ie @. rAMILIAK FLOWERS OF FIELD AND ~ GARDEN 7. Schuyler Mathews 4A , e-. “Es Ra) ny, an * 1% Ms x a pall as ee: FIELDS. IN THE FAMILIAR FLOWERS Ofe TIELD AND GARDEN DESIERIBE D -ANID? [LEE U Si RALED BY F. SCHUYLER MATHEWS WITH OVER TWO HUNDRED DRAWINGS WEW YORK SOTANWICAR <4 rn pet: NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1895 . + CopyYRIGHT, 1895, a [By oD. APPLETON AND COMPANY. ee a) jibe. >) ee . INTRODUCTION. Faminrariry with a flower does not always in- clude a knowledge of its name and family. This little volume is intended properly to introduce many familiar characters. We are better pleased to know the golden-rod, virgin’s bower, and blood-root by their titled names—Arguta Solidago, Clematis of Vzir- ginia, and Sanguinaria of Canada. But the book goes a step further and supplements the introduction with a little friendly gossip based on personal experi- ence. Alas! personal experiences are all more or less different, so I must be pardoned for occasionally ap- pearing to disagree with those whose wide experience, profound research, and scientific training entitle them to acceptation as unquestionable and final authorities. But opportunity is often the means whereby one may arrive at truths not always in the possession of the most learned; and the fact that I have seen the Atamasco lily in bloom in May and even earlier in- clines me to the belief that the same opportunity was a ageetd iv FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. not afforded to Dr. Asa Gray. Aster ericoides I do not find confined to southern New England; it is common in northern New Hampshire. It is also the fact that certain variations in type are unrecorded in -botanical books to which I have referred ; such variations appear in a few of my drawings. The environment of a flower and the length of time in which it blooms are also recorded here with some variation from that according to Dr. Gray. In such instances I have relied upon my own personal expe- rience. Regarding the colors of flowers, I take the liberty of saying that no authority has appeared to be perfectly satisfactory from my particular point of view, and I regret to add that certain records in Dr. Gray’s books seem to point to the fact that he was at least partially color-blind. To any artist who is a colorist it is almost incon- ceivable that crimson should not be distinguished from scarlet. When it is possible for him to produce fifty distinct variations of red between these two colors, it will be easily understood why he should look on the color-blind person as an eighth wonder of the world! Color terms are best considered as relative to each other—for instance, blue-violet, violet, violet-purple, purple, purple-magenta, magenta, magenta-red, ete. The name rose-purple is quite indefinite. I suppose it means pink-purple ; but pink-purple is anomalous. It INTRODUCTION. Vv is a combination of a tint and a hue, and should read either pink-lilac, as a tint, or magenta-purple, as a hue. Now, as these colors are entirely dissimilar, I am left in complete doubt as to which one the bota- nist refers in using the term rose-purple. The color of a flower is an important factor in its identification, and I have exercised great care in the selection of an adequate name for it; at the same time, a few popular color-names have been retained when these seemed to be sufficiently near the truth, although certainly not exact. But flowers vary in the presentation of a certain hue; two specimens of Lilium Philadelphicum are likely to show two dis- tinct tones of red. Magenta-pink, crimson-pink, and pure pink are varieties of pink common in the Orchis family. Habenaria jimbriata is apt to vary from a tint to a light hue. Cypripediwm acaule is also a variable crimson-pink flower. By constant reference to Dr. Gray I mean to draw attention to him as our highest botanical author- ity. The Manual and Meld, Forest, and Garden Botany furnish a scientific background, so to speak, for this volume. A late revision of the Manual fur- nishes a full, detailed description of certain wild flow- ers; but a later revision, by Prof. L. H. Bailey, of Field, Forest, and Garden Botany, recently published, will undoubtedly prove the more useful book of the yi FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. two for those who are inexperienced in botanical research. In Prof. Meehan’s Flowers and Ferns of the United States I have found a valuable authority on the habits and characters of our more Western flowers, and Prof. Goodale in his Wild Flowers of America has supplied me with many interesting facts connected with some of our common Eastern flowers. This selection of familiar wild and garden flowers in- cludes those which have seemed most familiar or in- teresting or even homely to one who spends a great deal of time in the garden and fields surrounding a hillside studio. Most of the Western and Southwest- ern wild flowers (now in cultivation) grow in this gar- den, and these, with others of the woods and fields near by, were sketched on the spot. Still other speci- mens (many of which grew in the Arnold Arboretum near Boston) of various localities were likewise drawn directly from Nature. What the character of the message is which a wild flower brings to the observant lover of Nature depends largely upon disposition of the individual. This one is susceptible to no suggestion; that one sees a vis- ion of the beautiful beyond the conception of the unimaginative; another hears the music of Nature and sees the beautiful as well. Let us hope that there are few Americans of whom Wordsworth might say: - Seer, INTRODUCTION. vil “A primrose by a river’s brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more.” But, on the other hand, who of us can truly say “To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears” ? There is no doubt in my mind as to what Beet. hoven was thinking of when he wrote the lovely Scherzo of his Heroic Symphony. The music is brimful of the woods and fields of springtime. We do not know exactly what Chopin imagined when he composed his Impromptu Fantasia, but its exu- berant music suggests the joy and freedom of the birds and flowers in the woods and meadows of June. A little more familiarity with Nature will lead us to a better understanding of her message—a message she surely has for every one who will but listen. F. Scauyter Martuews. Eu Furerpis, Buarr, Campton, N. H., October, 1894. FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. CHAPTER I. MARCH AND APRIL. Arbutus to Spring Everlasting. Trailing Arbutus, Amonca the favorite flowers of spring, or Mayflower. the Pilgrim’s Mayflower seems to hold Epigea repens. — ‘the first place in the heart of a loyal New-Englander. It has even been suggested as a national flower for our country. But the trailing arbutus is too local to stir the enthusiastic in- terest of our Western and Southern fellow-countrymen; and not long ago, when the subject of a nation- al flower was agi- tated, a most decid- ed preference was expressed by vote Trailing Arbutus. for the golden-rod. However, the sweetness and quiet beauty of the trail- ing arbutus deserve the highest consideration, and it is at least the representative New England wild 1 9 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. flower. The Englishman does not need to ask us, “Where are your fragrant flowers?” John Bur- roughs says: “Let him look closer and penetrate our forests and visit our ponds and lakes. . . . Let him compare our matchless, rosy-lipped, honey- hearted, trailing arbutus with his own ugly ground ivy (Wepeta Glechoma).” We can make our own comparison if we choose, for the ground ivy has be- come naturalized here, and it may be found in shady places creeping and spreading over the waysides ; its flowers are light blue and its leaves kidney- shaped; it can be seen in Prospect Park, Brook- lyn, in May. But the ground ivy is not to be men- tioned in the same breath with our sweet Mayflow- er. We must pass what the poet Whittier has to say about it for lack of space, and turn our attention to its natural environment. I have found the love- liest blossoms not in Massachusetts, but in a hilly, wet pasture on the southern slopes of the White Moun- -tains. Here the largest and pinkest blossoms were gathered among damp moss and withered leaves not two feet away from the remains of a winter’s snow- drift; this was on the 25th of April. It must be re- membered that snowdrifts frequently remain on the southern gorges of the White Hills as late as the mid- dle of May. But the arbutus does not mind the cool breath of a tardy New England spring; on the con- MARCH AND APRIL. 3 trary, it thrives best not in sunny pastures where the sun is doing its warmest work, but in the chill and shadowy retreats of little dells, and in hollows be- tween rocks and groups of stunted firs, where the hillside is wet and cold with patches of melting ice and snow. The starry blossoms are ineffably sweet, and have a frosty, waxy look, and a dainty pink at the edge of the petals, more attractive than the deli- cate coloring of many a highly prized garden flower. The fresh petals have a taste not unlike muscatel grapes. The flower grows plentifully on the southeastern coast of Massachusetts, and is annually seen for sale in the streets of Boston. If we call the Mayflower the represen tative Snowdrop. Galanthus nivalis. wild flower of New England, then the snowdrop may be called the representative spring flower of Old England! It is not as familiar an object in Snowdrop. our own meadow borders as we would wish; yet it grows easily, and thrives in the bleak air of a New England spring. There are several old houses 4 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. in Roxbury whose front yards are brightened by this seemingly pathetic, drooping little flower as early as the frost will permit it to appear. It is amazing to see the courageous little thing hanging its dainty head over patches of ice and snow which linger into the middle of March! When the snow and the flower are seen thus together, we are startled by the incongruity of the situation: death and life side by side on the dawn of the deving year. The 1st of January, New- Year’s day, is but a name; the real birthday of the year is marked by the first snowdrop which lifts its head above the winter’s snow. The flower is full of interest, and even under the glass it reveals a new beauty; its inner divisions are short and notched at the end, and are tipped with green; the coloring inside is extremely deli- cate. The snowdrop belongs to the Amaryllis family. Scilla, or Squill. The pretty blue Scilla Siberica, or scilla, which ap- amend, Scilla, or Squill. pears in the grassy plots of our parks and gardens in early spring, is a welcome visitor MARCH AND APRIL. 