Magenta to Pink 



practical bee, meanwhile, takes a more substantial meal within the 

 spreading funnels. It is his practice to hang upside down while 

 sucking, using the hairs on the filaments as footholds. Naturally 

 he receives the pollen on his underside — ^just where it will be 

 rubbed off against the stigma impeding his entrance to the next 

 funnel visited. Any of the very dry pollen that may have fallen 

 on the hairy filaments drops upon him. 



" And 'tis my faith tfiat every flower 

 Enjoys the air it breathes," 



chanted Wordsworth. It is a special pity to gather the gerardias, 

 which, as they grow, seem to enjoy life to the full, and when picked, 

 to be so miserable they turn black as they dry. Like their relatives 

 the foxgloves, they are difficult to transplant, because it is said they 

 are more or less parasitic, fastening their roots on those of other 

 plants. When robbery becomes flagrant, Nature brands sinners 

 in the vegetable kingdom by taking away their color, and perhaps 

 their leaves, as in the case of the broom-rape and Indian pipe ; 

 but the fair faces of the gerardias and foxgloves give no hint of the 

 petty thefts committed under cover of darkness in the soil below. 



The Small-flowered Gerardia (G. paupercula), so like the pre- 

 ceding species it was once thought to be a mere variety, ranges 

 westward as far as Wisconsin, especially about the Great Lakes. 

 But it is a lower plant, with more erect branches, smaller flowers, 

 quite woolly within, and with a decided preference for bogs as 

 well as low meadows. 



In salt marshes along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, from Maine to Louisiana, the Sea-side Gerardia (G. maritima) 

 flowers in midsummer, or a few weeks ahead of the autumnal, 

 upland species. The plant, which rarely exceeds afoot in height, 

 is sometimes only four inches above ground ; and although at 

 the North the paler magenta blossoms are only about half the 

 length of the purple gerardias, in the South they are sometimes 

 quite as long. 



In dry woods and thickets, on banks and hills from Quebec 

 to Georgia, and westward to the Mississippi we find the Slender 

 Gerardia (G. tenuifolia), its pale magenta, spotted, compressed 

 corolla about half an inch long; its very slender, low stem set with 

 exceedingly narrow leaves. 



Twin-flower; Ground Vine 



(Linncea borealis) Honeysuckle family 



Flowers — Delicate pink or white tinged with rose, bell-shaped, 

 about ^ in. long, fragrant, nodding in pairs on slender, 

 curved pedicels from an erect peduncle, 2-bracted where they 

 join. Calyx 5-toothed, sticky ; corolla 5-lobed, bell-shaped, 



147 



