Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect VisitorsBlanchan, Neltje
Science
Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors
Blanchan, Neltje
Wild flowers -- North America
Owing to this flower's early season of bloom and to the depth of
its spurs, in which nectar is secreted by two long processes of
the middle stamens, only the long-tongued female bumblebees then
flying are implied by its curious formation. Two canals leading
to the sweets invite the visitor to thrust in her tongue, and as
she hangs from the white heart and presses forward to drain the
luscious drops, first on one side, then on the other, her hairy
underside necessarily comes in contact with the pollen of younger
flowers and - with the later maturing stigmas of older ones, to
which she carries it later. But, as might be expected, this
intelligent bee occasionally nips holes through the spurs of the
flower that makes dining so difficult for her - holes that lesser
fry are not slow to investigate.
According to the Rev. Alexander S. Wilson, bumblebees make holes
with jagged edges; wasps make clean-cut, circular openings; and
the carpenter bees cut slits, through which they steal nectar
from deep flowers. Who has tested this statement about the guilty
little pilferers on our side of the Atlantic?
SQUIRREL CORN
(Bicuculla Canadensis) Poppy family
Flowers - Irregular, greenish white tinged with rose, slightly
fragrant, heart-shaped, with 2 short rounded spurs, over 1/2 in.
long, nodding on a slender scape. Calyx of 2 scale-like sepals;
corolla heart-shaped at base, consisting of 4 petals in 2 united
pairs, a prominent crest on tips of inner ones; 6 stamens in 2
sets; style with 2-lobed stigma. Scape: Smooth, 6 to 12 in. high,
the rootstock bearing many small, round, yellow tubers like
kernels of corn. Leaves: All from root, delicate, compounded of 3
very finely dissected divisions.
Prferred Habitat - Rich, moist woods.
Flowering Season - May-June.
Distribution - Nova Scotia to Virginia, and westward to the
Mississippi.
Any one familiar with the Bleeding-heart (B. eximia) of old-
fashioned gardens, found growing wild in the Alleghanies, and
with the exquisite White Mountain Fringe (Adlumia fungosa) often
brought from the woods to be planted over shady trellises, or
with the Dutchman's breeches, need not be told that the little
squirrel corn is next of kin or far removed from the pink
corydalis. It is not until we dig up the plant and look at its
roots that we see why it received its name. A delicious perfume
like hyacinths, only fainter and subtler, rises from the dainty
blossoms.
BULBOUS or SPRING CRESS
(Cardamine bulbosa; C. rhomboidea of Gray) Mustard family
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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