By Julia McNair Wright
JUNE is the month of flowers, as May is of leaves; it is also the month of the richest and most varied colors. The leaves are in their prime and their flowers are in their greatest luxuriance. Green is the chief color in the plant world. It is so constantly the color of leaves that “green as a leaf” and “leaf green” are common expressions.
Next to green, yellow is the most conspicuous color. This is the chief color of stamens and pistils; it is also the chief color of spring flowers, though white blossoms also abound. When the warmth and glow of the sunshine return to us many flowers seem to assume the livery of the sun; flecks and streaks of sunshine gleam at us from hundreds of nooks and corners. The bluebird and the jay come to us decked in the clear blue of the sky, but the spring flowers outbid them a hundred to one in choosing the “class color” of the season.
The very thought of spring is associated with dandelions, buttercups, hawksweed, mustard, cinquefoil, primroses, cowslips, marsh marigolds, adder’s tongue, and a hundred other yellow beauties, from the inconspicuous parsnip and wild radish to the sunny splendor of the meadow lily and lady’s slipper.
In Alaska the flowers are nearly all yellow or white; blue and pink blossoms are the exceptions.
After yellow, white is the most frequent color, and we recall a succession of blossoms, from little white chickweed through star-flower and trillium, bunch-berry, and bell-wort, up to the great white fragrant lilies. Next in order of abundance comes blue, then pink, purple, red, and, least seen of all, that rich scarlet that graces the cardinal flower and salvia.
Although light seems to have such influence on the production of color in plants, we find many plants deeply green or gaudily colored, that grow where there is little or no light. Sea weeds of intense green, or painted as gayly as parrots, come from depths under water where the light must have been very dim.
The most vivid colors are often found in the mold in jars of preserves that have been kept entirely in the dark. This mold is a vegetable growth.
In the spring one may notice early in the morning a bed of chickory in bloom; it is a clear, exquisite blue; by ten o’clock the blue will be very pale, by twelve the flowers are white, by one they are all folded up, to open the next day as richly blue as ever. The sun plays such tricks on blue cotton cloth. When it is exposed to the sun the blue vanishes, and when the cloth has been put away in the darkness the fled color returns. Other flowers besides chickory grow pale with the excess of light, just as some grow pale from darkness. The study of color in the plant world affords opportunity for interesting experiments.