% M~ JL pU pbrarg ^otti] QIaroima ^tete ^allege 'QKIIT C55 .' J %117 C83 flreevev 6951 *M> 2T *iy 35 50M— 048— Form 3 Wild Rose. (Rosa carina) . Frontispiece Books by MRS. CAROLINE A. CREEVEY RECREATIONS IN BOTANY. Illustrated Post 8vo $1.50 HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS. $1.75 Plates in color. Crown 8vo net HARPER * BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y. COPYRIGHT. 1912 BY HARPER ft BROTHERS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERIO PUBLISHED MARCH. 1912 * V t^ CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK Introduction vii I. Plan of the Book i II. Characteristics of Some of the More Important Botanical Families 6 Glossary of Botanical Terms 16 FLOWERS GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLOR III. Green, Greenish, Greenish Yellow 20 IV. White, Cream, Greenish White 38 V. Yellow, Pale Yellow, Orange 147 VI. Pink, Rose, Crimson, Magenta, Red 243 VII. Blue, Purple 298 VIII. Variegated Flowers 37 J IX. Vines and Shrubs 376 HABITATS OF PLANTS X. River Banks — Brooks — Running Streams — Shores of Tide-water Bays 457 XI. Swamps (Including Pine Barren Swamps), Bogs, and Marshes 461 XII. At the Seaside. Near the Coast 466 XIII. Aquatics 469 XIV. Wet Meadows, and Thickets. Low, Rich Grounds . 471 XV. Dry Fields and Pastures. Waste Places. Road- sides 474 XVI. Sandy, Sterile Soil 479 XVII. Weeds. Escaped from Cultivation 482 «*7 "fisss^ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVIII. Open, Dry, Rocky Woods and Hillsides . . . 487 XIX. Deep, Cool, Shaded, Damp Woods 494 XX. Parasitic Plants 498 THE FLOWER CALENDAR XXI. March, April 499 April, May 500 May, June, or Later 502 June, July, and August 506 July to August, and Later 511 August, September, and Later 515 September, October, and November 517 Index 519 COLORED PLATES WILD ROSE. (Rosa canina) Frontispiece goat's beard. (Tragopogon pratensis) Facing p. 236 FIREWEED. GREAT WILLOW-HERB. (EpiloMum angUSttfo- lium) " 274 true forget-me-not. (Myosotis scorpioides) .... " 328 vervain. (Verbena officinalis) " 330 bluebell, harebell. (Campanula rotundifolia) ... " 352 musk thistle. (Carduus nutans) " 366 bachelor's button, corn-flower. (Centaur ea Cyanus) (Centaurea Jacea) " 368 INTRODUCTION This book explains the easiest way of telling flowers and plants. These ways are based upon the new classification. This classification is the one presented in the seventh edi- tion of Gray's Manual of Botany, published in 1908. It em- bodies the decisions of the Vienna Congress of 1905. The Congress came to an agreement respecting the botanical names and classifications of American flowers, which we hope will not need to be revised. Some old names, dear to us, have come back. Greater simplicity as well as perma- nency has been aimed for. The first way of telling flowers is by color. It is the simplest means of identification, and to this the most space is given. Secondly, flowers may be identified by their dwelling- places or habitats. Thirdly, flowers are shown by seasons, the time and order of their blossoms. This book is a Guide to the flowering plants of the Atlantic seaboard, New England, the Middle States, and, to a limited extent, of the Southern States. It is interest- ing to note the wide latitudinal range of some plants along the entire Atlantic coast. As the climate grows warmer, plants ascend the mountains, and New Eng- land vegetation reappears two thousand feet high in Vir- ginia. Plants which are "local," and but seldom found, the size of this book excludes. Plant immigrants, unless well established, are not enumerated. Taking New York as the center of a wide circle, any per- son possessing no knowledge of botany (except such as may be acquired from the "Explanation of Technical Terms") may identify any flower and learn something of its story. There is every reason to believe that there is need of a book complete in its means of identification. HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS CHAPTER I PLAN OF THIS BOOK Few dream of the numbers of flowers which grow all around them. In a short walk one may come across fifty species, and, sitting upon the ground in the woods in sum- mer, one may touch twenty or thirty without moving. The study of flowers may be called pre-eminently a vaca- tion pursuit, since the summer, our leisure time, is the flow- ering season. Walking is in danger of becoming a lost art unless some purpose other than healthful exercise is found. Let our little friends of the fields and woods entice us, and their acquaintance, by the help of the Guide, will prove a fascinating pursuit. It is not only the names of the wild flowers which we all want to know, but the prominent facts connected with their life history. Such facts as the following may be learned: The red, fuzzy leaves and stems of the sundew are neat little traps for catching small insects upon which this plant varies its normal diet. The rich colors and strange shapes of orchids and many other flowers are devices for securing the visits of insects which are useful to the flower as pollen-carriers. Some flowers, in case they fail to secure insect pollination, produce "hidden blossoms" (cletstogamous) , which have no beauty of form or color, but which remain closed until after pollination has taken place. HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS Certain plants which cannot bear too great radiation from their leaf - surfaces at night, "sleep," that is, fold their leaflets together. Examine a clover leaf after dark, and look up into a locust-tree by night. The latter looks as if it were hung with strings. White flowers which cannot attract insects by their bright colors, are apt to be strong-scented. Many such things, more marvelous than fairy stories, are revealed to us in the study of our common flowers. Why Do Flowers Have Color? The organs concerned in the production of seed by which flowering plants are propagated, are the stamens, actively, and pistils, passively. Stamens produce in their anthers pollen grains, which must be carried to the pistils, either those of the same flower or of another. This process is called pollination. "Cross- pollination," the transference of pollen to a different flower, gives