Part 3

These flowers are peculiarly adapted to cross-fertilization through insect agency, although one might imagine the contrary to be the case from the relative positions of stamens and pistil. In the pea-blossom, for example, the hairy portion of the style receives the pollen from the early maturing stamens. The weight of a visiting bee projects the stigma and the pollen-laden style against the insect’s body. But it must be observed that in this action the _stigma first brushes against the bee_, while the _pollen-laden style touches him later_, with the result that the bee soon flies to another flower on whose fresh stigma the detached pollen is left, while a new cargo of this valuable material is unconsciously secured, and the same process is indefinitely repeated.

=Mint Family.=—A member of the Mint family usually exhales an aromatic fragrance which aids us to place it correctly. If to this characteristic is added a square stem, opposite leaves, a two-lipped corolla, four stamens in pairs—two being longer than the others—or two stamens only, and a pistil whose style (two-lobed at the apex) rises from a deeply four-lobed ovary which splits apart in fruit into four little seed-like nutlets, we may feel sure that one of the many Mints is before us.

Sometimes we think we have encountered one of the family because we find the opposite leaves, two-lipped corolla, four stamens, and an ovary that splits into four nutlets in fruit; but unless the ovary was also deeply four-lobed in the flower, the plant is probably a Vervain, a tribe which greatly resembles the Mints. The Figworts, too, might be confused with the Mints did we not always keep in mind the four-lobed ovary.

In this family we find the common catnip and pennyroyal, the pretty ground ivy, and the handsome bee balm (Pl. LXXXII.).

=Mustard Family.=—The Mustard family is one which is abundantly represented in waste places everywhere by the little shepherd’s purse or pickpocket, and along the roadsides by the yellow mustard, wild radish, and winter-cress (Pl. XLII.).

Its members may be recognized by their alternate leaves, their biting harmless juice, and by their white, yellow, or purplish flowers, the structure of which at once betrays the family to which they belong.

The calyx of these flowers is divided into four sepals. The four petals are placed opposite each other in pairs, their spreading blades forming a cross which gives the Order its Latin name _Cruciferæ_. There are usually six stamens, two of which are inserted lower down than the others. The single pistil becomes in fruit a pod. Many of the Mustards are difficult of identification without a careful examination of their pods and seeds.

=Orchis Family.=—To the minds of many the term orchid only suggests a tropical air-plant, which is rendered conspicuous either by its beauty or by its unusual and noticeable structure.

This impression is, perhaps, partly due to the rude print in some old text-book which endeared itself to our childish minds by those startling and extravagant illustrations which are responsible for so many shattered illusions in later life; and partly to the various exhibitions of flowers in which only the exotic members of this family are displayed.

Consequently, when the dull clusters of the ragged fringed orchis, or the muddy racemes of the coral-root, or even the slender, graceful spires of the ladies’ tresses are brought from the woods or roadside and exhibited as one of so celebrated a tribe, they are usually viewed with scornful incredulity, or, if the authority of the exhibitor be sufficient to conquer disbelief, with unqualified disappointment. The marvellous mechanism which is exhibited by the humblest member of the Orchis family, and which suffices to secure the patient scrutiny and wondering admiration of the scientist, conveys to the uninitiated as little of interest or beauty as would a page of Homer in the original to one without scholarly attainments.

The uprooting of a popular theory must be the work of years, especially when it is impossible to offer as a substitute one which is equally capable of being tersely defined and readily apprehended; for many seem to hold it a righteous principle to cherish even a delusion till it be replaced by a belief which affords an equal amount of satisfaction. It is simpler to describe an orchid as a tropical air-plant which apes the appearance of an insect and never roots in the ground than it is to master by patient study and observation the various characteristics which so combine in such a plant as to make it finally recognizable and describable. Unfortunately, too, the enumeration of these unsensational details does not appeal to the popular mind, and so fails to win by its accuracy the place already occupied by the incorrect but pleasing conception of an orchid.

For the benefit of those who wish to be able to correctly place these curious and interesting flowers, as brief a description as seems compatible with their recognition is appended.

_Leaves._—Alternate, parallel-nerved.

_Flowers._—Irregular in form, solitary or clustered, each one subtended by a bract.

