Part 25

WHITE WATER-LILY. Nymphæa odorata. Water-lily Family.

Leaves.—Rounded, somewhat heart-shaped, floating on the surface of the water. Flowers.—Large, white, or sometimes pink, fragrant. Calyx.—Of four sepals which are green without. Corolla.—Of many petals. Stamens.—Indefinite in number. Pistil.—With a many-celled ovary whose summit is tipped with a globular projection around which are the radiating stigmas.

This exquisite flower calls for little description. Many of us are so fortunate as to hold in our memories golden mornings devoted to its quest. We can hardly take the shortest railway journey in summer without passing some shadowy pool whose greatest adornment is this spotless and queenly blossom. The breath of the lily-pond is brought even into the heart of our cities where dark-eyed little Italians peddle clusters of the long-stemmed fragrant flowers about the streets.

PLATE XXVI

MEADOW-SWEET.—S. salicifolia. ]

In the water-lily may be seen an example of so-called plant-metamorphosis. The petals appear to pass gradually into stamens, it being difficult to decide where the petals end and the stamens begin. But whether stamens are transformed petals, or petals transformed stamens seems to be a mooted question. In Gray we read, “Petals numerous, in many rows, the innermost gradually passing into stamens,” while Mr. Grant Allen writes: “Petals are in all probability enlarged and flattened stamens, which have been set apart for the work of attracting insects,” and goes on to say, “Flowers can and do exist without petals, ... but no flower can possibly exist without stamens, which are one of the two essential reproductive organs in the plant.” From this he argues that it is more rational to consider a petal a transformed stamen than vice versa. To go further into the subject here would be impossible, but a careful study of the water-lily is likely to excite one’s curiosity in the matter.

WHITE VERVAIN. Verbena urticæfolia. Verbena Family.

Three to five feet high. Leaves.—Oval, coarsely toothed. Flowers.—Small, white, in slender spikes, otherwise resembling Purple Vervain.

It almost excites one’s incredulity to be told that this uninteresting looking plant, which grows rankly along the highways, is an importation from the tropics, yet for this statement the botany is responsible.

ROUND-LEAVED SUNDEW. Drosera rotundifolia. Sundew Family.

Scape.—A few inches high. Leaves.—Rounded, abruptly narrowed into spreading, hairy leaf-stalks; beset with reddish, gland-bearing bristles. Flowers.—White, growing in a one-sided raceme, which so nods at its apex that the fresh-blown blossom is always uppermost. Calyx.—Of five sepals. Corolla.—Of five petals. Pistil.—One, with three or five styles, which are sometimes so deeply two-parted as to be taken for twice as many.

What’s this I hear About the new carnivora? Can little plants Eat bugs and ants And gnats and flies? A sort of retrograding: Surely the fare Of flowers is air, Or sunshine sweet; They shouldn’t eat, Or do aught so degrading!

But by degrees we are learning to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the more we study the plants the less we are able to attribute to them altogether unfamiliar and ethereal habits. We find that the laws which control their being are strangely suggestive of those which regulate ours, and after the disappearance of the shock which attends the shattered illusion, their charm is only increased by the new sense of kinship.

The round-leaved sundew is found blossoming in many of our marshes in midsummer. When the sun shines upon its leaves they look as though covered with sparkling dewdrops, hence its common name. These drops are a glutinous exudation, by means of which insects visiting the plant are first captured; the reddish bristles then close tightly about them, and it is supposed that their juices are absorbed by the plant. At all events the rash visitor rarely escapes. In many localities it is easy to secure any number of these little plants and to try for one’s self the rather grewsome experiment of feeding them with small insects. Should the tender-hearted recoil from such reckless slaughter, they might confine their offerings on the altar of science to mosquitoes, small spiders, and other deservedly unpopular creatures.

D. Americana is a very similar species, with longer, narrower leaves.

The thread-leaved sundew, D. filiformis has fine, thread-like leaves and pink flowers, and is found in wet sand along the coast.

POKEWEED. GARGET. PIGEON-BERRY. Phytolacca decandra. Pokeweed Family.

Stems.—In length from six to ten feet high; purple-pink or bright red, stout. Leaves.—Large, alternate, veiny. Flowers.—White or pinkish, the green ovaries conspicuous, growing in racemes. Calyx.—Of five rounded or petal-like sepals, pinkish without. Corolla.—None. Stamens.—Ten. Pistil.—One, with ten styles. Fruit.—A dark purplish berry.

There is a vigor about this native plant which is very pleasing. In July it is possible that we barely notice the white flowers and large leaves; but when in September the tall purple stems rear themselves above their neighbors in the roadside thicket, the leaves look as though stained with wine, and the long clusters of rich dark berries hang heavily from the branches, we cannot but admire its independent beauty. The berries serve as food for the birds. A tincture of them at one time acquired some reputation as a remedy for rheumatism. In Pennsylvania they have been used with whiskey to make a so-called “portwine.” From their dark juice arose the name of “red-ink plant,” which is common in some places. The large roots are poisonous, but the acrid young shoots are rendered harmless by boiling, and are eaten like asparagus, being quite as good, I have been told by country people.

Despite the difference in the spelling of the names, it has been suggested that the plant was called after President Polk. This is most improbable, as it was common throughout the country long before his birth, and its twigs are said to have been plucked and worn by his followers during his campaign for the Presidency.

WHITE FRINGED ORCHIS. Habenaria blephariglottis. Orchis Family (p. 17).

About one foot high. Leaves.—Oblong or lance-shaped, the upper passing into pointed bracts. Flowers.—Pure white, with a slender spur and fringed lip; growing in an oblong spike.

PLATE XXVII

POKEWEED.—P. decandra. ]

This seems to me the most exquisite of our native orchids. The fringed lips give the snowy, delicate flowers a feathery appearance as they gleam from the shadowy woods of midsummer, or from the peat-bogs where they thrive best; or perhaps they spire upward from among the dark green rushes which border some lonely mountain lake. Like the yellow fringed orchis (Pl. LII), which they greatly resemble in general structure, they may be sought in vain for many seasons and then will be discovered one midsummer day lavishing their spotless loveliness upon some unsuspected marsh which has chanced to escape our vigilance.

RATTLESNAKE-PLANTAIN. Goodyera pubescens. Orchis Family (p. 17).

Scape.—Six to twelve inches high. Leaves.—From the root in a sort of flat rosette; conspicuously veined with white; thickish, evergreen. Flowers.—Small, greenish-white, crowded in a close spike.

The flowers of the rattlesnake-plantain appear in late summer and are less conspicuous than the prettily tufted, white-veined leaves which may be found in the rich woods throughout the year. The plant has been reputed an infallible cure for hydrophobia and snake-bites. It is said that the Indians had such faith in its remedial virtues that they would allow a snake to drive its fangs into them for a small sum, if they had these leaves on hand to apply to the wound.