seed greater potency, so that stronger and hardier plants result from it than when the pollen falls upon its own pistil. How is cross-pollination to be obtained? Not by any movements of the flower itself. The aid of some foreign agent must be invoked. In the evolution of plants, flowers and insects began to appear upon the earth about the same time. At first the colors of all flowers were dull green, greenish white, or white. The food of most insects is nectar, a sweet secretion found in the very heart of flowers, which by them is converted into honey. Insects fly to flowers, dive into them in their efforts to secure the coveted nectar, and, in so doing, neces- sarily rub their bodies against the upright stamens. If the anthers are ripe and the pollen grains are free, they are caught in their hairy bodies or limbs. The insects then fly to another flower and leave the pollen upon its stigma, provided that is ripe and ready. Many flowers, if neglected by insects, cannot produce seed at all. If the stamens and pistils mature at different times, or if they are so situated that they cannot reach one another, self-pollination cannot take place. Insects must be attracted to such flowers. That insects are not color-blind may be seen from the fact that they will follow to their undoing "nectar paths," PLAN OF THIS BOOK streaks or lines of color found on the stems of some insect- devouring plants which lead straight to the smooth, fatal rim of the cup. Evolution of Color in Flowers Colors of flowers, we may believe, were evolved somewhat in this way: A flower, hitherto white or green, showed by chance a bit of red or yellow, blue or pink, perhaps only a streak or dot. Insects were attracted to that flower, and it was pollinated, while others lacking the color may have been neglected. The tendency of both plants and animals to reproduce marked traits of their parents is well known. The young plant springing from the marked flower would probably reproduce the color rather more strongly, and its offspring more strongly still. In time, perhaps after many generations, a perfectly colored flower would be the result. We therefore judge that those flowers which have evolved color are high in rank. By the rank of a plant is meant the place it holds in the ascending series from simplest and low- est to the most complex, the most highly organized, and the most successful in securing its own dissemination and propagation. Flowerless plants, the algas, mosses, and ferns, appeared first on the earth. These were succeeded by "wind lovers," flowers like those of pines and hemlocks, which are polli- nated by the wind. The wind blows impartially, caring not at all for the fair spread of the lily bell or the soft scent of the violet. No color has, therefore, appeared in flowers which are pollinated by the wind. "Insect lovers" alone are colored and fragrant. Some- times dull flowers are surrounded by red or yellow bracts, as in the painted cup {Castillcja coccinca). Night-blooming flowers, adapted to night-flying moths, sometimes keep their petals shut in the daytime; for the right insect isf wanted by a flower. Insects too large or too slim, or in any way unsuited to the shape of the flower, do not make good pollen- carriers, and the methods for keeping them away make an interesting chapter. Flowers adapted to flies often evolve fetid odors such as flies like. Bees generally avoid the ill-odored flowers, and turn to the honeysuckle or clover blossom. HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS We may, then, think of bright colors and odors of flowers as banners hung out to inform the insect army that the feast is ready. Since most flowers have not yet attained to their highest condition, white and greenish colors are predominant, while next follow yellows, pinks, blues, and purples. There are few really red blossoms. Dark crimson, magenta, and crimson purple are generally counted as red. A thousand years hence, when evolution has made greater progress among the plants, a white flower may be rare. Habitats The influence of surroundings is especially noticeable in the plant world. A plant born to wet soil will not flourish in dry. One adapted to open fields will not bury itself in the shade of deep woods. If it is transplanted to new en- vironments, it may vary its normal type in the endeavor to adapt itself to its new dwelling-place. For this reason, if the soil be changed, as when marshes are drained or fields cultivated, new plants will spring up. AVeeds follow the farmer's plow. When the forest disappears, the forest flora will also go. Build a road and see the typical roadside plants spring up along its borders. Certain "fireweeds" cover burnt-over districts as if by magic. Whence come the new plants ? Do their seeds always lie in the soil wait- ing for favorable conditions? The "alternation of crops" which farmers find so useful to their soil and harvests may have its suggestive prototype in nature. The Flower Calendar The season for blossoming remains unchanged for every plant, forming a never-failing flower calendar. Thoreau says that if he were waked up from a long winter's nap and placed in the woods or fields, by seeing what flowers were in bloom around him he could tell almost the day of the month. Not more surely does the first robin announce the coming of spring than do the bloodroot and hepatica peeping from under the dead leaves of the woods. The spring flowers fade and are succeeded by those that like the hot sun of July and August. Asters and hawkweeds tell of the coming of autumn, the end of the flower season, and the approach of winter. PLAN OF THIS BOOK Nomenclature The botanical names in this book follow the seventh edition of Gray's Manual. The custom now is to drop capitals from geographical adjectives in writing specific names. They are retained in names derived from those of persons. Thus we write canadensis , but Beckii. Accents teach correct pronunciation, a matter of some difficulty in botanical names. The acute accent ( / ) means the short sound of the vowel of the accented syllable; the grave (s ), the long sound. The illustrations are those, with a few added, which were drawn for The Flowers of Field, Hill, and Swamp by the etcher