_Perianth._—Of six divisions in two sets. The three outer divisions are sepals, but they are usually petal-like in appearance. The three inner are petals. By a twist of the ovary what would otherwise be the upper petal is made the lower. This division is termed the _lip_; it is frequently brightly colored or grotesquely shaped, being at times deeply fringed or furrowed; it has often a spur-like appendage which secretes nectar; it is an important feature of the flower and is apparently designed to attract insects for the purpose of securing their aid in the cross-fertilization which is usually necessary for the perpetuation of the different species of this family, all of which give evidence of great modification by means of insect-selection.

In the heart of the flower is the _column_; this is usually composed of the stamen (of two in the _Cypripediums_), which is confluent with the _style_ or thick, fleshy _stigma_. The two _cells_ of the _anther_ are placed on either side of and somewhat above the stigma; these cells hold the two pollen masses.

Darwin tells us that the flower of an orchid originally consisted of fifteen different parts, three petals, three sepals, six stamens, and three pistils. He shows traces of all these parts in the modern orchid.

FLOWER DESCRIPTIONS

“_A fresh footpath, a fresh flower, a fresh delight_” RICHARD JEFFERIES

I WHITE

BLOOD-ROOT. _Sanguinaria Canadensis._ Poppy Family.

_Rootstock._—Thick, charged with a crimson juice. _Scape._—Naked, one-flowered. _Leaves._—Rounded, deeply lobed. _Flower._—White, terminal. _Calyx._—Of two sepals falling early. _Corolla._—Of eight to twelve snow-white petals. _Stamens._—About twenty-four. _Pistil._—One, short.

In early April the firm tip of the curled-up leaf of the blood-root pushes through the earth and brown leaves, bearing within its carefully shielded burden—the young erect flower-bud. When the perils of the way are passed and a safe height is reached this pale, deeply lobed leaf resigns its precious charge and gradually unfolds itself; meanwhile the bud slowly swells into a blossom.

Surely no flower of all the year can vie with this in spotless beauty. Its very transitoriness enhances its charm. The snowy petals fall from about their golden centre before one has had time to grow satiated with their perfection. Unless the rocky hill-sides and wood-borders are jealously watched it may escape us altogether. One or two warm sunny days will hasten it to maturity, and a few more hours of wind and storm shatter its loveliness.

Care should be taken in picking the flower—if it must be picked—as the red liquid which oozes blood-like from the wounded stem makes a lasting stain. This crimson juice was prized by the Indians for decorating their faces and tomahawks.

SHAD-BUSH. JUNE-BERRY. SERVICE-BERRY. _Amelanchier oblongifolia._ Rose Family.

A tall shrub or small tree found in low ground. _Leaves._—Oblong, acutely pointed, finely toothed, mostly rounded at base. _Flowers._—White, growing in racemes. _Calyx._—Five-cleft. _Corolla._—Of five rather long petals. _Stamens._—Numerous, short. _Pistils._—With five styles. _Fruit._—Round, red, berry-like, sweet and edible, ripening in June.

Down in the boggy meadow in early March we can almost fancy that from beneath the solemn purple cowls of the skunk-cabbage brotherhood comes the joyful chorus—

For lo, the winter is past!—

but we chilly mortals still find the wind so frosty and the woods so unpromising that we return shivering to the fireside and refuse to take up the glad strain till the feathery clusters of the shad-bush droop from the pasture thicket. Then only are we ready to admit that

The flowers appear upon the earth, The time of the singing of birds is come.

Even then, search the woods as we may, we shall hardly find thus early in April another shrub in blossom, unless it be the spice-bush, whose tiny honey-yellow flowers escape all but the careful observer. The shad-bush has been thus named because of its flowering at the season when shad “run;” June-berry, because the shrub’s crimson fruit surprises us by gleaming from the copses at the very beginning of summer; service-berry, because of the use made by the Indians of this fruit, which they gathered in great quantities, and, after much crushing and pounding, utilized in a sort of cake.

WOOD ANEMONE. WIND-FLOWER. _Anemone nemorosa._ Crowfoot Family.

_Stem._—Slender. _Leaves._—Divided into delicate leaflets. _Flower._—Solitary, white, pink, or purplish. _Calyx._—Of from four to seven petal-like sepals. _Corolla._—None. _Stamens and Pistils._—Numerous.

