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FT.OWERS THAT 



BLOOM IN JUNE 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C. M. Z. S. 



ALL through the northeastern section of the United 

 Slates, the month of June marks the long-lookcd-for 

 season by the student of wild flowers, when field and 

 forest, marsh and meadow are actually aglow with hun- 

 dreds of different flowers that were not in e\ddence earlier 

 in the year. One meets with them upon every hand, just 

 so soon as one passes beyond the environs of the city; or, if 

 one lives in the country, almost before there is a chance to 



THE FLOWER OF OUR HILLSIDES AND ROCKY CRAGS 



Fig. 1. — This is a fine specimen of the Wild Columbine {Aquilegi'a canadetisis) 

 which belongs to the Crowfoot family alons with such plants as Larkspur, Helle- 

 bore, . Buttercups, and many others {RanunrulacecE). There are several species 

 and varieties of the Wild Columbine, as well as a Garden Columbine (A. vulRnris), 

 in which the flowers are blue, purple, pink, or even pure white. This wild one, 

 however, has scarlet flowers that are yellow inside; it nods upon its slender stem, 

 which causes its hollow spurs to point upwards; though when the flower drops off 

 the fruit points the same way. The C?oIumbine is a perennial, having 2-3-tern- 

 ately compound leaves with lobed leaflets. The five hollow spurs are backward 

 projections of the petals, which latter are all aUke. The five regular sepals have 

 the same color. Pistils likewise are five, with slender styles. The erect pods con- 

 tain many small seeds. Range; general; blooming from the latter part of April 

 to the middle of June. 



340 



BLACK-EYED SUSAN, A FAVORITE FLOWER OF EARLY SUMMER 



Fig. 2. — N'early every one who goes afield is so well acquainted with this con- 

 spicuous "Yellow Daisy" that it hardly requires a description. It is the Rud- 

 heckia hirta of the botanies, and belongs among the Composittr or great Composite 

 family. It also bears the name of Cone-flower and Nigger-head — the latter being 

 particularly inappropriate from any viewpoint. There is no trouble in finding it 

 on its range anywhere, during the months of June to September, for it grows in 

 the dry soil of meadows, brakes, and roadsides, from western New York to Mani- 

 toba and southward. Originally it came from the West mixed with clover seed. 

 In various localities it presents certain variations in its flowers and leaves, and it 

 may be either an annual or a biennial. There is a pair of Aphrodite butterflies 

 (.4rg3'7ini5 aphrodite) on the upper flowers, a very beautiful and abundant species 

 of the eastern part of the United States; it is a near relative of A. cybele. 



pass out of the front gate. Their name is legion; and, to 

 mention some of them here, with a \'iew of giving an idea 

 of their abundance, colors, or marvelous beauty, is to do a 

 rank injustice to the host of others left off the list. Only 

 a few can be considered at a time, with the hope of contin- 

 ually making records of others as the months pass. 



First, w^e may choose the Columbine (Figure 1). That 

 superb plant, with its beautiful flowers, is known to nearly 

 every one that at all frequents the open; moreover, its 

 unique stiiicturc and form is no stranger in many country 

 or even city gardens, where we meet with the Garden Col- 

 umbine, a species wdth hooked spurs, originally introduced 

 from Europe. In northern New York the Wild Columbine 

 is sometimes seen to grow most luxuriantly out on hilly 

 meadows ; but this is by no means the case elsewhere, for 

 it is, perhaps, above all other flowers, the one that adorns 

 our hillsides, where masses of loose stones occur, or, even 



