s 



FLOWERS, FEATHERS AND FINS 



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



OME of the handsomest and most showy flowers Canada. As all know, its bark and roots are aromatic; 

 we have in our flora are not those that blossom on and not only are its leaves green, but also its bud-scales, 

 plants in the meadows, fields and marshes, but are flowers and its small branches and twigs. One of the 



to be seen, as spring oiiens, on some of the grandest 

 trees of the forests. A co •is;)icuous example of this is to 

 be noted in the 

 tulip tree. 



Few there are 

 a m o n g us who 

 give any thought 

 to the ancestry of 

 trees, that is, to the 

 evolution of trees 

 in time — geologic 

 time. For exam- 

 ple, it is now known 

 that our present- 

 day tulip-tree is, as 

 a species, the last 

 of an extinct type 

 which, ages upon 

 ages ago, was ex- 

 tremely abundant. 

 There are some 

 seventeen species 

 of tulip-trees, all 

 extinct, in the Cre- 

 taceous formation 

 alone. They have 

 been discovered in 

 Kansas, New Jer- 

 sey, Wyoming and 

 Nebraska, while 

 other fossils of 

 them have come 



from Greenland fje- l-yndcr certain favorable conditions, tie 

 \ello\v Poplar or Tuhp-tree [Lirwdcadrpn tiiltpi- 



and Bohemia. Still /'*'■'" may come to be of a great age. attaining a 

 heiglit of an hunrired feet or more Tbe one here 



other tVPeS have shown is considerably higher than that, and it 

 -^ * " may be a cn'.irv old. It is on a hill south of 



been discovered ^^^ National Zoological Park, Washington, D C, 

 and it is no.v on the decline. 



mostly in Eurf)]ie, 



in the Tertiary formation. The flowers of the tulip- 

 tree are well known, as they are large and very showy. 

 Throughout tlie Middle Atlantic States we have, in 

 suitable localities, some shrubs and plants that do not 

 flower until far into the autumn months. Some of these 

 have already been figured and described in American 

 Forestry, while others were set aside to have atten- 

 tion drawn to them here. Among the shrubs there i- 

 the well-known and favorite sassafras and its beautiful 

 berries, or what might better be designated as its fruit. 

 It has been described as Sassafras vcriifoUtiui. likewise 

 as S. officinale, and it is tlie only species known to the 

 botanist, occurring, as it does, principally east of the 

 Mississijipi and southward ; it is also found in southern 



THIS OLD TULIP TREE COULD TELL .W 

 INTERESTING STORY 



most curious things about this sassafras tree is, how- 

 ever, the form of its leaves ; they are dimorphous — that 

 is. the earlier ones are oval in outline and entire, while 

 those coming out later are irregular in outline and three- 

 lobed. In Australia there are other shrubs called sas- 

 safras, Ijut they do not belong in the same group as our 

 United States form. Still other shrubs bear the same 

 name in .South America, and some of these are mag- 

 nolias. 



Passing to the more humble plants of the fall months, 

 there is a very interesting one in the Turtle-head, also 

 known as the Shell-flower and Cone-head in some locali- 

 ties. It is found growing along streams and on the 



edges of big 

 swamps an d 

 marshes. S o m e- 

 times you will run 

 across a fine plant 

 of this species, do- 

 ing b e a u t i fully 

 among the rank 

 vegetation spring- 

 ing up in an old 

 ditch containing 

 clear water. It oc 

 curs almost any- 

 where east of the 

 Alississippi, flow- 

 ering from July 

 to September, 

 according to local- 

 ity. The plant is 

 rarely seen north 

 of Newfoundland, 

 and it is not espe- 

 cially a b u n d a nt 

 any w h e r e. Re- 

 garded upon side 

 view, one of the 

 flowers rather re- 

 !,'«■ , ^tJ}'"," "", u^"" ,'P«'^''=f, "J >."''? '^'if'i minds one of the 



Head (Chelonc glabra), also called Snake Head 



and Balmony, and all. with the exception of C head of a Stliall 



Ixoni of tbe South, are proTie to gro.v in wet and 



d'amp places. The flowers of this Turtle Head t U r t 1 C witll itS 



are white, tinged with rosy pink; while in Lyon's 



Turtle Head the corolla is of a rich purple, with niOUth OPCU. Bi"' 



a decidedly ro.^y hue ^ \ '^ 



bees, in sewing it. 

 have a hard time squeezing in past the pseudo li])s of tlT^ 

 matured blossom. Once inside, however, the insect'.? 

 movements are communicated to the whole flower, while 

 the former is entirely out of view. The "head" and 

 "jaws" now seem to simulate those of a masticating tur- 

 tle — in fact, an eveless, white-headed turtle, tinged with 



A GLANCE AT THESE FLOWERS WILL EX- 

 PLAIN WHY THIS PLANT IS CALLED 

 TURTLE HEAD 



J69 



