EARLY SPRING AND SUMMER FLOWERS 



163 



in a cluster, as shown in Figure 1. Generally, however, 

 there are but three blossoms to the plant, the middle one 

 opening first, and the remaining two following later. Thus 

 the time of blooming is prolonged, and opportunity is 

 given certain insects to perform the work of cross-fertili- 

 zation, this service being usually accomplished by various 

 species of early bees and bee-like flies. The leaves of 

 the rue anemone are dark olive green, and in some 

 respects are said to resemble those of the Meadow Rue 

 in form and color. 



As spring passes into summer in the Mid-Atlantic 

 States, a great many flowers, representing a great number 



THE PERPETUATORS OF THEIR KIND 



Fig. 3. Along in the early autumn, in the Middle Atlantic States where the 

 Rose Mallows grow, we find their tall, dark-brown stems, bearing a few equally 

 dark-brown and withered leaves. Above these are the blackish-brown and 

 opened seed-pods, arranged as shown in this illustration. The pods represent the 

 fruit of the Rose Mallow, and they are usually 5-celled, with a great number of 

 smallish dark-colored seeds in each cell. These are easily iarred out by shaking 

 the long, dry stems. 



of families and a still greater number of genera and species, 

 begin to blossom. The display is almost bewildering to 

 the collector, and still more so to the out-of-door photog- 

 rapher of flowers. However, from this bewitching array 

 of form and color, set in every imaginable shade of green, 

 tan and brown, we must select some subject for descrip- 



tion, or else the lovely days of spring and summer will 

 slip by, leaving us almost where we stood when the 

 anemones began to peep above ground. As we follow 

 the path through some shady wood, keeping ever near the 

 brooklet whose crystal waters tumble along in the same 

 direction, we may note, on every hand, the coming of the 

 elegant early ferns; the patches of brilliant May Apples; 



ONE OF THE RARITIES OF THE SHADY WOODS 



Fig. 4. A beautiful specimen of the Showy Orchis (Orchis speclabilis). This 

 by no means abundant plant ranges from New Brunswick and New England 

 southward to Georgia, westward to Missouri and Dakota. Most botanists 

 place the 18 or 20 genera composing the Orchis family between the Arrow-root 

 family (Marantacece) and the Willow family (Salicacea) . It is not difficult, 

 however, to recognize the Showy Orchis, especially with such a picture of it as 

 is here presented. Note its two oblong-obovate, shiny leaves; its floral bracts, 

 which are leaf-like and lanceolate in form; they generally exceed the flowers 

 in number. Each flower has an undivided ovate lip, which, while usually 

 white, may be, in some specimens, of a magenta pink. In the center of its 

 range this Orchis is found in flower during the months of May and June. 



many grasses and sedges, and scores of other plants 

 which will flower as summer advances. The soft, balmy 

 breezes of early June easily cause the tender leaves of 

 trees and shrubs to tremble, as they come and go in gentle 

 waves, having hardly the force to create so much as a 

 quiver among the plants, now so luxuriantly appearing 

 about their roots. 



One very beautiful and very sturdy little plant in 

 particular is quite oblivious to the 'nodding and bobbing 

 of its breeze-shaken neighbors. This is the early Showy 

 Orchis {Orchis spectabilis); and the flora of the region 

 has no representative possessing a more interesting life- 

 history, greater beauty, or more attractive form (Fig. 4). 

 Its pair of large, glossy green leaves are broadly elliptical 

 in outline and quite silvery upon their under sides. Note 

 in Figure 4 how they develop just so soon as they push 

 their way up through the debris of last year's vegetation. 

 Your hand-lens will help not a little here ; only you must 

 imagine the flowers to be a bright pink sometimes a pur- 

 plish pink with their lowermost petals white. The 

 fertilization of these little plants is most interesting; 

 for some female bees of certain species seem almost to 

 be built along lines to effect the operation successfully, 

 and this is later carried on by some species of butterflies. 



Figures 2 and 3 are reproductions of photographs of 

 the flower and seed-pods of the gorgeous representative 



