divisions again dissected. _Flowers._—Purple-pink, small. _Calyx._—Of
five sepals. _Corolla._—Of five petals. _Stamens._—Ten. _Pistil._—One,
with five styles which split apart in fruit.
From June until October many of our shaded woods and glens are
abundantly decorated by the bright blossoms of the herb Robert. The
reddish stalks of the plant have won it the name of “red-shanks” in the
Scotch Highlands. Its strong scent is caused by a resinous secretion
which exists in several of the geraniums. In some species this resin is
so abundant that the stems will burn like torches, yielding a powerful
and pleasant perfume. The common name is said to have been given the
plant on account of its supposed virtue in a disease which was known as
“Robert’s plague,” after Robert, Duke of Normandy. In some of the early
writers it is alluded to as the “holy herb of Robert.”
In fruit the styles of this plant split apart with an elasticity which
serves to project the seeds to a distance, it is said, of twenty-five
feet.
BUSH CLOVER.
_Lespedeza procumbens._ Pulse Family (p. 16).
_Stems._—Slender, trailing, and prostrate. _Leaves._—Divided into
three clover-like leaflets. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, purplish-pink,
veiny. _Pod._—Small, rounded, flat, one-seeded.
The flowers of this plant often have the appearance of springing
directly from the earth amid a mass of clover leaves. They are common in
dry soil in the late summer and autumn, as are the other members of the
same genus.
_L. reticulata_ is an erect, very leafy species with similar blossoms,
which are chiefly clustered near the upper part of the stem. The bush
clovers betray at once their kinship with the tick-trefoils, but are
usually found in more sandy, open places.
_L. polystachya_ has upright wand-like stems from two to four feet high.
Its flowers grow in oblong spikes on elongated stalks. Those of _L.
capitata_ are clustered in globular heads.
TICK-TREFOIL.
_Desmodium Canadense._ Pulse Family (p. 16).
_Stem._—Hairy, three to six feet high. _Leaves._—Divided into three
somewhat oblong leaflets. _Flowers._—Papilionaceous, dull
purplish-pink, growing in densely flowered racemes. _Pod._—Flat,
deeply lobed on the lower margin, from one to three inches long,
roughened with minute hooked hairs by means of which they adhere to
animals and clothing.
Great masses of color are made by these flowers in the bogs and rich
woods of midsummer. They are effective when seen in the distance, but
rather disappointing on closer examination, and will hardly bear
gathering or transportation. They are by far the largest and most showy
of the genus.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXIX
HERB ROBERT.—_G. Robertianum._
]
TICK-TREFOIL.
_Desmodium nudiflorum._ Pulse Family (p. 16).
_Scape._—About two feet long. _Leaves._—Divided into three broad
leaflets, crowded at the summit of the flowerless stems.
_Flowers._—Papilionaceous, purplish-pink, small, growing in an
elongated raceme on a mostly leafless scape.
This is a smaller, less noticeable plant than _D. Canadense_. It
flourishes abundantly in dry woods, where it often takes possession in
late summer to the exclusion of nearly all other flowers.
The flowers of _D. acuminatum_ grow in an elongated raceme from a stem
about whose summit the leaves, divided into very large leaflets, are
crowded; otherwise it resembles _D. nudiflorum_.
_D. Dillenii_ grows to a height of from two to five feet, with erect
leafy stems and medium-sized flowers. It is found commonly in open
woods.
Many of us who do not know these plants by name have uttered various
imprecations against their roughened pods. Thoreau writes: “Though you
were running for your life, they would have time to catch and cling to
your clothes.... These almost invisible nets, as it were, are spread for
us, and whole coveys of desmodium and bidens seeds steal transportation
out of us. I have found myself often covered, as it were, with an
imbricated coat of the brown desmodium seeds or a bristling
_chevaux-de-frise_ of beggar-ticks, and had to spend a quarter of an
hour or more picking them off in some convenient spot; and so they get
just what they wanted—deposited in another place.”
