White and Greenish 



Only sphinx moths can reach its deep well of nectar, from which 

 bees are literally barred out by an inward turn of the stamens 

 toward the centre of the tube. Caterpillars of our commonest 

 member of the sphinx tribe conceal themselves on the tomato vine 

 by a mimicry of its color so faultless that a bright eye only may 

 detect their presence. In the South the caterpillar of another of 

 these moths (Sphinx Carolina) does fearful havoc under its ap- 

 propriate alias of "tobacco worm." 



Culver's-root ; Culver's Physic 



(Leptandra Virginica) Figwort family 

 (Veronica Virginica of Gray) 



Flowers Small, white or rarely bluish, crowded in dense spike- 

 like racemes 3 to 9 in. long, usually several spikes at top of 

 stem or from upper axils. Calyx 4-parted, very small; co- 

 rolla tubular, 4-lobed ; 2 stamens protruding; i pistil. Stem: 

 Straight, erect, usually unbranched, 2 to 7 ft. tall. Leaves : 

 Whorled, from 3 to 9 in a cluster, lance-shaped or oblong, 

 and long-tapering, sharply saw-edged. 



Preferred Habitat Rich, moist woods, thickets, meadows. 



Flowering Season June September. 



Distribution Nova Scotia to Alabama, west to Nebraska. 



Slender, erect white wands make conspicuous advertisements 

 in shady retreats at midsummer, when insect life is at its height 

 and floral competition for insect favors at its fiercest. Next of 

 kin to the tiny blue speedwell, these minute, pallid blossoms 

 could have little hope of winning wooers were they not living 

 examples of the adage, " In union there is strength." Great num- 

 bers crowded together on a single spike, and several spikes in a 

 cluster that towers above the woodland undergrowth, cannot 

 well be overlooked by the dullest insects, especially as nectar re- 

 wards the search of those having midlength or long tongues. 

 Simply by crawling over the spikes, of which the terminal one 

 usually matures first, they fertilize the little flowers. The pollen 

 thrust far out of each tube in the early stage of bloom, has usually 

 all been brushed off on the under side of bees, wasps, butterflies, 

 flies, and beetles before the stigma matures; nevertheless, when 

 it becomes susceptible, the anthers spread apart to keep out of its 

 way lest any left-over pollen should touch it. 



"The leaves of the herbage at our feet," says Ruskin, "take 

 all kinds of strange shapes, as if to invite us to examine them. 

 Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, arrow-shaped, fretted, 

 fringed, cleft, furrowed, serrated, in whorles, in tufts, in wreaths, 



250 