and artist, the late Benjamin Lander. His work has won deserved admiration. Some plants in this book are illustrated with excellent colored plates. For purposes of identification, color draw- ings are invaluable. Flower lovers hope for a cheap and easy process of tinted photography, some day, by which all plants may be represented by their colors as well as forms. The arrangement of species in the different chapters is from those of lowest rank, through those still higher, to the composites, the highest of all the families in rank. CHAPTER II CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME OP THE MORE IMPORTANT BOTANICAL FAMILIES In classifying flowers, species which resemble one another are grouped into genera; genera having points of resemblance are grouped into families; these into orders, sub-classes, classes, etc. Many of the great families have characteristics so marked that we can at once relegate a flower to its family, thus taking a long step toward its identification. In the order of their rank, the principal marks of several important families are given here. The Lily Family. — Although humble in rank, this Family enrolls many beautiful flowers. If the leaves are long and narrow, with the veins running their entire length, from base to apex (parallel-veined) ; if they are found mostly at the base of the flower stalk, only a few whorled or scattered along the stalk, the plant is probably a member of the Lily Family. (There are exceptions as in the wild smilax, which is net-veined.) They spring from corms, bulbs, or from an underground stem, rootstock. The parts of the flower are in threes or sixes (called 6-androus). The calyx is not distinguishable from the corolla in size and color. We speak of such a floral envelope as the perianth. The six divisions of the perianth may be entirely separate and spreading, or they may assume a funnel shape below. There are six stamens, one standing opposite each of the perianth divisions. Ovaries are 3-celled, surmounted by a long style and club-shaped stigma. Besides the bright-hued and conspicuous wild lilies proper, here belong many of the spring's early and delicate flowers, as the dog's-tooth violet, star of Bethlehem, trillium, and bell wort. Orchis Family. — The orchids which are seen in such variety of form and color in our greenhouses are mostly im- CHARACTERISTICS OF BOTANICAL FAMILIES portations from tropical countries. The Family is repre- sented with us by several of our dearest wild flowers. Their structure is complicated, but can be understood by studying some of the larger members of the Family. It is especially designed to secure insect pollination. The perianth is com- posed, usually, of six divisions, the three outer sepals often colored, not green. Of the three inner, the petals, one is larger than the others, and is called the lip. This is variable in shape, perhaps prolonged into a deep spur at its base, perhaps being a sac or pocket (as in the moccasin flower), perhaps fringed, always a conspicuous part of the flower. This is the platform — the front door, so to speak — for the in- sect to stand upon while pushing its head into the interior as it seeks the coveted nectar. Cypripediums have two good stamens, with the rudiment of a third. All other genera have but one fertile stamen, which is called the column, joined in a peculiar manner to the style. These organs are, to the uninitiated, quite unlike those of all other flowers. The pollen grains in the single anther are collected into masses called pollinia, and, if an insect enters such a flower and rubs its head against the ripe anther, the entire contents of the anther are pulled out, the insect flying away with the pollinia ad- hering to its proboscis in what would seem to be an uncom- fortable manner. Entering another flower, the little creat- ure is relieved of its superfluous burden, leaving the pollinia upon the rough or sticky stigma. There are 7,000 species of orchids known, and for grace, beauty of form and color, they stand unrivalled in the flower kingdom. Crowfoot Family. — This large Family includes some acrid-narcotic poisonous species. Buttercups cut and mixed with grass often produce a sore mouth in cattle which eat them. The calyx is sometimes colored like the corolla, and often the latter is wholly wanting. There are many stamens and pistils. Often a head of pistils may be observed, each one producing a single seed. Some species are aquatic, and the leaves under water are finely cut. All the leaves, indee. 1 . may be much divided, as in buttercups, and the flowers may be single or panicled. Besides crowfoots and spearworts, this Family includes anemones, hepaticas, the clematis, marsh marigold, larkspur, and columbine. 7 HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS Mustard Family. — Whoever has examined the flower of the little yellow mustard knows that its four petals spread open like a cross. It has four sepals, also, each one lying between two petals. Curiously, there are six stamens, sug- gesting the Lily Family, but two of the stamens are short, only four appearing as if maintaining the flower number. The pod of this Family is different from that of any other, being 2 -celled, with a partition down the middle. In open- ing for the escape of seeds, the outer sides split off from the middle and separate from the central portion. The pod may be long and narrow, or short and thick. The flowers bloom in spikes, the lower ones being the oldest and often maturing into pods, while the tip of the spike is in bud. The colors are yellow, white, and purplish. Shep- herd's purse, cress, black and white mustard belong here. Rose Family. — Considering the shrubs and fruit-trees which belong to this Family, it may well take precedence of all others in importance. A rose hip, if cut open, will show the stamens all clinging to the inside of the hip, which is really the calyx tube. The petals and sepals are mostly in fives, but stamens and pistils are many. Underneath the sepals there are often green bracts which make the number of these organs seem twice as many. Our fruit-trees, apples, pears, cherries, plums, belong to this Family, and their blossoms, large and fragrant, are among the lavish