Yellow and Orange 



Flowering Seaso7i — May — October. 



Distribution — From Maine fiir westward, and south to the Gulf of 



Mexico. 



Usually only one of these little blossoms in a cluster on each 

 plant opens at a time; but that one peers upward so brightly 

 from among the grass it cannot well be overlooked. Sitting in 

 a meadow sprinkled over with these yellow stars, we see com- 

 ing to them many small bees — chiefly Halictus — to gather pollen 

 for their unhatched babies' bread. Of course they do not carry 

 all the pollen to their tunnelled nurseries; some must often be 

 rubbed off on the sticky pistil tip in the centre of other stars. The 

 stamens radiate, that self-fertilization need not take place except 

 as a last extremity. Visitors failing, the little flower closes, 

 bringing its pollen-laden anthers in contact with its own stigma. 



Blackberry Lily 



{Gemmingia Chinensis) Iris ftimily 

 {Pardanthiis Chinensis of Gray) 



Flowers — Deep orange color, speckled irregularly with crimson and 

 purple within (Pardos = leopard; anthos = flower); borne in 

 terminal, forked clusters. Perianth of 6 oblong, petal-like, 

 spreading divisions; 6 stamens with linear anthers; style 

 thickest above, with 3 branches. Stem : 1 3^ to 4 ft. tall, leafy. 

 Leaves: Like the iris; erect, folded blades, 8 to 10 in. long. 

 Fruit: Resembling a blackberry; an erect mass of round, 

 black, fleshy seeds, at first concealed in a fig-shaped capsule, 

 whose 3 valves curve backward, and finally drop off. 



Preferred Habitat — Roadsides and hills. 



Flowering Season — ^J une — ^J uly . 



Distribution — Connecticut to Georgia, westward to Indiana and 

 Missouri. 



How many beautiful foreign flowers, commonly grown in 

 our gardens here, might soon become naturalized Americans 

 were we only generous enough to lift a few plants, scatter a few 

 seeds over our fences into the fields and roadsides — to raise the 

 bars of their prison, as it were, and let them free! Many have 

 run away, to be sure. Once across the wide Atlantic, or wider 

 Pacific, their passage paid (not sneaking in among the ballast like 

 the more fortunate weeds), some are doomed to stay in prim, 

 rigidly cultivated flower beds forever; others, only until a chance 

 to bolt for freedom presents itself, and away they go. Lucky 

 are they if every flower they produce is not picked before a single 

 seed can be set. 



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