Chester A. Reed

“ We see in most flowers a thing of beauty; their real and, to them, most important function is to produce seeds to perpetuate the species.
The parts of a flower that are necessary to produce seeds are the pistil, with its stigma at the top and ovule at the base, and the stamens with their pollen-laden anthers. A flower that has these organs is known as a perfect flower; if, in addition, it has a corolla and calyx, or petals and sepals, it is known as a complete flower. ”

“ There are also some flowers, like the evening primrose, that are seen at their best after dusk, when the light-colored petals are widespread and a delicate perfume given off to attract the moths and sphinges that visit them.
It is evident that a flower secreting honey may be visited by unwelcome guests, ones that will accept of the nectar, but will make no useful return. Any insect with a shiny, smooth body whether winged or not, is of little use in fertilizing a plant, for even should it receive pollen, it will in all probability have fallen off before the next flower is visited. ”

“ The bright golden-yellow flowers are quite fragrant; they open only in the sunshine and close tightly at night. They grow in few-flowered umbels at the end of the stem on slender peduncles from the axils of some of the leaves. After their flowering season little erect, pointed pods take the place of the flowers. This species is a very common herb or weed throughout our range. ”

“ As in the animal world, so in the plant world; always a struggle for existence, the strong surviving and the weak falling by the wayside. The old adage that “In union there is strength” is amply proved by many of the composite flowers, such as the asters and goldenrods, whose stalks are not only capped with numerous flower-heads, but each flower-head is composed of hundreds of little perfect florets, so closely set together that even should an insect but crawl across the flower-head he will fertilize a number of them. ”

“ Nature has a number of quite effective ways of preventing thefts of this kind, one of the most common ways being to provide the plant stem with bristly hairs, forming a very difficult barrier for any crawling insect to overcome; others have a tuft of hair at the very entrance to the honey cells which bar the way for unwelcome guests, but readily allow the bee to insert its tongue; still others are protected by recurved leaves or by sticky stems, or as in the toadflax by a two-lipped flower, which will open under the weight of a bumblebee, but is effectively closed to any lighter insect. ”

“ During September and October we may find these blossoms fully expanded, delicate, vase-shaped creations with four spreading deeply fringed lobes bearing no resemblance in shape or form to any other American species. The color is a violet-blue, the color that is most attractive to bumblebees, and it is to these insects that the flower is indebted for the setting of its seed. The anthers mature before the stigma is developed so that self-fertilization is impossible. The flowers are wide open only during sunshine, furling in their peculiar twisted manner on cloudy days and at night. ”

“ The bright sepals are always reflexed, sometimes so much so that they remind one of a coiled spring. One has but to touch the large pendent anthers to get a practical demonstration of how the pollen is attached to the body of a bee and carried to another flower, there to be deposited on the sticky stigma of the mature style. Naturally a species so prolific of flower and so capable of being cross-fertilized by foreign agency is in little danger of having its numbers lessened. ”

“ In order that seed may be set, it is necessary that ripened pollen from the anthers should come in contact with the usually sticky stigma, whence it will be transmitted down the style and germinate the ovule. As is well known to be the case with the higher animals, cross-fertilization is necessary in order to insure a good, vigorous species. It is also evident that should the pollen continue to fertilize the ovule in the same flower, the plants in successive generations might become weakened and finally die out and the species be lost. ”

“ Forget-me-not is a common wild flower in Europe and Asia, and is in this country as an escape and fairly well established in Nova Scotia, New England, New York, and southward. The stem is rather stout but weak; it rises about a foot in height, and is smooth but the leaves are rough and hairy. The flowers are borne in one-sided curving terminal clusters. The five, broad, rounded petals are sky-blue with a yellow eye; the undeveloped buds are pink. There are several species of Myosotis, the present one having the largest and most beautiful flowers. ”

“ Yellow Pond Lily (Nymphæa advena) is not unattractive and is interesting in its makeup. The leaves are thick, rough, ovate, slit or lobed to the stem, which is long and hollow. The flower is raised above the surface of the water on a long, hollow stem. What appear to be six large green and yellow petals are in reality sepals; the real petals are numerous, stamen-like, inserted with the very numerous stamens under the golden-yellow rayed disk that forms the stigma. Very common in still or stagnant water. ”

“ In fact, most of the white-flowered species do have smaller flowers than the blue ones, but what they lack in size they more than make up in numbers. The stem is slender but very branching, making a bush-like plant. Each branch is terminated by short, many-flowered racemes. The leaves are tiny, light green and linear, smooth-edged but rough to the touch, crowded along the branches to their tips. This is a common species from Mass. to Minn. and southward, growing in dry places everywhere and blooming from September to November. ”

“ Meadowsweet (Spiræa salicifolia) is a common and beautiful shrub that grows along the edges of woods, swamps, or even roadsides. Its handsome pyramidal clusters of flowers are in evidence during July and August. The stem is straight, slender, woody, and yellowish buff; along it, at close intervals, alternate the lanceolate, toothed, short-stemmed leaves. At the top is a spire-like panicle of fleecy flower clusters. Each flower has five round, white petals and numerous long, pink stamens that give the flowers a feathery appearance and a rosy tint. ”

