登陆注册
38541500000180

第180章 SCARLET PAINTED CUP; INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH

(Castilleja coccinea) Figwort family Flowers - Greenish yellow, enclosed by broad, vermilion, 3-cleft floral bracts; borne in a terminal spike.Calyx flattened, tubular, cleft above and below into 2 lobes; usually green, sometimes scarlet; corolla very irregular, the upper lip long and arched, the short lower lip 3-lobed; 4 unequal stamens; pistil.

Stem: 1 to 2 ft.high, usually unbranched, hairy.Leaves: Lower ones tufted, oblong, mostly uncut; stem leaves deeply cleft into 3 to 5 segments, sessile.

Preferred Habitat - Meadows; prairies; moist, sandy soil;thickets.

Flowering Season - May-July.

Distribution - Maine to Manitoba, south to Virginia, Kansas, and Texas.

Here and there the fresh green meadows show a touch of as vivid a red as that in which Vibert delighted to dip his brush.

"Scarlet tufts Are glowing in the green like flakes of fire;The wanderers of the prairie know them well, And call that brilliant flower the 'painted cup.'"Thoreau, who objected to this name, thought flame flower a better one, the name the Indians gave to Oswego tea; but here the floral bracts, not the flowers themselves, are on fire.Lacking good, honest, deep green, one suspects from the yellowish tone of calices, stem, and leaves, that this plant is something of a thief.That it still possesses foliage, proves only petty larceny against it, similar to the foxglove's (q.v.).Caterpillars of certain checker-spot butterflies in turn prey upon Castilleja.

Under cover of darkness, in the soil below, the roots of our painted cup occasionally break in and steal from the roots of its neighbors such juices as the plant must work over into vegetable tissue.Therefore it still needs leaves, indispensable parts of a digestive apparatus.Were it wholly given up to piracy, like the dodder, or as parasitic as the Indian pipe, even the green and the leaf that it hath would be taken away from this slothful servant.

But even without honest leaf green (chlorophyll), we know that plants as low in the scale as fungi often take on the most brilliant of yellows and reds.In the painted cup the bracts, which enfold the insignificant yellowish cloistered flowers like a cape, render them great service in attracting the ruby-throated hummingbird by donning his favorite color.No lip landing place is provided for insects, as in other members of the figwort family dependent on bees; although bumblebees, which desire one, and butterflies, which suck with their wings in motion, may be rarely caught robbing the short tubes.Among the wild flowers, only the columbine, with an almost parallel blooming season, rivals the painted cup for the bird's beneficent attentions.The latter flowers at about the time the ruby-throat flashes northward out of the tropics to spend the summer.Professor Robertson of Illinois says, "In 1886 the first hummingbird seen was on May 5, visiting the Castilleja."WOOD BETONY; LOUSEWORT; BEEFSTEAK PLANT; HIGH HEAL-ALL{Pedicularis Canadensis) Figwort family Flowers - Greenish yellow and purplish red, in a short dense spike.Calyx oblique, tubular, cleft on lower side, and with 2 or 3 scallops on upper; corolla about 3/4 in.long, 2-lipped, the upper lip arched, concave, the lower 3-lobed; 4 stamens in pairs;1 pistil.Stems: Clustered, ******, hairy, 6 to 18 in.high.

Leaves: Mostly tufted, oblong lance-shaped in outline, and pinnately lobed.

Preferred Habitat - Dry, open woods and thickets.

Flowering Season - April-June.

Distribution - Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Manitoba, Colorado, and Kansas.

When the Italians wish to extol someone they say, "He has more virtues than betony," alluding, of course, to the European species, Betonica officinalis, a plant that was worn about the neck and cultivated in cemeteries during the Middle Ages as a charm against evil spirits; and prepared into plasters, ointments, syrups, and oils, was supposed to cure every ill that flesh is heir to.Our commonest American species fulfils its mission in beautifying roadside banks and dry, open woods and copses with thick, short spikes of bright flowers, that rise above large rosettes of coarse, hairy, fern-like foliage.At first, these flowers, beloved of bumblebees, are all greenish yellow; but as the spike lengthens with increased bloom, the arched, upper lip of the blossom becomes dark purplish red, the lower one remains pale yellow, and the throat turns reddish, while some of the beefsteak color often creeps into stems and leaves as well.

