CROWFOOT FAMILY 



The Peony is said to be a gross feeder, but when one realizes 

 the amount of plant energy required to bring to maturity such a 

 wealth of magnificent bloom, this is not surprising. We cannot 

 drive an engine unless we give it fuel, nor can we expect fine flowers 

 unless we give the plant the means to produce them, and only a 

 plant capable of assimilating large quantities of food could pro- 

 duce them. 



COLUMBINE 



Aquilegia vulgaris. 



Aquilegia from aquilegus, water-drawer; not from aquila, eagle. 



A hardy perennial, native to Europe and northern Asia, long natural- 

 ized in America. Summer. 



Stem. — Branching, one and a half to two feet high, many-flowered. 



Leaves. — Radical, or alternate on the stem; twice or thrice palmately 

 compound, the divisions in threes; leaflets roundish and obtusely lobed. 



Flowers. — Showy, nodding, borne in loose panicles, blue, pink, or 

 white. 



Sepals. — Five, equal, ovate, spreadin^^petal-Iike. 



Petals. — Five, all alike, attached by" the margin of a dilated mouth and 

 prolonged bacL.r.rd into a hollow spur, the knob at the end filled with 

 nectar. 



Stamens. — Many, on filaments, which vary in length. 



Pistil. — Five distinct carpels, each with a slender style and a minute 

 stigmatic surface at the summit. 



Fruit. — Five, many-seeded follicles; seeds small. 



The flowering of the Columbine Commendable, as Skelton 

 called it four hundred years ago, marks the beginning of sum- 

 mer. The reign of the bulbs is over — 



"The wind flower and the violet they perished long ago,"^- 



the petals of the early roses are falling; the elder blossoms show 

 white along the fence rows, and the season waxes to its prime. 

 A wild flower of English fields, the Columbine was early trans- 

 ferred into English gardens and has held its place securely there 

 for at least five hundred years. Its seeds were among the treasures 



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