BOUNCING BET. SOAPWORT.
_Saponaria officinalis._ Pink Family.
_Stem._—Rather stout, swollen at the joints. _Leaves._—Oval, opposite.
_Flowers._—Pink or white, clustered. _Calyx._—Of five united sepals.
_Corolla._—Of five pinkish, long-clawed petals (frequently the flowers
are double). _Stamens._—Ten. _Pistil._—One, with two styles.
A cheery pretty plant is this with large, rose-tinged flowers which are
especially effective when double.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXX
BOUNCING BET.—_S. officinalis._
]
Bouncing Bet is of a sociable turn and is seldom found far from
civilization, delighting in the proximity of farm-houses and their
belongings, in the shape of children, chickens, and cattle. She comes to
us from England, and her “feminine comeliness and bounce” suggest to Mr.
Burroughs a Yorkshire housemaid. The generic name is from _sapo_—soap,
and refers to the lather which the juice forms with water, and which is
said to have been used as a substitute for soap.
STEEPLE-BUSH. HARDHACK.
_Spiræa tomentosa._ Rose Family.
_Stems._—Very woolly. _Leaves._—Alternate, oval, toothed.
_Flowers._—Small, pink, in pyramidal clusters. _Calyx._—Five-cleft.
_Corolla._—Of five rounded petals. _Stamens._—Numerous.
_Pistils._—Five to eight.
The pink spires of this shrub justify its rather unpoetic name of
steeple-bush. It is closely allied to the meadow-sweet (Pl. XXVI.),
blossoming with it in low grounds during the summer. It differs from
that plant in the color of its flowers and in the woolliness of its
stems and the lower surface of its leaves.
DEPTFORD PINK.
_Dianthus Armeria._ Pink Family.
One or two feet high. _Leaves._—Opposite, long and narrow, hairy.
_Flowers._—Pink, with white dots, clustered. _Calyx._—Five-toothed,
cylindrical, with awl-shaped bracts beneath. _Corolla._—Of five small
petals. _Stamens._—Ten. _Pistil._—One, with two styles.
In July and August we find these little flowers in our eastern fields.
The generic name, which signifies _Jove’s own flower_, hardly applies to
these inconspicuous blossoms. Perhaps it was originally bestowed upon
_D. caryophyllus_, a large and fragrant English member of the genus,
which was the origin of our garden carnation.
PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE.
_Lythrum Salicaria._ Loosestrife Family.
_Stem._—Tall and slender. _Leaves._—Lance-shaped, with a heart-shaped
base, sometimes whorled in threes. _Flowers._—Deep purple-pink,
crowded and whorled in an interrupted spike. _Calyx._—Five to
seven-toothed, with little processes between the teeth. _Corolla._—Of
five or six somewhat wrinkled petals. _Stamens._—Usually twelve, in
two sets, six longer and six shorter. _Pistil._—One, varying in size
in the different blossoms, being of three different lengths.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXI
PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE.—_L. Salicaria._
]
One who has seen an inland marsh in August aglow with this beautiful
plant, is almost ready to forgive the Old Country some of the many pests
she has shipped to our shores in view of this radiant acquisition. The
botany locates it anywhere between Nova Scotia and Delaware. It may be
seen in the perfection of its beauty along the marshy shores of the
Hudson and in the swamps of the Wallkill Valley.
When we learn that these flowers are called “long purples,” by the
English country people, the scene of Ophelia’s tragic death rises before
us:
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream,
There with fantastic garlands did she come,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them.
Dr. Prior, however, says that it is supposed that Shakespeare intended
to designate the purple-flowering orchis, _O. mascula_, which is said to
closely resemble the showy orchis (Pl. LXII.) of our spring woods.
