178 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



Albany. But, again, I must claim that tliis is a limi- 

 tation based only upon personal experience. At any 

 rate, I do not consider the flower common, as I have 

 searched for it in vain in many of the moist meadows 

 of New Hampshire. The brilliant blossom is pecul- 

 iarly formed ; it has two narrow lateral flanges, and 

 beneath these droop the three broader points of the 

 lower lip ; above this the corolla tube sticks straight 

 out with a touch of yellow at its tip. This tube is so 

 narrow and long that the bees have no luck in the 

 hunt for honey ; it is very amusing to see how both- 

 ered they are about getting in — of course they have 

 to give it up ! Then a humming bird comes along, 

 balancing himself before the slender tube, and easily 

 licks all the honey out with bis long tongue. 



The beautiful, brilliant flower is so often seen 

 beside a pool of water that Dr. Holmes's verse 

 exactly describes its environment : 



" The cardinal, and the blood-red spots, 



Its double in the stream ; 

 As if some wounded eagle's breast, 



Slow throbbing o'er the plain. 

 Had left its airy path impressed 



In drops of scarlet rain." 



Wild Sunflower. By the middle of summer the wild 

 Helianthus gigauteuK. gunflower appears here and there 

 beside the road, with its light-yellow disks lighting 

 up the shadows which are cast by the neighboring 



