Magenta to Pink 



fills farmers with dismay. It is like a small edition of the hedge 

 bindweed, only its calyx lacks the leaf-like bracts at its base, its 

 slender stem rarely exceeds two feet in length, and the little pink 

 and white flowers often grow in pairs. Their habit of closing 

 both in the evening and in rainy weather indicates that they are 

 adapted for diurnal insects only ; but if the bell hang down, or 

 if the corolla drop off, the pollen must fall on the stigma and 

 effect self-fertilization. Many more insects visit this flower than 

 the large bindweed, attracted by the peculiar fragrance, and led 

 by the white streaks to the orange-colored under surface of the 

 ovary, where the nectar lies concealed. Stigmas and anthers ma- 

 ture at the same time ; but as the former are slightly the longer, 

 they receive pollen brought from another flower before the visitor 

 gets freshly dusted. 



Ground or Moss Pink 



(Pblox subulata) Phlox family 



Flowers Very numerous, small, deep purplish pink, lavender or 

 rose, varying to white, with a darker eye, growing in simple 

 cymes, or solitary in a Western variety. Calyx with 5 slen- 

 der teeth; corolla salver-form with 5 spreading lobes; 5 sta- 

 mens inserted on corolla tube; style 3-lobed. Stems: Rarely 

 exceeding 6 in. in height, tufted like mats, much branched, 

 plentifully set with awl-shaped, evergreen leaves barely f 

 in. long, growing in tufts at joints of stem. (Illustration 

 facing p. 140.) 



Preferred Habitat Rocky ground/ hillsides. 



Flowering Season April June. 



Distribution Southern New York to Florida, westward to Michi- 

 gan and Kentucky. 



A charming little plant, growing in dense evergreen mats 

 with which Nature carpets dry, sandy, and rocky hillsides, is often 

 completely hidden beneath its wealth of flowers. Far beyond its 

 natural range, as well as within it, the moss pink glows in gar- 

 dens, cemeteries, and parks, wherever there are rocks to conceal 

 or sterile wastes to beautify. Very slight encouragement induces 

 it to run wild. There are great rocks in Central Park, New York, 

 worth travelling miles to see in early May, when their stern faces 

 are flushed and smiling with these blossoms. 



Another low ground species is the Crawling Phlox (P. rep- 

 tans). It rarely exceeds six inches in height ; nevertheless its 

 larger pink, purple, or white flowers, clustered after the manner of 

 the tall garden phloxes, are among the most showy to be found 

 in the spring woods. A number of sterile shoots with obovate 

 leaves, tapering toward the base, rise from the runners and set 



141 