5 from Siberia, come to stay in our country. It is perfectly hardy, and its refreshing blue in among the new grass blades is peculiarly harmonious with the background of green. We have one native variety ealled S. Frasert, or wild hyacinth ; this is common on moist banks and prairies from Ohio westward; it grows about ten inches high, and its flowers are pale violet-blue, a color not so pretty as the purer blue of the cultivated Siberian variety, which may be seen in early spring dot- ting the greensward of the Public Garden, Boston. The bulb of S. Maritima, a Medi- terranean variety, is officinal, and Sirup of Squills is used for bronchial troubles. Skunk Cabbage. The — earliest Symplocarpus harbinger of tidus. : 2 Jeni the spring is the skunk cabbage. This Vig A Skunk Cabbage. most suggestively repellent plant is about as attract- ive in odor as it is in name! Yet, aside from this 6 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, little misfortune, Nature has given the odoriferous cabbage a very interesting though not a beautiful appearance, and its very peculiarity invites attention. — There is something startling in the fact that the dark, livid-colored thing is related to the spotless calla (what a contrast !), and to the sturdy and happy- looking Jack-in-the-pulpit! But the appearance of the brown-purple spathe must be attractive to ani- mated Nature, otherwise it would not contain so many relics of “a ball that is over.” Many insects must have led quite a lively dance inside the spathe, for when we look within its folds we see plenty of remains—honeybees, small flies, bugs, spiders, beetles, and the like. Somehow, I never see a skunk cabbage, with its company of buzzing insects, without thinking of Tam o’ Shanter: the little witches are having “a high old time ” within, and one can not help feeling somewhat ungracious over the knowledge that beau- tiful Nature does show herself disgusting once in a while; why, in the name of all that is sweet, do dainty honeybees want to visit such a malodorous character? Thoreau says, “ Lucky that this flower does not flavor their honey.” The marsh marigold is another flower Marsh Marigold. which is found for sale in the streets Caltha palustris. of Boston in spring. It seems a pity that wrong names should attach themselves to our MARCH AND APRIL. ¢ wild flowers, and occasion some confusion regarding their family relations. This flower is not related ig Marsh Marigold. either to the garden calendula (pot marigold) or to the English cowslip; yet it often goes by the latter name (without the English). The flower rather dis- 8 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. tantly reminds one of the buttercup, to which it is related ; but it is thick and stocky-looking, and de- serves some interest on its own account. It will be found in early April beside the brooks as they wind through the meadows, and in springy ground. It is common also: in Italy, where we would hardly look for it. The calyx is golden yellow in hue, and the dark-green, thickish leaf is like a rounded kidney in shape. Hepatica. Liverwort. Hepatica triloba is one of the earliest Hepatica triloba. of our spring flowers, and perhaps one of the most beautiful. It is often described as a MARCH AND APRIL. 9 blue flower, but I must object to this on the ground that its blue is only a qualifying condition of its pur- ple. Often the blossoms are nearly white, but as a rule they are blue-purple of extraordinarily delicate quality. The leaves come out later than the flowers, and by the end of summer they are strong and thick, dark green in color, and leathery in texture. They remain green all winter. The flower grows on the edge of the wood, and often in sunny pastures; at least this is so in the Eastern States. A distinguish- ing point in the Lepatica is its hairy flower stem. It is not too early to look for it immediately after the snow has disappeared ; in fact, it is contempora- neous with the arbutus, whose blossoms one may often gather within a few feet of a lingering snowdrift ! There is no reason why the adder’s- Dog’s-Tooth Violet, or Adder’s-Tongue. is really a lily; and so far as the re- tongue should be called a violet; it pe trontum semblance in shape between the white Americanum. root of the plant and a dog’s tooth is concerned, that is too trifling for serious considera- tion. There is a snaky look to the prettily mottled leaf, but nothing to remind one of the snake’s tongue. I have found this flower growing beside a little brook as it issued from the border of the wood as late as the 10th of May. The blossom is usually russet yel- low, and the upright leaves, spotted with a darker 2 10 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, color in delicate pencilings, are readily distinguished from the surrounding green. But we may find some specimens without the slightest trace of this mottled color; so we must remember that Nature, frequently ec- centric, refuses to fol- low a rule unless it is connected with some great underlying prin- ciple of creation. This dainty little lily grows as cheerfully on the slopes of Mount Wash- ington, at an altitude of over two thousand feet, as it does in some of the wooded dells of Staten Island. It is an early flower, and may be looked for in April. Pansy. That the pansy is a Rs . Dog’s-tooth Violet. Viola onicalen——-\ op enta eavorite pir. Out country is demonstrated by the fact that a seedsman tells me he alone sells over two hundred thousand packages of the seed ina year! The flower is really a large party-colored variety of the violet, and it MARCH AND APRIL. fT. appears in such variegated colors that it would be difficult to describe even the commonest types. In one strain there are specimens which approach as near to a black flower as it seems possible. I con- ‘sider the French pansies of M. Bugnot by all odds the finest. But this is a matter of opinion which I am not disposed to urge. Cassier’s Odier is a variety of large size and fine color, usually three or five spotted. The pansy should be treated as a biennial; if we wish fine flowers we must raise them from seed each year; they bloom from early spring to mid- summer. The Sweet Violet (V. odorata), a relation of the pansy, comes from England and Italy, and is not hardy in our gardens of the North. The double-flow- ered varieties do not seed. The tulip comes Tulip. to us from Asia Tulipa Gesneriana. Minor, but indi- rectly from Holland. In Ara- Tulip. bian ornament, particularly in decorative painting, the flower is frequently repre- sented. Our finest tulips come from Haarlem, Hol- 12 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, land, where there are extensive farms devoted to the culture of the splendid flower. In 1634, and three years after, all Holland was crazy over the tulip! - This so-called tulipomania was finally ended by State interposition. At one time a collection of fine bulbs of one Wouter Brockholminster sold for $44,100. The first tulip, it is said, came to Europe from Per- sia, by way of Constantinople, in 1559. The taste for tulips did not reach its height in England until the close of the seventeenth century. The flower ranges without restriction through the chromatic scale, but excepts blue, although it suggests it in the variety named Bleu Celeste. The varieties are sim- ply endless. They flower successively through spring. The tulip is a member of the Lily family. Biobd:root, About the latter end of April, in the Sanguinaria valley of the Pemigewasset (the river Canadensis. which gathers its crystal waters from the southern slopes of the Franconia Mountains), be- side the road, on the brink of the river, in moist pas- tures, and beside the woodland brook, may be found the beautiful, broad white flowers of the plant which furnishes a famous specific for coughs and colds. Long before I became acquainted with the plant I had taken many drops of its orange-red blood on lump sugar. It is surprising that in three botanical books I found the juice described as crimson; for MARCH AND APRIL. 13 crimson is a biue-red, and this color will not apply in any respect to blood-root. If a bit of the stem of a leaf is squeezed, it will exude an _ orange-col- ored juice, which stains everything it comes in contact with. The blood-root leaf grows circling about the ris- ing flower stem, and does not attain its full size of about five inches across until the flower is quite gone. Alas! it goes quickly enough. This is the reason why some of our most beau- tiful wild flowers are not cultivated by the florists; it does not pay -to spend much time over such _ ephemeral lives. The _ blood-root is like a butterfly; it comes and goes in a day, like the poppy, to which it is related. The blossom is as lovely and white as a lily, and has a golden center. 14 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, NY Aus y Se? < 1 ~S\\ + Yeu ’ Th \\ Sprivg Everlasting. Spring This is an insignificant Everlasting. ; 5 . white, cottony - stemmed Antennaria plantaginifolia. plant, which lacks beauty ~ altogether; yet it is so common in the meadows and pastures of the hill country that one must know what it is on account of its conspicuousness in early spring. There are great patches of straggling white seen in the meadows through April, and one wonders, from the distance of a car window in the swiftly passing train, what the “ white stuff” is—leastwise, I But it is only Antennaria, and scarcely merits have been asked such a question. attention, unless one wishes. to examine its peculiar fuzziness through a little mi- croscope. The so-called Calla Lily (it Ethiopian Calla, . : : is not a lily, nor a true Richardia Africana. é calla either) is a beautiful, But it is not hardy and must be considered white relative of Jack-in-the-Pulpit. more of a house plant. It comes from Africa, and blooms in spring. The new dwarf variety, Little Gem, is an abundant bloomer. CHAPTER II. APRIL AND MAY. To Flowering Wintergreen. Bellwort. Tue flower of the bellwort is rather Cakesia sessilifolia. 4 insionificant, attenuated _ little thing, which one would hardly notice unless the plant was picked, and its hidden _ side (whence depends the bell) turned imtoy view... The flower is cream- color, the upper surface of the leaf- age is pale green, and the under sur- face bluish green. The plant is not often more than Seed-pod of the eight inches high Bellwort. as it grows in Bellwort. 15 16 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. the White Mountain woods. The green, three-sided seed pod — looks like a beechnut. Uvularia perfoliata is a very near rela- tion to the flower under consideration, with differences which Prof. Goodale fully explains in his book entitled Wild Flowers of America. It is sufficient here to say that in this variety the stem seems to pass through the*base of each one of the leaves. The bellwort flowers in April and Anemone nemorosa. May. Wood Anemone, Lhe wood anemone or Windflower. really belongs in Anemone nemorosa. the half-lit woods of spring, when the foliage is un- developed and its shade is thin and Leaf of Anemone spotty; but I have often found the nemorosa. APRIL AND MAY. 17 flower beside the road, and as late, too, as the mid- dle of May. This was among the mountains, where the altitude is apt to retard the advance of spring. The blossom is frail, with five or more white sepals (not petals) sometimes suffused with a delicate crimson pink. The leaves are character- istically wedge-shaped, and on this account there is no excuse for confusing the plant with Zhalictrum anemo- noides, or rue anemone. ‘The leaves of the latter are like those of the meadow rue. Rue Anemone, Lhe dainty rue Anemonella anemone is often oe leita confused with the anemonoides. anemone just de- scribed. A glance at my two troides. drawings will at once discover the wide difference between the two little plants. Besides the difference in leafage, A. nemorosa is a one-flowered plant, while A. thalictroides bears quite a cluster of blossoms having six or more white se- 18 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. pals; sometimes these are pinkish. Gray says from five to ten sepals, but the majority of specimens I have gathered seemed to bear six. This flower does not rank as an anemone, and Gray states the reason why ; but for me it bears a_ sufh- SX. cient and un- ie mistakable fam- ily likeness in its leaf- Se age to rue or Zhaliec- trum. It blooms in May. Spring Beauty, Lhe little pink Claytonia spring beauty Virginica. : . is a favorite ao Zz with every one who loves wild ) hy \, flowers. Who would ever suspect \ } /* Br it was a kind of pusley? The flow- A pring ; Beauty. er stem, bearing several blossoms, sprawls outward from between two broad, grasslike, dark-green leaves. The flower is delicately veined with a deeper pink, and has five petals and two sepals. Sometimes