Wild Flowers Worth Knowing
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Neltje Blanchan et al >> Wild Flowers Worth Knowing
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17 Editorial note: The "zip" version of this book (wfwkn10.zip) includes
numerous images to accompany the text.
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.
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