—Within the woods, Whose young and half transparent leaves scarce cast A shade, gay circles of anemones Danced on their stalks;

writes Bryant, bringing vividly before us the feathery foliage of the spring woods, and the tremulous beauty of the slender-stemmed anemones. Whittier, too, tells how these

—wind flowers sway Against the throbbing heart of May.

And in the writings of the ancients as well we could find many allusions to the same flower were we justified in believing that the blossom christened the “wind-shaken,” by some poet flower-lover of early Greece, was identical with our modern anemone.

Pliny tells us that the anemone of the classics was so entitled because it opened at the wind’s bidding. The Greek tradition claims that it sprang from the passionate tears shed by Venus over the body of the slain Adonis. At one time it was believed that the wind which had passed over a field of anemones was poisoned and that disease followed in its wake. Perhaps because of this superstition the flower was adopted as the emblem of sickness by the Persians. Surely our delicate blossom is far removed from any suggestion of disease or unwholesomeness, seeming instead to hold the very essence of spring and purity in its quivering cup.

RUE ANEMONE. _Anemonella thalictroides._ Crowfoot Family.

_Stem._—Six to twelve inches high. _Leaves._—Divided into rounded leaflets. _Flowers._—White or pinkish, clustered. _Calyx._—Of five to ten petal-like sepals. _Corolla._—None. _Stamens._—Numerous. _Pistils._—Four to fifteen.

The rue anemone seems to linger especially about the spreading roots of old trees. It blossoms with the wood anemone, from which it differs in bearing its flowers in clusters.

STAR-FLOWER. _Trientalis Americana._ Primrose Family.

STEM.—Smooth, erect. LEAVES.—Thin, pointed, whorled at the summit of the stem. FLOWERS.—White, delicate, star-shaped. CALYX.—Generally seven-parted. COROLLA.—Generally seven-parted, flat, spreading. _Stamens._—Four or five. PISTIL.—One.

Finding this delicate flower in the May woods, one is at once reminded of the anemone. The whole effect of plant, leaf, and snow-white blossom is starry and pointed. The frosted tapering petals distinguish it from the rounded blossoms of the wild strawberry, near which it often grows.

——— ——— _Maianthemum Canadense._ Lily Family.

_Stem._—Three to six inches high, with two or three leaves. _Leaves._—Lance-shaped to oval, heart-shaped at base. _Flowers._—White or straw-color, growing in a raceme. _Perianth._—Four-parted. _Stamens._—Four. _Pistil._—One, with a two-lobed stigma. _Fruit._—A red berry.

It seems unfair that this familiar and pretty little plant should be without any homely English name. Its botanical title signifies “Canada Mayflower,” but while it undoubtedly grows in Canada and flowers in May, the name is not a happy one, for it abounds as far south as North Carolina, and is not the first blossom to be entitled “Mayflower.”

In late summer the red berries are often found in close proximity to the fruit of the shin-leaf and pipsissewa.

GOLD THREAD. _Coptis trifolia._ Crowfoot Family.

_Scape._—Slender, three to five inches high. _Leaves._—Evergreen, shining, divided into three leaflets. _Flowers._—Small, white, solitary. _Calyx._—Of five to seven petal-like sepals which fall early. _Corolla._—Of five to seven club-shaped petals. _Stamens._—Fifteen to twenty-five. _Pistils._—Three to seven. _Root._—Of long, bright yellow fibres.

This little plant abundantly carpets the northern bogs and extends southward over the mountains, its tiny flowers appearing in May. Its bright yellow thread-like roots give it its common name.

PYXIE. FLOWERING-MOSS. _Pyxidanthera barbulata._ Order _Diapensiaceæ_.

_Stems._—Prostrate and creeping, branching. _Leaves._—Narrowly lance-shaped, awl-pointed. _Flowers._—White or pink, small, numerous. _Calyx._—Of five sepals. _Corolla._—Five-lobed. _Stamens._—Five. _Pistil._—One, with a three-lobed stigma.

In early spring we may look for the white flowers of this moss-like plant in the sandy pine-woods of New Jersey and southward. At Lakewood they appear even before those of the trailing arbutus which grows in the same localities. The generic name is from two Greek words which signify _a small box_ and _anther_, and refers to the anthers, which open as if by a lid.

