Chapter 1
read by bologna times wild plants needing protection reprinted without change of paging from the journal of the new york botanical garden may nineteen twelve number one jack in the pulpit jack in the pulpit erysma triphylum when the trees are enfolding their fresh green leaves in may and june and the violets and spring beauties are in bloom jack in the pulpit may be found in moist woodlands and on shady banks where the earth is soft and loamy it is a perennial herb and if left undisturbed it sometimes lives many years and attains a height of three feet with a subterranean corm as large as an apple this corm has given to the plant the name of indian turnip though it is not edible when raw for it has an acrid taste irritating to the tongue on account of the acicular crystals of calcium oxalate which it contains known as refides it propagates by forming smaller secondary corms around the older ones and in this way new plants are started
it often bears no fruit in the vicinity of new york not only on account of the depredations of children but because it is dioecious and the proper insect visitors on which it is dependent for pollination seem to be lacking usually the leaves turn yellow and the plant disappears in june and july though this varies in different portions of its range which extends throughout the eastern and central states and as far north as nova scotia and ontario and south to florida and louisiana it bears what would appear to most children to be a single large flower but it is really a cluster of small simple flowers born at the base of a fleshy club-shaped spadix which is enclosed by the convoluted base of the spadix the summit of which arches over it and is either pale green or a dark glossy brown often striped with white there are usually two leaves which are three-parted graceful in shape and beautifully veined the leaf stalks are sheathing at base and enclose that of the flower cluster the staminate plants are often smaller and paler than the pistillate and wither as soon as they have discharged their pollen
their flowers consist of only two to four almost sessile white or purple anthers borne on the fleshy mucilaginous base of the spadix the pistils are crowded together without calyx or corolla green globos and tipped with a sessile white stigma occasionally a few stamens may be found above the pistils the fruit cluster when ripe is usually prostrate from one to three inches long and the berries are bright scarlet pluconae appears to have been the first to figure this plant and he described it in his phytographia in sixteen ninety one as arum triphilum minus atrorubente from plants sent to him by bannister from virginia linnaeus in his species plantarum seventeen fifty three quoted this description and called it arum it resembles some of the european species of arum and belongs to the arus a family of plants most of which are tropical in their distribution and which includes about one hundred and five genera
and over nine hundred species many of them being large and showy plants often climbing on trees and rocks two spring beauty reprinted from the journal of new york botanical garden june nineteen twelve spring beauty cletonia virginica in wet meadows on grassy banks and even shady woodlands the spring beauty covers the ground in may with quantities of white flowers it blooms consecutively for two or three weeks opening a new blossom every day gradually lengthening out its racines till sometimes they have borne as many as fifteen flowers these measure half an inch or more across have white or pale pink petals veined with rose color the stamens are five with pink anthers and the style is three lobed there are two fleshy spreading sepals and the pedicels lengthen gradually from one half to an inch in length and become reflexed as the three-angled capsule matures
half way down the stem below the racine two narrow fleshy leaves three or four inches long clasp the stem and a few basal ones arise from the large tuberous root which is buried rather deeply in the ground usually only the flowering stems are picked so that the plant survives but it will make no seed and stand little chance of spreading the seeds are brown reniform slightly roughened and the embryo is curved the spring beauty was named by linnaeus in seventeen fifty three in honor of john clayton an american botanist and correspondent who wrote in seventeen forty three a flora of virginia it was first figured by plucanae in his photographia in sixteen ninety one there are about twenty five species of cletonia known to grow in northern north america of which three occur in the eastern united states one of these with broader leaves cletonia caroliniana michics having about the same range as cletonia virginica from nova scotia southward
along the alleghanies to georgia and texas they belong to the purslane family or portulacaceae with which they agree in their fleshy leaves and flowers that bloom for a short time the family is a large one but the plants are usually small few of them with showy flowers like portulaca grandiflora which occasionally escapes from cultivation number three wild pink reprinted from the journal of the new york botanical garden july nineteen twelve wild pink celine caroliniana walt before the trees cast much shade while their greens are still so exquisitely fresh and varied a bright flash of color will attract the eye to the wild pink growing in hilly places on rocks or often in their cracks and crevices with the saxifrage the beautiful rose pink and size of its flowers
renders it very conspicuous for it often makes a large patch or cushion with a number of stems about six to ten inches high each bearing from three to five showy flowers more than an inch across each petal is wedge-shaped with a long pale white basal claw enclosed in the tubular five-notch calyx and crowned at the summit of each claw by two erect white appendages the stamens are immersed in the tube ten in number five long and five short with purple anthers and slender white filaments attached at the base of the ovary which terminates in three short styles the pod is stipitate developing in the upper half of the withered calyx splitting at apex into six recurved segments the seeds are borne on a central column and are small and numerous kidney-shaped and brown with a rough surface the whole plant is viscid with glandular hairs forming a ciliate margin to the leaves which are opposite clasping at base a swollen joint of the stem usually each stem has three pairs of leaves decreasing in size upward
