GRASS OF PARNASSUS 

 Parnassia palustris L. 



SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 



For a plant with short, broad leaves and showy white flowers 

 "Grass of Parnassus" seems a strange name. It has, however, 

 the sanction of distinguished origin and ancient usage, having 

 been applied to this very species by Dioscorides, a learned Greek 

 physician of the first and second centuries, who has been called 

 the founder of botany. 



The entire-margined, heart-shaped leaves of the Grass of 

 Parnassus all spring from the rootstock, with the exception of 

 a single one, which clasps the stem one-third of the way to the 

 flower. Each stem, four to twelve inches high, terminates in a 

 single white blossom an inch or so in diameter always facing 

 the sky. Although of a very common form open, regular, and 

 five parted these flowers have such individuality of detail that 

 once attentively observed they are not afterwards forgotten or 

 confused with others. The broad petals are clearly and hand- 

 somely veined with light green. In front of each stands a fan- 

 shaped group of nine to fifteen slender white filaments each top- 

 ped, not by an anther, but by a small yellow knob. Together the 

 five groups form a kind of grille surrounding the inner parts of 

 the flower. Since even minute details of structure are not with- 

 out use and meaning in the life of a flower, it will be an interest- 

 ing problem for readers to discover what purpose is served by this 

 unusual and prominent floral accessory. The centre of the flower 

 is, of course, occupied by the ovary the immature seed capsule 

 which is short and round, and bears on top three or four stigmas. 

 These stigmas, however, do not ripen until late in the blooming 

 period. Surrounding the capsule and alternate with the petals 

 are five stamens whose method of development is worth watching. 

 When the petals first expand each stamen is close-folded against 

 the capsule. Soon one of them straightens up, elongates its 

 filament, and takes a place in the centre of the flower directly 

 in the way 'of alighting insects. Later, probably the next day, 

 a second stamen, ripening its pollen, acts in the same manner. 

 The other three follow suit, the anthers of the earlier ones having 

 meanwhile shed their pollen and fallen off. This deliberate 

 development gives insects ample time in which to accomplish 

 their mission of cross-fertilizaton, and full seed-pods usually 

 result. 



In midsummer, throughout Canada to the Arctic Circle, the 

 starry blossoms of the Grass of Parnassus form constellations 

 in many wet meadows, and a Milky Way around many a grassy 

 pool. 



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