The flowers of the purple loosestrife are especially interesting to
botanists on account of their _trimorphism_, which word signifies
_occurring in three forms_, and refers to the stamens and pistils, which
vary in size in the different blossoms, being of three different
lengths, the pollen from any given set of stamens being especially
fitted to fertilize a pistil of corresponding length.
MEADOW-BEAUTY. DEER-GRASS.
_Rhexia Virginica._ Melastoma Family.
_Stem._—Square, with wing-like angles. _Leaves._—Opposite, narrowly
oval. _Flowers._—Purplish-pink, clustered. _Calyx-tube._—Urn-shaped,
four-cleft at the apex. _Corolla._—Of four large rounded petals.
_Stamens._—Eight, with long curved anthers. _Pistil._—One.
It is always a pleasant surprise to happen upon a bright patch of these
delicate deep-hued flowers along the marshes or in the sandy fields of
midsummer. Their fragile beauty is of that order which causes it to seem
natural that they should belong to a genus which is the sole northern
representative of a tropical family. In parts of New England they grow
in profusion, while in Arkansas the plant is said to be a great favorite
with the deer, hence one of its common names. The flower has been
likened to a scarlet evening primrose, and there is certainly a
suggestion of the evening primrose in the four rounded, slightly
heart-shaped petals. The protruding stamens, with their long yellow
anthers, are conspicuous.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXII
MEADOW-BEAUTY.—_R. Virginica._
]
Of the plant in the late year, Thoreau writes: “The scarlet leaves and
stem of the rhexia, sometime out of flower, make almost as bright a
patch in the meadows now as the flowers did. Its seed-vessels are
perfect little cream-pitchers of graceful form.”
CLAMMY CUPHEA. WAX-WEED.
_Cuphea viscosissima._ Loosestrife Family.
_Stem._—Sticky, hairy, branching. _Leaves._—Usually opposite, rounded,
lance-shaped. _Flowers._—Deep purplish-pink, solitary or in racemes.
_Calyx._—Tubular, slightly spurred at the base on the upper side,
six-toothed at the apex, usually with a slight projection between each
tooth. _Corolla._—Small, of six unequal petals. _Stamens._—Eleven or
twelve, of unequal sizes, in two sets. _Pistil._—One, with a two-lobed
stigma.
In the dry fields and along the roadsides of late summer this plant is
found in blossom. Its rather wrinkled purplish-pink petals and unequal
stamens suggest the flowers of the spiked loosestrife, _L. Salicaria_,
to which it is closely related.
SEA PINK.
_Sabbatia stellaris._ Gentian Family.
_Stem._—Slender, loosely branched. _Leaves._—Opposite, oblong to
lance-shaped, the upper narrowly linear. _Flowers._—Large, deep pure
pink to almost white. _Calyx._—Usually five-parted, the lobes long and
slender. _Corolla._—Usually five-parted, conspicuously marked with red
and yellow in the centre. _Stamens._—Usually five. _Pistil._—One, with
two-cleft style.
The advancing year has few fairer sights to show us than a salt meadow
flushed with these radiant blossoms. They are so abundant, so deep-hued,
so delicate! One feels tempted to lie down among the pale grasses and
rosy stars in the sunshine of the August morning and drink his fill of
their beauty. How often nature tries to the utmost our capacity of
appreciation and leaves us still insatiate! At such times it is almost a
relief to turn from the mere contemplation of beauty to the study of its
structure; it rests our overstrained faculties.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXIII
SEA PINK.—_S. stellaris._
]
The vivid coloring and conspicuous marking of these flowers indicate
that they aim to attract certain members of the insect world. As in the
fireweed the pistil of the freshly opened blossom is curved sideways,
with its lobes so closed and twisted as to be inaccessible on their
stigmatic surfaces to the pollen which the already mature stamens are
discharging. When the effete anthers give evidence that they are _hors
de combat_ by their withered appearance, the style erects itself and
spreads its stigmas.
