THE WILD FLOWERS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The Spring Flowers—White.
Go into the woods some day early in April and you will find, pushing up through the last summer's litter, a curled-up leaf. Open this leaf and nestling within will be a white flower bud. Even when in bloom the leaf surrounds the flower stem as though to protect it. As you pick the flower a red juice oozes out of the stem and stains your hands. This is the blood root and the Indians used its juice to stain their faces. Just beyond it, bending and nodding in the wind, is the dainty little anemone; there is sometimes a hint of pink or lavender in its white flowers.
BLOODROOT.
Among the rocks you will find, swinging, the little Dutchman's Breeches, with their peculiar little flowers that look like pairs of trousers hung on a line. Growing with it will be the saxifrage, whose name means that it breaks rocks. This name was probably given to it because it is usually found growing in the clefts of rocks. As spring advances, the woods are dotted with bright little star flowers and the unpleasantly odorous May apple and the white Trillium with its three long petals. The feathery baneberry is in flower when the columbine blooms and when the green-and-brown Jacks-in-the-Pulpit are preaching in the woods. The Jack-in-the-Pulpit in shape is not unlike a calla lily.
TRILLIUM.
Other white flowers of spring are the shad bush that blooms "when the shad run." Its red berries ripen in June.
Pyxie or Flowering Moss—sandy woods.
Crinkle Root—May woods.
The Spring Flowers—Yellow.
If you will go down into the swampy meadowland you will find the bright, sturdy marsh marigolds, and in the wet woods adjoining the spice bushes glowing with their fussy little yellow blossoms, and alongside the brook the dog-toothed violet or yellow adder's tongue, rearing their mottled leaves and nodding their yellow blossoms. These are not violets at all, by the way, but lilies. In the May woods are the red and yellow flowers of the Wood Betony and the bell-shaped flowers of Solomon's Seal. Pull up the Solomon's Seal root and see the marks on it that look like the impression of a seal. That is how it received its name, although why "Solomon's Seal" we are unable to answer. Bellwort is a little yellowish lily common in the May woods.
YELLOW ADDER'S TONGUE.
Other yellow spring flowers:
Coltsfoot—Stream banks in May.
Celandine Poppy—Woods and hills.
Corydalis—Dry stony woodland.
Moosewood—Wet woods.
The Spring Flowers—Pink.
In company with the blood root and dog-toothed violets and the dainty anemones are the pretty little pink-veined Spring Beauties, with their slender leaves and graceful stems. Lucky are you if you chance to live where the trailing arbutus grows, with its deliciously perfumed waxy flowers under last summer's dead leaves. The New Englanders call it the May Flower. The attractive blossoms of the Rhodora brighten the woods with their splendor. This is a wild Rhododendron and belongs to the same family as the wild honeysuckle that blossoms in the moist places in May.
Other pink spring flowers:
Showy Orchis—May woods.
Wild Pink—Rocky edges of woods.
The Spring Flowers—Red.
Heading this list comes the Columbine, and if you will gather this flower you must be prepared to climb, for it is fond of nooks and crannies difficult to reach. Starting up from three broad leaves the little flower of the Wake Robin thrusts itself upon our attention; it is not shy or retiring like the arbutus or the timid little blushing Spring Beauty.
COLUMBINE.
The Spring Flowers—Blue and Purple.
First of the blues comes the fuzzy-stemmed and fuzzy-budded hepatica, which is known also by the ugly name of "liverwort." Sometimes the flowers fade to a white, sometimes to a pinkish lavender. The one symbol of springtime is the violet. When the violet comes we know that winter has gone for good. The wild geranium or cranebill grows and blossoms sturdily when the anemones and Spring Beauties are getting scarce.
Other blue and purple spring flowers:
Bluets or Quaker Ladies—Meadows and roadsides.
Larkspur—Not found east of Pennsylvania.
Cancer Root—Wet woods.
Early Summer Flowers—White.
Early in June you will see in the woods and fields a shrub that looks like a young maple tree blooming abundantly with clusters of white flowers. It is the Dockmackie, or the Maple-leaved Viburnum. If you live on the hills of the Hudson or Pennsylvania you will have the opportunity yearly of seeing the Mountain Laurel in flower, a shrub that is cultivated and highly esteemed in England. The stamens of the flowers are caught in little pockets, and as the insect alights on these they are loosened and fly upward, shaking the pollen on to the body of the insect.
Blooming in the same location may be found the Wild Rhododendron, which belongs to the same family as the Mountain Laurel.
Another member of this family is the Swamp Honeysuckle or the Clammy Azalea; both of these are shrubs. The latter is usually found among the swampy coast lands.
Still another member of this heath family, to which the Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron belong, is the Little Shin Leaf, with its Lily-of-the-Valley-like flowers. Growing alongside of it you are very likely to find the Pipsissewa, with its beautiful perfume and ever-green leaves. June is the month when the meadows are whitened by the daisies.
