PLATE XXV
TALL MEADOW RUE.—T. polygamum.
Meadow-sweet.
Spiræa salicifolia. Rose Family.
Stem.—Nearly smooth, two or three feet high. Leaves.—Alternate, somewhat lance-shaped, toothed. Flowers.—Small, white or flesh-color, in pyramidal clusters. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—Of five rounded petals. Stamens.—Numerous. Pistils.—Five to eight.
The feathery spires of the meadow-sweet soar upward from the river banks and low meadows in late July. Unlike its pink sister, the steeple-bush, its leaves and stems are fairly smooth. The lack of fragrance in the flowers is disappointing, because of the hopes raised by the plant’s common name. This is said by Dr. Prior to be a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon mead-wort, which signifies honey-wine herb, alluding to a fact which is mentioned in Hill’s “Herbal,” that “the flowers mixed with mead give it the flavor of the Greek wines.”
Although the significance of many of the plant-names seems clear enough at first sight, such an example as this serves to show how really obscure it often is.
White Water-lily.
Nymphæa odorata. Water-lily Family.
Leaves.—Rounded, somewhat heart-shaped, floating on the surface of the water. Flowers.—Large, white, or sometimes pink, fragrant. Calyx.—Of four sepals which are green without. Corolla.—Of many petals. Stamens.—Indefinite in number. Pistil.—With a many-celled ovary whose summit is tipped with a globular projection around which are the radiating stigmas.
This exquisite flower calls for little description. Many of us are so fortunate as to hold in our memories golden mornings devoted to its quest. We can hardly take the shortest railway journey in summer without passing some shadowy pool whose greatest adornment is this spotless and queenly blossom. The breath of the lily-pond is brought even into the heart of our cities where dark-eyed little Italians peddle clusters of the long-stemmed fragrant flowers about the streets.
PLATE XXVI
MEADOW-SWEET.—S. salicifolia.