RED 



its rounded flower-clusters touch with warmth the shadows of 

 the damp woods of midsummer. The Indians named the flower 

 O-gee-chee flaming flower, and are said to have made a tea-like 

 decoction from the blossoms. 



PIMPERNEL. POOR-MAN' S-WEATHER-GLASS. 



Andgallis arvensis. Primrose Family. 



Steins. Low, spreading. Leaves. Opposite, ovate, set close to the 

 stem. Floivers. Red, occasionally blue or white, growing singly from the 

 axils of the leaves. Calyx. Five-parted. Corolla. Five-parted, wheel- 

 shaped. Stamens. Five, with bearded filaments. Pistil. One. 



This flower is found in sandy fields, being noted for its 

 sensitiveness to the weather. It folds its petals at the approach 

 of rain, and fails to open at all on a wet or cloudy day. Even 

 in fine weather it closes in the early afternoon and " sleeps " till 

 the next morning. Its ripened seeds are of value as food for 

 many song-birds. It was thought at one time to be serviceable 

 in liver complaints, which reputed virtue may have given rise to 

 the old couplet : 



No ear hath heard, no tongue can tell 

 The virtues of the pimpernel. 



CARDINAL-FLOWER. 



Lobelia cardinalis. Lobelia Family. 



Stem. From two to four feet high. Leaves. Alternate, narrowly 

 oblong, slightly toothed. Flowers. Bright red, growing in a raceme. 

 Calyx. Five-cleft. Corolla. Somewhat two-lipped, the upper lip of two 

 rather erect lobes, the lower spreading and three-cleft. Stamens. Five, 

 united into a tube. Pistil. One, with a fringed stigma. 



We have no flower which can vie with this in vivid color- 

 ing. In late summer its brilliant red gleams from the marshes 

 or is reflected from the shadowy water's edge with unequalled 



intensity 



As if some wounded eagle's breast 



Slow throbbing o'er the plain, 

 Had left its airy path impressed 



In drops of scarlet rain.* 



The early French Canadians were so struck with its beauty that 

 they sent the plant to France as a specimen of what the wilds of 



* Holmes. 

 226 



