Flowers - Pink, with yellow tip, about 1/2 in. long, a few borne in a loose, terminal raceme. Calyx of 2 small sepals; corolla irregular, of 4 erect, closed, and flattened petals joined, 1 of outer pair with short rounded spur at base, the interior ones narrow and keeled on back. Stamens 6, in 2 sets, Opposite outer petals; 1 pistil. Stem: Smooth, curved, branched, 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves: Pale grayish green, delicate, divided into variously and finely cut leaflets. Fruit: Very narrow, erect pod, 1 to 2 in. long. Preferred Habitat - Rocky, rich, cool woods. Flowering Season - April-September. Distribution - Nova Scotia westward to Alaska, south to Minnesota and North Carolina. Dainty little pink sacs, yellow at the mouth, hang upside down along a graceful stem, and instantly suggest the Dutchman's breeches, squirrel corn, bleeding heart, and climbing fumitory, to which the plant is next of kin. Because the lark (Korydalos) has a spur, the flower, which boasts a small one also, borrows its Greek name. Hildebrand proved by patient experiments that some flowers of this genus have not only lost the power of self-fertilization, but that they produce fertile seed only when pollen from another plant is carried to them. Yet how difficult they make dining for their benefactors! The bumblebee, which can reach the nectar, but not lap it conveniently, often "gets square" with the secretive blossom by nipping holes through its spur, to which the hive bees and others hasten for refreshment. We frequently find these punctured flowers. But hive and other bees visiting the blossom for pollen, some rubs off against their breast when they depress the two middle petals, a sort of sheath that contains pistil and stamens. HARDHACK; STEEPLE BUSH (Spiraea tomentosa) Rose family Flowers - Pink or magenta, rarely white, very small, in dense, pyramidal clusters. Calyx of 5 sepals; corolla of 5 rounded petals; stamens, 20 to 60; usually 5 pistils, downy. Stem: 2 to 3 ft. high, erect, shrubby, simple, downy. Leaves: Dark green above, covered with whitish woolly hairs beneath; oval, saw-edged, 1 to 2 in. long. Preferred Habitat - Low moist ground, roadside ditches, swamps. Flowering Season - July-September. Distribution - Nova Scotia westward, and southward to Georgia and Kansas. These bright spires of pink bloom attract our attention no less than the countless eyes of flies, beetles, and bees, ever on the lookout for food to be eaten on the spot or stored up for future progeny. Pollen-feeding insects such as these, delight in the spireas, most of which secrete little or no nectar, but yield an abundance of pollen, which they can gather from the crowded panicles with little loss of time, transferring some of it to the pistils, of course, as they move over the tiny blossoms. But most spireas are also able to fertilize themselves, insects failing them.