HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Mustard Family. — Whoever has examined the flower of 

 the little yellow mustard knows that its four petals spread 

 open like a cross. It has four sepals, also, each one lying 

 between two petals. Curiously, there are six stamens, sug- 

 gesting the Lily Family, but two of the stamens are short, 

 only four appearing as if maintaining the flower number. 

 The pod of this Family is different from that of any other, 

 being 2 -celled, with a partition down the middle. In open- 

 ing for the escape of seeds, the outer sides split off from the 

 middle and separate from the central portion. The pod 

 may be long and narrow, or short and thick. 



The flowers bloom in spikes, the lower ones being the oldest 

 and often maturing into pods, while the tip of the spike is 

 in bud. The colors are yellow, white, and purplish. Shep- 

 herd's purse, cress, black and white mustard belong here. 



Rose Family. — Considering the shrubs and fruit - trees 

 which belong to this Family, it may well take precedence of 

 all others in importance. A rose hip, if cut open, will show 

 the stamens all clinging to the inside of the hip, which is 

 really the calyx tube. The petals and sepals are mostly in 

 fives, but stamens and pistils are many. Underneath the 

 sepals there are often green bracts which make the number 

 of these organs seem twice as many. Our fruit-trees, apples, 

 pears, cherries, plums, belong to this Family, and their 

 blossoms, large and fragrant, are among the lavish gifts of 

 spring. Shrubs like the hawthorn are numbered here, and 

 the luscious strawberry, juicy blackberry, as well as the wild 

 rose, with its dark-pink buds, make this Family second to 

 none in fragrance, beauty, or usefulness. 



Pulse or Pea Family, to which our vegetables, the pea 

 and bean, belong, is at once recognized by its papilionaceous 

 corolla, so called from its fancied resemblance to a butter- 

 fly. The petals are so different they have received special 

 names. The large, upper one, which infolds the others in 

 bud, is the standard, generally broad, erect, or turned back- 

 ward. The narrower, opposite, side-petals are wings. The 

 lower one is considered to be two petals united, and, being 

 hollowed and boat-shaped, is named the keel. The keel 

 usually incloses the stamens and pistils. Stamens of these 

 flowers number 10 (rarely 5), one being free, the other 9 

 mostly united by their filaments into a tube which is split 



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