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PINK AZALEA; WILD HONEY- 

 SUCKLE. 



During early May, suitable rich 

 woods, thickets and hillsides are 

 aglow with the beautiful pink blos- 

 soms of Azalea. The rosy blush is 

 the more prominent because the flow- 

 ers commonly appear before or just 

 as the leaves commence to grow. Col- 

 lectively, the blossoms make a most 

 wonderful picture and each individ- 

 ual flower is also beautiful in form 

 and color. Considerable nectar is 

 secreted at the base of the long flower 

 tube, which is so filled with the long- 

 stamens and pistil that only long- 

 tongued insects are able to reach the 



bottom. The bumblebee is an abundant and probably the 

 most useful visitor. He first brushes against the very long, 

 protruding style, the sticky end of which collects some pol- 

 len from his underparts, then clambers over the shorter 

 stamens, dusting himself with fresh pollen before he gets at 

 the desired sweets. That the handsome flower is but an ad- 

 vertisement to attract the useful insects is shown by the 

 fact that soon after having been visited the whole corolla 

 becomes loosened from the calyx and slips down to the end 

 of the long style, where it hangs for a few days before 

 falling to the ground. 



Less common than the preceding species, is RHODORA 

 which is shown in the lower half of the picture. This is 

 a much lower shrub than Azalea, found in similar habitat 

 but not as abundant anywhere. The corolla is long-tubed 

 but instead of flaring out into even lobes, it has a three- 

 notched, broad upper one and a smaller two-cleft lower lobe. 



WHITE AZALEA or SWAMP HONEYSUCKLE is 

 less common than the pink species and is chiefly confined 

 to swamps near the coast. The flowers are quite similar to 

 the others except that they are white, the tube is longer and 

 the whole blossom is quite sticky. The flowers appear in 

 June and July, long after the shrub is fully leaved. 



