WILD FLOWERS [238]
Distribution - New Brunswick, westward to Ontario and Missouri, south to the Gulf States.
Nearly related to the broom-rape is this less attractive pirate, a taller, brownish-purple plant, with a disagreeable odor, whose erect, branching stem without leaves is still furnished with brownish scales, the remains of what were once green leaves in virtuous ancestors, no doubt. But perhaps even these relics of honesty may one day disappear. Nature brands every sinner somehow; and the loss of green from a plant's leaves may be taken as a certain indication that theft of another's food stamps it with this outward and visible sign of guilt. The grains of green to which foliage owes its color are among the most essential of products to honest vegetables that have to grub in the soil for a living, since it is only in such cells as contain it that assimilation of food can take place. As chlorophyll, or leaf-green, acts only under the influence of light and air, most plants expose all the leaf surface possible; but a parasite, which absorbs from others juices already assimilated, certainly has no use for chlorophyll, nor for leaves either; and in the broom-rape, beech-drops, and Indian pipe, among other thieves, we see leaves degenerated into bracts more or less without color, according to the extent of their crime. Now they cannot manufacture carbohydrates, even if they would, any more than fungi can.
On the beech-drop's slender branches two kinds of flowers are seated: below are the minute fertile ones, which never open, but, without imported pollen, ripen an abundance of seed with literally the closest economy. Nevertheless, to save the species from still deeper degeneracy through perpetual self-fertilization, small purplish-striped flowers above them mature stigmas and anthers on different days, and invite insect visits to help them produce a few cross-fertilized seeds. Even a few will save it. Every plant which bears cleistogamous or blind flowers - violets, wood-sorrel, jewelweed, among others - must also display some showy ones.
TRUMPET-FLOWER; TRUMPET-CREEPER (Tecoma radicans) Trumpet-creeper family
Flowers - Red and veined within, paler and inclined toward tawny without, trumpet-shaped, about 2 1/2 in. long, the limb with 5 rounded lobes; 2 to 9 flowers in the terminal clusters; anther-bearing stamens 4, in pairs, under upper part of tube; 1 pistil. Stem: A woody vine 20 to 40 ft. long, prstrate or climbing. Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compounded of 7 to 11 ovate, saw-edged leaflets. Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich woods and thickets. Flowering Season - August-September. Distribution - New Jersey and Pennsylvania, westward to Illinois, and soutb to the Gulf States. Occasionally escaped from gardens farther north.
>From early May untll the middle of October, the ruby-throated hummingbird forsakes the tropics to spend the flowery months with us. Which wild flowers undertake to feed him? Years before showy flowers were brought from all corners of the earth to adorn our gardens, about half a dozen natives in that parterre of Nature's east of the Mississippi catered to him in orderly succeswsion. In feasting at their board he could not choose but reciprocate the favor by transferring their pollen as they took pains to arrange matters. Nectar and tiny insects he is ever seeking. Of course hundreds of flowers secrete nectar which taxes them little; and while the vast majority of these are avowedly adapted to insect benefactors; what is to prevent the bird's needle-like bill from probing the sweets from most of them? Certain flowers dependent on him, finding that the mere offering of nectar was not enough to insure his fidelity, that he was constantly lured away, had to offer some especially strong attractions to make his regular visits sure. How did these learn that red is irresistibly fascinating to him, and orange scarcely less so, perhaps for the sake of the red that is mixed with the yellow? Today we find such flowers as need him sorely, wearing his favorite colors. But even this delicate attention is not enough.
Nearly related to the broom-rape is this less attractive pirate, a taller, brownish-purple plant, with a disagreeable odor, whose erect, branching stem without leaves is still furnished with brownish scales, the remains of what were once green leaves in virtuous ancestors, no doubt. But perhaps even these relics of honesty may one day disappear. Nature brands every sinner somehow; and the loss of green from a plant's leaves may be taken as a certain indication that theft of another's food stamps it with this outward and visible sign of guilt. The grains of green to which foliage owes its color are among the most essential of products to honest vegetables that have to grub in the soil for a living, since it is only in such cells as contain it that assimilation of food can take place. As chlorophyll, or leaf-green, acts only under the influence of light and air, most plants expose all the leaf surface possible; but a parasite, which absorbs from others juices already assimilated, certainly has no use for chlorophyll, nor for leaves either; and in the broom-rape, beech-drops, and Indian pipe, among other thieves, we see leaves degenerated into bracts more or less without color, according to the extent of their crime. Now they cannot manufacture carbohydrates, even if they would, any more than fungi can.
On the beech-drop's slender branches two kinds of flowers are seated: below are the minute fertile ones, which never open, but, without imported pollen, ripen an abundance of seed with literally the closest economy. Nevertheless, to save the species from still deeper degeneracy through perpetual self-fertilization, small purplish-striped flowers above them mature stigmas and anthers on different days, and invite insect visits to help them produce a few cross-fertilized seeds. Even a few will save it. Every plant which bears cleistogamous or blind flowers - violets, wood-sorrel, jewelweed, among others - must also display some showy ones.
TRUMPET-FLOWER; TRUMPET-CREEPER (Tecoma radicans) Trumpet-creeper family
Flowers - Red and veined within, paler and inclined toward tawny without, trumpet-shaped, about 2 1/2 in. long, the limb with 5 rounded lobes; 2 to 9 flowers in the terminal clusters; anther-bearing stamens 4, in pairs, under upper part of tube; 1 pistil. Stem: A woody vine 20 to 40 ft. long, prstrate or climbing. Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compounded of 7 to 11 ovate, saw-edged leaflets. Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich woods and thickets. Flowering Season - August-September. Distribution - New Jersey and Pennsylvania, westward to Illinois, and soutb to the Gulf States. Occasionally escaped from gardens farther north.
>From early May untll the middle of October, the ruby-throated hummingbird forsakes the tropics to spend the flowery months with us. Which wild flowers undertake to feed him? Years before showy flowers were brought from all corners of the earth to adorn our gardens, about half a dozen natives in that parterre of Nature's east of the Mississippi catered to him in orderly succeswsion. In feasting at their board he could not choose but reciprocate the favor by transferring their pollen as they took pains to arrange matters. Nectar and tiny insects he is ever seeking. Of course hundreds of flowers secrete nectar which taxes them little; and while the vast majority of these are avowedly adapted to insect benefactors; what is to prevent the bird's needle-like bill from probing the sweets from most of them? Certain flowers dependent on him, finding that the mere offering of nectar was not enough to insure his fidelity, that he was constantly lured away, had to offer some especially strong attractions to make his regular visits sure. How did these learn that red is irresistibly fascinating to him, and orange scarcely less so, perhaps for the sake of the red that is mixed with the yellow? Today we find such flowers as need him sorely, wearing his favorite colors. But even this delicate attention is not enough.