gifts of spring. Shrubs like the hawthorn are numbered here, and the luscious strawberry, juicy blackberry, as well as the wild rose, with its dark-pink buds, make this Family second to none in fragrance, beauty, or usefulness. Pulse or Pea Family, to which our vegetables, the pea and bean, belong, is at once recognized by its papilionaceous corolla, so called from its fancied resemblance to a butter- fly. The petals are so different they have received special names. The large, upper one, which infolds the others in bud, is the standard, generally broad, erect, or turned back- ward. The narrower, opposite, side-petals are wings. The lower one is considered to be two petals united, and, being hollowed and boat-shaped, is named the keel. The keel usually incloses the stamens and pistils. Stamens of these flowers number 10 (rarely 5), one being free, the other 9 mostly united by their filaments into a tube which is split 8 CHARACTERISTICS OF BOTANICAL FAMILIES open on the upper side. Through this split the pistil pro- jects, later the pod or legume. The calyx is unequal! . divided. To this Family belong not only the pea and bean, but cassia, liquorice, logwood, and other useful plants. N< >ne is poisonous. Many are ornamental climbers, with showy blossoms and graceful foliage. Their leaves are often com- pound, and the leaflets may be sensitive, folding when touched, also many of them "sleep" at night. The Pea Family contains herbs, shrubs, and trees. The Spurge Family contains the castor-oil and croton- oil plants ; manihot, from which tapioca is made ; and rubber- trees, the latter having come into great prominence in these days of automobiles and rubber tires. The stamens and pistils occur in different flowers, sometimes on the same plant, sometimes on different ones. Such flowers are called monoecious or dioecious. It is a very large Family in the tropics, but with us is known mostly in the genus Euphorbia. The manner of the flowering of this genus is singular. There is no proper calyx or corolla, but the flowers are surrounded by an involucre resembling a calyx divided into 4 or 5 lobes which are colored and cup-shaped. Between the lobes are thick glands. Within the involucre (once considered the true flower) numerous staminate flowers are borne, each consisting of a single stamen jointed on a tiny stalk (pedicel), very like a filament. A small bract accompanies each stamen. From the center of the cluster of stamens a single pistil is raised on a long stalk, the pistil consisting of a 3-celled ovary, 3 styles, and 6 stigmas. The plants contain a milky juice. Parsley Family. — The flowers of plants belonging to this Family grow in umbels, which are frequently compound, forming umbellets. They possess oil-tubes — minute canals running lengthwise of the fruit — containing aromatic oil, which can only be seen with a strong microscope. The style and its stigma develop in advance of the stamens, thus preventing self-pollination. Insects carry the pollen of one flower to the stigma of another, both of which happen to be ripe at the same time. The stems are generally hollow. The plants vary in size and color, but nearly all have the umbel form of blossom and the compound leaves. The 9 HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS flowers are so minute that they are difficult to study. A professional botanist said that he had found life too short to spend over the parsleys. The fruit is single-seeded, like the familiar fennel and caraway seeds which our grandmothers used to take to church in order to while away the long minutes of dreary sermons. The vegetables parsnip, carrot, celery, and parsley are useful members of this Family. Here, too, belong the anise and cumin, though not the mint, whose tithing has stood for punctilious observance of unimportant " matters of the law" ever since the days of the Pharisees. Many of the roots and seeds of parsleys, when wild, are very poisonous, and acquaintance with them is desirable for this if for no other reason, than that one may warn children and ignorant persons against them. None is poisonous to touch. Heath Family. — This Family contains many fine shrubs as well as herbs. The flowers are regular, the corolla con- sisting of 4 or 5 petals, or, if tubular, as many lobes. Stamens are of the same number as the petals. They open by means of little holes or chinks, and this is an unfailing mark by which the Heaths may be recognized. Many small inhabitants of the woods are heaths, as the wintergreen, pyrola, pipsissewa, Indian pipe, and bear- berry. Here the cranberry, of Thanksgiving fame, belongs, also the blueberry and huckleberry. Others are rhododen- drons, laurels, azaleas, and the fragrant clethra. Some, as the Indian pipe, are parasitic plants without green leaves or stems. Milkweed Family. — The construction of the flower of milkweed is so singular that it should be described. Without the magnifying-glass one sees 5 short, pointed sepals hidden under 5 larger petals turned backward and downward. The next row of bodies standing up over the flower-center may be taken for stamens. But through the glass we see that these are tubular bodies, colored like petals, containing a curved, needle-like hook. The latter is called a horn; the tube inclosing it, a hood. All 5 of the horns lie protectingly over the stamens and pistil. Pull off the hoods, with their inclosed horns, and see what strange things the stamens are. 10 CHARACTERISTICS OF BOTANICAL FAMILIES The filaments of the stamens, united into a tube, stand around the pistil. The long cells of the anthers open lengthwise, often in bud. The pollen, instead of being in grains, is in a long, yellow, flat mass, one in each cell (in shape like an apple seed), which can be squeezed out entire with thumb and finger. Two of these, from different, adjacent anthers, cling together by a thread, and adhere to insects visiting them and so are carried to other flowers. There are seemingly two pistils (really two ovaries) united above into a large, flattish, sticky stigma which catches and holds the pollen-masses borne to it by bees. In the flower the pollen-masses lie too low for its own stigma. The insect visit is absolutely necessary for fertilization. Now