Bends to the earth her crown
Of honey-laden bells.”
HIS graceful flower enlivens us all through the months of May and June by its brilliant blossoms of deep red and golden yellow.
In general outline the Wild Columbine resembles its cultivated sisters of the garden, but is more light and airy from its nodding habit. The plant throws up many tall slender stalks from its centre, furnished with leafy bracts, from which spring other light stems terminated by little pedicels, each bearing a large drooping flower and bud which open in succession.
The flower consists of five red sepals and five red petals; the latter are hollowed trumpet-like at the mouth, ascending; they form narrow tubes, which are terminated by little round knobs filled with honey. The delicate thready pedicels on which the blossom hangs cause it to droop down and thus throw up the honey bearing tubes of the petals; the little balls forming a pretty sort of floral coronet at the junction with the stalk.
The unequal and clustered stamens, and five thready styles of the pistil project beyond the hollow mouths of the petals, like an elegant golden-fringed tassel; the edges and interior of the petals are also of a bright golden yellow. These gay colours are well contrasted with the deep green of the root leaves and bracts of the flower stalks. The bracts are lobed in two or three divisions. The larger leaves are placed on long foot stalks; each leaf is divided into three, which are again twice or thrice lobed, and unequally notched; the upper surface is smooth and of a dark rich green, the under pale and whitish.
As the flowers fade the husky hollow seed pods become erect—a wise provision in this and many other plants of drooping habits, giving the ripening seed better access to the sun and wind, and preventing them from being prematurely scattered abroad upon the earth.
The wild Columbine[[4]] is perennial and very easily cultivated. Its blossoms are eagerly sought out by the bees and humming birds. On sunny days you may be sure to see the latter hovering over the bright drooping bells, extracting the rich nectar with which they are so bountifully supplied. Those who care for bees, and love humming birds, should plant the graceful red-flowered Columbine in their garden borders.
In its wild state it is often found growing among rocks and surface stones, where it insinuates its roots into the clefts and hollows that are filled with rich vegetable mould; and thus, being often seen adorning the sterile rocks with its bright crown of waving blossoms, it has obtained the name, in some places, of Rock Columbine.