WILD FLOWERS [239]
He demands that his refreshments shall be reserved for him in a tube so deep or inaccessible that, when he calls, he will find all he desires, notwithstanding the occasional intrusion of such long-tongued insects as bumblebees, butterflies, and moths. First the long-spurred red and yellow columbine and the painted cup, then the coral honeysuckle, jewelweed, trumpet-creeper, Oswego tea, and cardinal flower have the honor of catering to the exacting little sprite from spring to autumn. His sojourn in our gardens is prolonged until his beloved gladioli, cannas, honeysuckles, nasturtiums, and salvia succumb to frost.
Where a trumpet vine climbs with the help of its aerial roots, like an ivy's, and sends forth clusters of brilliant tubes at the tips of long, wiry branches, there one is sure to see sooner or later, the ruby-throat flashing, whirring, darting from flower to flower. Eight birds at once were counted about a vine one sunny morning. The next, a pair of tame pigeons walked over the roof of the summer-house where the creeper grew luxuriantly, and punctured, with a pop that was distinctly heard fifty feet away, the base of every newly opened nectar-filled trumpet on it! That afternoon all the corollas discolored, and no hummers came near.
CORAL or TRUMPET HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera sempervirens) Honeysuckle family
Flowers - Red outside, orange yellow within; whorled round terminal spikes. Calyx insignificant; corolla tubular, slender, 1 1/2 in. long or less, slightly spread below the 5-lobed limb; 5 stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: A high, twining vine. Leaves: Evergreen in the South only; opposite, rounded oval, dark, shining green above, the upper leaves united around the stem by their bases to form a cup. Fruit: An interrupted spike of deep orange-red berries. Preferred Habitat - Rich, light, warm soil; hillsides, thickets. Flowering Season - April-September. Distribution - Connecticut, westward to Nebraska, and south to the Gulf States. Occasionally escaped from cultivation farther north,.
Small-flowered bush honeysuckles elected to serve and be served by bees; those with longer tubes welcomed bumblebees; the white and yellow flowered twining honeysuckles, deep of tube and deliciously fragrant, especially after dark, when they are still visible, cater to the sphinx moths (see sweet wild honeysuckle); but surely the longest-tongued bumblebee could not plumb the depths of this slender-tubed trumpet honeysuckle, nor the night-flying moth discover a flower that has melted into the prevailing darkness when he begins his rounds, and takes no pains to guide him with perfume. What creature, then, does it cater to? After reading of the aims of the trumpet-flower on the preceding page, no one will be surprised to hear that the ruby-throated hummingbird's visits are responsible for most of the berries that follow these charming, generous, abundant flowers, so eminently to his liking. Larger migrants than he, in search of fare so attractive, distribute the seeds far and wide. Is any other species more wholly dependent on birds?
CARDINAL FLOWER; RED LOBELIA (Lobelia cardinalis) Bellflower family
Flowers - Rich vermilion, very rarely rose or white, 1 to 1 1/2 in, long, numerous, growing in terminal, erect, green-bracted, more or less 1-sided racemes. Calyx 5-cleft; corolla tubular, split down one side, 2-lipped; the lower lip with 3 spreading lobes, the upper lip 2-lobed, erect; 5 stamens united into a tube around the style; 2 anthers with hairy tufts. Stem: 2 to 4 1/2 ft. high, rarely branched. Leaves: Oblong to lance-shaped, slightly toothed, mostly sessile. Preferred Habitat - Wet or low ground, beside streams, ditches, and meadow runnels. Flowering Season - July-September. Distribution - New Brunswick to the Gulf States, westward to the Northwest Territory and Kansas.
By the depth and brilliancy of its incomparable hue, the shade with which Vibert delighted to illumine his rich canvases, the color of the famous hat worn by seventy ecclesiastical princes of the Roman Church, but a richer red than the bird which
Where a trumpet vine climbs with the help of its aerial roots, like an ivy's, and sends forth clusters of brilliant tubes at the tips of long, wiry branches, there one is sure to see sooner or later, the ruby-throat flashing, whirring, darting from flower to flower. Eight birds at once were counted about a vine one sunny morning. The next, a pair of tame pigeons walked over the roof of the summer-house where the creeper grew luxuriantly, and punctured, with a pop that was distinctly heard fifty feet away, the base of every newly opened nectar-filled trumpet on it! That afternoon all the corollas discolored, and no hummers came near.
CORAL or TRUMPET HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera sempervirens) Honeysuckle family
Flowers - Red outside, orange yellow within; whorled round terminal spikes. Calyx insignificant; corolla tubular, slender, 1 1/2 in. long or less, slightly spread below the 5-lobed limb; 5 stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: A high, twining vine. Leaves: Evergreen in the South only; opposite, rounded oval, dark, shining green above, the upper leaves united around the stem by their bases to form a cup. Fruit: An interrupted spike of deep orange-red berries. Preferred Habitat - Rich, light, warm soil; hillsides, thickets. Flowering Season - April-September. Distribution - Connecticut, westward to Nebraska, and south to the Gulf States. Occasionally escaped from cultivation farther north,.
Small-flowered bush honeysuckles elected to serve and be served by bees; those with longer tubes welcomed bumblebees; the white and yellow flowered twining honeysuckles, deep of tube and deliciously fragrant, especially after dark, when they are still visible, cater to the sphinx moths (see sweet wild honeysuckle); but surely the longest-tongued bumblebee could not plumb the depths of this slender-tubed trumpet honeysuckle, nor the night-flying moth discover a flower that has melted into the prevailing darkness when he begins his rounds, and takes no pains to guide him with perfume. What creature, then, does it cater to? After reading of the aims of the trumpet-flower on the preceding page, no one will be surprised to hear that the ruby-throated hummingbird's visits are responsible for most of the berries that follow these charming, generous, abundant flowers, so eminently to his liking. Larger migrants than he, in search of fare so attractive, distribute the seeds far and wide. Is any other species more wholly dependent on birds?
CARDINAL FLOWER; RED LOBELIA (Lobelia cardinalis) Bellflower family
Flowers - Rich vermilion, very rarely rose or white, 1 to 1 1/2 in, long, numerous, growing in terminal, erect, green-bracted, more or less 1-sided racemes. Calyx 5-cleft; corolla tubular, split down one side, 2-lipped; the lower lip with 3 spreading lobes, the upper lip 2-lobed, erect; 5 stamens united into a tube around the style; 2 anthers with hairy tufts. Stem: 2 to 4 1/2 ft. high, rarely branched. Leaves: Oblong to lance-shaped, slightly toothed, mostly sessile. Preferred Habitat - Wet or low ground, beside streams, ditches, and meadow runnels. Flowering Season - July-September. Distribution - New Brunswick to the Gulf States, westward to the Northwest Territory and Kansas.
By the depth and brilliancy of its incomparable hue, the shade with which Vibert delighted to illumine his rich canvases, the color of the famous hat worn by seventy ecclesiastical princes of the Roman Church, but a richer red than the bird which