perhaps we have found a use for the hoods. They probably collect and store nectar, and so invite the insects, upon whose help the flower is dependent. The reflexed corolla could not hold any nectar, and without nectar bees would pass the milk- weed by. The Mint Family is large and important. The general characteristics of the Family are square stems, opposite or whorled leaves, a fragrance given out by numerous oily glands, and a fruit of four achene-like nutlets, i in each of 4 visibly distinct divisions of the ovary, from the center of which arises the style. The corolla is a tube with 2 lips, each lip, or sometimes the upper one only, divided into lobes. A square-stemmed, herbaceous plant, with the well- known minty odor and the 4-lobed ovary, is quickly relegated to this Family. Many of the housekeeper's best flavorings — lavender, marjoram, thyme, sage, rosemary — belong here, as well as the horehound, catnip, pennyroyal, and peppermint which used to hang drying in our grandmothers' attics, the most prized belongings of the home pharmacy. Whether the drugs which have superseded these simple herb drinks are, on the whole, more conducive to long life is a question for life-insurance companies to consider. Composite Family. — The largest and most advanced of all the Botanical Families is the Composite. It contains one-tenth of all known species of flowering plants, one- eighth of which are indigenous to North America. The Composites were called compound flowers by older botanists. HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS They are, in reality, many small flowers, called fiords, united in a compact head called a disk, upon a flat or conical receptacle, either with or without petal - like rays circled around them, all with a calyx-like involucre of green bracts underneath. The disk of the daisy contains from 200 to 500 florets. Examined under the magnifying-glass, each floret is seen to have its own tiny calyx, whose tube is joined to a 1 -celled ovary in which is found a single, dry seed, an achcne. The top of the calyx takes different forms, a knowl- edge of which is of use in classifying the flower. In the daisy it is abruptly cut off ; in the chicory it is cup-shaped ; in the sunflower, a pair of rabbit-like ears; in the sneeze- weed, 5 scales; in the thistle, tufts of fine hairs; in the dandelion, such tufts raised on a long handle, like a dust- brush. These developments of the calyx -top are called pappus. A single bract grows outside the calyx called chaff. The corolla is tubular, divided into 5 points at the summit. The anthers of the five stamens form a ring, on the inside of which they open, discharging their pollen on a pistil yet unripe. This with its two-cleft style and stigma, as it grows and elongates, carries the pollen with it. The insect, hovering and crawling over the florets, collects the pollen on its body, conducts it to other flowers whose pistils happen to be ripe, thus bringing about cress-pollination. The Composites are divided into Tubulifloras, or those with all tubular florets; and Liguliflorae, those with strap- shaped florets. In many of the first there are ray flowers arranged along the margin, which, upon examination, will be found to contain a pistil only, or to have neither pistil nor stamens. The daisy is one of the Tubuliflorse. The strap-shaped florets have flat corollas, as if the tubes were slit open, in the disk, and no ray flowers. The dande- lion is an example. Explanation of Terms Used in Describing Flowers Every perfect flower contains four sets of organs, arranged in circles at the top of the flower stem or axis. At the center a pistil stands. Often there are several pistils. This organ consists of three parts, ovary, style, and stigma. The ovary is a small sac at the base of the pistil in which ovules grow, (rudimentary seeds). The style is a slender, hollow tube EXPLANATION OF TERMS connecting the ovary with the stigma, and it may be absent without impairing the pistil. The stigma is a knob or head, sticky and porous, at the tip of the pistil. Stamens surround the pistil in one or more circles. Then' are two parts to a stamen, the anther, and its stalk or fila- ment. The anther is a double sac (generally) in which pollen grains are borne, kept while they are growing, and set free by some sort of an opening, as a slit or chink, when they are mature. A pollen grain is conducted to a stigma by an insect or in some other way, falls upon the rough, porous surface of that organ, is nourished by it, grows, sends a branchlet, a tiny thread, down the style into the ovary where the ovules lie. By changes in structure the ovules are convert- ed into true seeds which are for the propagation of the plant. These are the essential organs of a flower, and no seed can be produced without their union with one another. WILD GERANIUM (GERANIUM MACULA ll'M) a. Stamens; b. Pistil; p. Petals; s. Sepals; d. Pedicel; c. Peduncle 13 HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS The floral envelope surrounds these essential organs, con- sisting of corolla and calyx. The separate divisions of a corolla are petals, and of the calyx are sepals. The petals make the color and beauty of most flowers, while the sepals are generally green. All these organs are collected upon a receptacle. The stalk which supports a flower is called a peduncle. The stalk which carries one of a cluster of flowers is a pedicel. A pedicel is a secondary peduncle. When the flower stalk springs directly from the root and bears no leaves, we speak of it as a scape. The way in which flowers are arranged upon the stem, whether singly, in clusters, elongated spikes, close heads, etc., is spoken of as inflorescence. A clustered inflorescence is of advantage to flowers which depend upon insects for pollination, as they thus appear larger, show more color, and can be seen from a greater distance than if single. These clusters are called spikes or racemes if elongated, corymbs if flattened, heads if rounded like the clover blossom, umbels if like the wild carrot. Two other forms of inflorescence should be mentioned, the spadix and catkin. The spadix is an elongated, fleshy axis upon which small flowers are borne, and it is often covered