it is quite white with pink veining. Like a great many other delicate wild flowers, it has a disappointing way of closing as soon as it is picked; but a tumbler of water and iy? or Ge APRIL AND MAY. 19 sunlight soon work a change in the shy flower, and we need not throw it away as hopelessly withered. I have found the flower on Long Island, and in New Jersey, in April and May. It is quite com- mon in moist places in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The pretty little plant called Dutchman’s Breeches. ; Dutehman’s breeches is common Dicentra Cucullaria. about New York and Brooklyn, and its dainty white flower tipped with yellow may be found in the leaf-mold localities of thin woods, where shade and sunlight are evenly distributed. From its similarity in structure to the familiar Bleed- ing Heart of the garden (Dicentra spectabilis), it will at once show its near relationship with the lat- ter flower. I have never found the Dutchman’s breeches in the woods of New Hampshire. It blooms in April and May, and is a low-growing, ornamental-leaved plant of a rather delicate appear- ance. Early Saxifrage, he early saxifrage which flowers in Saxifraga April and May is not by any means eg conspicuous plant. We will find it nestling among the rocks in the pastures and in shady places beside the wood. The singularly orna- mental arrangement of the fresh leaves when the plant is young can not fail to attract notice; they spread around in an even circle like a rosette. But 20 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, the tiny white flow- ers are rather insig- nificant ; they are five-pointed, like a star, with a touch of yellow in the center; later on, when the pods appear, they contribute a bit of rich brown to the little plant. Gray says purple, but the color is rather a madder-brown. The name means rock-breaker. The large Large White Early Saxifrage. Trillium. white trilli- Trillium um is considered the finest of all the randiflorum. Aaa be ° Pan trilliums ; it is certainly a lovely waxy white in color, but inclined toward a pinkish tint as it grows older. It is distinctively a woodland lily, which keeps clear of the mod- erate sunshine of April. The flower has three long white petals without the marking shown in my drawing of the APRIL AND MAY. 91 painted trillium. The leaves are broader than those of the following plant. Painted The painted “Trillium. ttrillium is Trillium not as lar erythrocarpum. : Be as the pre- ceding _ variety, but to my own taste it is more beautiful. The edges of the pet- Painted Trillium. als are wavy, and the sharp V-shaped crimson color at the center of the flower is worth a close study under the magnifying glass. It will be noted that Gray says pink; but it is well to remember that he is not | always reliable in his color descriptions. | The fact is, there are many people who, whether color-blind or not, are incapable \) of distinguishing subtle variations of \ color; and the confusion of crimson with pink in the present instance is a ff demonstration of the fact. The charac- "ter of the red on the petals of this trillium is crimson—a matter too easily proved by the science of color to admit of any discussion here. 92 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. The plant is about eighteen inches high, and the flower is two inches across. Sometimes the leaves show a bluish bloom on the surface, and the stems are stained with a ruddy brown color two thirds of the way down. I have picked handsome speci- mens beside a woodland road, as late as May 20th, near Campton Village, N. H.; but the flower may be looked for in April, farther south. Birthroot, or Here, again, Gray is rather inaceu- Wake Robin. rate regarding color, for he calls the Britian erectum. th yoot dark, dull purple. There is only a trace of purple in the flower. It is dull mad- der-red in color, sometimes pale, but generally pretty strong. I might explain that brown and purple mad- der are shades of red approaching maroon in tone, with a greater or less influence of purple. But this by no means guarantees the term purple, any more - than the expression “a red face” indicates one of an unqualified scarlet hue. This birthroot is one of those pretty esthetic red flowers whose color reminds one of certain chrysanthemums. Of the three tril- liums mentioned, this seems least attractive; but it is nevertheless a handsome wild flower, which can be proved by arranging it carefully in a vase before one of those black silk Japanese screens which are com- mon in many households. The trilliums are poison- ous to taste. I recollect an instance where a would- APRIL AND MAY. 93 be young botanist, ignorantly mistaking trillium for Indian turnip, chewed a bit of the root and gave some to the young lady accompanying him in his walk ; the consequences were rather serious, and the young people soon had occasion to consult the nearest physician. dase lower. The tiny star-flower may be readily Trientalis found in woods that border the pas- Americana. tures in the hilly country of our East- ern States. It grows in moist places besides the pur- ple violet ( Viola cuculata) and the foam-flower. Its leaf is not unlike that of the lemon verbena, but it is broader, and grows from the top of a short stem in sets of six and seven, or more, as my drawing accu- rately represents; it is very shiny and delicate-look- ing, and of a pale yellow-green color. The perfect, little, starlike flowers are dainty to a fault; they should be studied under a magnifying glass, where their extreme daintiness can be seen to the best ad- vantage. Ido not think it is possible to become ac- quainted with the charming beauty of flower forms and colors without the aid of a botanist’s microscope. It is all very well to gather wild flowers for the pur- pose of becoming acquainted with their family con- nections and interesting habits, and cast them away when these facts are obtained; but this is something very far short of intimate acquaintance. Only the one 7 44 94 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. who closely observes the frosty, waxy form and color of stamen, pistil, anther, and petal through the mag- 7 >= SST fy Spbhily Pigs Star-Flower. nifying glass can know anything of the fairylike beauty which a flower possesses. So this little star- flower must be seen under the glass, otherwise it would be passed, as likely as not, for an insignificant APRIL AND MAY. 25 character. In Campton it is in its prime about the 10th of May. The foam-flower grows wilt Foam-Flower,0r beside the little star- a xe False Mitrewort. RRS so Davee iscordafolin. flower, and blooms yy" about the same time. BEN Hop: All through August and September : wy we may find the fuzzy-surfaced, un- a] evenly colored green leaves of the | plant, in shape similar to small, nar- | row maple leaves, growing thickly on the forest floor near some babbling ' brook. Years ago, when a boy, the symmetrical leaves attracted my eye, and I carried a number of the plants from the White Mountains to my home in Brooklyn, where they were planted in the back yard. Here they flourished fair- ly well, and I first be- came acquainted with the fuzzy little blossoms in the following spring. Al- though there is nothing especially attractive in the flower, it is dainty, and common enough in the Foam-Flower. 3 = Ata by ¢ 96 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, wooded hills of New Hampshire to command our attention. It is nearly related to the true mitrewort, and has a somewhat similar appearance. Its tlower stem rises about eight inches above the ground. The mitrewort, or Bishop’s cap, is Mitrewort, or : 2 : Bishop’s Cap. apt to be found growing beside its Mitella diphylla, false-named relative; and if we are and nuda. , fortunate enough to find the two to- gether, there will be a fine opportunity for compari- son, as the flowers are altogether different in construction ; this 3) will easily be seen if we pa- oe al tiently examine each under ab : a glass. The starlike blos- es ? som of the true mitre- es wort is fringed in a ah fit remarkable manner, reminding one of the conventional rays sur- rounding the five- pointed figure of a star. The flowers of M. nuda grow sparse- ly on an upright stalk about four or five inches high ; they are Mitella nuda. small and_ greenish APRIL AND MAY. 27 white. J/. diphylla is a taller plant, bearing a greater number of white flowers. The names for the false and true mitreworts, Ziarella and Mitella, have a perfectly evident origin; the seed pods look like tiny bishops’ mitres. I can hardly agree with Gray, who speaks of the Z%arella thus: “ Name, diminution of tiara, a turban, not very appropriate.” The word tiara for centuries has been applied to a crown, par- ticularly to a bishop’s crown, which was cleft from side to side; the Asiatic turban has little to do with the case. The ancient tiara was a round, high cap encompassed by three crowns added by the popes. The King of Persia wore a tiara-shaped crown, adorned with gold and jewels. The word mitre, synonymous with tiara, applies to the pope’s triple coronet, the badge of his civic dignity as distin- guished from his ecclesiastical rank which the keys represent. With these facts in view, the 7’%arella is certainly well named. My drawing of the IWttella nuda was made from a specimen found in the woods of Vermont in early summer. The flower of the white baneberry is White Baneberry. fuzzy and white like the foam-flower Actea alba. : 2 but not particularly interesting. It is seen in May. The berries, which appear in late summer, are far more apt to attract notice; they are waxy white, with a purple-black spot, and ovate in 98 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. shape ; the stems which bear the fruit are very thick, and turn red when the berries are fully ripe. The baneberry is a very familiar object in the moist, rich woods of the White Mountains. Black Snakeroot, - Ought not to pass a near relative Cimicifuga of the white baneberry, called black raceme snakeroot, or bugbane (Cimicifuga racemosa). This blooms in summer, and its tall Fruit of the Baneberry. Baneberry. spikes of fine white flowers appear better than they smell. The Latin name means, to drive away bugs; APRIL AND MAY. 29 but, strange as it may seem, the plant has become useful in a far better way: it is quite efficacious in driving away neuralgic rheumatism, and doctors pre- scribe an extract of the root for that purpose. = Although the wintergreen flowers as Checkerberry, late as July, itsdark green, roundish Gaultheria leaves and bright scarlet berries are procumbens. ae rE : 3 - familiar objects in the woods in spring when there is little that is green scattered over the woodland floor to hide the pretty shiny plant from view. The ber- ries grow so_plenti- ful in southeastern Massachusetts that they are picked and brought to Boston, where they may be found for sale in many of the fruit stores. The berries remain on the ever- Wintergreen, or Checkerberry. green plants all win- ter; in spring they are found in plenty on the foothills of the White Mountains. The flower is tiny and waxlike, and tastes as strongly aromatic as the berry does. 380 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. Flowering The flowering win- Wintergreen, or Fringed j ; Polygala, little plant, is no Polygala paucifolia. yelative of the checkerberry ; the latter belongs to tergreen, a delicate the Heath family, and the former to the Polygala family. The flower- ing wintergreen bears a conspicuous crimson-pink blossom, perhaps three quarters of an inch long, with a fringed crest ; the leaves are crowded at the summit of the slender stem, and from among these the pretty flower looks out. The plant is Winter, hardly four inches high, and blos- soms in May and June; the speci- men from