Farmers once believed that after their sheep fed on the foliage of this group of plants a skin disease, produced by a certain tiny louse (pediculus), would attack them - hence our innocent betony's repellent name.

同类推荐
  • The Ayrshire Legatees

    The Ayrshire Legatees

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 诊脉三十二辨

    诊脉三十二辨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 供养护世八天法

    供养护世八天法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 落日忆山中

    落日忆山中

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 重刻西方合论

    重刻西方合论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 灭绝医圣

    灭绝医圣

    我不允,谁能生?我不杀,谁敢死?大荒逐鹿,万族之中我独圣!
  • 拔罐疗法治百病

    拔罐疗法治百病

    本书分为上下两篇,上篇介绍拔罐疗法的基本知识,包括拔罐疗法的作用机制等;下篇介绍了内科、儿科、妇科、创伤外科等170余种常见病的拔罐治疗经验。
  • 九转永恒

    九转永恒

    惊天神葬现世,引无数人争夺,最后却发现其中。。。。。。明天历经九世,终成永恒,杀尽昔日负我者,斩尽天下负心人,因为我就是永恒!!!
  • 玄气之界

    玄气之界

    这是一个玄气的世界,这里的每一个人都修炼玄气。上至未死的老者下至6岁小孩,有的出生大约4岁就开始修炼玄气。这第一步是十分难做的,也没有许多人到成年或去世时都没有玄气,因此他们只能做普通人。存入玄气首先要感受自然界的力量,将自然界的力量存入身体中。别以为这么简单就可以把自然界的玄气存入身体里,还要使他不能消失。如果消失的话,那就证明你失败了。每一次感受自然的力量时需要时间的,也要感悟和耐性。这就是是许多人都不能成为玄者的原因。玄气分为五种属性:金.木.水.火.土这五种属性,也有其他存在自然界的属性:雷.风.暗.光这四种属性,相生相克。还有一些旁门左道和近路就不一一介绍了。
  • 变身之儿子不要闹

    变身之儿子不要闹

    这个月发生的事太多,多到林夕完全不知道怎么处理。看着墙上的婚纱照,再转头看着身边三个年纪比自己还大的孩子,“他”忍不住头疼起来。大儿子是个总裁,却是个非常喜欢恶作剧的人。二儿子温文尔雅,是一个著名的音乐家,却腹黑的一塌糊涂。三儿子是个警察,整天想着把大哥二哥抓回局子里去。”站住,你们两个靠墙站好,这是搜查令,我现在怀疑你们走私,贩卖军火,黑社会。“”老三,下次你还敢穿这身绿皮回家,劳资要你明天在Y市裸奔。“”同意,三天不打上房揭瓦,我要你在Z省裸奔。“”哎。。。。“看着客厅里吵闹的三个人,”他“有一次深深的吐了口气:人生啊,就是这么的苦逼。
  • 小花仙之恋爱方程式

    小花仙之恋爱方程式

    传说在世界海的尽头,有一个花的国度,那里花仙精灵与花仙幸福地生活在一起,那里就是——拉贝尔大陆……传说在上古时期,神域之神派出了十二星座晶石下凡,去寻找他们命定的守护花仙精灵王,成为守护拉贝尔大陆的神秘力量……传说十二星座晶石的守护花仙精灵王,有着十二相同的黑暗影子……传说上古的命运之轮是由天地之千年精华转化而来的,它有着强大的力量……传说,当拉贝尔大陆陷入危机时,都会有一位命定的花仙魔法使者来拯救这片大陆……传说…………
  • 僵尸不死心

    僵尸不死心

    当你不死不灭你会知道世界是多么孤独。。一个僵尸的征途在慢慢述说着
  • 道青冥

    道青冥

    那一年,他种下一棵种子。这一年,我立于青冥之上,不为魔,不成仙,破天下法,屠碧穹不平。
  • 叱咤英豪(第二次世界大战史丛书)

    叱咤英豪(第二次世界大战史丛书)

    1955年3月,蒙巴顿出任第一海务大臣。1956年,蒙巴顿登上了皇家海军的顶峰——被晋升为海军元帅,1959年5月22日,麦克米伦首相正式任命蒙巴顿为国防参谋长,并建议这个职务的任期将由3年延长到5年。从地位上说,国防参谋长仅低于国防大臣,但由于后者属于文官并受党派竞选的影响,所以,国防参谋长实际上是整个英国陆海空三军武装力量的专职首长。