No wader is the square-stemmed Monkey-flower whose grinning corolla peers at one from grassy tuffets in swamps, from the brookside, the springy soil of low meadows, and damp hollows beside the road; but moisture it must have to fill its nectary and to soften the ground for the easier transit of its creeping rootstock.Imaginative eyes see what appears to them the gaping (ringens) face of a little ape or buffoon (mimulus) in this common flower whose drolleries, such as they are, call forth the only applause desired - the buzz of insects that become pollen-laden during the entertainment.
Now the advanced stigma of this flower is peculiarly irritable, and closes up on contact with an incoming visitor's body, thus exposing the pollen-laden anthers behind it, and, except in rare cases, preventing self-fertilization.Delpino was the first to guess what advantage so sensitive a stigma might mean.Probably the smaller bees find the tube too long for their short tongues.
The yellow palate, which partially guards the entrance to the nectary from pilferers, of course serves also as a pathfinder to the long-tongued bees.
AMERICAN BROOKLIME
(Veronica Americana) Figwort family Flowers - Light blue to white, usually striped with deep blue or purple structure of flower similar to that of V.officinalis, but borne in long, loose racemes branching outward on stems that spring from axils of most of the leaves.Stem: Without hairs, usually branched, 6 in.to 3 ft.long, lying partly on ground and rooting from lower joints.Leaves: Oblong, lance-shaped, saw-edged, opposite, petioled, and lacking hairs; 1 to 3 in.
long, 1/4 to 1 in.wide.Fruit: A nearly round, compressed, but not flat, capsule with flat seeds in 2 cells.
Preferred Habitat - In brooks, ponds, ditches, swamps.
Flowering Season - April-September.
Distribution - From Atlantic to Pacific, Alaska to California and New Mexico, Quebec to Pennsylvania.
This, the perhaps most beautiful native speedwell, whose sheets of blue along the brookside are so frequently mistaken for masses of forget-me-nots by the hasty observer, of course shows marked differences on closer investigation; its tiny blue flowers are marked with purple pathfinders, and the plant is not hairy, to mention only two.But the poets of England are responsible for most of whatever confusion stills lurks in the popular mind concerning these two flowers.Speedwell, a common medieval benediction from a friend, equivalent to our farewell or adieu, and forget - me-not of similar intent, have been used interchangeably by some writers in connection with parting gifts of small blue flowers.It was the germander speedwell that in literature and botanies alike was most commonly known as the forget-me-not for over two hundred years, or until only fifty years ago.When the "Mayflower" and her sister ships were launched; "Speedwell" was considered a happier name for a vessel than it proved to be.
The WATER SPEEDWELL, or PIMPERNEL (V.Anagallis-aquatica), differs from the preceding chiefly in having most of its leaves seated on the stalk, only the lower ones possessing stems, and those short ones.In autumn the increased growth of sterile shoots from runners produce almost circular leaves, often two inches broad, a certain aid to identification.
Another close relation, the MARSH or SKULLCAP SPEEDWELL (V.
scutellata), on the other hand, has long, very slender, acute leaves, their teeth far apart; and as these three species are the only members of their clan likely to be found in watery places within our limits, a close examination of the leaves of any water-loving plant bearing small four-lobed blue flowers, usually marked with lines of a deeper blue or purple, should enable one to correctly name the species.None of these blossoms can be carried far after being picked; they have a tantalizing habit of dropping off, leaving a bouquet of tiny green calices chiefly.
Many kinds of bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies fertilize all these little flowers, which are first staminate, then pistillate, simply by crawling over them in search of nectar.
COMMON SPEEDWELL; FLUELLIN; PAUL'S BETONY; GROUND-HELE(Veronica officinalis) Figwort family Flowers - Pale blue, very small, crowded on spike-like racemes from axils of leaves, often from alternate axils.Calyx 4-parted;corolla of 4 lobes, lower lobe commonly narrowest ; 2 divergent stamens inserted at base and on either side of upper corolla lobe ; a knob-like stigma on solitary pistil.Stem: From 3 to 10 in.
long, hairy, often prostrate, and rooting at joints.Leaves:
Opposite, oblong, obtuse, saw-edged, narrowed at base.Fruit:
Compressed heart-shaped capsule, containing numerous flat seeds.
Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, uplands, open woods.
Flowering Season - May-August.
Distribution - From Michigan and Tennessee eastward, also from Ontario to Nova Scotia.Probably an immigrant from Europe and Asia.
An ancient tradition of the Roman Church relates that when Jesus was on His way to Calvary, He passed the home of a certain Jewish maiden, who, when she saw the drops of agony on His brow, ran after Him along the road to wipe His face with her kerchief.This linen, the monks declared, ever after bore the impress of the sacred features - vera iconica, the true likeness.When the Church wished to canonize the pitying maiden, an abbreviated form of the Latin words was given her, St.Veronica, and her kerchief became one of the most precious relics at St.Peter's, where it is said to be still preserved.Medieval flower lovers, whose piety seems to have been eclipsed only by their imaginations, named this little flower from a fancied resemblance to the relic.