_S. angularis_ is a species which may be found in rich soil inland. Its
somewhat heart-shaped, clasping, five-nerved leaves and angled stem
serve to identify it.
_S. chloroides_ is a larger and peculiarly beautiful species which
borders brackish ponds along the coast. Its corolla is about two inches
broad and eight to twelve-parted.
MARSH ST. JOHN’S-WORT.
_Elodes campanulata._ St. John’s-wort Family.
_Stem._—One or two feet high, often pinkish, later bright red.
_Leaves._—Opposite, set close to the stem or clasping by a broad base.
_Flowers._—Pinkish or flesh-color, small, closely clustered at the
summit of the stem and in the axils of the leaves. _Calyx._—Of five
sepals, often pinkish. _Corolla._—Of five petals. _Stamens._—Nine, in
three sets, the sets separated by orange-colored glands.
_Pistil._—One, with three styles.
If one has been so unlucky, from the usual point of view, or so
fortunate, looking at the matter with the eyes of the flower-lover, as
to find himself in a rich marsh early in August, his eye is likely to
fall upon the small, pretty pinkish flowers and pale clasping leaves of
the marsh St. John’s-wort. A closer inspection will discover that the
foliage is dotted with the pellucid glands, and that the stamens are
clustered in groups after the family fashion. Should the same marsh be
visited a few weeks later dashes of vivid color will guide one to the
spot where the little pink flowers were found. In their place glow the
conspicuous ovaries and bright leaves which make the plant very
noticeable in late August.
_Elodes_ is a corruption from a Greek word which signifies _growing in
marshes_.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXIV
_Sabbatia chloroides._
]
ROSE MALLOW. SWAMP MALLOW.
_Hibiscus Moscheutos._ Mallow Family.
_Stem._—Stout and tall, four to eight feet high. _Leaves._—The lower
three-lobed, the upper oblong, whitish and downy beneath.
_Flowers._—Large and showy, pink. _Calyx._—Five-cleft, with a row of
narrow bractlets beneath. _Corolla._—Of five large petals.
_Stamens._—Many, on a tube which encloses the lower part of the style.
_Pistils._—Five, united into one, with five stigmas which are like
pin-heads.
When the beautiful rose mallow slowly unfolds her pink banner-like
petals and admits the eager bee to her stores of golden pollen, then we
feel that the summer is far advanced. As truly as the wood anemone and
the blood-root seem filled with the essence of spring and the promise of
the opening year, so does this stately flower glow with the maturity and
fulfilment of late summer. Here is none of the timorousness of the early
blossoms which peep shyly out, as if ready to beat a hasty retreat
should a late frost overtake them, but rather a calm assurance that the
time is ripe, and that the salt marshes and brackish ponds are only
awaiting their rosy lining.
The marsh mallow, whose roots yield the mucilaginous substance utilized
in the well-known confection, is _Althæa officinalis_, an emigrant from
Europe. It is a much less common plant than the _Hibiscus_, its pale
pink flowers being found in some of the salt marshes of New England and
New York.
The common mallow, _Malva rotundifolia_, which overruns the country
dooryards and village waysides, is a little plant with rounded,
heart-shaped leaves and small purplish flowers. It is used by the
country people for various medicinal purposes and is cultivated and
commonly boiled with meat in Egypt. Job pictures himself as being
despised by those who had been themselves so destitute as to “cut up
mallows by the bushes ... for their meat.”[7]
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXV
ROSE MALLOW.—_H. Moscheutos._
]
SALT MARSH FLEABANE.
_Pluchea camphorata._ Composite Family (p. 13).
_Stem._—Two to five feet high. _Leaves._—Pale, thickish, oblong or
lance-shaped, toothed. _Flower-heads._—Pink, small, in flat-topped
clusters, composed entirely of tubular flowers.
In the salt marshes where we find the starry sea pinks and the feathery
sea lavender, we notice a pallid-looking plant whose pink flower-buds
are long in opening. It is late summer or autumn before the salt marsh
fleabane is fairly in blossom. There is a strong fragrance to the plant
which hardly suggests camphor, despite its specific title.