by a spathe, a green or colored leaf hanging over the spadix. The Jack-in-thc-pulpit and Calla lily are examples of this kind of inflorescence. Often the stamens and pistils grow in different parts of the spadix, above or below. ' A catkin, like that of the willow or birch, is a spike of flowers in which each is accompanied by a little, dry sort of scale. In many trees and shrubs, staminate and pistillate flowers occur in different catkins which look quite unlike one another. An involucre is one or more circles of bracts, often colored and looking like petals, surrounding a head of flowers. The white, showy leaves of the flowering dogwood blossom are the involucre belonging to the small, dull flowers within. Leaves In describing leaves, we say they are simple, when un- divided, like the leaf of a chestnut, or compound when di- vided into separate leaflets. The leaf of clover is compound, 14 ILLUSTRATING SHAPES OF LEAVES 1 Compound, Pinnate; 2. Digitate; 3' Lanceolate; .1 Oblong; shaped; 6. Arrow shaped. . Heart HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS and may further be spoken of as trifoliate. A horsechestnut leaf is compound, and, being composed of five spreading leaflets, springing from one point is a digitate (ringer) leaf. A pinnate leaf is one like the ash or locust trees. The out- lines of leaves are smooth, or serrate (like the teeth of a saw), wavy, incised, dentate, words that are in common use. The veinings of leaves are of two kinds, parallel and net. Grass leaves, also tulip and iris leaves, are parallel, the veins running from base to tip of leaf in nearly parallel lines. Net-veins run from one or more prominent midribs to all parts of the leaf, branching irregularly, interlacing with one another, making meshes like those of a fish-net. The veins of a leaf are its frame, its supporting skeleton. A leaf-stalk is called a petiole. Leaves which are joined to the main stem without any stalk of their own are said to be sessile, a word meaning sitting. Stipules are leafy appendages found at the bases of some leaf-stalks, large and leaf -like or small and scale-like. Annuals and Perennials Annuals die down every year and are reproduced from seed the next season. Perennials continue to live year after year. Biennials have a life of two years, storing food for themselves the first year, upon which they live the next, dying down after that. A leaf axil is the angle formed by the leaf and its stem, on the upper side of the leaf. Most buds spring from leaf axils. The foregoing and a few additional technical terms are summed up in the following GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS Achcne or akene. — A small, dry, indehiscent, i -seeded fruit. Anther. — That part of the stamen which contains the pollen, usually con- sisting of 2 cells which, when the pollen is ripe, open by a slit. Axil. — The upper angle at the junction of stem and branch. Bloom. — A soft, whitish, powdery appearance on fruit, leaves, etc. Bract. — A small leaf at the base of or upon the flower-stalk. Calyx. — The outer flower-leaves, usually green. Capsule. — The dry, dehiscent fruit of a compound pistil, as in poppy. 16 GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS Chaff. — Bracts or scales which become dry and thia. Used especially of a scale accompanying the small flowers of the Compo iite family. Claw. — The long, narrow base of a petal, as in pinks. Cleistogamous — Closed pollination. Applied to inconspicuous which are self-pollinated before the bud opens, as in st< : lets. Such plants bear other more showy blossoms, which often fruitful. Corolla. — The flower-leaves standing next within and above the calyx. Corymb. — A cluster of flowers, flat or convex at top, blossoming first at the circumference, last at the center. Crenate. — With roundish teeth. Cyme.— A cluster of flowers, flat or convex at top, the central ones blos- soming first; those around the margin last. Cymose. — With the general inflorescence of the cyme. Dehiscent.— Splitting open of capsules into regular valves, for the discharge of seeds. Dehiscent fruits contain more than one seed. Disk or disc— The central part of Composites, as distinguished from ray- flowers. Drupe. — A stone-fruit, as the cherry and plum. Filament.— The stamen-stalk bearing the anther. It is not an essential part of the flower. Floret. —Diminutive of flower. Applied to the small ilowers of Com- posites. Glabrous. — Smooth, without hairs or bristles. Inflorescence.— Flowering; having reference to method, and, where there are several flowers, their relation to one another on the stem. I nvolucel— When an umbel of flowers is compound, the bracts under- neath the secondary umbels are called involucels. Involucre.— Leaves, sometimes petal-like, as in flowering dogwood, sur- rounding a single flower or a group of small flowers. Generally bract-like and green, as in the parsley family. A'e^.— Applied to the two united petals in the front part of such flowers as those of the pea and bean. Leaflet.— When a leaf is cut down to the midrib it is a compound leaf ami each division is a leaflet. Such a compound leaf is that of the common locust. . Legume.— The fruit of the pea and bean family, usually opening along both sutures or seams. . Lip.— The upper petal of orchids. Also applied to each division ■ 2-divided flowers, as mints or figworts. Z/yrate.