ROCK COLUMBINE.
_Aquilegia Canadensis._
“The graceful Columbine all blushing red,
Bends to the earth her crown
Of honey-laden bells.”
THIS graceful flower enlivens us all through the months of May and June
by its brilliant blossoms of deep red and golden yellow.
In general outline the Wild Columbine resembles its cultivated sisters
of the garden, but is more light and airy from its nodding habit. The
plant throws up many tall slender stalks from its centre, furnished with
leafy bracts, from which spring other light stems terminated by little
pedicels, each bearing a large drooping flower and bud which open in
succession.
The flower consists of five red sepals and five red petals; the latter
are hollowed trumpet-like at the mouth, ascending; they form narrow
tubes, which are terminated by little round knobs filled with honey. The
delicate thready pedicels on which the blossom hangs cause it to droop
down and thus throw up the honey bearing tubes of the petals; the little
balls forming a pretty sort of floral coronet at the junction with the
stalk.
The unequal and clustered stamens, and five thready styles of the pistil
project beyond the hollow mouths of the petals, like an elegant
golden-fringed tassel; the edges and interior of the petals are also of
a bright golden yellow. These gay colours are well contrasted with the
deep green of the root leaves and bracts of the flower stalks. The
bracts are lobed in two or three divisions. The larger leaves are placed
on long foot stalks; each leaf is divided into three, which are again
twice or thrice lobed, and unequally notched; the upper surface is
smooth and of a dark rich green, the under pale and whitish.
As the flowers fade the husky hollow seed pods become erect—a wise
provision in this and many other plants of drooping habits, giving the
ripening seed better access to the sun and wind, and preventing them
from being prematurely scattered abroad upon the earth.
The wild Columbine[4] is perennial and very easily cultivated. Its
blossoms are eagerly sought out by the bees and humming birds. On sunny
days you may be sure to see the latter hovering over the bright drooping
bells, extracting the rich nectar with which they are so bountifully
supplied. Those who care for bees, and love humming birds, should plant
the graceful red-flowered Columbine in their garden borders.
In its wild state it is often found growing among rocks and surface
stones, where it insinuates its roots into the clefts and hollows that
are filled with rich vegetable mould; and thus, being often seen
adorning the sterile rocks with its bright crown of waving blossoms, it
has obtained the name, in some places, of ROCK COLUMBINE.
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[4] If two sepals with a petal be separated from the rest of the flower,
they will be found to resemble a _dove_ flying, hence the name
Columbine, from the Latin _columba_, a dove.—DR. BELL.
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[Illustration: _PLATE III._]
4 TRIENTALIS AMERICANA
(Star flower Chickweed)
2 TRILLIUM ERECTUM
(Purple trillium)
3 GERANIUM MACULATUM
(Wild Cranes-bill)
1 DICENTRA CANADENSIS
(Squirrel Corn)
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