50 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



As the petals take slight hold and drop soon after flowering, 

 and almost as soon as plucked, the flower then appears, from its 

 large stamens, to be yellow. Style and stigma, i. 



The stem is square, with distinct angles. Flowers, single or 

 several, in loose clusters. A pretty species, growing in wet sand 

 or marshy borders of streams, from 4 to 10 inches high. I have 

 seen them in beds showing their pink color in masses for quite a 

 distance. 



29 



R. Mariana, with paler petals and narrower leaves, grows in 

 New Jersey and farther south. 



Other members of the family are tropical. 



30, Purple-spiked Loosestrife 



Lythrum Salicaria. — Family, Loosestrife. Color, deep, 

 beautiful purple. Leaves, lance-shaped, heart-shaped at base, 

 often whorled in threes. Time, late summer. 



Calyx, a tube with S to 7 teeth, and small projections be- 

 tween. Corolla, of about 6 long, often twisted petals. Sta- 

 mens, 12, 6 longer, 6 shorter. Flowers, in a spike, crowded. 

 Plant tall and soft-downy. 2 to 3 feet high. 



A beautiful importation from England, found plentifully in 

 swamps in Orange County, New York, and elsewhere. It is re- 

 markable as an example of trimorphism, the two sets of stamens 

 and pistil being of different lengths in the same flower. Every 

 pistil, in order to effect fertilization, must receive the pollen from 

 a stamen of the same length in another flower. Professor Darwin 

 experimented with these flowers, and wrote about them to Doc- 

 tor Gray : " I am alrhost stark, staring mad over lythrum. If I can 

 prove what I really believe, it is a grand case of trimorphism, 

 with three different pollens and three stigmas. I have fertilized 

 above ninety flowers, trying all the eighteen distinct crosses 

 which are possible within the limits of this one species. For the 

 love of Heaven, have a look at some of your species, and if you 

 can get me some seed, do." 