which my drawing was made grew on the edge of the Dismal Pool in the Crawford Notch, N. H. CHAPTER III. MAY. Yellow Violet to Pitcher Plant. Tue yellow vio- Yellow Violet. ] Viola pubescens. et, commonly called the downy yellow violet, grows on the edge of the wood where sunlight _ |} Downy Yellow and shadow are mixed. I am |} Violet. best acquainted with the smooth — || variety, which can be found in a certain locality in the Pemi- 1S gewasset Valley, and is a never- ending source of delight to me in late spring. I know of no other spot for miles north and south where there is more. This particular patch is broad and thick, and about the 10th of May one may gather hundreds of blossoms without moving beyond a space ten yards square. I never found 31 39 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. this flower, as Bryant says, “in forest bare,” nor could I ever discover the “faint perfume”; and, although the valleys of the White Mountains hold many a drift of snow as late as May, not a sign of snow is ever seen about the patch I have alluded to. Nor does the little flower seem to bend its “gentle eye” earthward. My drawing certainly tells the exact truth, as it was made on the spot where the violets grew, and was taken from a single speci- men. These two little yellow beauties held their heads pretty high—something like ten inches above the ground. But we must not take the poet on any grounds of scientific accuracy ; the truth he aims for is spiritual and not material; the last three verses of Bryant’s poem are the best ones to judge it by. The yellow of this flower is golden in character, but considerably paler than dandelion yellow, and is veined with brownish purple. The blossom is very small, and springs up from between a pair of leaves which start from a bare stem abouteight or nine inches tall. The specimen which I have drawn of Purple Violet. ‘ ce ee the purple violet (commonly called Viola cuculata. blue, but I prefer the truer purple) was gathered on the 25th of May, in a very wet spot not more than a hundred yards away from the yel- low violet patch just mentioned. It makes a great MAY. 33 differencein regard to its personal appearance where a flower happens to grow. This specimen was reared exactly under the most advanta- geous conditions for a high develop- ment; the flower measured over an inch and a quarter in length. We all know that there are plenty of violets to be found sprinkled over hillside and pasture which do not attain even a moderate size; but if one wishes to gather some really fine specimens, they must be sought in cool, shady dells, where the soil is rich and there is plenty of spring water. Purple Violet. The pronounced type of slender leaf- Bird-foot Violet. Ficla pedata. 8° belonging to the bird-foot. vio- let is in astonishing contrast with the heart-shaped leaf which we are accustomed to associ- ate with violets; this instance of unlikeness in a flow- er family is a demonstration of the fact that super- ficial appearances count for very little in botany, 384 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. which often finds among hidden things that which is essential for the establishment of scientific truth. Bird-foot Violet. Thus it is that the ovaries and stigma of the rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides), and not the leaf, decide that the flower is not a true anemone. But nothing is more attractively symmetrical in plant form than this particular violet’s leaf ; pressed flat on a piece of paper, its delicate outline is an interesting study for one who loves the decorative side of Nature. MAY. 35 The flower is rich in blue-purple color, and some- times the two upper petals are a strong violet-purple. The little touch of orange-yellow in the center is ex- tremely effective. In the sandy soil of Nantucket, and on the borders of Buzzard’s Bay, this violet blooms with spendthrift prodigality, its great clumps of light blue-purple bloom decorating the springtime meadows as far as the eye can reach. The blossoms droop sadly after being picked, but revive at once on being placed in a glass of las water. I have found the ] Sa 7 a cc hs big dipper” and a “big bear”? yet these are both one series of celestial, im- aginative outlines which are intimately associated with tli ine of Pet the north star! But Solo- poge'tecuh, ot bos’s'Toott Violet. mon’s seal is a suggestive name, and we should not quarrel with it. As a sim- ilarity of outlines is suggestive, however, I would like to draw attention to the fact that the petal of the dog’s-tooth violet closely resembles a canine tooth; but, strangely enough, this is not the reason why the flower was so named, as the previous descrip- tion of it will explain. False Solomon’s Lhe false Solomon’s seal is in my Seal. Smilacina racemosa. estimation even more beautiful than the true. Its spike of fine white flowers is like the Spirwa Japonica ; besides, its wavy, bright green leaf with the parallel veining is particularly graceful. Most wild flowers, like the true Solomon’s seal, have rather insignificant blos- soms; but there is nothing meager about the bloom Aa za/ | 38 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, Smilacina Racemosa. MAY. 39 of this little plant. It deserves cultivation, and, in truth, if it is transplanted to a position in the garden similar to its natural environment, it will flourish most satisfactorily. It is a shame that any aspersion of falsity should attach to it; why should not a plant so deserving have its own good name? We might as well call a Frenchman a false English- man! There is such poverty displayed among names that we may find a Bald Knob and Black Mountain in nearly every mountain district of our Atlantic States. It seems as though our nation was lacking in beth originality and imagina- tion! The false and the true Solomon’s seals will be found growing on the edge of the AS Wi wood together; but the latter NY Mf is a trifle earlier in bloom. WS. Qf] racemosa has a pale reddish ber- i] ry speckled like a bird’s egg. fh cS NU oat Smilacina stel- Smilacina stellata. } lata is another so-called false Solomon’s seal, m which also deserves a name of —_ Smilacina Stellata. its own. It grows not quite as high as 8. racemosa, and it is not so pretty. I found it thickly spread 40 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, over the bank of the Pemigewasset River, where it seemed to grow with more l]uxuriance than it did in the shady pasture near the wood. Its starry flow- ers are white, and the berries are small and_black- purple in color. It is in its prime about the middle of May. Aet en ete The variety BE se seal named Smilacina trifolia is about six inches tall and has two larger lower leaves and one smaller upper one, which at their bases sheath the stem; the few flowers which are clustered at the ter- mination of this stem are small and white. The plant grows in cold, wet places, and is common in some parts of the White Hills; it flowers in June or early July. Maianthemum Maianthe- Canadense, or mum Can- Smilacina bifolia. gtoanae MS still another but smaller false Solomon’s seal. This delicate little character, growing not much over Maianthemum Canadense. five inches high, fairly car- pets the thinner woods where they adjoin the pas- MAY. 41 ture. The leaves are bright green, but the short raceme of flowers is rather insignificant. The flow- Clintonia Borealis. 42 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, ers are in their prime about the latter end of May in the North. The little spike of translucent, red- dish berries is seen in the latter end of summer. S PER Bis. Clintonia borealis is a pretty little pale straw-yellow lily whose only fault, it seems to me, lies in its weak and uncertain coloring. Sometimes the half-matured flowers look decidedly green, again the full flower appears a deep ereain-color. If the horticulturists could only force it into a good white and increase its size, there might be a future before our dainty Clintonia. The flower was named for the Governor of New York, for what reason nobody knows. Its green leaf is smooth and shiny, and about the same in shape, color, and char- acter as that of the lily-of-the-valley. Perhaps the color of the mature flower might more exactly be ealled a pale, dull Naples yellow. The flower is in bloom about the end of May northward, and can be found in moist rich woods. The berries are seen in late August; they are a beautiful Antwerp-blue color. Jack-in-the-pulpit is a happy-looking Jack-in-the-Pulpit, : : or Indian Turnip. flower—if a flower can be said to look Arisema happy—and its striped suit reminds triphyllum. one of the conventional, funny circus clown. It is too bad to make such a comparison ; but I must let it stand, because there are few other flowers (at least wild flowers) which are so suggest- MAY. 43 Fruit of Jack-in- i" the-Pulpit. Jack-in-the-Pulpit. ively humorous. Certainly, the poet who wrote the verses about Jack in Lilliput Levee found something delightfully fresh and sprightly in his character. What is particularly boyish about this plant is the odd way it hides the prettily striped suit of 4 0) See + ae 44 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, brown-purple and white beneath its panoply of six gay green leaves. It reminds one of some little eight- year-old romper peeping out from behind a door, just a bit shy because he has nice clean clothes on. Jack is rarely seen at a careless glance—he is mostly hid- den beneath the six leaves—and we have actually to take hold of him in order to investigate his novel clothing. The pretty little brown club inside the spathe reminds one of a miniature Bologna sausage ; the way the top of the flower hangs over the cup sug- gests a wallet with perhaps some gold inside; but that is the pity of it, there is no gold there! All the yellow metal belongs to Jack’s cousin, the spotless white calla. This is the only thing about Jack which we can find fault with; he might have pleased us bet- ter with a little gold in his pocket. However, in late summer he leaves behind him a cluster of splendid scarlet berries like my sketch. Some of the plants have pale green flowers with whitish stripes, while others are extremely dark in coloring. I have found a few of the lightest specimens in a pasture where there was plenty of sunlight, but the darkest ones seem to grow beside a wet, springy dell, within a stone’s throw of my cottage. It would not seem springtime to me if there was not at least one Jack in a majolica jar in my studio. The plant flow- ers in May and early June. The root has a sharp, MAY. 45 stingy taste, without a reminder of turnip about it. There are plenty of Jack-in-the-Pulpits to be found in the vicinity of Silver Lake, Staten Island, or, in fact, almost any wet, shady place. Pitcher Plant. Pitcher Plant. The odd, tubular-shaped leaves of Sarracenia purpurea. the pitcher plant deserve close at- 46 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. tention. It is said that the decomposed insects which we may find at the bottom of the “pitchers” con- tribute to the nourishment of the plant. Inside of the leaves there is a sweet secretion which attracts insects ; after they crawl in through the mouth, escape is well- nigh impossible, as the hairy sides of the tube impede their flight and render the walking anything but easy. The flowers are oddly colored with green and brown- ish purple, and come to maturity about the end of May and the beginning of June. The plant is always found in boggy places where the sunshine is partly obscured ; and with this environment, it must be admitted, its appearance is rather uncanny. Gs Ms J FA CHAPTER IY. MAY AND JUNE. Robin's Plantain to Cranberry. Robin’s Plantain. THE robin’s Erigeron bellidifolius. plantain is a A deceptive-looking character ; it is easily Mistaken for an aster. The yellow center, the blue- | purple rays, and the size and iW shape of the flowers remind ; one of the autumn flower which has prematurely come _ into QW bloom. Of. course, it is a near \ l relative of the aster, but its ap- pearance is marked by a great many differences. It grows about a foot high ; sometimes less, sometimes more. The large leaves I have drawn at the foot of the plant frequent- ly lie prone on the ground. Robinta Pinatall. 