AMERICAN WILD FLOWERS 



513 



little "eye bright" of the fields promptly closes 

 its eyes and refuses again to open them except 

 under the persuasion of the sunshine itself. 

 The flower of the blue-eyed grass not only 

 takes the sunshiny day to come out, but after 

 that one day is past it closes its eye never to 

 again open it. 



CARDINAL FLOWER OR RED LO- 

 BELIA (Lobelia cardinalis L.) 



(See page 496) 



Throughout the eastern United States and 

 Canada and as far west as Kansas the red 

 lobelia is one of the most striking of the coun- 

 try's wild flowers. It blossoms from July to 

 September and its favorite haunts are wet, low 

 grounds beside streams and ditches. 



Called the cardinal flower, the red lobelia 

 excels its namesake of birddom in the richness 

 of its colors. 



The lobelia was named after Mathis de 

 Lobel, a native of the French city of Lille, who 

 was botanist and physician to James L The 

 plant has a certain pharmacological resemblance 

 to tobacco. In large doses it is a powerful 

 gastro-intestinal stimulant, causing giddiness, 

 headache, nausea, and extreme prostration, 

 with clammy sweats and irregular pulse. 



The closest friend of the red lobelia is the 

 humming-bird, and while the bees sometimes 

 visit it they are never its most welcome guests. 

 Sir John Lubbock, the great English scientist, 

 many years ago presented to the world a strik- 

 ing example in the lobelia of the tendency of 

 plants to color themselves to delight the eyes 

 of their favorite visitors. He found that the 

 humming-bird has a peculiar affinity for red, 

 just as the eye of the bee is delighted with 

 blue. It therefore happens that the shallow- 

 cupped lobelia, which looks mostly to the bees 

 for carrying its pollen, is blue, while the deep- 

 cupped lobelia, whose nectar can be sipped only 

 by the long-billed humming-bird, is red. 



The humming-bird reminds one of Eugene 

 Field, who, when asked what his favorite color 

 was, replied : "Why I like any color at all so 

 long as it is red!" Some botanists believe 

 that scarcity of red flowers is due to the fact 

 that there are so comparatively few humming- 

 birds, and it is noted that red flowers are fewer 

 where humming-birds are scarcest, showing 

 again the particular community of interest be- 

 tween the flower and nectar-sipping creatures. 



SWAMP OR MARSH BUTTERCUP 



(Ranunculus septentrionalis Poir.) 



(See page 497) 



One of some 250 species of the crowfoot 

 family, the swamp or marsh buttercup flowers 

 from April to July. Its range is from Georgia 

 and Kentucky northward, and it seldom is 

 found outside of the confines of swamps and 

 low, wet ground. Its flowers are a deep yellow 

 and fully an inch broad. The stem is hollow 

 and generally smooth, though in some instances 



it has developed fine hairs. This buttercup is 

 very variable in both size and foliage. It de- 

 pends mainly upon bee-like flies and very small 

 bees for fertilization. Many of the members of 

 the buttercup family are naturalized flower 

 citizens of North America, having come in 

 from Europe as immigrants many years ago. 

 The marsh buttercup preserves itself from in- 

 breeding by putting out only a few blossoms 

 at a time, thus making more or less certain its 

 cross-fertilization. 



The swamp buttercup is not to be mistaken 

 for the common meadow buttercup, which has 

 first place among the members of the family 

 in distribution and hardiness. The marsh but- 

 tercup has longer petals and sometimes spreads 

 by developing runners, while the stem of the 

 meadow buttercup is nearly always erect and 

 propagation depends entirely upon seeds. The 

 meadow buttercup has such an acrid flavor and 

 such caustic propensities that cattle will not 

 eat it. In this it follows the example of most 

 of the members of the crowfoot family in 

 secreting such bitter and poisonous juices that 

 the)' get a wide berth irom c^nimal kind. It is 

 said that the juice of the meadow buttercup is 

 capable of raising blisters, and that beggars use 

 it to produce sores upon their skins. The 

 members of the crowfoot family borrow their 

 botanical name from rana, which means a 

 frog. It was alleged by Pliny that the butter- 

 cup stirs him who eats it into such a gale of 

 laughter that he scarce can contain himself. 

 He further states that unless the eater washes 

 it down with pineapple kernels and pepper dis- 

 solved in date wine, he may guffaw his way into 

 the next world in a most unseemly manner. 



According to historical authorities, one spe- 

 cies of buttercup was used by the ancients to 

 poison their arrows, while the double crowfoot, 

 or St. Anthony, would cure the plague if 

 rubbed on the spot most affected, and was good 

 for lunacy if applied to the neck in the wane 

 of the moon, when it was in the sign of the 

 bull or the scorpion. 



AMERICAN HOLLY (Ilex opaca Ait.) 

 (See page 498) 



A small, slow-growing evergreen tree, with 

 tiny greenish or yellowish white flowers and 

 round red berries, the American holly loves the 

 moist thickets and is to be found from New 

 England to the Gulf of Mexico and as far 

 west as Texas. The flowering season of this 

 tree is from April to June. Its leaves are 

 thick, rigid, glossy, and edged with spines. 



There are many interesting customs and ro- 

 mantic stories in which the holly figures. It 

 is believed that the custom of employing the 

 holly and kindred plants for decorative pur- 

 poses at Christmas dates back to the time of 

 the Roman Saturnalia, or else to the old Teu- 

 tonic custom of hanging the interior of dwell- 

 ings with evergreens as a refuge for sylvan 

 spirits from the inclemency of winter. Even 

 in Plinv's dav the hoUv had all manner of 



