FLOWERS, FEATHERS AND FINS 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M. D., C.M.Z.S. 



SOME of the handsomest and most showy flowers 

 we have in our flora are not those that blossom on 

 plants in the meadows, fields and marshes, but arc 

 to be seen, as spring opens, on some of the grandest 

 trees of the forests. A conspicuous example of this is t-^^ 

 be noted in the 

 tulip tree. 



Few there are 

 among us who 

 give any thought 

 to the ancestry of 

 trees, that is, to the 

 evolution of trees 

 in time geologic 

 time. For exam- 

 ple, it is now known 

 that our present- 

 day tulip-tree is, as 

 a species, the last 

 of an extinct type 

 which, ages upon 

 ages ago, was ex- 

 tremely abundant. 

 There are some 

 seventeen species 

 of tulip-trees, all 

 extinct, in the Cre- 

 taceous formation 

 alone. They have 

 been discovered in 

 Kansas, New Jer- 

 sey, Wyoming and 

 Nebraska, while 

 other fossils of 

 them have come 



from Greenland F'K- l-Under certain favorable conditions, tie 

 Yellow Poplar or Tulip-tree (LtrtodenJron tultpi- 



and Bohemia. Still f^ra) <my come to be of a great age attainiiig a 

 height of an hundred feet or more The one here 



other tVOeS have shown is considerably higher than that, and it 

 ' * may be a century oh'. It is on a hill south of 



been discovered, th National Zoological Park, Washington. D C. 

 and it is now on tlic decline. 



mostly in Eurojie, 



in the Tertiary formation. The flowers of the tulip- 

 tree are well known, as they arc large and very showy. 

 Throughout the Middle Atlantic States we have, in 

 suitable localities, some shrubs and plants that do not 

 flower until far into the autumn months. Some of these 

 have already been figured and described in American 

 Forestry, while others were set aside to have atten- 

 tion drawn to them here. Among the shrubs there is 

 the well-known and favorite sassafras and its beautiful 

 berries, or what might better be designated as its fruit. 

 It has been described as Sassafras I'eriifoliiirii, likewise 

 as S. officinale, and it is the only species known to the 

 botanist, occurring, as it does, principally east of the 

 Mississippi and southward; it is also found in southern 



THIS OLD TULIP TREE COULD TELL AX 

 INTERESTING STORY 



Canada. As all know, its bark and roots are aromatic ; 

 and not only are its leaves green, but also its bud-scales, 

 flowers and its small branches and twigs. One of the 

 most curious things about this sassafras tree is, how- 

 ever, the form of its leaves ; they are dimorphous that 

 is, the earlier ones are oval in outline and entire, while 

 those coming out later are irregular in outline and three- 

 lobed. In Australia there are other shrubs called sas- 

 safras, but they do not belong in the same group as our 

 United States form. Still other shrubs bear the same 

 name in South America, and some of these are mag- 

 nolias. 



Passing to the more humble plants of the fall months, 

 there is a very interesting one in the Turtle-head, also 

 known as the Shell-flower and Cone-head in some locali- 

 ties. It is found growing along streams and on the 



edges of big 

 swamps and 

 marshes. S o m e- 

 times you will run 

 across a fine plant 

 of this species, do- 

 ing b e a u t i fully 

 among the rank 

 vegetation spring- 

 ing up in an old 

 ditch containing 

 clear water. It oc 

 curs almost any- 

 where east of the 

 Mississippi, flow- 

 ering from July 

 to September, 

 according to local- 

 ity. The plant is 

 rarely seen north 

 of Newfoundland, 

 and it is not espe- 

 cially a b u n d a nt 

 any where. Re- 

 garded upon side 

 view, one of the 

 flowers rather re- 

 minds one of the 

 head of a small 

 turtle with its 

 mouth open. Big 

 bees, in serving it. 

 have a hard time squeezing in past the pseudo lips of th" 

 matured blossom. Once inside, however, the insect's 

 movements are communicated to the whole flower, while 

 the former is entirely out of view. The "head" and 

 "jaws" now seem to simulate those of a masticating tur- 

 tle in fact, an eyeless, white-headed turtle, tinged with 



A GLANCE AT THESE FLOWERS WILL EX- 

 PLAIN WHY THIS PLANT IS CALLED 

 TURTLE HEAD 



Fig. 2 There are three species of this Turtle 

 Head (Chelone glabra), also called Snake Head 

 and Balmony, and all. with the exception of C 

 lyoni of the South, are prone to gro.v in wet and 

 damp places. The flowers of this Turtle Head 

 are white, tinged with rosy pink; while in Lyon's 

 Turtle Head the corolla is of a rich purple, with 

 a decidedly rosy hue 