47 48 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. There is a hairy look to stem and flower, which is not altogether aster-like; the leaves are small and far between, and the stem is thick and juicy. The Howers come about the 1st of June, and are seen in plenty beside the road and in damp places. Of all the dainty, tiny flowers that Bluets. Houstonia cerulea. bloom in late spring, the little bluets is perhaps the daintiest. What is satisfactory, too, about the flower is the fact that it does not shut up and wilt immediately after being picked. It is such an attractive little thing that Mr. W. Atlee Bur- pee, the horticulturist, has intro- duced it to the public as a culti- vated garden flower. The flower is barely half an inch across; it is a simple-looking, four-rayed co- rolla, sometimes white, but oftener pale-purplish blue, with a dainty spot of golden yellow around its eye. In Campton the roadsides and meadows are starred all over cia i with little bunches of this dainty vem. From the middle of May to the end of June the flower continues to bloom in sunshine and shadow; in fact, it grows everywhere except in the dark, wild forest. The flower was named for Dr. MAY AND JUNE. 49 Houston, an English physician, who was interested in the flora of Mexico. Blue-eyed Grass, 1 ought to have said blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium was the only flower daintier than eiampeaees bluets, if one is to speak from his own point of view; yet this is hardly fair, because the blue-eyed grass is a bolder and larger flower, just reminding one of a violet. Unfortunately, it shuts up at once on being picked, and unless there is plenty of sunlight it refuses to open its eye at all; its color is purplish ultramarine blue, darker to- ward the center, where there is a touch of pure gold. There is a curi- ous notch in each one of the six di- visions of the perianth, from which protrudes a little point, in shape like a thorn. The leaves are narrow, and look like blue Kentucky grass. The flower stands about ten inches high, and is generally shut in the afternoon ; sometimes there are three Blue-eyed Grass. buds on a stalk, but I never found more than one open at a time. The flower grows in clumps on the meadow, in the pasture, and at the edge of the wood, but generally in moist places. 2 ae ne 50 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, I have transplanted it successfully to the grounds in front of my cottage, where it flourishes and spreads from year to year. It reaches its prime about the 1st of June. It is a relative of the iris. Yellow Star-grass. | Star-grass is a pretty little yellow Hypoxys erecta, flower with apparently six pointed petals (in reality the six divisions of the perianth), which blooms almost anywhere (in the meadows) in May and June. The flower stem, about six inches tall, terminates in two or three flowers as broad as a nickel, perhaps one in full bloom and two others in bud. The outside of the flower is greenish; the leaves are grasslike and hairy. It belongs to the Amaryllis family, and is closely related to the nar- cissus. Common Cinquefoil. The very common cinquefoil is Potentilla Canadensis. foynd beside the country high- ways aud by-ways, and in pasture, meadow, and woodland. It is so often mistaken for a yellow- flowered strawberry that I must at once show the difference. Notice in my drawing of the strawber- ry that the stems of the leaves are hairy ; the stems of our cinquefoil are brown and as sharp and clean as a piano wire. Also notice that the cin- quefoil has five leaves, or rather divisions of a leaf, and the strawberry has three; the latter little plant never goes beyond a three-divisioned leaf, but MAY AND JUNE. 51 devotes all the rest of its strength to strawberries. Furthermore, there is only one yellow-flowered straw- berry (Fragaria Indica), and this is not very com- mon; I found it once in Staten Island some years ago, and have not seen it since. The common cinquefoil blooms from June to September. But there is a three-leaved cinque- foil, and, for the sake of com- parison, I have carefully drawn it. Norway Cinquefoil. The N orway Potentilla Norvegica cinquefoil is a tall branching plant with a leaf of three divisions and a very hairy appearance. It has a yellow flower similar to P. Canadensis ; but, after all, the similarity is shght if my drawings are care- fully compared. i found this plant bloom- ing in early August within three feet of my studio window; it did not seem to be in Gomaronleanqaenotl Bo 52 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, Norway Cinquefoil. ly needs mention here. any of the fields in the same vicinity. The shrub- by cinquefoil (P. fru- ticost) is common in wet grounds northward, grows about three feet high, and has five to seven leaflets and loose clusters of yellow flowers similar in character to those of the common va- riety. Wild Strawberry. Our wild Fragaria strawber- Virginiana. i ry 18 60 well known that it scarce- It grows luxuriantly in pasture and wood in the foothills of the White Mountains. sides I never pick the berries on the hill- and, I must confess, fight the mosquitoes at the same time—without thinking of the “Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan, With thy red lip, redder still Kissed by strawberries on the hill.” Whittier does not say a word about the bare legs and mosquitoes. In the hills of New Hampshire, MAY AND JUNE. 53 Wild Strawberry. at least, the mosquito and the wild strawberry are inseparable ! The little flower called moss pink is Moss Pink. j common in some parts of New York Pilox subulata. and New Jersey, and in the vicinity of Philadelphia in May and early June the hill- sides are stained crimson with the pretty flower. I found a thick patch of it in the Pemigewasset Val- 54 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, ley, but confined to one locality. It seems certain that it spread and ran wild from a cemetery in the vicinity, where a certain lot is noticeably covered with it. The plant flourishes in some parts of Cen- Moss Pink. Moss Pink in Buds. tral Park, and it only needs a hint of transplanting to run wild over everything in the neighborhood where it is placed. The stems are low and creep- ing, as my sketches show; altogether the moss pink has a mossy look, and is well named. Wild Columbine, lie scarlet and yellow columbine is Aquileyia one of our most beautiful wild flow- Canadensis. ane Tt ig my experience that certain flowers have favorite haunts which are exclusively held by them year after year, without a shadow of change. There are three spots I know of in the pas- ture land of Campton where the pretty columbine may always be found; a search for the flower any- a MAY AND JUNE. Wild Columbine. 55 56 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, - where else for two miles around has always proved useless. Nothing is daintier or more beautiful than the color effect of this graceful blossom among the gray rocks of a hillside pasture. The flower is in its prime about the Ist of June, and is nearly always found beside some lichen-covered rock in the com- pany of young, velvety mullein leaves which have just pushed themselves above ground. Moccason Flower, Lhe pink moccason flower is anoth- Cypripedium er one of those exclusive characters aeaule. \ ich prefers the limitations of some moist and shady locality ; it can not be found, as the violet is, under a variety of conditions. The flower is very handsome; in fact, it does not look like an ordinary wild flower, but rather like an expensive, cultivated orchid. I never found it, as Gray sug- gests, under evergreens, but among the withered leaves that lie under birch, beech, poplar, and maple. But this is a matter of individual experience which may be added to some other quite different ones; it only points to the fact that Nature is not always regular in her habits. The point of beauty in the flower is its crimson-pink pouch or sac, which is delicately veined with a deeper pink, and its purplish brown and green sepals and petals. The two light- green leaves are parallel-ribbed, but otherwise in appearance are like those of the lily-of-the-valley. MAY AND JUNE. Cypripedium acaule. 57 58 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. Cypripedium parviflorum. The plant flowers in early June. The name Cypripedium in English would be Venus’s slip- per. Yellow The small- Lady’s Slipper. T Cypripedium ef Jo parrviflorum. lady’s slip- per, sister to the flower just described, is found in similar situations where the ground is moist, and has the ad- dition of a slight per- fume. The sac is small, and is a deep-toned yel- low; the sepals are a sienna brown. Another larger yellow variety (C. pubescens), one of our commonest orchids, has a lighter-colored sac, and is without perfume; but I consider the smaller variety more beautiful. The time of flowering for both is early summer. MAY AND JUNE. 59 Snake's Mouth, Lhe snake’s mouth is a pretty little Pogonia orchid of a most deli- eS eae pure pink color, which may be found in swampy places if one does not mind getting the feet wet—no swamp, no snake’s mouth ; that is my experience. The prettily formed lit- tle flower has a sweet smell, is about an inch long, or less, and should be examined under a glass. It blooms in June. Calopogon Lhe Calo- pulchellus. — nogon pul- chellus belongs to the same family group (Orchis) as the mocca- son flower, arethusa, and snake’s mouth; in- deed, the latter is its boon companion ; the two are most likely to be found in each other’s company. The flower : ‘ 5 Calopogon pul- Snake’s mouth. is a beautiful crimson chellus. 60 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. pink, and its lip is bearded with white, yellow, and crimson blunt-tipped hairs; its leaf is narrow and grasslike. It may be found in wet bogs during the early summer. Prof. Goodale says, comparing the moceason flower with the Calopogon: “The labellum in Calopogon appears to be upside down, while that of the moccason flower is properly pendent; but the fact is, it is only by a twist in the ovary, or perhaps in the pedicel, that the latter flower has assumed this position.” But unerring Nature does not do any- thing wrong end up, and both flowers appear stand- ing on their feet! peeaiea re Late in spring the purple azalea will Pinxter Flower. be found in swampy places in the Rhododendron East, and its lovely crimson-pink Se ecdlon te charming foil for the pale- green tints of May which the French artist Corot de- | lighted in painting. The wild azalea and the rhododendron are likely to be somewhat confused in our minds, so I must draw attention to some dis- tinguishing differences. The true azaleas have deciduous leaves, and the | rhododendrons have evergreen leaves. Purple Azalea. The azaleas are characterized by a funnel-shaped tube with an irregular edge; there are about five stamens in each tube, while the rhododen- MAY AND JUNE. 61 dron, as a rule, has double that number. The flow- ers of the azalea appear with or precede the leaves; the rhododendron flowers later, in early summer, and usually grows on the mountain side. Emerson’s rhodora (Phododendron rhodora) is a low-growing shrub about two feet high, with hardly any other superfi- cial appearance to distinguish it from PR. nudiflorum, except it be the superiority of its ma- genta-pink color, its small co- rolla which is three-lobed above and two-lipped below, and its shorter stamens. I never was fortunate enough to find either of these varieties in New Rhodora. Hampshire among the hills. In Massachusetts both are quite common. The strik- ing resemblance of the rhodora to honeysuckle will be at once perceived; but they are not related to each other. The rhododendron is not so common Great Laurel, or Rhododendron. Rhododendron plentiful among the Alleghany Moun- MALIMUM. in our Eastern States; it is far more tains, where it grows luxuriantly un- der the softened light of the half-lit woods. It is evidently too cold for the shrub in the woods of the 62 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. White Mountains, where the thermometer frequent- ly registers 30° below zero. Gray’s description of fl Rhododendron (Great Laurel). the flower is sufficiently simple for any one to un- derstand: “ Pale rose, or nearly white corolla, one inch broad, greenish in the throat, on the upper side more or less spotted with yellow or else reddish.” But the cultivated flowers bloom (in great clusters) in the Public Garden of Boston, in magenta and pinkish- white tints, and attain a size of over an inch and a half MAY AND JUNE. 63 in diameter.