ACCORDING TO SEASON 



nized at once by its much-inflated calyx and by 

 its deeply parted white petals. A few days since 

 I found the wayside whitened with the large 

 flowers of the lovely summer anemone, each one 

 springing from between two closely set, deeply 

 cut leaves, in the distance suggesting white wild- 

 geraniums. A near kinsman, the thimble-weed, is 

 apt to be confused with the summer anemone 

 when it is found bearing white instead of green- 

 ish flowers. This curious-looking plant is notice- 

 able now in shaded spots, growing to a height of 

 two or three feet, and sending up gaunt flower- 

 stalks which are finally crowned with a large, 

 oblong, thimble-like head of fruit. 



Banked in hollows of the hill-side are tall, nod- 

 ding wands of willow-herb or fire-weed, with deli- 

 cate flowers of intense purple-pink. Each blossom 

 contains both stamens and pistil, but these mature 

 ivuiow- at different times, and so-called "self-fertilization " 

 fire-weed * s prevented. The pollen is discharged from the 

 stamens while the immature pistil is still bent 

 backward, with its stigmas so closed as to render 

 it impossible for them to receive upon their sur- 

 faces a single quickening grain. Later it erects 

 itself, spreading its four stigmas, which now secure 

 easily any pollen which may have been brushed 

 upon the body of the visiting bee. These flowers 

 are so large and are visited so constantly by bees 



136 



