THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



doubtless for this reason that yellow flowers enjoy so great 

 popularity both in the United States and Europe. 



The goldenrods, a genus of beautiful and stately plants, 

 which are everywhere common in North America, bloom from 

 midsummer until late fall. They are most valuable as a source 

 of honey, and in New England are the main reliance of the bee- 

 keeper for winter stores for his colonies. They are great favor- 

 ites with the honey-bee, and are visited also by more than 100 

 other species of insects. The bright-yellow color of the flowers 

 renders them conspicuous both by day and evening; and as 

 the temperature of the inflorescence at night is several degrees 

 above that of the surrounding air, they sometimes serve as a 

 nocturnal refuge for insects. 



"And in the evening, everywhere, 

 Along the roadside, up and down, 

 I see the golden torches flare, 



Like lighted street-lamps in the town. 



I think the butterfly and bee, 



From distant meadows coming back, 



Are quite contented when they see 



These lamps along the homeward track." 



Sherman. 



Yellow flowers in their natural state exhibit but little varia- 

 tion in color. They change most readily to white, and less 

 often to red and blue. Under cultivation Darwin noted a double 

 yellow hollyhock, which suddenly turned one year into a single 

 white form, and a chrysanthemum has been observed to bear 

 both yellow and white flowers. Some species of mustard reg- 

 ularly fade to white, and not a few white flowers show that 

 they are derived from an ancestral yellow by retaining vestiges 

 of this color at the base of the petals, as the water-crowfoot. 

 The pale-yellow flowers of Oenothera laciniato, of the golden 



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