Exposed nectar rewards their involuntary kindness.In stormy weather, when no benefactors can fly, the flowers are adapted to fertilize themselves through the curving of the styles.
COMMON CHICKWEED
(Aisine media; Stellaria media of Gray) Pink family Flowers - Small, white, on slender pedicels from leaf axils, also in terminal clusters.Calyx (usually) of 5 sepals, much longer than the 5 (usually) 2-parted petals; 2-10 stamens; 3 or 4styles.Stem: Weak, branched, tufted, leafy, 4 to 6 in long, a hairy fringe on one side.Leaves: Opposite, acutely oval, lower ones petioled, upper ones seated on stem.
Preferred Habitat - Moist, shady soil; woods; meadows.
Flowering Season - Throughout the year.
Distribution - Almost universal.
The sole use man has discovered for this often pestiferous weed with which nature carpets moist soil the world around is to feed caged song-birds.What is the secret of the insignificant little plant's triumphal progress? Like most immigrants that have undergone ages of selective struggle in the Old World, it successfully competes with our native blossoms by readily adjusting itself to new conditions, filling places unoccupied, and chiefly by prolonging its season of bloom beyond theirs, to get relief from the pressure of competition for insect trade in the busy season.Except during the most cruel frosts, there is scarcely a day in the year when we may not find the little star-like chickweed flowers.Contrast this season with that of a native chickweed, the LONG-LEAVED STITCHWORT [LONG-LEAVEDCHICKWEED] (A.longifolia [S.longifolia]), blooming only from May till July, when competition is fiercest! Also, the common chickweed has its parts so arranged that it can fertilize itself when it is too cold for insect pollen-carriers to fly; then, especially, are many of its stamens abortive, not to waste the precious dust.Yet even in winter it produces abundant seed.In sunny, fine spring weather, however, when so much nectar is secreted the fine little drops may be easily seen by the naked eye, small bees, flies, and even thrips visit the blossoms whose anthers shed pollen one by one before the three stigmatic surfaces are ready to receive any from younger flowers.
SWEET-SCENTED WHITE WATER LILY; POND LILY; WATER NYMPH; WATERCABBAGE [FRAGRANT WATER-LILY]
(Castalia odorata; Nymphaea odorata of Gray) Water-lily family Flowers - Pure white or pink tinged, rarely deep pink, solitary, 3 to 8 in.across, deliciously fragrant, floating.Calyx of 4sepals, green outside; petals of indefinite number, overlapping in many rows, and gradually passing into an indefinite number of stamens; outer row of stamens with petaloid filaments and short anthers, the inner yellow stamens with slender filaments and elongated anthers; carpels of indefinite number, united into a compound pistil, with spreading and projecting stigmas.Leaves:
Floating, nearly round, slit at bottom, shining green above, reddish and more or less hairy below, 4 to 12 in.across, attached to petiole at center of lower surface.Petioles and peduncles round and rubber-like, with 4 main air-channels.
Rootstock: (Not true stem), thick, simple or with few branches, very long.
Preferred Habitat - Still water, ponds, lakes, slow streams.
Flowering Season - June-September.
Distribution - Nova Scotia to Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the Mississippi.
Sumptuous queen of our native aquatic plants, of the royal family to which the gigantic Victoria regia of Brazil belongs, and all the lovely rose, lavender, blue, and golden exotic water lilies in the fountains of our city parks, to her man, beast, and insect pay grateful homage.In Egypt, India, China, Japan, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, how many millions have bent their heads in adoration of her relative the sacred lotus! From its center Brahma came forth; Buddha, too, whose symbol is the lotus, first appeared floating on the mystic flower (Nelumbo nelumbo, formerly Nelumbium speciosum).Happily the lovely pink or white "sacred bean" or "rose-lily" of the Nile, often cultivated here, has been successfully naturalized in ponds about Bordentown, New Jersey, and maybe elsewhere.If he who planteth a tree is greater than he who taketh a city, that man should be canonized who introduces the magnificent wild flowers of foreign lands to our area of Nature's garden.
Now, cultivation of our native water lilies and all their hardy kin, like charity, begins at home.Their culture in tubs, casks, or fountains on the lawn, is so very simple a matter, and the flowers bloom so freely, every garden should have a corner for aquatic plants.Secure the water-lily roots as early in the spring as possible, and barely cover them with good rich loam or muck spread over the bottom of the sunken tub to a depth of six or eight inches.After it has been filled with water, and replenished from time to time to make good the loss by evaporation, the water garden needs no attention until autumn.
Then the tub should be drained, and removed to a cellar, or it may be covered over with a thick mattress of dry leaves to protect from hard freezing.In their natural haunts, water lilies sink to the bottom, where the water is warmest in winter.
Possibly the seed is ripened below the surface for the same reason.At no time should the crown of the cultivated plant be lower than two feet below the water.If a number of species are grown, it is best to plant each kind in a separate basket, sunk in the shallow tub, to prevent the roots from growing together, as well as to obtain more effective decoration.Charming results may be obtained with small outlay of either money or time.
