CHAPTER XIII 



IS CONSPICUOUSNESS AN ADVANTAGE TO 

 FLOWERS? 



FLOWERS usually owe their conspicuousness to a bright- 

 colored corolla, as the rose and the buttercup. In the 

 absence of petals the calyx may become bright colored, 

 as in the clematis, anemone, marsh-marigold, and buckwheat; 

 or both calyx and corolla may be highly colored, as in the col- 

 umbines, larkspurs, and fuchsia. The catkins of the willows 

 are rendered very conspicuous in early spring by the numerous 

 yellow and red anthers, while in the meadow-rue the white 

 filaments are broad and petaloid. The small leaves or bracts 

 surrounding the flow^ers are also frequently brilliantly col- 

 ored. In the painted-cup (Castilleja) the bracts are bright 

 scarlet; in Monarda media they are purple, and in the bunch- 

 berry white (Fig. 98), while in the Proteacece of Australia the 

 upper foliage leaves are blue. 



Again, conspicuousness may be secured by massing small 

 flowers in large clusters (Fig. 99), or by their production in great 

 profusion. A single bluet is visible at a distance of only a few 

 feet; but when they whiten a whole hillside they form a part 

 of the facies of the landscape. When the dandelions bloom, 

 whole fields become a bright golden-yellow in some New Eng- 

 land towns; while in New Jersey large districts are white with 

 daisy -blossoms, but unfortunately not for the harvest. On 

 the prairies of Nebraska the ground-plum presents in spring a 

 very striking appearance, the plants forming dense masses 

 of reddish-blue flowers. In North Carolina, Rhododendron 



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