So you see that a pale little flower with a strong fragrance is just as able to attract the bee’s attention as is a big flower with its bright flower handkerchiefs. A big flower with bright flower handkerchiefs does not need to attract the bee by its perfume.
Perhaps you will be somewhat surprised to learn that this columbine uses the old plan, calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil.
In the columbine the calyx as well as the corolla is brightly and beautifully colored, and only the botanist can tell which is which. In this way many flowers confuse one who is only beginning their study. So you must try to be patient when you come across a flower whose coloring and shape make it impossible for you to say what is calyx and what is corolla. You should turn both over into the one division of flower leaves, and when older you may be able to master the difficulty.
Fig. 224
Fig. 225
The pretty fringed polygala (Fig. [224]) is one of these confusing flower. You find it in the May woods. Its discovery is such a delight, that one is not apt to make himself unhappy because he cannot make out all its parts.
The jewelweed (Fig. [225]), the plant which blossoms down by the brook in August, is another of these puzzling blossoms.
