MIDSUMMER WILD FLOWERS 



53 



Each flower has two sets of stamens, and the 

 length of these is always adjusted to the height 

 of the pistil. 



Whenever the pistil is high the stamens keep 

 out of its way by occupying the lower and mid- 

 dle position. If the pistil is low they occupy 

 the middle and high positions. When it is 

 medium they occupy the low and high positions. 



The result is that when the bee comes to 

 gather nectar he gets his abdomen dusted with 

 the pollen of the long stamens, his chest with 

 that of the middle ones, and his head with that 

 of the short ones. In this way he always car- 

 ries the short stamens' pollen to the low pistils 

 of other flowers, the long stamens' pollen to 

 the high pistils, etc. This is necessary to cross 

 fertilization. Darwin proved that only the long 

 stamens' pollen would fertilize the high pistils, 

 etc. 



The pickerelweed's range covers the eastern 

 half of the United States and Canada and its 

 flowering season is from June to October. 



CLOSED OR BOTTLE GENTIAN 



Gentiana andrewsii Griseb. [Plate IV, left] 



This member of the gentian family is the 

 commonest of all its tribe in the East. It is 

 remarkable for its tight-closed, bottle-shaped 

 flowers of a blue that approaches ultramarine 

 in intensity. Thoreau spoke of its "transcend- 

 ent blue, light in the shade and turning purple 

 with age." Occasionally some degenerate plant 

 raises a crop of white flowers. 



There is, perhaps, no other plant better fitted 

 for late appearance than the closed gentian. It 

 blooms only a few weeks ahead of Jack Frost, 

 when short days and chilly nights discourage 

 most of the flowers, and the deep-tinted blos- 

 soms hold themselves firmly closed, as though 

 to protect the delicate stamens and pistils of 

 its reproductive system from the sharp touches 

 of the late year. 



The bumblebee knows that the closed gentian 

 has prepared a feast for his special delectation. 

 This is a cup of nectar denied to the rabble by 

 the flower's tightly closed doors and supplied 

 to the bumblebee, which forces its way into the 

 closed corolla. The flower dusts the bee with 

 pollen while it sits at her table, and the insect 

 carries this to its next host. 



The favored haunts of the closed gentian are 

 along the edges of rich woodlands, and its 

 range is from Maine to South Dakota and 

 from Georgia to Missouri. 



HYSSOP SKULLCAP 



Scutellaria integrifolia L. [Plate IV, middle] 



Belonging to the versatile mint family, which 

 includes such diverse denizens of field and for- 

 est as blue curls, wood sage, horse balm, bugle- 

 weed, horehound, pennyroyal, wild bergamot, 

 gill-over-the-ground, self-heal, false dragon 

 head, and catnip, the hyssop skullcap is at once 

 beautiful and unpretentious. 



Blooming from May to August over a range 

 that reaches from southern New England to 

 eastern Texas, this species of skullcap seldom 



grows taller than two feet, with the result that 

 its fine colors are often hidden by surrounding 

 vegetation. The leaves, like the stem, are 

 covered with fine down. Its bright blue flowers 

 are about an inch long. 



VIRGINIA SPIDERWORT 



Tradescantia virginiana L. [Plate IV, right] 



The spiderwort, which is a cousin of the 

 wandering jew and the Virginia day-flower, 

 rejoices in the lacrymose every-day name of 

 widow's tears. 



Like its cousin, the day-flower, the spider- 

 wort opens for only a brief time — the morning 

 hours. Then the flowers are bright and lively 

 enough for any company, but as the sun sweeps 

 down the westward sky the petals begin to re- 

 treat into the calyx, and presently there is a 

 thin jelly where a while ago was a flower. 

 "Dissolved in tears," one might say, was the 

 fate of the morning's blue petals surrounding 

 the golden anthers. 



The spiderwort is cross-fertilized by the 

 bumblebees, which are attracted by an abun- 

 dance of pollen. Bumblebees seem to be at- 

 tracted by blue and purplish flowers as strongly 

 as bargain-hunters are drawn to the red trim- 

 mings of ten-cent stores. 



The botanical name of the spiderwort is in 

 memory of John Tradescant, gardener to 

 Charles I. A relative sent him some spider- 

 wort seeds which he planted at Hampton Court. 

 Since that time the Virginia spiderwort has 

 been a well-known garden flower in England. 



The range of the spiderwort extends from 

 Maine to South Carolina and westward to the 

 Rocky Mountains. Its habitat is rich, moist 

 ground. 



GOLDEN ST. JOHN'S-WORT 



Hypericum aureum Bartr. [Plate V, left] 



The St. John's-wort family is small, being 

 made up of shrubs and herbs ranging from St. 

 Andrew's Cross to orange-grass. 



There is no member of the family with a 

 better claim to beauty than the subject of this 

 sketch. With its drooping petals, its host of 

 stamens, and its united pistils, the blossom of 

 the golden St. John's-wort is admittedly a 

 beautiful flower. It flourishes in the Southern 

 and Western States. 



The plant is a shrub that attains a height of 

 three feet, more woody than most species of 

 St. John's-wort, and often appearing of glob- 

 ular shape, like a miniature tree. It has a 

 red bark that gradually cleaves off in thin 

 layers. Wild, it prefers rocky situations and 

 shady spots where moisture is longest retained. 

 Cultivated, it grows from cuttings or from 

 seeds, the seed-grown ones blooming the second 

 year. 



PRICKLEPOPPY 



Argemone mexicana L. [Plate V, right] 



This thorny terror of the barefoot boy is an 

 immigrant from Mexico, but it makes itself 

 thoroughly at home as far north as New Eng- 



