MIDSUMMER WILD FLOWERS 



IN THE following pages The: Geo- 

 graphic offers another series of biog- 

 raphies and exquisite illustrations in 

 their natural colors of some of the 

 familiar wild flowers of America. 



The several series published previously 

 have included "American Wild Flowers," 

 with twenty-nine biographies and illustra- 

 tions in color, in May, 1915; "Common 

 American Wild Flowers," with seventeen 

 biographies and illustrations in color, in 

 June, 1916; "Our State Flowers: Floral 

 Emblems Chosen by the Commonwealths," 

 with thirty biographies and illustrations 

 in color, in June, 1917; "American Ber- 

 ries of Hill, Dale, and Wayside," with 

 twenty-eight biographies and illustrations 

 in color, in February, 1919 ; and "Familiar 

 Grasses and Their Flowers," with eight 

 biographies and illustrations in color, in 

 June, 1 92 1. 



Most of the thirty-eight species of 

 flowers illustrated in the accompanying 

 series will be found in bloom throughout 

 the United States during July and August. 

 Their beauty will command the admira- 

 tion of passers-by, while the variations in 

 their structure and the provisions which 

 Nature has made tor their propagation 

 will accentuate anew for the student 

 Wordsworth's famous aphorism in trib- 

 ute to "the meanest flower that blows." 



NATURE PROTECTS HER OWN 



In one of the earlier flower series the 

 Editor emphasized the danger of extermi- 

 nating some of our wild flowers by in- 

 discriminate gathering. Happily, Nature 



has made such ample provision for the 

 reproduction of the flowers discussed in 

 this series that only five of the number 

 require protection — the Bluebell ( Plate 

 XIV), the Rosemallow (Plate VIII;, 

 the Sheep Laurel ( Plate VII) , the Fringed 

 Orchid and the Water Avens (Plate VI), 

 and Spiderwort or Widow's Tears (Plate 

 IV). All the others may be gathered 

 whenever and wherever found without 

 danger of robbing future generations of 

 their loveliness. 



These beautiful illustrations, costing 

 $25,000, are reproductions from paintings 

 made by the gifted artist-naturalist, Miss 

 Mary E. Eaton, of the New York Botan- 

 ical Gardens, who has preserved to a re- 

 markable degree the color, form, and 

 grace of the specimens here presented. 



Additional flower series are in prepara- 

 tion and will be published in The Geo- 

 graphic subsequently. 



It will be noticed that in some cases the 

 names of plants in the text do not exactly 

 agree with those on the plates. This 

 is due to the fact that the text material 

 could be prepared after the adoption 

 of the Official Catalogue of Standardized 

 Plant Names, a monumental work com- 

 piled by the American Committee on 

 Plorticultural Nomenclature, designed as 

 a sane and workable harmonization of the 

 present confusion in every-day plant 

 names. The plates had to be sent to 

 press before this standardized nomencla- 

 ture was adopted. In the cases where 

 changes have been made both the new 

 and old designations are given in the text. 



AMERICAN WATERLILY 



Castalia odorata (Dryand.) W. & W. 

 [Plate I] 



This beautiful inhabitant of ponds and 

 streams belongs to a family of water-loving 

 plants famous in many parts of the world. It 

 is a cousin of the lotus of Egypt and of the 

 sacred lotus of India. Also it claims relation- 

 ship with the gigantic Victoria regia, the queen 

 of floral aquatics, whose leaves are often seven 

 feet in diameter and whose flowers are fre- 

 quently fifty inches in circumference. 



The range of this fragrant species is from 

 Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico and from 

 the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. 

 Its preferred habitat is still water, such as 

 ponds, shallow lakes, and slow streams. It be- 

 gins flowering in June and continues to put 

 forth blossoms until touched by frost. 



Its leaves, dark green above, pinkish on the 

 under side, and somewhat heart-shaped, float 

 on the water. The solitary flower, pure white 

 or pink tinged, deliciously fragrant, and often 

 five inches in diameter, opens shortly after 

 sunrise, spreading a bounteous feast for bees, 

 flower-flies, beetles, and "skippers." 



This blossom affords a striking picture of 

 one phase of plant evolution. As the ages 

 passed, the waterlily found what most busi- 

 ness houses learn sooner or later, that it pays 

 to advertise. What good were its numerous 

 pollen-producing stamens if the insect buyers 

 failed to come and carry away the pollen to 

 fertilize other flowers? Therefore many of 

 the stamens were gradually transformed into 

 petals, through natural processes, with the re- 

 sult that now, having intelligence of its wares 

 published to the four winds, no pollen-dispens- 

 ing establishment is busier than the American 

 waterlily when the insect hosts are a-wing. 



35 