* The leaves hold their olive-green color all winter. The time of flowering is early summer. Cranberry, Large, he large cranberry grows in boggy Vaccinium places from New Jersey to Maine, MOORES and may be found in bloom in early summer. The berry is ripe in early autumn; the finest one is dark red in color, and comes from the boggy districts of Cape Cod. Nantucket also has its cranberry bogs, and the season of picking is quite an important event for the island- ers. The plant is small, the wiry stems usually reaching a length of about eight or nine inches ; but sometimes they develop a length of two feet or more. It is curious to find ‘that such totally different-look- ing plants as the rhododen- dron and the cranberry are relatives; they belong to the Heath family, Cranberry. * The cultivated varieties (hybrids), arise generally from R. Catawbiense, R. Ponticwm, and the tender R. arboreum of the Himalayas. CHAPTER V. MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. Rattlesnake-Plantain to Indian Poke. Rattlesnake-Plantain. THE rattle- Goodyera pubescens. snake - plan- tain is a most interest- ing character. Its pe- culiar wavy-edged, dark- green leaves are covered with a network of fine white lines. The flow- ers are small, white, and waxy-looking, and the leaves are circled below in a rosette figure; they are evergreen. In win- Rattlesnake-Plantain. ter one may find the lit- tle plant nestled in some out-of-the-way woodland nook, where it would not so easily be discovered in summer. It flowers in July. Another variety (@. repens) is smaller, and flowers in a loose, one-sided spike; this is common in the White Mountains. 64 MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. 65 Arethusa, Arethusa is an elu- Anethusa bulbosa. sive nymph of whose whereabouts one is never quite cer- tain. As I have searched for and found the flower only within the White Mountain district, it may be without my knowledge a familiar object in other parts of the country. But I know of only two wet, boggy spots where it grows, and half the time I do not succeed in capturing it even in these locations. Certainly it is one of the loveliest of our or- chids, and is well worth a tiresome search and inevitably wet feet. The slim stem is about eight inches high, and the pretty crimson-pink flower, in profile, reminds one of a hand with the five fingers held loosely upward. The time of flowering is late spring and early summer, but I have found a specimen as late as the 1st of August. Fringed-Orchis. [ should call the Arethusa. Habenuria jimbriata. flowers of the fringed-orchis ma- genta pink, though undoubtedly they may present some variations of this hue. It is a very beautiful 66 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, Fringed Orchis. plant, and consequently at- tracted the attention and ad- miration of the eccentric Henry D. Thoreau, who speaks of it as a beauty “who has never strayed be- yond the convent bell.” His remark, it seems to me, applies rather to Avethusa, who is certainly much more of a recluse; but in A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers he says, “ Nature seemed to have adorned herself for our de- parture with a profusion of fringes and curls, mingled with the bright tints of flowers.” Now, this orchis is the very perfection of Nature’s fringing in bright flower tints, and in my mind Thoreau’s words some- how connect themselves with this lovely flower. It blooms in wet meadows in early summer. There are MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. 67 three other orchises common in the foothills of the White Mountains—H. psycodes, small but sweet- scented magenta flow- ers; H. lacera, home- ly pale greenish flow- ers; and ZZ. virescens, a spike of dull green- ish flowers; these have been found in bloom in more or less . wet ground from June 20th to July 24th. Showy Orchis. The showy orchis, eoiie Gray says, is the only spectabilis. tye orchis we have. It is a pretty flower, the upper part purplish pink, and the lower lip white ; there are few blossoms on a stem—not more than three or four. The two leaves are not Showy Orehis. unlike those of the lily-ofthe-valley. The flower seems to me rather rare, as I have found but few specimens in the woods of the White Mountains. It generally grows in rich black soil made up of de- cayed leaves, and seems to prefer the deep and shady forest. Its time of flowering is May and June. 68 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, Golden Senecio, or he golden senecio, or ragwort, has Ragwort. a delightfully bright color which illu- Senecio aureus. Wines the meadows where the flower — happens to grow with an amber light such as we may see in some of the paintings of the old mas- aay ter, Claude Lorraine. There Zz SS is something very beautiful SS | sya in this mixture of golden yel- Se. a low with the misty - toned NA \ green of the meadows in qs July when the senecio is in full bloom. The flower re- sembles an aster in form, but the leaves have an individu- ality of their own; they are also variable in type; per- haps the commonest leaf is heart-shaped. The plant gets Golden Senecio. its name from its hairy ap- pearance (certain of the species have a cottony look), or from the downy effect of the flower head when it has passed the period of bloom. Thoreau says in his journal, July 2d: “I see the downy heads of the senecio gone to seed, thistlelike, but small. The Gnaphaliums” (everlasting flowers) “and this are among the earliest to present this appearance.” The word senecio is derived from senex, an old man, and MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. 69 the flower at this period, in my opinion, merits this appropriate name. The plant attains a height of from one to three feet. Shin-Leaf. The eupho- Fyrola elliptica. nious name shin-leaf was tacked on the pretty Pyrola for a reason which one may readily guess;—the leaves were used as a cure for bruises. From the days of my early youth the name “ shin-plas- ter” has been familiar as it must be to every New York boy of some years ago. I remember that my father called court-plaster, or in fact anything of the kind, without discrimina- tion, either shin-plaster or sticking plaster. So the pretty flower suffers by rea- son of an old custom. The Pyrola grows about six inches high, is found in woody dells, or damp, shady byways, and flowers in June and July. Its leaves are olive-green, and the blossoms are greenish white. 70 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. Pipeline The pipsissewa is a sweet-scented lit- Chimaphila tle woodland flower, which is common umbellata. it plentiful in the famous “ Pine” district of New Jersey, in Saddle River Valley in the same State, and in the pine woods cil/ - of New Hamp- >| Ge shire. The flow- GOSS? ers are waxy and YC flesh - colored, and the leaves are they keep their (72, color even in win- ter. It flowers in June and July. There is a variety, common in the White Mountains, with white-spotted leaves toothed on the edge like asaw. Pipsissewa. This is named C. maculata. It is interesting to examine the blossoms urider a magnifying glass, where the beauty of the frosty pink flower with its purple anthers will prove quite a revelation. in all dry, sandy soils. I have found — shiny olive-green; - MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. Yellow Wood-Sorrel. ‘The little yellow wood- Onalis siricta. sorrel ig extremely common in meadow, woodland, and pas- ture, and the tiny clover-like leaf may be recognized anywhere snuggling in the grass from May to October. The flower is rather insignificant, and of a pale but- tercup yellow. White Wood-Sorrel. Lhe crimson - veined Ovalis Acetosella. white wood-sorrel is quite a different character, and is alto- gether lovely. Each of the five white Oxalis Stricta. petals are veined with about half a dozen delicate red lines, which give the flower a decorative appear- ance ; in fact, I have often used it in decorative designs where delicate color- ing was employed. Fra Angelico and Sandro Botticelli painted this flower in the foregrounds of their pictures, and it is evident that it looked the same over four hundred years ago as it does to-day. All around the edge of Profile Lake in the Franconia Notch this pret- ty flower can be found about the end of June and the first of July. It likes the damp woodland best, and can be found on many of the White Moun- Oxalis Acetosella,. 72 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, tains at an altitude of two thousand feet. Some people mistake the flower for an anemone; but so pronounced a cloverlike leaf is enough to upset any such random conjecture. The flower stem, which grows about three inches high, bears but one blossom. Sheep Sorrel. Sheep Sorrel. Sheep sorrel is a Rumex Acetoseila. wretch of a weed, which will flourish in sandy or sterile ground, and is the bane of the farmer who tries to raise clover for his cattle. Sorrel seed is so much like clover seed that the two get mixed up sometimes, to the utter discouragement of the farmer. I think the plant ought to be called farmer’s- bane. It belongs to the Buckwheat family, and so can claim no relationship with wood sorrel, which belongs to the Geranium family. I have seen a whole field as ruddy-looking as though it were filled with honest, ripe buckwheat, yet the pretty ter- ‘ra-cotta color was produced by the flowering of this miserable sheep sorrel. The weed is so common everywhere that my drawing is suffi- cient without further description for its identification. MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. 