— Lyre-shaped. Leaves cut, with a large central, terminal lODe, and smaller ones along the side, as in some mustards. Midrib. — The central, large vein of a leaf. 17 HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS Ovate. — Egg-shaped. Broader above, tapering below. Palmate. — Leaves spreading from the tip of a common stalk. Panicle. — A compound flower-cluster, irregularly branching. Grasses and lilies of the valley are examples. Papilionaceous (corolla). — The peculiarly shaped flowers of the Pulse family, having standard, wings, and keel. Pappus. — The calyx of Composites; the down of thistles and dande- lions. Pedicel — The stalk of each flower of a cluster of flowers. Peduncle. — The naked stalk of a flower. When flowers are clustered, their common stalk is the common peduncle. Perianth. — The floral envelope (sepals and petals) taken collectively. Petal. — A division of the corolla. Petiole. — The foot-stalk of a leaf. Pinnate leaves are compound leaves in which the leaflets are arranged on a common stalk, which answers to the midrib of a simple leaf. Pistil. — The central, seed-bearing flower organ, including ovary, style, and stigma, the style not being an essential part. Placenta. — That part of the ovary which bears ovules or seeds. Raceme. — Numerous flowers on separate pedicels upon an elongated axis. Beneath each flower is, usually, a small bract. Rachis. — The principal axis or stem in an elongated spike or cluster of flowers. Receptacle. — The tip of the flower-stalk, upon which the floral parts are regularly arranged. Rootstock. — A prostrate or underground stem, usually erect at apex, root- ing at nodes or joints. Samara. — A winged, indehiscent fruit, as of the maple. Scape. — A flower-stalk arising from the root, without true leaves. Sepal. — Division of the calyx. Serrate. — Like the edge of a saw, teeth pointing forward. Serrulate. — Finely toothed. Sessile. — Sitting. Of a leaf or flower destitute of stalk. Spadix. — A spike of flowers with a fleshy, long axis. Spaihe. — A large leaf -like bract, infolding a flower cluster or single flower. Spike. — A form of inflorescence in which small flowers, sessile or nearly so, are crowded upon an elongated axis. Stamen. — The pollen-bearing organ of the flower, standing next outside the pistil, consisting of anther and filament, the latter not always present. Standard. — The posterior, large petal of the flower of the Pulse family, infolding the others in bud. Stem. — The leaf-bearing part of a plant; erect, prostrate, or subterranean. Stipules. — The appendages which sometimes grow on the opposite sides of a leaf, at the base of its petiole. Sometimes they sheathe the 18 GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS stem, as in buckwheat. Sometimes, as in clover leaves, they ex- tend along the leaf-stalk. Often they are like small leavi bracts. Umbel. — The kind of inflorescence which includes several (lowers spring- ing from the same point. Umbellet. — Smaller, secondary umbels. Wings. — The side-petals of the papilionaceous corollas. CHAPTER III GREEN, GREENISH, GREENISH YELLOW Arrow Grass Triglbchin maritima. — Family, Arrow Grass. Flowers : The perianth consists of 3 sepals and 3 petals, all alike in size and color. In front of each a large, sessile anther stands. Pistils 6, united into a compound pistil. The fruit splits, when ripe, into 6 carpels. The small flowers form a terminal, long raceme, or spike, the stalk or leafless scape springing from the root. Leaves narrow, fleshy, growing from the base of the flower-stalk which they clasp. Salt marshes along the coast and in fresh bogs inland. Indian Turnip. Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyttum. — Family, Arum. Color, green. Leaves, generally 2, on long petioles, divided above into 3 ovate, pointed, stort-stalked, wavy-margined leaflets. April to June. The first name is derived from the bulbous root, which is like a miniature turnip. Boiled, this root is rendered edible. The plant is more generally known as a " Jack-in-the-pulpit," the Jack being a spadix bearing stamens and pistils, without perianth, covered by a single folding leaf — a spathe which overtops the flower with a graceful curve, like the roofed pulpits of some cathedrals. Our Jack is a welcome preacher, and his text is, "Lo! the winter is past; the flowers appear on the earth." He stands with his fellows in sentinel-like rows along the edges of deep woods or in the lighter-leaved forests. Often the overlapping spathe is prettily striped with purple and white. The fruit is a gay cluster of scarlet berries, ripe in June or July. Green Dragon Root A. Dracontium is a species in which the Jack grows taller than his pulpit, and the single leaf is divided into 5 to 17 leaflets, all springing from a common center. The leaf, on a long petiole, 20 GREEN GROUP grows taller than the flower, the divisions being long and narrow. The spadix tapers above into a long, narrow tip. The spathe, whitish or greenish, is long, narrow, acutely pointed. Staminate and pistillate flowers in different plants. Berries reddish orange, appearing in late summer. Both species are found in all the Atlantic States. Green Arrow Arum Peltandra. rth and westward. Found 4,000 feet high in Vermont. Small, Northern Bog Orchis H. obtusata.— This is a one-leafed species, the leaf, from the root, somewhat broad. Flowers make a loose raceme ;it the top of the naked stalk. Lip, lance - shaped, often turning b Spur, curved, as long as the lip. July to September. In swamps and dam]) woods, preferring rich soil. 23 HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS Ragged Fringed Orchis H. lAcera. — Flowers, numerous, in a loose or dense raceme. Lip, 3 -parted, each of the divisions conspicuously fringed or cut into narrow segments. Spur, quite long. Leaves on the stem, broader below, becoming lance-shaped at the top. They are firm, with veins strongly marked. Stem, i to 2 feet high. Swamps and moist woods. June and July. This green orchis is a pretty find, in early summer, in the woods. Adder's Mouth Microstylis monophyttos. — Family, Orchis. Flowers, small, with narrow petals. Lip, eared (not fringed), slender, terminating in a long point, roundish near the flower. Flowers, in a raceme, each with a short pedicel. June and July. A single, rather broad leaf inwraps the base of the stem, which arises from a solid bulb. 5 to 6 inches high. Swamps or wet woods. Green Adder's Mouth M. unifblia.. — This species is similar to the last, but its leaf occurs about the middle of the flower-stem, oval or roundish, clasping. Raceme of flowers short, blunt, 1 to 3 inches long. Lip, 3-lobed at the summit. 