SUPPLEMEN7 



CHAPTER IX. 



SOME SPRING FLOWERS. 



With children who have already considerable acquaintance with 

 our wild flowers, it will be well to emphasize the relationship of the 

 plants of this chapter. The poppy family has marked traits ; two of 

 these, the fact that the sepals fall off as the flower expands, and that 

 there are twice as many petals as sepals, will serve to place all the 

 members we are likely to meet. The family as a whole is a very 

 showy one. The Spanish name " copo de oro, " cup of gold, is the 

 best one for the Eschscholtzia Californica^ Cham. There are 

 some kindred species difficult to distinguish from this, but this is by 

 far the most common, and it varies greatly in size and color. In rich 

 soil in the Mohave Desert, the size of this poppy and its richness of 

 color are magnificent ; the inhabitants speak of these poppy fields, 

 not as golden, but as blood-red, and in the distance this is the color 

 effect. The normal time for blooming is in early spring, but poppy 

 flowers may be found at almost any time of the year. If a first crop 

 is destroyed in grain fields, a second may spring up in summer, or the 

 earliest autumn rains may rouse the plants with strong perennial 

 roots. 



The pollination of the poppy is typical of flowers that furnish only 

 pollen. The color renders it very conspicuous, the amount of pollen 

 is considerable, and it is carefully hoarded. The cream cup, tree 

 poppy, and the two large white species furnish even greater supplies 

 of pollen. The sleepy habit of the plants is, of course, only a device 

 for protecting pollen. Kerner states that the older flowers simply 

 furl each petal like a tent over its own pollen, but I have rarely found 

 this true of uncultivated Echscholtzias, and it is not a common habit 

 in our gardens ; the petals usually roll up together as in the bud. 

 Kerner states also that the stigmas of the smaller flowers are short 

 enough to be in contact with the anthers, while in larger flowers they 

 are above the anthers, a condition which by no means always holds 



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