Magenta to Pink 



Calyx deeply 5-parted ; corolla of 5 narrow lobes bent back- 

 ward and upward ; the tube very short, thickened at throat, 

 and marked with dark reddish-purple dots ; 5 stamens 

 united into a protruding cone ; i pistil, protruding beyond 

 them. Leaves: Oblong or spatulate, 3 to 12 in. long, nar- 

 rowed into petioles, all from fibrous roots. Fruit : A 

 S-valved capsule on erect pedicels. 



Pre/erred Habitat — Prairies, open woods, moist cliffs. 



Fhweriiii; Season — A p ri 1 — May. 



Distribution — Pennsylvania southward and westward, and from 

 Texas to Manitoba. 



Ages ago Theophrastus called an entirely different plant by 

 this same scientific name, derived from eiodetta = twelve, and theos 

 = gods ; and although our plant is native of a land unknown to the 

 ancients, the fanciful Linnaeus imagined he saw in the flowers of 

 its umbel a little congress of their divinities seated around a mini- 

 ature Olympus ! Who has said science kills imagination ? These 

 handsome, interesting tlowers, so familiar in the Middle West 

 and Southwest, especially, somewhat resemble the cyclamen in 

 oddity of form. Indeed, these prairie wildflowers are not un- 

 known in florists' shops in Eastern cities. 



Many flowers like the shooting star, cyclamen, and night- 

 shade, with protruding cones made up of united stamens, are so 

 designed that, as the bees must cling to them while sucking nec- 

 tar, thev receive pollen jarred out from the end of the cone on 

 their under sides. The reflexed petals serve three purposes : 

 First, in making the flower more conspicuous ; secondly, in facili- 

 tating access to nectar and pollen ; and, finally, in discouraging 

 crawling intruders. Where the short tube is thickened, the bee 

 finds her foothold while she forces her tongue between the anther 

 tips. The nectar is well concealed and quite deeply seated, thanks 

 to the rigid cone. Few bee workers are flying at the shooting 

 star's early blooming season. Undoubtedly the female bumble- 

 bees, which, by striking the protruding stigma before they jar 

 out any pollen, cross-fertilize it, are the flower's benefactors ; but 

 one frequently sees the little yellow puddle butterfly clinging to 

 the pretty blossoms. 



Very different from the bright yellow cowslip of Europe is 

 our odd, misnamed blossom. 



Bitter-bloom; Rose-Pink; Square-stemmed 

 Sabbatia; Rosy Centaury 



{Sabhatia angularis) Gentian family 



Flowers — Clear rose pink, with greenish star in centre, rarely 

 white, fragrant, il'z in. broad or less, usually solitary on long 



131 