Other early summer white flowers:
Wood Sorrel—June woods.
Sweet Cicely—Sweet-tasting root.
Marsh Andromeda—Swampy places.
Staggerbush—Low dry places.
Early Summer Flowers—Yellow.
In May or June hunt for the Yellow Lady Slipper or Whip-poor-Will's Shoe, a pretty little yellow Orchid. Mr. Baldwin, writing of orchids of New England, says: "Its preference is for maples, beeches, and particularly butternuts, and for sloping or hilly ground, and I always look with glad suspicion at a knoll covered with ferns, cohoshes, and trilliums, expecting to see a clump of this plant among them. Its sentinel-like habit of choosing 'sightly places' leads it to venture well up on mountain-sides."
The straggly flower heads of the Hawk Weed, or Rattlesnake Weed, that looks like little Dandelions, will be found in the dry pine woods at this time of the year. Its leaves are veined with purple and thought to resemble the markings of the rattlesnake. This has given it its name.
We need no introduction to the common dandelion that carpets our lawns with a cloth of gold, much to the disgust of the gardener, who roots them out as weeds.
Another flower of the waste places is a pretty little toad flax, or butter-and-eggs. It is probably called "butter-and-eggs" because of the two shades of yellow. Its juice, mixed with milk, makes a good fly poison.
In the same localities may be found the St. John's Wort, with its numerous little flowers, and both the moth mullein and common mullein. The old Romans used to dip the dry stalk of the common mullein in fat and use it as a torch. The moth mullein is tenderer than the common mullein. The flowers are tipped with red and purple.
Other early summer yellow flowers:
Cinquefoil—Fields and roadsides.
Bush Honeysuckle—Hillsides.
Four-leaved Loosestrife—Roadsides.
Yellow Loosestrife—Wet places.
Early Summer Flowers—Pink.
The Pink Lady Slipper, like the Yellow, is another orchid. Baldwin, to whom we have referred before, tells us where he usually found them; he says: "The finest specimens I ever saw sprang out of a cushion of crisp reindeer moss high up among the rocks of the exposed hillside, and again I have found it growing vigorously in hills upon swamps, but nearly colorless from excessive moisture." He further says that "A lady who has found it in the Adirondacks says she found it to have a great fondness for decaying wood and often saw a whole row perched like birds along a crumbling log."
A smaller laurel with dark pink flowers blooms in June. It is called "Lamb-killer," because of the belief that it is poisonous to sheep.
Corydalis—Rocky woods.
Adder's Mouth—Swamps.
Early Summer Flowers—Red.
Thoreau writes: "The Painted Cup is in its prime. It reddens the meadow, painted cup meadow. It is a splendid show of brilliant scarlet, the color of the cardinal flower and surpasses it in mass and profusion. I do not like the name; it does not remind me of a cup, rather of a flame when it first appears. It might be called 'flame flower' or 'scarlet tip.' Here is a large meadow full of it, and very few in the town have ever seen it. It is startling to see a leaf thus brilliantly painted, as if its tip were dipped into some scarlet mixture, surpassing most flowers in intensity of color."
Early Summer Flowers—Blue and Purple.
The Blue-eye Grass, which belongs to the same family as the Blue Flag, carpets the moist meadows at this season of the year. The Blue Flag and Fleur-de-lis is the flower of France; the name "Fleur-de-lis," the flower of Louis, King Louis VII having chosen it as his particular badge. Look for it in damp meadow grounds in June.
Early in June the wild lupine blooms, painting the hillside blue.
Summer—White.
If you go into the woods where the evergreens grow in July you will find the Little Wintergreen in bloom. Later in the year you will find the little red Wintergreen berries. Along the roadside you will find the daisy-like flowers of the Chamomile or May Weed. From the leaves of this plant our grandmothers used to make Chamomile tea.
A shrub that you will find in bloom in the July woods is the New Jersey Tea, with its clusters of feathery flowers. At the time of the American Revolution our forefathers used its leaves to make a substitute for the imported tea on which Great Britain imposed a tax.
Another flower of the summer woods and hillsides is the Cohosh, with a stem from three to eight feet high. Its odor is supposed to be distasteful to insects. The Elders are a mass of white blossoms at this time of the year, and later crowned with purplish berries from which elderberry wine is made.
A common plant of the July roadsides is the Pokeweed. Its flowers are less conspicuous than its fruit. It has long clusters of dark berries. Country boys make "ink" from the juice of these berries.
The Boneset is another wayside flower. Our grandmothers made boneset tea from its leaves when we were in danger of colds or malaria. Its flowers are dull white; it belongs to the same family as the Golden-rod.
