indian
_Rosa_
_Rosaceae_
Rose, Burnet
Rose, Corn
Rose family
Rose, Mallow
Rose mallow, Swamp
Rose of Plymouth
Rose-pink
Rose-tree
Rose, Wild
Rosemary, White
Rosy centaury
Round-leaved sundew
Round-lobed liver-leaf
_Rubiaceae_
_Rubus odoratus_
_Rubus villosus_
_Rudbeckia hirta_
Rue anemone
Rutland beauty
_Sabbatia_
Sabbatia, Square-stemmed
_Sagittaria latifolia_
_Sagittaria variabilis_
Sailors, Blue
St. John's-wort family
St. John's-worts
Salt-marsh fleabane
_Sanguinaria canadensis_
_Saponaria officinalis_
_Sarracenaceae_
Sarsaparilla, Wild or False
_Saxifragaceae_
Saxifrage family
Scabious, Sweet
Scabish, Meadow
Scoke
Scorpion grass
_Scrophularaceae_
_Scutellaria laterifolia_
Sea pink
Seaside purple aster
Self-heal
Senna, Wild or American
Sessile-flowered wake-robin
Shanks, Red
Sharp-toothed golden-rod
Sheep-laurel
Sheep-poison
Shellflower
Shepherd's purse
Shepherd's weatherglass or clock
Shooting star
Showy orchis
Showy purple aster
Shrubby St. John's-wort
Side-saddle flower
_Silene pennsylvanica_ or _caroliniana_
_Silene stellata_
Silkweed
Silky cornel
Silver cap
Silver leaf
Simpler's joy
_Sisymbrium officinale_
_Sisyrinchium angustifolium_
Skullcap, Mad-dog
Skunk cabbage
Small pale green orchis
Smartweed
_Smilacina racemosa_
_Smilax herbacea_
Smooth aster
Smooth yellow violet
Smoother rose
Snake berry
Snake-flower
Snake grass
Snake-head
Snake plantain
Snakeroot, Black
Snap weed
Sneezeweed
Snowball, Wild
Soapwort
_Solanaceae_
Soldier's cap
_Solidago_
Solomon's seal
Solomon's seal, False
Solomon's zig-zag
Spatterdock
Spear thistle
_Specularia perfoliata_
Speedwell, Common
Spice berry
Spiderwort family
Spignet
Spiked willow-herb
Spikenard
Spikenard, Wild
_Spiraea salicifolia_
_Spiraea tomentosa_
_Spiranthes cernua_
Spoonwood
Spotted geranium
Spotted touch-me-not
Spotted wintergreen or pipsissewa
Spreading dogbane
Spring beauty
Spring daisy, Blue
Spring orchis
Square-stemmed sabbatia
Squaw-berry
Squirrel corn
Squirrel cup
Star anemone
Star, Blue
Star-flower
Star-grass, Yellow
Star, Shooting
Starry aster
Starry campion
Starwort
Starwort, Yellow
Starworts
Starworts, Blue and Purple
Steeple bush
_Stellaria media_
Stemless lady's slipper
Stramonium
Strangle-weed
Succory
Sundew family
Sundial
Sunflower, Swamp
Sunflower, Tall or Giant
Swallow-wort
Swamp buttercup
Swamp cabbage
Swamp dogwood
Swamp pink or honeysuckle
Swamp rose
Swamp rose-mallow
Swamp sunflower
Swanweed
Sweet clover, White
Sweet golden-rod
Sweet scabious
Sweet-scented white water-lily
Sweet violet
Sweet white violet
Sweetbrier
_Symplocarpus foetidus_
_Syndesmon thalictroides_
Tall boneset
Tall bugbane
Tall crowfoot
Tall hairy golden-rod
Tall lettuce
Tall meadow-rue
Tall sunflower
_Tanacetum vulgare_
Tank
Tansy
Tare, Blue, Tufted, or Cow
Tawny hawkweed
Tea, Mountain or Ground
Tea, Oswego
_Thalictrum_
Thistle, Burr, Spear, Plume, Bank, Common, Horse, Bull, Blue, Button,
Bell, or Roadside
Thistle, Common or Plumed
Thistle, Pasture or Fragrant
Thorn apple
Thorn, White or Scarlet fruited
Thoroughwort, Common
Thoroughwort, Purple
_Tiarella cordifolia_
Tinegrass
Toadflax, Blue or Wild
Toadflax, Yellow
Touch-me-not family
Trailing arbutus
Traveller's joy
Tree clover
_Trientalis americana_
_Trifolium pratense_
_Trifolium repens_
Trilliums
Trout lily
True wood-sorrel
Trumpet-leaf
Trumpet weed
Tubercled orchis
Tufted buttercup
Tufted vetch
Turban lily
Turk's cap
Turtle-head
Twin-berry
_Umbelliferae_
Vein-leaf hawkweed
Velvet plant
Venus' lady's slipper
Venus' looking-glass
Venus' pride
_Veratrum viride_
_Verbascum_
_Verbenaceae_
_Vernonia noveboracensis_
_Veronica_
Vervain, Blue
Vervain family
Vetch, Blue, Tufted, or Cow
_Vicia Cracea_
_Viola_
_Violaceae_
Violet, Bird's-foot
Violet, Common purole, Meadow, or Hooded blue
"Violet," Dog-tooth
Violet, Downy yellow
Violet, English, March or Sweet
Violet family
Violet, Lance-leaved
Violet, Primrose-leaved
Violet, Smooth yellow
Violet, Sweet white
Violet wood-sorrel
Viper's bugloss
Viper's herb or grass
Virginia clematis
Virginia day-flower
Virginia raspberry
Virgin's bower
Wake-robin
Water cabbage
Water-lily family
Water nymph
Water-plantain family
Weatherglass, Poor Man's or Shepherd's
Whippoorwill's shoe
White-fringed orchis
White-weed
White-wreathed aster
Whorled loosestrife
Wicky
Wild azalea
Wild balsam
Wild bergamot
Wild carrot
Wild columbine
Wild geranium
Wild honeysuckle
Wild hyssop
Wild indigo
Wild lady's slipper
Wild lemon
Wild lettuce
Wild lupine
Wild morning-glory
Wild opium
Wild parsnip
Wild pea
Wild peanut
Wild pink
Wild rose
Wild sarsaparilla
Wild senna
Wild snowball
Wild toadflax
Wild yellow lily
Willow-herb, Creator Spiked
Willow-herb, Night
Wind-flower
Wintergreen, Chickweed
Wintergreen, Creeping
Wintergreen, Flowering
Wintergreen, Spotted
Witch-hazel family
Wood anemone
Wood aster
Wood aster, White
Wood betony
Wood lily
Wood lily, White
Woodland golden-rod
Wood-sorrel family
Wood-sorrel, Violet
Wood-sorrel, White or True
Woody nightshade
Wreath golden-rod
Wrinkle-leaved golden-rod
Yarrow
Yellow-fringed orchis
Yellow-top
Yellow-weed
Zig-zag golden-rod
End of Project Gutenberg's Wild Flowers Worth Knowing, by Neltje Blanchan
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