the basal shoots have longer leaves all gracefully recurved and forming a crowded cluster at the summit of a long strong fibrous taproot which often penetrates deep down into some crevice and breaks off when uprooted for this reason the plant frequently survives in spite of its showy blossoms though it is not abundant any longer where it is frequently picked the wild pink was described by thomas walter in his flora of carolina in seventeen eighty eight and redescribed by andre michaud in eighteen o three as celine pennsylvanica it often grows in sandy or rocky soil on the borders of woods from maine to georgia in the eastern states along the alleghanies and flowers from april to june it belongs to the pink family or caryophyllaceae a large family of about seventy genera and over fifteen hundred species which are widely distributed mostly in temperate regions
the generic name selene was given by linnaeus in seventeen fifty three in reference to the viscid hairs and about two hundred and fifty species are known of which many are showy graceful plants the showiest perhaps being the fire pink selene virginica and the most graceful the starry campion selene stellata number four wild columbine reprinted from journal of the new york botanical garden august nineteen twelve wild columbine aquilesia canandensis nodding in the cool winds of springtime and so lightly poised on its slender stems that it is almost impossible to take its photograph the wild columbine adorns the rocks and ledges in may with its gay red and yellow blossoms and occasionally is found in fields at middle elevations where it blooms until july
the flowers are pendent about one to two inches long bright red the five short red sepals overlapping five tubular spurs which terminate below in thickened honeysacks and broaden out above into five short yellow petals attached around a long exerted cluster of slender yellow stamens about fifty in number these are attached in five rows to a disc at the base of the ovaries which are five in number and hairy with five long slender styles they develop into five follicles with long spreading points each follicle contains about fifteen shining black seeds attached along the ventral suture the basal leaves are pale green beneath three parted and each leaflet again divided into three toothed lobes smaller short-stocked simpler leaves also grow on the flower stalks and diminish into bracts above
the stems vary in height from one to two feet and are smooth or slightly hairy above the root is fibrous and easily uprooted and for this reason the plant largely depends on its seeds for reproduction and is likely to be quickly exterminated on account of its showy flowers occasionally plants are found with pale yellow blossoms growing among the normal ones it ranges from nova scotia to northwest territory south to florida and texas and ascends to high altitudes in the alleghanies and the rocky mountains it was first described and figured by camuti in sixteen thirty five and was called octaligia canadensis by linnaeus in seventeen fifty three the generic name refers to the talons of the talons of the talons of an eagle on this account and the wide range of the genus throughout the united states it has been strenuously advocated for the honor of being called the national flower
about fifteen species of aquilegia are known from the united states ranging through the rocky mountains into mexico and the western states all have showy flowers varying from white to yellow and blue and are greatly prized in cultivation this genus belongs to the crowfoot family ranunculaceae of which about thirty five genera and one thousand and fifty species are distributed throughout the temperate regions of the world number five bird's foot violet reprinted from the journal of the new york botanical garden september nineteen twelve birds foot violet viola pirata after the spring is well advanced and most of the other violets have been in bloom for nearly two weeks the bird foot violet comes to show how lovely a violet can be its flowers are larger and more delicate in color than any other of our wild species the petals spread with a jaunty air like a pansy and vary in color from deep violet to pale lavender or white
they stand above the leaves on long stout pedicels and when growing in masses as they used to on the hampstead plains of long island and tot hill on staten island are as showy as any of the alpine violets of europe comparing favorably with the long spurred pansy of the alps viola calcarata the leaves give the plant its specific and common name from a fancied resemblance to a bird's foot they are palmitally divided almost to the base into narrow segments which are entire or again divided into three to five wedge-shaped subdivisions there is greater variability in the shape and size of the leaves and they also vary from nearly smooth to quite hairy the root-stalks are erect and stout scaly above and bear a large number of leaves and flowers on each so that the temptation is to pull up the whole plant at once when growing luxuriantly they sometimes reach a foot in height with a dozen or more flowers open at once the leaf-stalks and pedicels are tinted with purple and vary from two to six inches or more in length
the two upper petals are bent backwards over the short spur the two lateral ones are spreading and the lower is broader and keeled paler and veined with dark purple stripes the base projecting to form a spur in which a fragrant honey is found the stamens are five the two lower ones spurred and all bear an orange-colored prolongation beyond the anthers which project and surround the green club-shaped stigma with a very small central stigmatic surface the ovary is superior one called three angled three parted one ripe and bears the seeds in three rows on the walls the five sepals also are unequal thickened at base and auricled the peculiar structure of the stamens and the fact that two of them have claws extending down into the honey-bearing spur are evidently aids in the fertilization by insects and many of the violets are known to hybridize viola pedata was named by linnaeus in seventeen fifty three in his species plantarum but it was first described and figured by plucanae in sixteen ninety one as viola virginiana
tricolor folus multifidus tricolor folus multifidus cauchulophylla in the vicinity of washington d c and harrisburg pa the form known as tricolor in which the two upper petals are dark purple is more common about one hundred and fifty species of violets are known for all the temperate parts of the globe a few occur at high altitudes in the tropics the viola c comprise fifteen genera and three hundred species widely distributed some of them are trees wild plants needing protection this recording is in the public domain
