PAINTED CUP, SCARLET CUP.
_Castilleia coccinea._
Scarlet tufts
Are glowing in the green like flakes of fire;
The wanderers of the prairie know them well,
And call that brilliant flower the Painted Cup.
BRYANT.
THIS splendidly-coloured plant is the glory and ornament of the
plain-lands of Canada. The whole plant is a glow of scarlet, varying
from pale flame-colour to the most vivid vermillion, rivalling in
brilliancy of hues the scarlet geranium of the greenhouse.
The Painted Cup owes its gay appearance not to its flowers, which are
not very conspicuous at a distance, but to the deeply-cut leafy tracts
that enclose them and clothe the stalks, forming at the ends of the
flower branches clustered rosettes. (See our artist’s plate.)
The flower is a flattened tube, bordered with bright red, and edged with
golden yellow. Stamens, four; pistil, one, projecting beyond the tube of
the calyx; the capsule is many seeded. The radical or root leaves are of
a dull, hoary green, tinged with reddish purple, as also is the stem,
which is rough, hairy, and angled. The bracts or leafy appendages, which
appear on the lower part of the stalk, are but slightly tinged with
scarlet, but the colour deepens and brightens towards the middle and
summit of the branched stem.
The Scarlet Cup appears in May, along with the smaller white and red
trilliums; but these early plants are small; the stem simple, rarely
branched, and the colour of a deeper red. As the summer advances, our
gallant soldier-like plant puts on all its bravery of attire. All
through the glowing harvest months, the open grassy plains and the
borders of the cultivated fields are enriched by its glorious colours.
In favourable soils the plant rises, enclosed in a tubular slightly
twice-cleft calyx, of a pale green colour, attains a height of from 2ft.
4in., throwing out many side branches, terminated by the clustered,
brilliantly-tinted bracts; some heads being as large as a medium-sized
rose. They have been gathered in the corners of the stubble fields on
the cultivated plains, as late as October. A not uncommon slender
variety occurs, of a pale buff, and also of a bright lemon color. The
American botanists speak of _Castilleia coccinea_, as being addicted to
a low, wettish soil, but it is not so with our Canadian plant; if you
would find it in its greatest perfection, you must seek it on the high,
dry, rolling plains of Rice-lake, Brantford, to the north of Toronto,
Stoney lake, the neighbourhood of Peterboro, and similar localities; it
is neither to be found in swamps nor in the shade of the uncleared
forest.
For soil, the Scarlet Cup seems to prefer light loam, and evidently
courts the sunshine rather than the shade. If it could be prevailed upon
to flourish in our garden borders, it would be a great acquisition, from
its long flowering time and its brilliant colouring.
These lovely plants, like many others that adorn our Canadian woods and
wilds, yearly disappear from our midst, and soon we shall seek them, but
not find them.
We might say with the poet:
“’Twas pity nature brought ye forth,
Merely to show your worth,
And lose ye quite!
But ye have lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have
Their end, though ne’er so brave;
And after they have shewn their pride,
Like you awhile they glide
Into the grave.”
HERRICK.
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