May and Early June 



suggesting a yellow daisy. In moist 

 places are the flat - topped umbels of the 

 early meadow - parsnip, with yellow, um- 

 brella-like clusters which betray their 

 kinship with the white wild carrot of 

 summer, and the origin of the scientific 

 name of their family, UmbellifercE. 



Certain meadows are flooded with deep 

 orange. If we explore their depths we 

 discover the smooth, slender stems, pale 

 leaves, and deep-hued flower-heads (sug- 

 gesting dandelions somewhat) of the cyn- 

 thia. Great patches of these are inter- 

 spersed with lavender masses of wild 

 geranium, a flower nearly allied to the 

 blossom which led the German student, 

 Sprengel, to suspect the important minis- 

 trations of insects to plants. He pon- 

 dered long the significance of the beard- 

 ed throat which protects the nectar from 

 rain and useless insects, convinced that 

 ** the wise author of nature had not creat- 

 ed a hair in vain." 



38 



