File:Wild life of orchard and field; (1902) (14803978633).jpg

Identifier: wildlifeoforchar00inge (find matches)
Title: Wild life of orchard and field;
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Ingersoll, Ernest, 1852-1946
Subjects: Animal behavior
Publisher: (New York London) Harper & brothers
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ssonin cross-fertilization. In the early morning the jewel-weed is not onlystudded with these pendants of gold, but incrustedwith diamonds, for its leaves and stems gather afilm of dew which clothes them in a lace-work oflight. Put the leaves under water and they gleamas if coated with mercury, because the light is re-flected from thousands of minute bubbles of aircaught among the invisible hairs of the surface.The country people hereabout call the plant poor-mans-silver, on account of this frosted appearancewhen wet; and, remembering its golden blossoms,it might well be adopted as the badge of bimetal-lism. Another curious property of these blossomsappears when you lay them away in the herbari-um; for, according to Dr. John Torrey, as relatedin his Flora of New York State, the dried plantgives to the paper in which it is kept an orange-colored stain which sometimes strikes throughseveral sheets, and is of the exact color of the speci-men. This is true, however, only of the jewel- 336
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JeHvet-<weed WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD weed proper (/. fulva); its brother-species, the snap-weed or touch-me-not (I. pallida), will not show it.But these are not the only blossoms here. Be-side them stand the dull white umbels of the wildcarroty and over them bend the conspicuous plumesof dozens of Joe Pye weeds—the tallest and hand-somest of the bonesets or hempweeds. Nothing ismore interesting in the moist hollows all over thispart of the country than this big, strong, showyplant, carrying heads of blossoms as big as a half-bushel measure. Close at hand each flower inthe dense cluster is a tiny, lilac-pink thing, withtwo long, white threads extended for more than itslength. Looking closer, you see that what youtook for one flower is a tight bunch of half a dozen,and a dozen or so of these form a tuft, a great num-ber of which compose the flower-head that attractsyour attention. This explains why the deep, warmlilac seems hidden in a gauze of white; you see itthrough hundr

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