Other summer white flowers:
Thimbleweed—Woods and meadows.
White Avens—Edges of woods.
Wild Cucumber—Along river banks.
Yarrow—Roadsides.
No article on wild flowers of the United States would be complete without mention of "Queen Anne's Lace," while some call it "Bird's Nest," from the habit of the curling up of the old flowers into a nest-like shape.
Summer—Yellow.
One of the most conspicuous yellow flowers is the Meadow Lily, or the Wild Yellow Lily.
The St. John's Wort is a common flower of this season of the year. It seems to flourish in the waste places, while both the moth mullein and the common mullein are close companions.
When the white daisies are beginning to wane, the yellow daisies or Black-eyed Susans begin to bloom. The Jewel Weed is also called by some "Touch-me-Not," on account of the few seed pods, which burst when touched, showing the seeds.
At twilight and in the early morning the Evening Primrose opens its dull yellow blossoms. During the middle of the day the flowers are closed.
Other summer yellow flowers:
Yellow Clover—Fields and roadsides.
Bladderwort—Ponds and streams.
Partridge Pea—Sandy Soil.
Summer—Pink.
Probably the foremost among these is the Common Milkweed, with its dull pink clustered flowers that later turn into a pod filled with silky fibers, which the children love to break open and set afloat in the wind. It is called "Milkweed" on account of the white sticky fluid which it exhumes from the broken stems.
Along the roadside and meadows purplish-pink flowers of the Fireweed are in bloom.
MEADOW LILY.
One of the most beautiful of the pink midsummer flowers is the Mallow that makes lively our swamps with its large pale pink flowers.
Other summer pink flowers:
Steeplebush—Low places.
Purple Loosestrife—Marshes.
Meadow Beauty—Sandy soil.
Tick Trefoil—Midsummer woods.
Summer—Red.
Two lilies of midsummer are the Wild Lily and the Turk's Cap Lily; the Turk's Cap Lily, with its drooping flowers, and the Wild Lily, with its upright flowers, that grow in our meadows, the Wild Lily in the shady woods.
Here and there in the midsummer fields is a patch of the bright flame-color orange-red Butterfly Weed. This belongs to the Milkweed family. They present to the eye some of the most vivid patches of color of the summer fields.
Summer—Blue and Purple.
Growing in the waste places from June until September are the closed heads of the "Self Heal," with its bluish-purple flowers and the spikes of the dainty little vervain.
Blooming in midsummer is the aromatic little Pennyroyal, one of the mint family.
Late Summer and Autumn—Yellow.
Without doubt the one flower that holds the foremost rank of the late summer and autumn flowers is the Golden-rod.
The Wild Sunflower and the Bur Marigold, or "Stick-tight," belong to the same family as the Golden-rod, the Composite Family.
Witch-hazel Shrubs are now coming into bloom, blooming when everything else is getting ready for the winter nap.
Other late summer yellow flowers:
False Foxgloves—Dry woodland.
Yellow Thistle—Sandy coast soil.
Late Summer and Autumn—White.
The Rattlesnake Plantain has peculiar leaves veined with white. The Indians believed that application of the leaves of this plant would cure a snake bite.
One of the shrubs that blooms at this season of the year is the Sweet Pepperbush, which is becoming popular as a cultivated shrub in our gardens and lawns. It seems to bloom best in those localities where there is considerable moisture in the atmosphere.
The dry fields are now thickly covered with the white asters.
Other late summer white flowers:
Ladies' Tresses—Wet places in autumn.
Pearly Everlasting—Woods and fields.
Late Summer and Autumn—Pink.
A common roadside flower is the Pink Knotweed, with its branching stems and groups of bright pink flowers.
PINK KNOTWEED.
The Bouncing Bet is now growing sturdily, with its pinkish-white flowers, and close to the Butterfly Weed blooms the "Joe Pye Weed," with its dusky purplish-pink clusters, while the Golden-rod and Asters are in flower.
Other late summer pink flowers:
Purple Gerardia—Low dry ground.
False Dragon Head—Wet fields.
Late Summer and Autumn—Red.
In the late summer, along the edges of ponds and streams and in the midst of swamps, gleam the bright, ragged flowers of the Cardinal flower, the brightest red flower of early autumn.
Late Summer and Autumn—Blue and Purple.
The Blue Chicory or Succory brightens up our roadsides in late summer when the fields are full of blue and purple Asters. There are over one hundred different species of wild Asters, all belonging to the Composite Family, the same family that the Golden-rod, Daisies, and Sunflowers are members of. The Composite Family, in fact, is in majority at this season of the year.
Both the closed and fringed Gentian come to us in late September, with their beautiful blue flowers—blue of a beautiful shade.
Other late summer flowers—blue and purple:
Blazing Star—Marsh land.
Iron Weed—Roadsides and fields.