Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/257

Rh renders them unlikely to be destroyed by too much picking, while the strikingly beautiful ones fall prey to thoughtless collectors. Others, on account of their protective coloration, escape the notice of wild flower gatherers or browsing cattle. The disagreeable odor of the skunk cabbage, the bitter taste of the crowfoots, the poisonous properties of various members of the parsley and nightshade families, and the stinging glands of the nettles prevent animals from repeating unpleasant experiences with them.

The power to produce, through a long season, many flowers, bearing many seeds, well adapted for dissemination and germination, under ordinary conditions, is the height of plant differentiation for preservation of species. A consideration of some New England wild

flowers will serve as specific illustrations of the way in which plants are self protected and the reasons why they require other aid in order that preservation may be insured.

In the early days of April the bloodroot pushes itself through the ground, each flower-bud rolled in a green leaf. The leaf unrolls somewhat; the flower pushes itself through it up into the air. The delicate calyx drops off and the corolla of pure white petals spreads itself out surrounding a cluster of golden yellow stamens, in the center of which is the pistil. After a few days the stamens wither up, the petals drop off and the pistil, if fertilized, remains, growing larger and larger until the ovules within it are matured. Then the work of the plant, along the line of perpetuation of its kind, is over for a year. The unfolded leaves expand more and more on their lengthened petioles and spread themselves out into the light and air. They then continue