“ It has a woody, climbing stem that may attain lengths of from 10 to 40 feet. The very large, deep-green, veiny leaves that alternate along the stem are very beautiful. In the dull, greenish-yellow flowers, however, lies the chief interest of the botanist. Its stigma matures and withers away before the ripening of the pollen, thus making the plant dependent upon insects for its perpetuation.
The throat is filled with tiny hairs, all pointing inward, so ingress is easy but egress impossible. Entering insects are held prisoners, living upon the nectar, until the stigma withers and pollen ripens ”

“ As usual with vegetation in moist, rich soil, its growth is luxuriant. The smooth, branching stem ascends to heights of 3 to 10 feet and is leafy throughout. Ordinarily, the plant does not grow more than 5 feet in height; those that exceed this height might be termed giants of the species. The lower leaves are very large, are on long petioles and are cleft into five or seven divisions; the lower and middle stem leaves are usually three-parted while the upper ones, or at least the ones nearest the flowers, are small and elliptical. ”

“ Common Violet (Viola cucullata) is the commonest and best known of all the Violets. It grows in low land everywhere—in woods, meadows, marshes, or along roadsides. It is a very beautiful and variable species both as to size and color of blossoms and to shape of the leaves.
The flowers are sometimes a deep purple and again may be a light blue, or even nearly white. The two upper petals are usually darker near the throat; the three lower ones shade to white at the throat, the side ones being beautifully fringed or bearded. The leaves are usually heart-shaped, round-toothed, and concave or furled ”

“ The leaves, alternating along and clasping the stem, are soft and feathery—deeply and finely bipinnatifid.
The flowers grow in very compact, flat-topped clusters at the top of the stem. Each flower-head has a centre of short, tubular, yellowish florets that turn brown or grayish as they grow old; they are surrounded by from four to six round, white rays.
Yarrow is a very hardy plant; we may find it thriving beside roads where the dust has killed nearly ever other living thing. Its leaves have a strong, not unpleasant, aromatic odor. ”

“ Stick-tight (Bidens frondosa) is a plant familiar, to their sorrow, to all who roam the woods and fields during fall. Who has not had the pleasant task of sitting down and, one by one, removing the little two-hooked, black seeds that hang so closely to clothing.
Beggar-ticks, in appearance, is an uninteresting weed common everywhere in moist ground or along roadsides. The stem is very branching and is from 1 to 8 feet tall. The leaves are compounded of three to five sharply toothed, lance-shaped leaflets. ”

“ In our country Mustard is regarded as a pest; it is a very strong, hardy plant, soon overrunning sections where it gets a foothold. The stem is very branching and grows to heights of from 2 to 7 feet. The four-petalled, light-yellow flowers are in small dense clusters at the ends of the branches; a trail of small, erect seedpods is left in the wake of the flowers as they continue to bloom along the lengthening stem. The leaves have a large, terminal notched lobe and smaller lateral ones. ”

“ As certain insects prey upon plants or rob them of their nectar, so certain plants prey upon insects, literally eating them or absorbing them into their system. Best known among these are the pitcher plants, a swamp species, whose leaves are pitcher-like and with a hood or awning over the top to keep out the rain; these leaves are half filled with a sweet fluid that attracts insects, makes them tipsy and causes their death in the watery grave, the plant feeding largely upon the resulting broth. ”

“ The observer will also notice that a bee makes the rounds from flower to flower, taking all of one kind and passing by other species. While this habit undoubtedly avoids some complications, even should he mix his drinks and visit in succession flowers of widely different species, confusion would not be apt to result, for the stigma of one species is usually not responsive to pollen brought from blossoms of another family. ”

“ The simple stem grows to heights of 2 to 4 feet, from perennial creeping rootstalks that often throw up new plants; the stalk is hollow and rather closely set with alternating, lanceshaped leaves, the lower ones stemmed and toothed, the upper ones clasping the stem and nearly smooth-edged. The showy flower-spike is loosely set with bright red flowers; the narrow, tubular corolla proceeds from a five-parted calyx, and ends in two lips, the upper having two erect, narrow lobes and the lower a broad three-cleft one, velvety scarlet; the five stamens are united in an erect tube. ”

“ Day-flower (Commelina communis) is one of a very few of our native plants having pure blue flowers. Each blossom lasts but a single day.
The stem is rather weak, much jointed, and attains heights of one to two feet. Two petals are large, rounded and blue, while the third is tiny and colorless; the whole flower peeps out from a clasping, cordate, heart-shaped leaf or spathe. Found from southern Mass. to Mich. and southward, blooming in rich woods or dooryards from June to Sept. ”

“ Wild Roses are very common throughout our range and, of course, are familiar to every one. The Swamp Rose is a very bushy species, growing from one to nine feet high. It is very common on the edges of swamps or streams, and in low ground, throughout our range.
The flowers are two or three inches broad and have numerous yellow stamens radiating from the greenish-white centre. The stem of the Swamp Rose is sparingly armed with stout, wide-based, curved thorns. ”

“ To avoid such a calamity, flowers are constructed so as to facilitate cross-fertilization and the means that some of them adopt towards insuring that end are remarkable. The stamens on most of the simple flowers usually curve outwards, so that the pollen-laden anthers are far enough removed so that there is little danger of the pollen falling on the stigma, at least until after cross-fertilization has already taken place. Others have either the anthers or stigma ripen first, so that it must necessarily be pollen from another blossom that quickens the seed. ”