File:Birds and nature (1900) (14568853937).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature831900chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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North Carolina it is found atan altitude of over live thousand feet. The leaves are egg-shaped, elongated,taper-pointed and more or less saw-toothed on the margins. The fioral leavesare tinged with red of nearly the sameshade as that of the bright red and showyflowers. The flowers which appear inJuly, August and September and areabout two inches in length, are massed ina dense, solitary and globular head, whichis situated at the end of the flower stalk. The flowers produce an abundant nec-tar, which attracts bumblebees, butter-flies and humming birds; these by trans-ferring the pollen from flower to flowerassist in the fertilization of the develop-ing seeds. The ordinary bees are barredfrom the sweets of this plant because oftheir short tongues, though some formswill cut a hole in the side of the corollaand obtain the nectar in this manner. It is said that certain Indian tribes usethis bark in preparing a tea that is nearlyas palatable as that made from the ordin-arv tea of connnerce.
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353 OSWEGO TEA OR BEE BALM.(cMonarda dtdy>ma») FROM NATURES GAr.COPYRIGHT 1900, eiDOUeLEOAY, PAGE 4 COM 119 FLOWERS AND THEIR UNBIDDEN GUESTS. In the September number we consi.I-ered flowers and their invited guests, tliatis the insects useful in carrying pollen.The very things which attract useful in-sects to flowers are attractive also to use-less insects. For example, nectar in aflower seems just as desirable to an antas to a butterfly, but the ant is a creepinginsect and would be likely to lose thepollen in passing from one plant to an-other. If useless insects found free ac-cess to flowers and carried ofif their foodsupplies, the useful insects would soonstop visiting them. It is of great advan-tage to flowers, therefore, to have somemeans of warding ofif the creeping in-sects. It must not be understood that ?11plants are equally successful in this mat-ter, or that any plant is always successful,but there are certain things which seemto hinder or discourage the approach ofcre

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