WILD FLOWERS [100]
are poisonous. In them the next year's leaves lie curled through the winter, as in the iris and Solomon's seal, among others.
One of the most chastely beautiful of our native wild flowers - so lovely that many shady nooks in English rock-gardens and ferneries contain imported clumps of the vigorous plant - is the LARGE-FLOWERED WAKE-ROBIN, or WHITE WOOD LILY (T. grandiflorum). Under favorable conditions the waxy, thin, white, or occasionally pink, strongly veined petals may exceed two inches; and in Michigan a monstrous form has been found. The broadly rhombic leaves, tapering to a point, and lacking petioles, are seated in the usual whorl of three, at the summit of the stem, which may attain a foot and a half in height; from the center the decorative flower arises on a long peduncle. At first the entrance to the blossom is closed by the long anthers which much exceed the filaments; and hive-bees, among other insects, in collecting pollen, transfer it to older and now expanded flowers, in which the low stigmas appear between the tall separated stamens. Nectar stored in septal glands at the base invites the visitor laden with pollen from young flowers to come in contact with the three late maturing stigmas. The berry is black. From Quebec to Florida and far westward we find this tardy wake-robin in May or June.
Certainly the commonest trillium in the East, although it thrives as far westward as Ontario and Missouri, and south to Georgia, is the NODDING WAKE-ROBIN (T. cernuum), whose white or pinkish flower droops from its peduncle until it is all but hidden under the whorl of broadly rhombic, tapering leaves. The wavy margined petals, about as long as the sepals - that is to say, half an inch long or over - curve backward at maturity. According to Miss Carter, who studied the flower in the Botanical Garden at South Hadley, Mass., it is slightly proterandrous, maturing its anthers first, but with a chance of spontaneous self-pollination by the stigmas recurving to meet the shorter stamens. She saw bumblebees visiting it for nectar. In late summer an egg-shaped, pendulous red-purple berry swings from the summit. One finds the plant in bloom from April to June, according to the climate of its long range,
Perhaps the most strikingly beautiful member of the tribe is the PAINTED TRILLIUM (T. undulatum; T. erythrocarpum of Gray). At the summit of the slender stem, rising perhaps only eight inches, or maybe twice as high, this charming flower spreads its long, wavy-edged, waxy-white petals veined and striped with deep pink or wine color. The large ovate leaves, long-tapering to a point, are rounded at the base into short petioles. The rounded, three-angled, bright red, shining berry is seated in the persistent calyx. With the same range as the nodding trillium's, the painted wake-robin comes into bloom nearly a month later - in May and June - when all the birds are not only wide awake, but have finished courting, and are busily engaged in the most serious business of life.
SHOWY LADY'S SLIPPER (Cypripedium reginae; C. spectabile of Gray) Orchid family
Flowers - Usually solitary, at summit of stem, white, or the inflated white lip painted with purplish pink and white stripes; sepals rounded oval, spreading, white, not longer than the lip; petals narrower, white; the broad sac-shaped pouch open in front, 1 in. long or over. Stem: Stout, leafy, 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves: 3 to 8 in. long, downy, elliptic, pointed, many ribbed. Preferred Habitat - Peat-bogs; rich, low, wet woods. Flowering Season - June-September. Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, westward to the Mississippi. Chiefly North.
Quite different from the showy orchis, is this far more chaste showy lady's slipper which Dr. Gray has called "the most beautiful of the genus." Because the plants live in inaccessible swampy places, where only the most zealous flower lover penetrates, they have a reputation for rarity at which one who knows a dozen places to find colonies of the stately exquisites during a morning's walk, must smile with superiority. Wine
One of the most chastely beautiful of our native wild flowers - so lovely that many shady nooks in English rock-gardens and ferneries contain imported clumps of the vigorous plant - is the LARGE-FLOWERED WAKE-ROBIN, or WHITE WOOD LILY (T. grandiflorum). Under favorable conditions the waxy, thin, white, or occasionally pink, strongly veined petals may exceed two inches; and in Michigan a monstrous form has been found. The broadly rhombic leaves, tapering to a point, and lacking petioles, are seated in the usual whorl of three, at the summit of the stem, which may attain a foot and a half in height; from the center the decorative flower arises on a long peduncle. At first the entrance to the blossom is closed by the long anthers which much exceed the filaments; and hive-bees, among other insects, in collecting pollen, transfer it to older and now expanded flowers, in which the low stigmas appear between the tall separated stamens. Nectar stored in septal glands at the base invites the visitor laden with pollen from young flowers to come in contact with the three late maturing stigmas. The berry is black. From Quebec to Florida and far westward we find this tardy wake-robin in May or June.
Certainly the commonest trillium in the East, although it thrives as far westward as Ontario and Missouri, and south to Georgia, is the NODDING WAKE-ROBIN (T. cernuum), whose white or pinkish flower droops from its peduncle until it is all but hidden under the whorl of broadly rhombic, tapering leaves. The wavy margined petals, about as long as the sepals - that is to say, half an inch long or over - curve backward at maturity. According to Miss Carter, who studied the flower in the Botanical Garden at South Hadley, Mass., it is slightly proterandrous, maturing its anthers first, but with a chance of spontaneous self-pollination by the stigmas recurving to meet the shorter stamens. She saw bumblebees visiting it for nectar. In late summer an egg-shaped, pendulous red-purple berry swings from the summit. One finds the plant in bloom from April to June, according to the climate of its long range,
Perhaps the most strikingly beautiful member of the tribe is the PAINTED TRILLIUM (T. undulatum; T. erythrocarpum of Gray). At the summit of the slender stem, rising perhaps only eight inches, or maybe twice as high, this charming flower spreads its long, wavy-edged, waxy-white petals veined and striped with deep pink or wine color. The large ovate leaves, long-tapering to a point, are rounded at the base into short petioles. The rounded, three-angled, bright red, shining berry is seated in the persistent calyx. With the same range as the nodding trillium's, the painted wake-robin comes into bloom nearly a month later - in May and June - when all the birds are not only wide awake, but have finished courting, and are busily engaged in the most serious business of life.
SHOWY LADY'S SLIPPER (Cypripedium reginae; C. spectabile of Gray) Orchid family
Flowers - Usually solitary, at summit of stem, white, or the inflated white lip painted with purplish pink and white stripes; sepals rounded oval, spreading, white, not longer than the lip; petals narrower, white; the broad sac-shaped pouch open in front, 1 in. long or over. Stem: Stout, leafy, 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves: 3 to 8 in. long, downy, elliptic, pointed, many ribbed. Preferred Habitat - Peat-bogs; rich, low, wet woods. Flowering Season - June-September. Distribution - Nova Scotia to Georgia, westward to the Mississippi. Chiefly North.
Quite different from the showy orchis, is this far more chaste showy lady's slipper which Dr. Gray has called "the most beautiful of the genus." Because the plants live in inaccessible swampy places, where only the most zealous flower lover penetrates, they have a reputation for rarity at which one who knows a dozen places to find colonies of the stately exquisites during a morning's walk, must smile with superiority. Wine