CRINKLE-ROOT. TOOTHWORT. PEPPER-ROOT. _Dentaria diphylla._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

_Rootstock._—Five to ten inches long, wrinkled, crisp, of a pleasant, pungent taste. _Stem._—Leafless below, bearing two leaves above. _Leaves._—Divided into three-toothed leaflets. _Flowers._—White, in a terminal cluster. _Pod._—Flat and lance-shaped.

The crinkle-root has been valued—not so much on account of its pretty flowers which may be found in the rich May woods—but for its crisp edible root which has lent savor to many a simple luncheon in the cool shadows of the forest.

SPRING-CRESS. _Cardamine rhomboidea._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

_Rootstock._—Slender, bearing small tubers. _Stem._—From a tuberous base, upright, slender. _Root-leaves._—Round and often heart-shaped. _Stem-leaves._—The lower rounded, the upper almost lance-shaped. _Flowers._—White, large. _Pod._—Flat, lance-shaped, pointed with a slender style tipped with a conspicuous stigma; smaller than that of the crinkle-root.

The spring-cress grows abundantly in the wet meadows and about the borders of springs. Its large white flowers appear as early as April, lasting until June.

WHITLOW-GRASS. _Draba verna._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

_Scapes._—One to three inches high. _Leaves._—All from the root, oblong or lance-shaped. _Flowers._—White, with two-cleft petals. _Pod._—Flat, varying from oval to oblong, lance-shaped.

This little plant may be found flowering along the roadsides and in sandy places during April and May. It has come to us from Europe.

SHEPHERD’S PURSE. _Capsella Bursa-pastoris._ Mustard Family (p. 17).

_Stem._—Low, branching. _Root-leaves._—Clustered, incised or toothed. _Stem-leaves._—Arrow-shaped, set close to the stem. _Flowers._—White, small, in general structure resembling other members of the Mustard family. _Pod._—Triangular, heart-shaped.

This is one of the commonest of our wayside weeds, working its way everywhere with such persistency and appropriating other people’s property so shamelessly, that it has won for itself the nickname of pickpocket. Its popular title arose from the shape of its little seed-pods.

MAY-APPLE. MANDRAKE. _Podophyllum peltatum._ Barberry Family.

_Flowering stem._—Two-leaved, one-flowered. _Flowerless stems._—Terminated by one large, rounded, much-lobed leaf. _Leaves_ (of flowering stems).—One-sided, five to nine-lobed, the lobes oblong, the leaf-stalks fastened to their lower side near the inner edge. _Flower._—White, large, nodding from the fork made by the two leaves. _Calyx._—Of six early falling sepals. _Corolla._—Of six to nine rounded petals. _Stamens._—Twice as many as the petals. _Pistil._—One, with a large, thick stigma set close to the ovary. _Fruit._—A large, fleshy, egg-shaped berry, sweet and edible.

“The umbrellas are out!” cry the children, when the great green leaves of the May-apple first unfold themselves in spring. These curious-looking leaves at once betray the hiding-place of the pretty but unpleasantly odoriferous flower which nods beneath them. They lie thickly along the woods and meadows in many parts of the country, arresting one’s attention by the railways. The fruit, which ripens in July, has been given the name of “wild lemon,” in some places on account of its shape. It was valued by the Indians for medicinal purposes, and its mawkish flavor still seems to find favor with the children, notwithstanding its frequently unpleasant after-effects. The leaves and roots are poisonous if taken internally, and are said to have been used as a pot-herb, with fatal results. They yield an extract which has been utilized in medicine.

TWIN-LEAF. RHEUMATISM-ROOT. _Jeffersonia diphylla._ Barberry Family.

A low plant. _Leaves._—From the root, long-stalked, parted into two rounded leaflets. _Scape._—One-flowered. _Flower._—White, one inch broad. _Sepals._—Four, falling early. _Petals._—Eight; flat, oblong. _Stamens._—Eight. _Pistil._—One, with a two-lobed stigma.

The twin-leaf is often found growing with the blood-root in the woods of April or May. It abounds somewhat west and southward.

