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
Flowers - White or greenish, on short pedicels, in several small
terminal clusters. Calyx inferior; corolla deeply 5-parted, the
oblong segments turned back; a 5-parted, erect crown of hooded
nectaries between them and the stamens, each shorter than the
incurved horn within. Stem: 1 to 2 1/2 ft. tall, simple or
sparingly branched, hairy, leafy to summit, containing milky
juice. Leaves: In upright groups, very narrow, almost
thread-like, from 3 to 7 in each whorl. Fruit: 2 smooth, narrow,
spindle-shaped, upright pods, the seeds attached to silky fluff;
1 pod usually abortive.
Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, hills, uplands.
Flowering Season - July-September.
Distribution - Maine and far westward, south to Florida and
Mexico.
In describing the common milkweed (q.v.), so many statements were
made that apply quite as truly to this far daintier and more
ethereal species, the reader is referred back to the pink and
magenta section. Compared with some of its rank-growing, heavy
relatives, how exquisite is this little denizen of the uplands,
with its whorls of needle-like leaves set at intervals along a
slender swaying stem! The entire plant, with its delicate foliage
and greenish-white umbels of flowers, rather suggests a member of
the carrot tribe; and much the same class of small-sized,
short-tongued visitors come to seek its accessible nectar as we
find about the parsnips, for example. When little bees alight -
and these are the truest benefactors, however frequently larger
bees, wasps, flies, and even the almost useless butterflies come
around - their feet slip about within the low crown to find a
secure lodging. As they rise to fly away after sucking, the
pollen masses which have attached themselves to the hairs on the
lower part of their legs are drawn out, to be transferred to
other blossoms, perhaps today, perhaps not for a fortnight.
Annoying as they may be, it is very rarely, indeed, that an
insect can rid itself of the pollen masses carried from either
orchids or milkweeds, except by the method Nature intended; and
it is not until the long-suffering bee is outrageously loaded
that he attains his greatest usefulness to milkweed blossoms. "Of
ninety-two specimens bearing corpuscula of Asclepias
verticillata," says Professor Robertson, "eighty-eight have them
on hairs alone, and four on the hairs and claws." And again: "As
far as the mere application of pollen to an insect is concerned,
a flower with loose pollen has the advantage. But the advantage
is on the side of Asclepias after the insect is loaded with it.
It is only a general rule that insects keep to flowers of a
particular species on their honey and pollen gathering
expeditions. If a bee dusted with loose pollen visits flowers of
another species, it will not long retain pollen in sufficient
quantity to effectually fertilize flowers of the original
species. On the other hand, if an insect returns at any time
during the day, or even after a few days, to the species of
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