PINK AND RED GROUP 



with 3 stigmas. Flowers, dull, insignificant, in a loose, leafy, broad- 

 ly pyramidal panicle. Leaves, opposite, some whorled, long, narrow, 

 the lower ones broader than those above, downy, hoary. 

 In sand, near the coast, from Maine to Georgia. 



Spiked Loosestrife 



Lythrum Sa.lica.ria.. — Family, Loosestrife. Color, magenta. 

 Calyx, a tube with 5 to 7 teeth, and small projections between. 

 Corolla, of about 6 long, often twisted petals. Stamens, 12, 6 

 longer, 6 shorter. Flowers, large, in a crowded spike. Leaves, 

 lance-shaped, heart-shaped at base, often in whorls of threes. 

 Plant, tall, 2 to 3 feet high, softly downy. 



A beautiful importation from England, found plentifully 

 in swamps in Orange County, New York, and elsewhere. It 

 is remarkable as an example of trimorphism, the two sets of 

 stamens and pistils being of different lengths in the same 

 flower. Every pistil, in order to effect pollination, must 

 receive the pollen from a stamen of the same length in an- 

 other flower. Professor Darwin experimented with these 

 flowers, and wrote about them to Doctor Gray: "I am al- 

 most stark, staring mad over lythrum. If I can prove what 



1 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." (See illustration, p. 270.) 



Swamp Loosestrife. Water Willow. Willow Herb 



Decodon verticittktus (name from the Greek, meaning "ten- 

 toothed," alluding to the calyx - teeth) . — Family, Loosestrife. 

 Color, magenta. Calyx, bell-shaped, 5 to 7-toothed, with other 

 slender teeth between, one in each sinus. Stamens, 10, 5 longer, 

 and 5 shorter, alternate with them. The filaments of the longer 

 stamens are very slender and project from the corolla. Trimor- 

 phous. One pistil, and the fruit a round capsule, 3 to 5 -celled. 

 Flowers, in close sessile heads or cymes in the upper leaf-axils, 

 on purplish pedicels. Rather large and showy. Sometimes 

 flowers are double. Leaves, opposite or whorled, lance-shaped, 



2 to 5 inches long, pointed at both ends. Stem, somewhat woody, 



3 to 10 feet long, rooting from the tip if it happens to reach the 

 water or mud. July to September. 



Swamps, Massachusetts to Florida westward. Found 

 2,000 feet high in Pennsylvania. Often an aquatic. 



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