HAIRY WILLOW-HERB.
_Epilobium hirsutum._ Evening Primrose Family.
Three to five feet high. _Stem._—Densely hairy, stout, branching.
_Leaves._—Mostly opposite, lance-oblong, finely toothed.
_Flower._—Purplish, pink, small, in the axils of the upper leaves, or
in a leafy, short raceme. _Calyx._—Four or five-parted. _Corolla._—Of
four petals. _Stamens._—Eight. _Pistil._—One, with a four-parted
stigma.
The hairy willow-herb is found in waste places, blossoming in midsummer.
It is an emigrant from Europe.
FIREWEED. GREAT WILLOW-HERB.
_Epilobium angustifolium._ Evening Primrose Family.
_Stem._—Four to seven feet high. _Leaves._—Scattered, lance-shaped,
willow-like. _Flowers._—Purplish-pink, large, in a long raceme.
_Calyx._—Four-cleft. _Corolla._—Of four petals. _Stamens._—Eight.
_Pistil._—One, with a four-lobed stigma.
In midsummer this striking plant begins to mass its deep-hued blossoms
along the roadsides and low meadows. It is supposed to flourish with
especial abundance in land that has newly been burned over; hence, its
common name of fireweed. Its willow-like foliage has given it its other
English title. The likeness between the blossoms of this plant and those
of the evening primrose betray their kinship. When the stamens of the
fireweed first mature and discharge their pollen the still immature
style is curved backward and downward with its stigmas closed. Later it
straightens and lengthens to its full dimensions, so spreading its four
stigmas as to be in position to receive the pollen of another flower
from the visiting bee.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXVI
FIREWEED.—_E. angustifolium._
]
——— ———
_Epilobium coloratum._ Evening Primrose Family.
One to three feet high. _Leaves._—Rather large, lance-shaped, sharply
toothed. _Flowers._—Pale pink, small, more or less nodding, resembling
in structure those of the hairy willow-herb. _Pistil._—One, with a
club-shaped stigma.
This species is found in abundance in wet places in summer.
PURPLE GERARDIA.
_Gerardia purpurea._ Figwort Family.
_Stem._—One to four feet high, widely branching. _Leaves._—Linear,
sharply pointed. _Flowers._—Bright purplish-pink, rather large.
_Calyx._—Five-toothed. _Corolla._—One inch long, somewhat tubular,
swelling above, with five more or less unequal, spreading lobes, often
downy and spotted within. _Stamens._—Four, in pairs, hairy.
_Pistil._—One.
In late summer and early autumn these pretty noticeable flowers brighten
the low-lying ground along the coast and in the neighborhood of the
Great Lakes. The sandy fields of New England and Long Island are
oftentimes a vivid mass of color owing to their delicate blossoms. The
plant varies somewhat in the size of its flowers and in the manner of
its growth.
The little seaside gerardia, _G. maritima_, is from four inches to a
foot high. Its smaller blossoms are also found in salt marshes.
The slender gerardia, _G. tenuifolia_, is common in mountainous regions.
The leaves of this species are exceedingly narrow. Like the false
foxglove (Pl. LIX.) and other members of this genus, these plants are
supposed to be parasitic in their habits.
JOE-PYE-WEED. TRUMPET-WEED.
_Eupatorium purpureum._ Composite Family (p. 13).
_Stem._—Stout and tall, two to twelve feet high, often dotted.
_Leaves._—In whorls of three to six, oblong or oval, pointed, rough,
veiny, toothed. _Flower-heads._—Purplish-pink, small, composed
entirely of tubular blossoms, with long protruding styles, growing in
large clusters at or near the summit of the stem.