73 Blue Flag. The larger blue flag grows in the Iris versicolor. — swamp of some rich meadow, or be- side the sluggish stream, and shows its lovely vari- egated, blue-violet flowers in June or early July. The charm of the iris lies in the delicate rich veining of the pale pur- ple-blue petal, or, cor- rectly speaking, larger perianth division ; for the iris, or fleur-de-lis, is a tube-shaped flower like the morning-glory, and has no petals. Un- der the microscope its coloring is marvelous- ly beautiful; the bold staining of the waxlike lips, the soft gradation Blue Flag. of yellow and white, and the rich purple veining are glorious be- yond description. No wonder the handsome, decorative flower at- tracted the early atten- 7 tion of a Frenchman, ! Fleur-de-lis. - ; all a oe 44 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, although how and when still remain historically un- certain; but as early as the time of Charles IV the fleur-de-lis began to appear on the banners of France. I have drawn the conventional form of the flower, so our wild specimen may be compared with it. However, the French emblem was copied from a cultivated species whose inner perianth di- visions were large and stood in a nearly perpen- dicular position; our wild specimen lacks this im- portant climax to its beauty, and slightly resembles the Kempferi (Japanese) iris, which is quite flat in figure. The iris is admirably adapted to decora- tive design, and the wonder is that some of our artistic young ladies who are so skillful with the needle do not employ it oftener in embroidery ; the opportunity here for a charming harmony of blues and greens is immeasurable. Blue wild flow- ers are not plentiful, and the perpetuation in our memories of this one seems to me especially de- sirable. There is a slender blue flag (2. Virginica), with very narrow leaves, which is also common in swamps. It must be remembered that blue flag is not Calamus, although the latter is called sweet flag; this belongs to the Arum family, and is therefore a relation of Jack-in-the-pulpit. Its botanical name is Acorus Calamus. MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. 765} Arrow-head, The little water plant called arrow- Sagittaria variabilis. head blooms in summer beside streamlets and good-sized rivers, where it chooses a locality of a secluded and muddy nature ; consequently it is rather inaccessible. It is too beautiful, though, to neglect on account of its surroundings; the extreme delicacy of its three-petaled blos- som can scarcely be equaled by any other wild flower. It is well adapted to decorative design, and one of the handsomest effects of coloring may be produced in silk embroidery by representing the beautiful leaf in various shades of green on a water-blue ground, with the graceful, white flower- spikes plentifully woven in_be- tween the leaves. Sabbatia. One of our most Sabbatia chloroides. beautiful Kastern wild flowers is Sabbatia chlorov- des ; its corolla is magenta-pink, and commonly has eight divisions. It frequents the edges of ponds, and blooms in summer. Arrow-head. 76 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. Sundrope, or The evening-primrose is a four- Evening-Primrose. petaled, pale-yellow flower which Enothera pumila. one may generally find on the road- © side in early summer, or later. The variety @ pumila I find very common on the meadows of Campton in June. I have drawn a small piece of the plant, to show what is the general appearance of the flowers; they are small and not nearly so pretty as the blos- soms of the later-blooming variety we most often meet beside the road. Evening-Primrose, The larger even- Cmothera tennis. ing — prin rosa common beside the road and in the pasture. It has a very lovely, pale, pure yellow blossom without a trace of orange on its petal. The peculiarity of this flower is that it opens about sunset, gives Sundrops. out a faint perfume, and then when broad daylight returns looks limp and with- ered; this is true also of the charming WVicotiana affinis (tobacco). Of course, on cloudy days the primrose looks in better condition ; but its only fault lies in its frailty. As a garden flower it is satisfac- MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. tory just as portulaca is; but neither the evening-primrose nor the bright-hued portu- laca are satisfactory flowers to pick. The tall, straight- stemmed plant has an aver- age height. of three feet. It blooms all summer. Wild Geranium, Ihe wild ge- Geranium ranium, which eres the English usually call wild cranesbill, is a pale purple flower about as delicate in character as the evening-primrose ; some bot- anists do not hesitate to call its color pink. But Gray is right—it is light purple. I found it growing by the road- side, its dainty purple flow- ers in company with the yel- low blossoms of the pretty einquefoil. The plant grows about fifteen inches high ; its leafage is light green, with portions spotty and brownish- looking, and the unopened ! Evening-Primrose. (a 78 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. green buds are quite fuzzy. Under a magnifying glass the flowers are very beautiful; the tiny anthers, Wild Geranium. instead of being the usual orange-color, are peacock- blue. Seen through the microscope, this blue pollen is quite a curiosity. The plant is in its prime in early June. MAY, JUNE, AND JULY. "9 Herb Robert. | _Lhere is another variety of the ge- Geranium ranium called herb Robert (G. Lo- Hobertianum dertianwm). This is also common, and blossoms in June, continuing through the sum- mer. The flowers are nearly magenta color—that is, a deep purple, brownish crimson. The stems of the plant are ruddy. Tniian Poke, 6 About the end of May or the begin- False White ning of June large masses of light Hellebore, green, corrugated leaves are seen in Veratrum viride. the hollows of the meadow, which have a tropical look. This plant is the Indian poke, and we learn from the farmers that it is poisonous; sheep and pigs have been killed by eating the leaves. Gray says the roots yield the acrid poisonous veratrin. A Campton farmer told me that in his boyhood he innocently fed his father’s pigs with some of the plants, and on the following morning they were found “stone dead.” The leaves bear a distant resemblance to those of the Funkia (a relative of the poisonous plant); but beyond its leaves it does not interest us; the green flowers are borne on a weedy, pyramidal spike. In later summer the whole plant withers, blackens, and disappears. We are reminded of the ungodly man in David’s psalm: “JT went by, and lo, he was gone: I sought him, but his place could nowhere be found.” CHAPTER VI. MAY, JUNE, JULY,.AND AUGUST. Hobble-bush to Phlox. Hobble-bush. Tue hobble-bush is a very familiar Viburnum object of the summer season in the fantanoidés. oods of the White Mountains. On the slopes of Mount Osceola, in Waterville, the bush occupies whole acres of ground, and as a forest under- Hobble-bush. growth scarcely twenty inches high, its round ovate leaves and hydrangealike flowers form an ideally dec- orative feature of the woods in May. In August the 80 MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 81 bushes are quite as beautiful when the blossoms are replaced by the coral-red berries; and they are the cheery companions of my long tramps through the hills. But I have never experienced the annoyance of being tripped up by the loops which Gray says are formed by the reclining branches taking root at the end ; this is the reason why it is called hobble-bush. Bunch-berry. The bunch-berry is one of the most Cornus Canadensis. eonspicuous and beautiful objects which meets one’s eyes, when, after a weary climb, the mountain top is at last gained. The bunches of bright scar- let berries encircled by a cluster of about six light green, ovate pointed leaves are irre- sistibly attractive, and one must leave the path to gather some. In early June the pret- Pane Tey: ty little flower is quite interesting for several rea- sons; what seem to be four white petals, two of which are smaller than the others, are not petals at all, but involucre leaves. The flowers are tiny little greenish things with black dots in between. An examination of the flowers under the microscope os 82 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. will at once make the tiny forms clear. The scar- let berries are quite insipid to the taste. Partridge-berry, 1m a certain spot on the slope of a Mitchella repens. hill, and covering a bowlder im- bedded in the swamp which is encircled by a group of hemlocks, I always find a splendid mass of partridge-berry vines, too lovely for rude hands to disturb, somewhere about the Ist of May. Then the pretty double berries of a brilliant shiny scarlet are plentifully dotted over the dark-green leaves just for- Partridge-berry. saken by the winter’s snow! It is not until June that the little twin blossoms ap- pear; these are sweet-scented and pink-tipped, and remind one somewhat of at- tenuated arbutus blossoms. Goldthread. Goldthread is Coptis trifolia. — nopular among Blossoms of Partridge-berry. the New England farmers’ wives, who use the slender yellow roots for medici- nal purposes. But this fact is scarcely as interest- ing as the bright and shiny dark-green leaf which holds its color all winter, and in summer carpets the wet woods. The flowers are small and anemonelike, and appear in early spring; but the leaves are sym- MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 83 metrical and beautiful, somewhat wedge-shaped, and in three divisions. The wiry, yellow roots make identification perfectly easy. Shepherd’s-Purse, The shepherd’s-purse is, as Gray says, Capsella the commonest kind of a weed, yet I Bursa Pastors. ust say that in all my extended rambles through the White Hills it was not found! Never having instigated a search for the insignificant weed, possibly it would take but a little while to secure a specimen ; but what I say remains true in reference to certain localities in the New Hampshire hills—the weed is not common there! I remember as a boy that at Hastings-on-the-Hudson it grew everywhere, and we used to call it peppergrass because it had a stingy taste. The small white flowers hardly deserve attention, but the seed pod is interesting on account of the triangular, pouch-shape which gave rise to the common name. This weed blooms all summer. Our beautiful garden candytuft is its rich relation—that is, the riches lie in the flowers, and not in the “ purse ” ; but the similarity of the seed pods of these two plants is apparent at a glance. Wild Mustara, Lhe wild mustard, generally called Brassica (or black mustard, with small, pale, pure a are yellow flowers, is a familiar object in nearly all the fields of Campton. It is quite common, and its straggling, spreading stems are in bloom all 84 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. summer, but is scarcely interesting enough to de- serve attention while so many other more beautiful flowers are in our midst. Stagger-bush. The stagger- inife. pt Andromeda Mariana. ysh grows in L/, ff & eo +] si IM: low ground eastward and YT ra south, but I have never found it in New Hamp- shire. The tiny flowers, less than half an inch long, are cylindrical in shape, and are sometimes tinged faintly with pink. So dainty a flower must surely attract those to whom it is not a famil- iar object; the blossom slightly resembles the wintergreen or checker- berry flower, to which it is closely related, and the glossy olive - green : leaf is said to be poi- ai aia sonous to lambs and calves. The flowers will be found in late spring and early summer, on the slender woody stems of a bush about three feet high. The shrub, has MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 85 lately been cultivated for purposes of garden adorn- ment. Mountain Laurel. The mountain laurel is not strictly Kalmia latifolia. eonfined to mountain districts; on the contrary, if my experience is like that of others, the most beautiful specimens are oftenest gathered from flat land like that of Long Island and_ the “Pines” of New Jersey. There = does not seem to be any in the Pemigewasset Val- ley in the White Mountains; and the supply on the shores of Squam Lake in the south- ern district of the hills is very lim- ited. Certainly Kalmia latifolia is the most conventionally beauti- Mountain Laurel. ful wild flower we possess, yet it is rarely if ever a success transplanted to cultivated grounds. Un- less its natural environment is exactly repeated in its new quarters, it invariably pines away and dies. 86 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. It certainly will not endure the savage violence of a New England coast climate; it prefers