GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the 148 flowers in eastern America, 4 are 

 gi-een, 82 white, 39 yellow, 19 red, and 4 

 dull purple; but blue does not occur at all. 

 A blue rose will be produced only when a 

 flower is obtained in which the cell sap 

 changes from acid to alkaline. This actu- 

 ally happens in the common borage, the 

 (corolla of which is at flrst red but later 

 turns blue. 



It was long believed that the same spe- 

 cies could not produce yellow, red, and blue 

 flowers. But this doctrine, to use the words 

 of Dr. Lindley, " must now be laid up in the 

 limbo of pleasant dreams." This supposed 

 law is contradicted by the hyacinth, pansy, 

 cardinal larkspur, and many other plants. 

 Though both red and blue coloring never 

 occur among the Avild roses, a hyacinth has 

 been seen to produce a perfectly pink and 

 a perfectly blue blossom on the same truss; 

 another truss had blue flowers on one side 

 and red flowers on the other, and several of 

 the flowers were striped longitudinally red 

 and blue. In the sweet-scented violet ( Vio- 

 la odorata) blue cells may occur above and 

 red cells beneath. 



It is a very common occurrence for wliite 

 flowers to change to red, and every stage 

 of this transition is placed before v;s by the 

 rose family. White and red roses may oc- 

 cur on the same root, and white and pink 

 flowers have also been seen on a single 

 plant of the snapdragon. Several kinds of 

 pinks are at first white, but later change to 

 red. This change of color may be brought 

 about by a strong stimulus, as when lowland 

 white flowers are grown under the intense 

 light of alpine heights, or are stung by gall- 

 flies. When a white flower of the common 

 thorn-bush is stung by a gall-fly, all the or- 

 gans become bright red, and increase in 

 size. 



Mr. A. I. Root has already called atten- 

 tion in Gleanings to the violet-blue rose 

 offered for sale by florists for the first time 

 during the season of 1911. 



There are a number of families in our 

 flora in which I'ed flowers are common, but 

 blue is wholly absent. The buckwheat fam- 

 ily contains 11, the orchis family 22, the 

 rose family 19, the mallow family 13, the 

 evening-iorimi'ose family 10, the heath fam- 

 ily 10, and huckleberry family 11 red-flow- 

 ered species; but there are no blue flowers 

 in any of these families. While this is i^ri- 

 marily due to the acidity of the cell sap, 

 it will be noticed that most of the flowers 

 are regular in form and but little modified. 

 In other families, such as the pea, gentian, 

 and mint families, both red and blue flowers 

 are common. 



There are many red lilies, orchids, and 

 pinks, whicii are great favorites of butter- 



flies ; and, therefore, it was long thought 

 that butterflies, at least the fire-red kinds, 

 preferred red hues. But further pi'o of seems 

 desirable. Red flowers are most abundant 

 in the pink family, which contains 22 spe- 

 cies. The pinks exhibit a wonderful vari- 

 ety of red shades, \-arying through rose, 

 pink, and deep red to scarlet and crimson. 

 The petals may be dotted or marbled with 

 wliite, and they are often notched or fring- 

 ed, and surmounted with a corona of scales. 

 The scent is aromatic, and the nectar lies 

 at the bottom of a slender tube where it is 

 often inaccessible to all insects except but- 

 terflies. 



Trees with red flowers are rare, but 

 shrubs are common. Of trees, the peach, 

 red buckeye, and red maple are the best- 

 known examples. There are many red- 

 flowered shrubs in the rose, heath, and huck- 

 leberry families. Undoubtedly the two hand- 

 somest North American shrubs belong to 

 tlie heath family. The are Rhodundendron 

 maximum and Kalrrna lati folia, or the 

 mountain laurel. Asa Gray says that in 

 North Carolina they adorn the valleys and 

 mountains in immense abundance and pro- 

 fuse blossoming of every hue from deep 

 rose to white. 



It is rather remarkable that, among the 

 571 species of Compositae, there are only 

 nine red flowers. On the other hand, 13 

 species, or one-half of the mallow family, 

 have pink or red blossoms. In the buek- 

 wlieat family the petals are wanting, and 

 the flowers are small; but the calyx is often 

 red, and sometimes the seed-vessels, stems, 

 and leaves. In the poppy family the flow- 

 ers are crimson, scarlet, and yellow, and the 

 sap is also yellow or red. The wild colum- 

 bine {Aquilegia canadensis) j^roduces scar- 

 let flowers which are yellow inside but rare- 

 ly all over. There are two other species in 

 our northern flora which exhibit similar col- 

 oring. They are the trumpet honeysuckle 

 and the Maryland pinkroot. The former 

 is sometimes yellow throughout. All three 

 of these flowers are visited by humming- 

 birds. Another hummingbird flower, the 

 cardinal flower, is unsurpassed in the bril- 

 liancy of its coloring by any other red flow- 

 er. 



Tlie number of red flowers which are val- 

 -lable to the beekeeper is much smaller than 

 those which are white or yellow. The most 

 important are the peach, huckleberry, red 

 and crimson clovers, and the great willow 

 herb, or Epilobium angustifolium. In New 

 Zealand thousands of acres of waste land 

 are covered by New Zealand flax {PJior- 

 minm /ewa./) , which produces a beautiful red 

 flower and yields a most delicious honey. 



Waldoboro, Me. 