5 to 10 inches high. July and August. Rather rare, in wet woods. Twayblade Liparis Loeselii. — Family, Orchis. Color, yellowish green. Flowers, few in a raceme, the petals narrow, long. Lip, entire, pointed in the middle, oblong. Leaves, lance-shaped, 2 in num- ber, sheathing the flower-stem. Not a common species, found in wet woods, from New England to Florida. Crane Fly Orchis Tipularia. discolor, — Family, Orchis. Color, greenish, tinged or spotted with purple. Flowers on a scape, with several small scales at base, nodding, on pedicels without bracts, making a terminal, loose raceme 5 to 10 inches long. Sepals and petals, long and narrow, the lip 3-lobed, not exceeding the: petals, pro- longed backward into a thread-like spur twice as jlong as the flower. Leaf appearing in autumn, after the flower has perished, sj >ringing from a bulb, often living through the winter, long- 24 **0PERTVOF **M< COLLEGE UBRW> GREEN GROUP petioled, broad, acute, plaited, tinged with purple underni July and August. Bulbs connected by horizontal offsets. This singular orchid, with its insect-like form, is a rare and pleasurable find in the woods from Vermont to Michigan, and south- ward to Florida and Louisiana. Stinging Nettle Urtica dioica. — Family, Nettle. Flowers, in spikes. Stamens and sepals 4, in pairs; the two outer sepals smaller, all placed around a rudimentary pistil. Leaves, opposite, ovate, heart- shaped, downy underneath. Summer. The whole plant is furnished with stinging hairs. A small gland, secreting a poisonous fluid, is at the base of each hair. If one be touched, never so lightly, I can testify from ex- perience that the hand will burn and sting for hours after- ward. Height, 2 or 3 feet. Common around old outbuild- ings and barns, and. in waste places generally. Two other species may be mentioned; neither of them quite so vicious. Slender Nettle . V. gracilis is sparingly bristly, quite tall, 2 to 7 feet, with leaves lance-shaped, possessing heart-shaped or round has*.-, * deeply serrate, on tall petioles. Flowers in axillary compound panicles. Small Nettle U. urens is small and coarse, provided with few stings. L> deeply and sharply toothed, ovate, petioled, 3 to 5 -nerved. To this Family belong our splendid elm trees; also, the fig and banyan, as well as the hemp plant. These species of nettle are found over the entire Atlantic coast. Wood Nettle Laportea canadensis, — Family, Nettle. Staminate and pistil- late flowers separate. No corolla. Calyx of 4 sepals, one or two < >f which are smaller than the others. One side of the stigma hairy. Flowers clustered in cymose heads. Leaves, 5 or 6 inches long, ovate, pointed, long-petioled, feather-veined, with one 2-clefl stipule at base. July to September. A plant with stinging hairs, 2 or 3 feet high. Pound in rich woods, northward and southward. HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS Richweed. Clearweed Pilea pumila. — Family, Nettle. Flowers of two kinds, stami- nate and pistillate. Corolla wanting. Sepals 3, a hooded scale in front of each. In the pistillate flowers, one large sepal incloses the seed, an achene, in fruit. From the resemblance of this sepal to a cap, the name is derived (pileus, a cap). Leaves, pointed, 3 -ribbed, coarsely toothed. Stem smooth, 3 to 18 inches high. July to September. Cool, moist, shady places. Great Water Dock Rumex Britannica. — Family, Buckwheat. Flowers, lacking corol- la, consist of 6 sepals, 6 stamens, and 3 styles. The 3 inner sepals, called valves, bear each a grain-like body upon the back. They are larger than the 3 outer ones, and are often colored, petal-like. The 3 outer are leaf-like and green. Flowers borne upon slender pedicels, forming a long, green panicle. Leaves, oblong, or lance- shaped, very large, those near the root 1 or 2 feet long, their petioles sheathing the stem at the base. Stems coarse, tall, 5 to 10 feet, sometimes measuring 10 inches around at base. Summer. Wet places everywhere, especially borders of streams. Pale Dock R. altissimus. — A species 3 to 6 feet tall, with long, pale green leaves, flowers on short, nodding peduncles. Common in alluvial soil. White Dock R. pallidas. — This has a white root, whence its common name. It grows 1 to 3 feet high, with narrow, smooth leaves, the stem thickly branched, coarse in its growth, like most of this genus. Yellow Dock R. crispus. — This is a well - known weed, growing with per- tinacity in cultivated grounds, with a strong root. The farmers consider the dockweed among their most unwelcome growths. Leaves, narrow, with wavy margins. Flowers crowded in whorls, in long panicles. Swamp Dock R. cverticillktus. — A tall species found in swamps, with flowers whorlcd about the stem in loose, almost leafless racemes. Often the lower leaves of many of these species turn a bright red early in the season. Bitter Dock R. obtusifblius has flowers whorled in looser, more distant panicles. Lower leaves ovate, heart-shaped, obtuse, the upper 26 GREEN GROUP narrower, acute. Calyx wings spiny-toothed; achenes smooth, red. Smaller Green Dock R. conglomerates has a leafy panicle of pedicelled, small flow- ers. Leaves petioled, oblong to lance-shaped, acute, i to 5 inches long. Golden Dock R. persicarioides. — The flowers of this species are densely whorled in a long panicle. The valves have 2 or 3 pointed, long bristles on each side. The "grain" becomes golden in color. Stem stout, 1 to 3 feet high, sometimes creeping, very leafy. A maritime plant, found also in the interior. Xnotweed. Doorweed Polygonum aviculkre. — -Family, Buckwheat. Leaves, small, sessile, blue-green, less than 1 inch long, narrow. Sheaths silvers-, membranous. Corolla, none. Calyx, green, bordered with pink. Flowers, very small, in axillary clusters. Summer. There is a puzzling variety among the species of this genus, some of which are common weeds; others, rarer, aspire to prettiness. Many of them frequent wet places and are found along roadsides. This one is smooth, much jointed, pros- trate, slender. Very common. Erect Knotweed P. erectum is stouter, erect, 2 feet or less tall, with broader leaves. There is a yellowish tint to the flowers and stem by which it may be known. Flowers, 1 or 2 in the leaf axils. Leaves jointed to the sheaths, which are the distinguishing mark of the buck- wheat family. This and the preceding are quite common weeds. Common Smartweed. Water Pepper P. hydropiper. — Of rather low growth, with smooth, dotted, narrow leaves very peppery to the taste. Flowers, in dense, nod- ding spikes, with numerous small bracts. The sheaths are fringed along their edges. Stamens, 6. Summer. 8 inches to 2 feet high. Wet grounds. P.