Part 47

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.

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.”

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.

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.