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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



it erects a sort of Metropolitan Tower in flower 

 land, decked with a beautiful and wonderful 

 collection of magenta flags. Of course, no 

 insect could miss it, and during its business 

 season it has a host of visitors, to each of 

 whom it offers a cup of nectar in return for a 

 little service as a pollen-carrier. 



A clever arrangement has been worked out 

 by the spotted joe-pye weed, whereby, if there 

 happens to be a rainy spell and the insects are 

 not flying when it blooms, it can fertilize its 

 own florets, and thus protect itself against the 

 evils of race suicide in flower land. 



The spotted joe-pye weed derives its name 

 from Joe Pye, an Indian herb doctor of Pil- 

 grim days in Massachusetts. It is claimed that 

 he cured typhus fever with decoctions he made 

 from this weed. It is also claimed that with 

 it he set shaking bones to rest in ague-rent 

 bodies ; hence its name "spotted boneset." 



CHICORY OR BLUE SAILORS (Cicho- 

 rium intybus L.) 



(See page 599) 



Chicory, otherwise known as "blue sailor" or 

 "bunk," is an alien which came to our shores 

 "riding the bumpers," so to speak. In the 

 olden times, when ships carried earthen bal- 

 last, many a European weed got free transpor- 

 tation to America. It now flowers in Canada 

 and the eastern United States as far south as 

 the Carolinas ; and in recent years it has pushed 

 its star of empire westward, until it includes 

 Nebraska in its American dominions. 



It is a plant that loves to dwell around the 

 haunts of men, and never wanders very far 

 away from them ; hence the roadside and the 

 fallow field are its favorite dwelling places. It 

 begins to Mower in July, and is one of the last 

 to pass of that myriad throng which comes 

 while springtime snow-banks still linger, and 

 goes only when the biting frosts of autumn 

 come to stay. 



Chicory has long been one of the wild flow- 

 ers of immediate and important use to man. 

 The Belgians, for instance, even in the years 

 before the great war, their incomes being too 

 slender to justify the drinking of coffee, re- 

 sorted to the chicory as a substitute ; and in 

 the days before our own pure-food laws were 

 enacted it became such a generally used adul- 

 terant that even the adulterant came to be 

 adulterated. 



Many a pound of what purported to be 

 roasted chicory was perhaps half chicory and 

 half roasted wheat or barley. In a single year 

 we have imported nearly 7,000,000 pounds of 

 chicory root. Even under the conditions pre- 

 vailing just before the outbreak of the present 

 war we were importing about 2,250,000 pounds 

 annually. Some people claim that chicory add- 

 ed to coffee imparts a flavor which makes it 

 better than coffee in its pure state. 



In Europe chicory itself is very widely used 

 as a pot herb. The French force it and blanch 

 it, much after our way of forcing and blanch- 

 in- celery, and make of it a salad which they 

 call barbe de caput in. 



Homer used chicory root as a part of his 

 frugal fare, and Pliny tells us that it was one 

 of the staple dishes of the Egyptians. 



There are many denizens of the plant world 

 close of kin to the chicory. One of these is 

 the dandelion and another is the endive. 



Somebody has said that the chicory is a 

 peasant posy, which, opening its eyes on a 

 cloudy day, sets its pale-blue flowers abloom, 

 one after the other, as sparingly as the lights 

 are kindled in the candelabra of decaying pal- 

 aces. To insure its reproduction, it never al- 

 lows all of its flowers to come into bloom at 

 once. By having them bloom in installments, 

 it is sure at one time or another to have insect 

 visitors that will fulfill its plans. 



Chicory is very methodical in its ways, keep- 

 ing regular hours and being one of the lead- 

 ing exponents _ of the idea that "early to bed 

 and early to rise" works as well in the flower 

 kingdom as among men. It generally awakens 

 by 5 o'clock in the morning and shuts its eyes 

 again at 10 a. m. ; but during that time it has 

 entertained some of the most delightful insect 

 visitors thatare to be found in any community. 

 So regular is the chicory in its habits that the 

 Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus, used it as one of 

 the flowers of his floral clock. 



BUTTON BUSH (Cephalanthus occi- 

 dentalis L.) 



(See page 600) 



The button bush is a member of the madder 

 family, having among its relatives the dainty 

 bluet, the fragrant partridge berry, the ride- 

 stealing beggar's lice, and the aromatic-berry- 

 producing coffee-tree. 



One of the first traits we notice about the 

 button bush is its constant endeavor to keep 

 away from mankind. Knowing that the swamp 

 is about the safest place from human incur- 

 sions that it can find, it goes there and dwells 

 in enviable isolation. 



We are prone to be selfish enough to think 

 that the flowers' beauty and fragrance were 

 created for our especial pleasure and edifica- 

 tion; and yet a study of nature's flower gar- 

 den reveals the fact that some of the most 

 fragrant of the blossoms of summer shed their 

 sweetness and pour forth their beauty in pre- 

 cincts far removed from man's accustomed 

 haunts. 



One of these is the button bush. With an 

 odor as seductive as that of jasmine, it could 

 win its way into the hearts and homes of hu- 

 manity if it desired to do so; but it has no 

 inclinations in that direction, although, like the 

 swamp-rose mallow, when led captive it sub- 

 mits gracefully and grows even more attrac- 

 tive than before. 



Its closely packed host of florets, hundreds 

 in number, with their long styles and capitate 

 stigmas, making it resemble a well-filled pin- 

 cushion, do not remain fresh long after pluck- 

 ing. 



The flowering season of the button bush 

 begins in June and end^ with September, and 

 its range is from New Brunswick to Cuba and 



