Red and Indefinites 



Distribution — Southern New Jersey to Minnesota, south to Georgia 

 and Missouri. 



The rich, glowing scarlet of these pinks that fleck the Southern 

 woodland as with fire, will light up our Northern rock gardens 

 too, if we but sow the seed under glass in earliest spring, and set 

 out the young plants in well-drained, open ground in May. Di- 

 vision of old perennial roots causes the plants to sulk ; dampness 

 destroys them. 



To the brilliant blossoms butterflies chiefly come to sip (see 

 p. 92), and an occasional humming bird, fascinated by the color 

 that seems ever irresistible to him, hovers above them on whirring 

 wings. Hapless ants, starting to crawl up the stem, become more 

 and more discouraged by its stickiness, and if they persevere in 

 their attempts to steal from the butterfly's legitimate preserves, 

 death overtakes their erring feet as speedily as if they verltured on 

 sticky fly paper. How humane is the way to protect flowers from 

 crawling thieves that has been adopted by the high-bush cranberry 

 and the partridge pea (p. 308), among other plants ! These pro- 

 vide a free lunch of sweets in the glands of their leaves to satisfy 

 pilferers, which then seek no farther, leaving the flowers to winged 

 insects that are at once despoilers and benefactors. 



Wild Columbine 



{Aquilegia Canadensis) Crowfoot family 



Flower — Red outside, yellow within, irregular, i to 2 in. long, 

 solitary, nodding from a curved footstalk from the upper 

 leaf-axils. Petals 5, funnel-shaped, but quickly narrowing 

 into long, erect, very slender hollow spurs, rounded at the tip 

 and united below by the 5 spreading red sepals, between 

 which the straight spurs ascend ; numerous stamens and 5 

 pistils projecting. Stem : i to 2 ft. high, branching, soft-hairy 

 or smooth. Leaves: More or less divided, the lobes. with 

 rounded teeth ; large lower compound leaves on long 

 petioles. Fruit: An erect pod, each of the 5 divisions 

 tipped with a long, shar^ beak. 



Preferred Habitat— Kocky places, rich woodland. 



Flowering Season — April — ^July. 



Distribution— 'Hova Scotia to the Northwest Territory ; southward 

 to the Gulf States. Rocky Mountains. 



Although under cultivation the columbine nearly doubles its 

 size, it never has the elfin charm in a conventional garden that it 

 possesses wild in Nature's. Dancing in red and yellow petticoats, 



277 



