MIDSUMMER FLOWERS 



405 



rose-colored ovoid or ob- 

 long club of bloom above 

 {Kinds and lakes, it is suf- 

 ficiently protected from 

 crawling pilferers, of 

 course, by the water in 

 which it grows. But sup- 

 pose the pond dries up and 

 the plant is left on dry 

 ground, what then? Now, 

 a remarkable thing hap- 

 pens ; protective glandular, 

 sticky hairs appear on the 

 epidermis of the leaves and 

 stems, which were perfectly 

 smooth when the flowers 

 grew in the water. Such 

 small wingless insects as 

 might pilfer nectar, without 

 bringing to their hostess 

 any pollen from other blos- 

 soms, are held as fast as on 

 bird-lime. The stem, which 

 sometimes floats, sometimes 

 is immersed, may attain a 

 length of twenty feet ; the 

 rounded, elliptic, petioled 

 leaves may be four inches 

 long or only half that size." 



There appear to be 

 Several subspecies or va- 

 rieties, as the botanists 

 designate them of this 

 species, as P. a. terrestre 

 and P. a. hartwrightii. 



When we come to study 

 the Spurge family (- 

 phorbiaceoe) , we run into 

 all sorts of curious plants, 

 with still more curious 

 flowers. Not a few of these 

 are represented in the flora 

 of our Atlantic States, from 

 Massachusetts to Florida, 

 inclusive, while in warmer 

 parts of the world the array 

 of the members of this fam- 

 ily is simply enormous. If 

 we chance to be crossing 

 some barren and sandy field 

 along in July and August, 

 anywhere throughout the 



middle of its range, we are very likely to run into some 

 of the Spurges of the genus Euphorbia, and most likely 

 the Flowering Spurge (. corollata), of which there is 

 a fine specimen shown in Figure 3, collected in southern 

 Maryland. Formerly this plant was found no farther 

 north than New York, but of recent years it has become 

 naturalized in New England, as far north as southern 

 Massachusetts. East of the Mississippi Valley there are 



THE GREEN TREE FROG (Hy/a cinerea) 



Fig. 4. Should one be hunting for the flowers of some of the broad-leaved 

 aquatic plants that flourish on the margins of ponds in any one of the southern 

 states, the searcher is more than apt to meet with a big, green tree frog, which 

 the herpetolcgists will tell you is one of the most conspicuous and interesting 

 of its genus. This is Hyla cinerea. It has a near relative in Hyla evilala, which 

 has thus far only been found near Washington, D. C; we have but meagre 

 knowledge of its habits. The Green Tree Frog, as its name would suggrat, 

 is of a brilliant pea green, verging upon a bright pale yellow. Upon either 

 side it has an elegant stripe of white or pale golden yellow, the legs bemg 

 similarly striped, the former being emarginated with black. It is one of our 

 largest tree n-ogs, and certainly one of the most handsome. It thrives well in 

 captivity, living upon flies and other insects; it is a noisy but not an especially 

 active species. The specimens shown in the cut were taken near New Orleans, and 

 were in the possession of the writer several days for the purpose of photography. 



upwards of thirty species 

 of Euphorbia, as the Sea- 

 side Spurge, Milk Purslane, 

 Snow - on - the - mountain. 

 Painted Leaf, Wartweed, 

 and the rest, while in this 

 same family with our pretty 

 little Flowering Spurge we 

 find the famous Castor Oil 

 plant (Ricinus communis ) , 

 and several species of Mer- 

 cury of the genera Mer- 

 curialis and Acalypha. 



The flowers of the 

 Flowering Spurge are both 

 staminate and pistillate 

 kinds, and, strange to say, 

 the plant is rather closely 

 related to the elegant Poin- 

 settia, with its gorgeous 

 scarlet or vermilion flowers 

 a plant we not rarely 

 have the opportunity to ad- 

 mire in the show windows 

 of the establishments of 

 first-class florists. Flies of 

 various species are the in- 

 sects most often responsible 

 for the fertilization of the 

 Flowering Spurge, and 

 they carry the pollen from 

 its staminate flowers to 

 the pistillate ones minute 

 and delicate little struc- 

 tures situated in the cen- 

 tre of the showy, though 

 small, white involucre. 

 Some of the Euphorbiae are 

 poisonous plants, and, ac- 

 cording to Alice Louns- 

 berry, " the medicinal prop- 

 erties of spurges are said 

 to have been discovered 

 long ago by King Juba of 

 Mauritania, in Africa, and 

 to be equally well known to 

 our own Indians ; they have 

 not altogether the sanction 

 of many for such use. It 

 is certainly true that, aside 

 from its powers of purging, 

 the plant possesses little 

 virtue." However this may be, it is very important that 

 we know these interesting plants in our fields when we 

 meet with them. 



In Figure 5 we have a very pretty specimen of Bounc- 

 ing Bet (Saponaria officinalis), a flower that has been 

 saddled with many names, most of them as inappropriate 

 as the vernacular one just given, as Soapwort, Hedge 

 Pink, Bruisewort, Old Maid's Pink, and Fuller's Herb. 