[Illustration:
PLATE LXXVII
JOE-PYE-WEED.—_E. purpureum._
]
The summer is nearly over when the tall, conspicuous Joe-Pye-weed begins
to tinge with “crushed raspberry” the lowlands through which we pass. In
parts of the country it is nearly as common as the golden-rods and
asters which appear at about the same season. With the deep purple of
the iron-weed it gives variety to the intense hues which herald the
coming of autumn.
“Joe Pye” is said to have been the name of an Indian who cured typhus
fever in New England by means of this plant. The tiny trumpet-shaped
blossoms which make up the flower-heads may have suggested the other
common name.
PINK KNOTWEED.
_Polygonum Pennsylvanicum._ Buckwheat Family.
One to four feet high. _Stem._—Branching. _Leaves._—Alternate,
lance-shaped. _Flowers._—Bright pink, growing in thick, short, erect
spikes. _Calyx._—Mostly five-parted, the divisions petal-like, pink.
_Corolla._—None. _Stamens._—Usually eight. _Pistil._—One, with a
two-cleft style.
In late summer this plant can hardly escape notice. Its erect pink
spikes direct attention to some neglected corner in the garden or
brighten the fields and roadsides. The rosy divisions of the calyx
persist till after the fruit has formed, pressing closely against the
dark seed-vessel within.
SAND KNOTWEED.
_Polygonella articulata._ (Formerly _Polygonum articulatum_.) Buckwheat
Family.
Erect, branching, four to twelve inches high. _Leaves._—Linear,
inconspicuous. _Flowers._—Rose-color, nodding, in very slender
racemes. _Calyx._—Five-parted. _Corolla._—None. _Stamens._—Eight.
_Pistil._—One, with three styles.
Under date of September 26th, Thoreau writes: “The _Polygonum
articulatum_, giving a rosy tinge to Jenny’s desert, is very interesting
now, with its slender dense racemes of rose-tinted flowers, apparently
without leaves, rising cleanly out of the sand. It looks warm and brave,
a foot or more high, and mingled with deciduous blue curls. It is much
divided, with many spreading, slender-racemed branches, with
inconspicuous linear leaves, reminding me, both by its form and its
colors, of a peach-orchard in blossom, especially when the sunlight
falls on it; minute rose-tinted flowers that brave the frosts, and
advance the summer into fall, warming with their color sandy hill-sides
and deserts, like the glow of evening reflected on the sand, apparently
all flower and no leaf. Rising apparently with clean bare stems from the
sand, it spreads out into this graceful head of slender, rosy racemes,
wisp-like. This little desert of less than an acre blushes with it.”
* * * * *
NOTE.—The Moss Pink, _Phlox subulata_, with purple-pink flowers, and
_Phlox glaberrima_, with pink or whitish flowers, will be found in the
Blue and Purple section (p. 235). The Mountain Laurel (p. 57) and the
American Rhododendron (p. 60) are frequently found bearing pink
flowers. At times it has been difficult to determine whether certain
flowers should be described in the Pink or in the Purple section. The
reader should bear this in mind, consulting both in dubious cases.
IV
RED
WILD COLUMBINE.
_Aquilegia Canadensis._ Crowfoot Family.
Twelve to eighteen inches high. _Stem._—Branching.
_Leaves._—Much-divided, the leaflets lobed. _Flowers._—Large, bright
red, yellow within, nodding. _Calyx._—Of five red petal-like sepals.
_Corolla._—Of five petals in the form of large hollow spurs, which are
red without and yellow within. _Stamens._—Numerous. _Pistils._—Five,
with slender styles.
—A woodland walk,
A quest of river-grapes, a mocking thrush,
A wild-rose or rock-loving columbine,
Salve my worst wounds,
declares Emerson; and while perhaps few among us are able to make so
light-hearted and sweeping a claim for ourselves, yet many will admit
the soothing power of which the woods and fields know the secret, and
will own that the ordinary annoyances of life may be held more or less
in abeyance by one who lives in close sympathy with nature.