the equa- ble temperature of the pine district of New Jer- sey. In some parts of the latter State the bushes grow to a height of ten feet or more, and in the mountains of Pennsylvania they grow fully twenty feet high. The perfect, waxlike flower is arranged on the plan of a wheel, with the stamens represent- ing the spokes; these are arched, and are so elastic that when the tips are re- leased from the little notch in the corolla (the anther is held there temporarily) the pollen is fired right or left, as a boy would sling a green apple from the sharpened end of a supple stick; this is an ingenious bit of Nature’s artifice by which she secures cross-fertilization. Of course, a visiting insect experiences a perfect bombardment of yellow pollen when it alights on a flower, occa- sioned by its walking on the stamens and knock- ing them out of place; then, powdered over like a dusty miller, it visits another flower, and Nature’s little scheme is carried out to perfection! It is worth while to spend a few minutes in a garden watching a clumsy bumblebee; the process of pollen transfer will then be easily understood. As a boy, I found it amusing to liberate the stamens of a Kal- mia blossom with the point of a pin, and watch the MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 87 yellow pollen fly. Nothing is more beautiful then the golden forms of the dainty pollen specks under the microscope. The flowers are in their prime in June, when they will tinge a whole hill- side with pinkish white. The full flower is usually pure white, and the undeveloped, orna- mental bud a very pronounced pink. Kalmia = glauca (common in the North) is a varie- ty with small lilac- colored flowers. Sheep Laurel. Sheep Laurel. The sheep laurel is not nearly as Kalmia angustifolia. large as the mountain laurel, nor is it as beautiful; but the blossoms are decidedly pink, and are daintily formed. I find it in bloom 88 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. as late as the end of June in Campton; but it is so very uncommon there that it can only be found in two places, so far as my knowledge extends. New Hampshire certainly is not rich in Aalmia, for when one has to hunt for a flower it can not be called common. As Gray calls its color crimson-purple, I must draw attention to the fact that there is never any purple in it, but that the true color is a delicate crim- son-pink. It grows in the poor soil of rather low grounds. Candytutt. The cheery garden Iberis umbellata. candytuft is a mem- ber of the Mustard family, and a near relative of the common weed, shepherd’s-purse. It is a captivat- ing little flower which is in constant bloom from June until October, winning every heart by its untiring courage in meeting all conditions of weather with fresh relays of its dain- ty white or purple flowers. It is astonishing to note in advanced au- Dobbie’s Double tumn that the little plants have not SNE yet spent all their energy; all they ask is that their flowers should be picked, and a new supply takes the place of the old. I find that the MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 89 most satisfactory variety is Dobbie’s Double Spiral; the Rocket is also good, but it does not produce such large flower-heads as the former variety. Candytutt comes to us from Europe, and gets its botanical name from Iberia, the old name for Spain. I have found a very beautiful variety of the flower growing wild on the rocky slopes of Gibraltar. There is a white pe- rennial variety called /. sempervirens ; L. Gibraltica is the same under cultivation; its flowers are white, crimson, and rose-color. Some of us may be sur- prised to learn that Gibraltar has an extensive flora ; it is far from being a barren rock. In the short climb up the path from the town to the fortifications I picked as many as fifteen specimens of unfamiliar wild flowers besides a dozen or so which I recognized as old friends; this was on the first day of March, too! Dr. Henry M. Field says: “ Gibraltar is not a barren cliff; its very crags are mantled with vegeta- tion, and wild flowers spring up almost as in Pales- tine. Those who have made a study of its flora tell us that it has no less than five hundred species of flowering plants and ferns, of which but one tenth have been brought from abroad; all the rest are native.” Sweet Alyssum, Sweet alyssum is like mignonette Alyssum maritimum. in one respect—its qualities surpass its charms. It has small, white, honey-scented flow- G Ph iin > nS 90 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, ers with an odor like that of buckwheat; it comes to us from Europe ; a variety common in garden borders has small, ornamental, pale-green leaves white-edged. Alyssum is also a member of the Mus- tard family, and is closely allied to candytuft and shepherd’s-purse. It blooms all summer. Cornflower, or The bluest of all blue flowers, the Bachelor’s Button. ¢cornflower or bachelor’s button, vies Centaurea Cyan"s. it), the gentian which Bryant seems to consider a most perfect blue; but a flower of the true blue does not exist; it is only suggested by the forget-me-not. There is too much purple in the corn- flower for us to indulge in praises of its blue. For all that, its color is still charming, and in Germany (the flower originally came to us from that country), where it grows wild in the wheat fields, the harmony of its blue with the straw-yellow is sesthetically per- fect. But the cornflower shows us other colors than blue; there are light and deep crimson-pink, purple and violet, both these colors striped with white, lilae, and white with pink or with blue center. Its foliage is a soft, silvery, whitish green, and its bloom is continu- ous and prolific through the early summer; it blooms quite as well if planted later in the season, and is an annual highly prized in old-fashioned gardens. A comparison of the Centawreas with ironweed and blazing-star, which are distant relatives, is interesting, MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 91 as there are some curious points of resemblance in the general appearance of the flowers. C. odorata (sweet sultan) is closely allied to the cornflower, and it bears yellow as well as pink and purple flowers. C. moschata, a musk-scented variety, has magenta- pink and white flowers. C. sauveolens.is a beautiful, pure yellow flower which assumes showy proportions under greenhouse care. All these are annuals and natives of Asia. The dusty miller, which is so com- mon as a white-leaved plant for garden borders, is a perennial variety which is again separated into vari- eties named C. candidissima, CU. clemented, and C. gym- nocarpa. These possess no important distinguishing differences which are of interest here. Mignonette. Our common garden mignonette Reseda odorata. eomes from the Levant, and is an annual cultivated for the sweet scent of its tiny, rusty and greenish-white flowers—it is the anthers which are rust-color; the rest of the rather unin- teresting flower assumes a variety of greenish tints, which are quite beautiful under the microscope. There is one relative of the mignonette in this coun- try which grows wild along the roadsides, but it is not very common; it is named P. luteola. It is a tall weed with lance-shaped leaves and a long spike of small, dull-yellowish flowers which slightly remind one of the white golden-rod. In Italy, among the 92 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN, mountains, and in Gibraltar there are two wild species of mignonette, each tiny in figure but having the un- mistakable family look; they are 2. sesamonides and PR. glauca. Mignonette is an annual with the happy faculty of blooming all summer long; it wastes its sweetness, not “on the desert air,” but in the farm- house kitchen and the fashionable drawing-room. It is a simple flower with the charm of perfect sweet- ness, a quality quite lacking in many a showy flower, and the sandier the soil is, the sweeter it grows. Phlox is the Greek name for fire, Phlox Drummondii, Annual. and, although all the phloxes are Phlox decussata, not fiery-hued, there are many of Perennial. Sine them brilliant and red enough to deserve the name. They are North American plants, and the annual variety comes from Texas. The range of color in the Drummond phlox is extraor- dinary. There are cream-white, pale yellow, pale salmon-pink, deep pink, crimson-pink, magenta, pur- ple, lilac, pure red, crimson, and solferino. But there is no orange nor scarlet. The five divisions of the corolla are often starry-eyed, and sometimes they are striped; in the varieties cuspidata and fimbriata they are slashed and toothed in a remarkable way. The star-shaped flowers are curiously marked with color, and the corolla is often so deeply incised that the flower is no longer recognizable as the sober flat- MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 93 disked phlox of bygone days. In truth, I might add that star phlox (called Star of Quedlinburg) is one of the curiosities of the modern garden. The seed is slow to germinate, and the little plants take a long time to grow, but eventually they reward us with a plentiful and continuous bloom which is more than a liberal payment for the small amount of care bestowed upon them. They begin to flower in June, and about the last of October Jack Frost claims the last lin- _ gering blossoms. PP. decussata, the perennial variety under cul- tivation, is not quite so brilliant in coloring, but it is refined and delicate, and has the advantage of permanency. Its strongest and best hues are crimson, ma- genta, and pink. P. maculata is a wild variety of the South and West, with a pyramidal clus- > ‘ White Phlox Drummondii. ter of pale magenta or white flowers, and purple-brown spotted, lance-shaped lower leaves; it flowers in summer. P. divaricata is a graceful variety which is found in the same part of the country, but in moist localities, and has loose 94 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. spreading clusters of large lilac and bluish lilac flowers which appear in late spring; it has been crossed in cultivation, and is found in the garden in larger figure and finer colors. 2. glaberrima and P. Carolina are pink and pale-pink varieties which are com- mon in the near West and South, and flower in early summer. The five lobes of the corolla are round. The former variety has slender stems, long lance-shaped leaves, t Star of Quedlinburg. and loose flower clusters; the lat- ter, stout stems, ovate or even heart-shaped leaves, and crowded flower clusters. P. subulata is a low-creeping little plant, so entirely different from the foregoing varieties that I have given it separate consideration elsewhere. These wild phloxes are all perennials, and they have been more or less introduced into the garden, where they appear in so many varied types that they are not easily recognized. The most satisfactory color in the perennial flowers is white; the pale magenta tints of some others are not very beautiful. CHAPEEE. VAI. MAY, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. aay v Eee Caraway to Indian 3 Bye Cucumber Root. Caraway. THE caraway has Carum Cari. tound its way into the fields and pastures from thie kitchen garden, and has really be- come a very familiar wild flower in many parts of the country. It might possibly be mistaken for wild carrot on account of the similar gray-white flowers, but the resemblance is too superficial to deserve attention. My drawing q) shows the superior delicacy of the | NY) . RN // Je= caraway flowers; indeed, they are —\ WA Say (1 . as beautiful as some varieties of ne Spirea. The plant grows about twenty inches high, and blooms 95 Caraway. 96 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. about the middle of June. Its aromatic seeds are used plentifully to flavor the — shins