WILD FLOWERS [184]
is raised and the plant is protected from cold. Every one who has handled the colorless Indian pipe knows how cold and clammy it is.
The YELLOW or CELANDINE POPPY (Stylophorum diphyllum), with shining yellow flowers double the size of the greater celandine's, and similar pinnatifid leaves springing chiefly from the base, blooms even in March and through the spring in the Middle States and westward to Wisconsin and Missouri. Usually only one of the few terminal blossoms opens at a time, but in low, open woodlands it gleams like a miniature sun. Alas! that the glorious CALIFORNIA POPPY, so commonly grown in Eastern gardens (Eschscholtzia Californica), should confine itself to a limited range on the Pacific Coast. We have no true native poppies (Papaver) in America; such as are rarely to be seen in a wild state, have only locally escaped from cultivation.
GOLDEN CORYDALIS (Capnoides aureum; Corydalis aurea of Gray) Poppy family
Flowers - Bright yellow, about 1/2 in. long, with a spur half the length of the tubular corolla; irregular, lipped; each upheld by a little bract, mostly at a horizontal; borne in a terminal, short raceme. Stem: Smooth, 6 to 14 in. high, branching. Leaves: Finely dissected, decom pound, petioled. Fruit: Sickle-shaped, drooping pods, wavy lumped, and tipped with the style. Preferred Habitat - Woods, rocky banks. Flowering Season - March-May. Distribution - Minnesota to Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania.
A dainty little plant, next of kin to the pink corydalis (q.v.).
BLACK MUSTARD (Brassica nigra) Mustard family
Flowers - Bright yellow, fading pale, 1/4 to 1/2 in. across, 4-parted, in elongated racemes; quickly followed by narrow upright 4-sided pods about 1/2 in. long appressed against the stem. Stem: Erect, 2 to 7 ft. tall, branching. Leaves: Variously lobed and divided, finely toothed, the terminal lobe larger than the 2 to 4 side ones. Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, fields, neglected gardens. Flowering Season - June-November. Distribution - Common throughout our area; naturalized from Europe and Asia.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is less than all seeds but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."
Commentators differ as to which is the mustard of the parable - this common black mustard, or a rarer shrub-like tree (Salvadora Persica), with an equivalent Arabic name, a pungent odor, and a very small seed. Inasmuch as the mustard which is systematically planted for fodder by Old World farmers grows with the greatest luxuriance in Palestine, and the comparison between the size of its seed and the plant's great height was already proverbial in the East when Jesus used it, evidence strongly favors this wayside weed. Indeed, the late Dr. Royle, who endeavored to prove that it was the shrub that was referred to, finally found that it does not grow in Galilee.
Now, there are two species which furnish the most powerfully pungent condiment known to commerce; but the tiny dark brown seeds of the black mustard are sharper than the serpent's tooth, whereas the pale brown seeds of the WHITE MUSTARD, often mixed with them, are far more mild. The latter (Sinapis alba) is a similar, but more hairy, plant, with slightly larger yellow flowers. Its pods are constricted like a necklace between the seeds.
The coarse HEDGE MUSTARD (Sisymbrium officinale), with rigid, spreading branches, and spikes of tiny pale yellow flowers, quickly followed by awl-shaped pods that are closely appressed to the stem, abounds in waste places throughout our area. It blooms from May to November, like the next species.
Another common and most troublesome weed from Europe is the FIELD or CORN MUSTARD, CHARLOCK or FIELD KALE (Brassica arvensis; Sinapis arvensis of Gray) found in grain fields, gardens, rich waste lands, and rubbish heaps. The alternate leaves, which stand boldly out from the stem, are oval, coarsely saw-toothed,
The YELLOW or CELANDINE POPPY (Stylophorum diphyllum), with shining yellow flowers double the size of the greater celandine's, and similar pinnatifid leaves springing chiefly from the base, blooms even in March and through the spring in the Middle States and westward to Wisconsin and Missouri. Usually only one of the few terminal blossoms opens at a time, but in low, open woodlands it gleams like a miniature sun. Alas! that the glorious CALIFORNIA POPPY, so commonly grown in Eastern gardens (Eschscholtzia Californica), should confine itself to a limited range on the Pacific Coast. We have no true native poppies (Papaver) in America; such as are rarely to be seen in a wild state, have only locally escaped from cultivation.
GOLDEN CORYDALIS (Capnoides aureum; Corydalis aurea of Gray) Poppy family
Flowers - Bright yellow, about 1/2 in. long, with a spur half the length of the tubular corolla; irregular, lipped; each upheld by a little bract, mostly at a horizontal; borne in a terminal, short raceme. Stem: Smooth, 6 to 14 in. high, branching. Leaves: Finely dissected, decom pound, petioled. Fruit: Sickle-shaped, drooping pods, wavy lumped, and tipped with the style. Preferred Habitat - Woods, rocky banks. Flowering Season - March-May. Distribution - Minnesota to Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania.
A dainty little plant, next of kin to the pink corydalis (q.v.).
BLACK MUSTARD (Brassica nigra) Mustard family
Flowers - Bright yellow, fading pale, 1/4 to 1/2 in. across, 4-parted, in elongated racemes; quickly followed by narrow upright 4-sided pods about 1/2 in. long appressed against the stem. Stem: Erect, 2 to 7 ft. tall, branching. Leaves: Variously lobed and divided, finely toothed, the terminal lobe larger than the 2 to 4 side ones. Preferred Habitat - Roadsides, fields, neglected gardens. Flowering Season - June-November. Distribution - Common throughout our area; naturalized from Europe and Asia.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is less than all seeds but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."
Commentators differ as to which is the mustard of the parable - this common black mustard, or a rarer shrub-like tree (Salvadora Persica), with an equivalent Arabic name, a pungent odor, and a very small seed. Inasmuch as the mustard which is systematically planted for fodder by Old World farmers grows with the greatest luxuriance in Palestine, and the comparison between the size of its seed and the plant's great height was already proverbial in the East when Jesus used it, evidence strongly favors this wayside weed. Indeed, the late Dr. Royle, who endeavored to prove that it was the shrub that was referred to, finally found that it does not grow in Galilee.
Now, there are two species which furnish the most powerfully pungent condiment known to commerce; but the tiny dark brown seeds of the black mustard are sharper than the serpent's tooth, whereas the pale brown seeds of the WHITE MUSTARD, often mixed with them, are far more mild. The latter (Sinapis alba) is a similar, but more hairy, plant, with slightly larger yellow flowers. Its pods are constricted like a necklace between the seeds.
The coarse HEDGE MUSTARD (Sisymbrium officinale), with rigid, spreading branches, and spikes of tiny pale yellow flowers, quickly followed by awl-shaped pods that are closely appressed to the stem, abounds in waste places throughout our area. It blooms from May to November, like the next species.
Another common and most troublesome weed from Europe is the FIELD or CORN MUSTARD, CHARLOCK or FIELD KALE (Brassica arvensis; Sinapis arvensis of Gray) found in grain fields, gardens, rich waste lands, and rubbish heaps. The alternate leaves, which stand boldly out from the stem, are oval, coarsely saw-toothed,