I 



AMERICAN WILD IRIS 



Our marsh flag (/rw ver- 

 xieolor), or "fleur-de-lis" 

 I "Fleur-de-Louis," it is the 

 national flower of France and 

 perhaps something besides 

 mere chance has dictated that 

 the cultivated fleur-de-lis 

 should be so popular in 

 America this summer of 

 1917], is of the "truest blue," 

 and has "a sword for its leaf" 

 — a flower of chivalry. 



Bees cross-pollinate the 

 blue flag. They are said to 

 be always partial to blue. 

 Self-pollination is prevented 

 both by the position of the 

 parts in the flower and the 

 too early maturity of the 

 pollen. Watch a bee alight on 

 a drooping outer leaf and fol- 

 low its guiding lines upward 

 and then downward toward 

 the nectar cup, pushing its 

 body under the leaflike roof 

 above, and leaving by the 

 same route. Butterflies reach 

 the nectar with their long 

 "tongues" without entering 

 the chambers where the pollen 

 lies — but there is a bountiful 

 supply, enough for all 



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