HARBINGER-OF-SPRING. _Erigenia bulbosa._ Parsley Family (p. 15).

_Stem._—Three to nine inches high, from a deep round tuber. _Leaves._—One or two, divided into linear-oblong leaf-segments. _Flowers._—White, small, few, in a leafy-bracted compound umbel.

The pretty little harbinger-of-spring should be easily identified by those who are fortunate enough to find it, for it is one of the smallest members of the Parsley family. It is only common in certain localities, being found in abundance in the neighborhood of Washington, where its flowers appear as early as March.

EARLY EVERLASTING. PLANTAIN-LEAVED EVERLASTING. _Antennaria plantaginifolia._ Composite Family (p. 13).

_Stems._—Downy or woolly, three to eighteen inches high. _Leaves._—Silky, woolly when young; those from the root, oval, three-nerved; those on the flowering stems, small, lance-shaped. _Flower-heads._—Crowded, clustered, small, yellowish-white, composed entirely of tubular flowers.

In early spring the hill-sides are whitened with this, the earliest of the everlastings.

SPRING BEAUTY. _Claytonia Virginica._ Purslane Family.

_Stem._—From a small tuber, often somewhat reclining. _Leaves._—Two; opposite, long and narrow. _Flowers._—White, with pink veins, or pink with deeper-colored veins, growing in a loose cluster. _Calyx._—Of two sepals. _Corolla._—Of five petals. _Stamens._—Five. _Pistil._—One, with style three-cleft at apex.

So bashful when I spied her, So pretty, so ashamed! So hidden in her leaflets Lest anybody find:

So breathless when I passed her, So helpless when I turned And bore her struggling, blushing, Her simple haunts beyond!

For whom I robbed the dingle, For whom betrayed the dell, Many will doubtless ask me, But I shall never tell!

Yet we are all free to guess—and what flower—at least in the early year, before it has gained that touch of confidence which it acquires later—is so bashful, so pretty, so flushed with rosy shame, so eager to defend its modesty by closing its blushing petals when carried off by the despoiler—as the spring beauty? To be sure, she is not “hidden in her leaflets,” although often seeking concealment beneath the leaves of other plants—but why not assume that Miss Dickinson has availed herself of something of the license so freely granted to poets—especially, it seems to me—to poets of nature? Perhaps of this class few are more accurate than she, and although we wonder at the sudden blindness which leads her to claim that

—Nature rarer uses yellow Than another hue—

when it seems as though it needed but little knowledge of flowers to recognize that yellow, probably, occurs more frequently among them than any other color, and also at the representation of this same nature as

—Spending scarlet like a woman—

when in reality she is so chary of this splendid hue; still we cannot but appreciate that this poet was in close and peculiar sympathy with flowers, and was wont to paint them with more than customary fidelity.

We look for the spring beauty in April and May, and often find it in the same moist places—on a brook’s edge or skirting the wet woods—as the yellow adder’s tongue. It is sometimes mistaken for an anemone, but its rose-veined corolla and linear leaves easily identify it. Parts of the carriage-drive in the Central Park are bordered with great patches of the dainty blossoms. One is always glad to discover these children of the country within our city limits, where they can be known and loved by those other children who are so unfortunate as to be denied the knowledge of them in their usual haunts. If the day chances to be cloudy these flowers close and are only induced to open again by an abundance of sunlight. This habit of closing in the shade is common to many flowers, and should be remembered by those who bring home their treasures from the woods and fields, only to discard the majority as hopelessly wilted. If any such exhausted blossoms are placed in the sunlight, with their stems in fresh water, they will probably regain their vigor. Should this treatment fail, an application of very hot—almost boiling—water should be tried. This heroic measure often meets with success.

DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES. WHITE-HEARTS. _Dicentra Cucullaria._ Fumitory Family.

_Scape._—Slender. _Leaves._—Thrice-compound. _Flowers._—White and yellow, growing in a raceme. _Calyx._—Of two small, scale-like sepals. _Corolla._—Closed and flattened; of four somewhat cohering white petals tipped with yellow; the two outer—large, with spreading tips and deep spurs; the two inner—small, with spoon-shaped tips uniting over the anthers and stigma. _Stamens._—Six. _Pistil._—One.