Magenta to Pink 



tube to receive pollen brought by butterflies from younger flowers. 

 There are few cups so deep that the largest bumblebees cannot 

 suck them. Flies which feed on the pink's pollen only, some- 

 times come by mistake to older blossoms in the stigmatic stage, 

 and doubtless cross-fertilize them once in a while. 



In waste places and woods farther southward and westward, 

 and throughout the range of the Wild Pink as well, clusters of the 

 Sleepy Catchfly (S. iiiif/rr/iiim) open their tiny pink flowers for a 

 short time only in the sunshine. At any stage they are mostly 

 calyx, but in fruit this part is much expanded. Swollen, sticky 

 joints are the plant's means of defence from crawlers. Season: 

 Summer. 



When moths begin their rounds at dusk, the Night-flowering 

 Catchfly (S. noctiflora) opens its pinkish or white flowers to emit 

 a fragrance that guides them to a feast prepared for them alone. 

 Day-blooming Catchflies have no perfume, nor do they need it ; 

 their color and markings are a sufficient guide to the butterflies. 

 Sticky hairs along the stems of this plant ruthlessly destroy, not 

 flies, but ants chiefly, that would pilfer nectar without being able 

 to render the flower any service. Yet the calyx is beautifully 

 veined, as if to tantalize the crawlers by indicating the path to a 

 banquet hall they may never reach. Only a very few flowers, an 

 inch across or less, are clustered at the top of the plant, which 

 blooms from July to September in waste places east of the Mis- 

 sissippi and in Canada. 



Soapwort; Bouncing Bet; Hedge Pink; Bruise- 

 wort; Old IVIaid's Pink; Fuller's Herb 



{Saponaria officinalis) Pink family 



Flowers — Pink or whitish, fragrant, about i inch broad, loosely 

 clustered at end of stem, also sparingly from axils of upper 

 leaves. Calyx tubular, s-toothed, about Y\ in. long ; s petals, 

 the claws inserted in deep tube. Stamens lo. in 2 sets ; i pistil 

 with 2 styles. Flowers frequently double. Stem: i to 2 ft. 

 high, erect, stout, sparingly branched leafy. Leaves: Oppo- 

 site, acutely oval, 2 to 3 in. long, about i in. wide, 3 to s 

 ribbed. Fruit: An oblong capsule, shorter than calyx, open- 

 ing at top by 4 short teeth or valves. 



Prefe7-red Habitat — Roadsides, banks, and waste places. 



Flowering Season — ^June — September. 



Distribution — Generally common. Naturalized from Europe.; 



A stout, buxom, exuberantly healthy lassie among flowers is 

 Bouncing Bet, who long ago escaped from gardens whither she 



93 



