登陆注册
38541500000140

第140章 YELLOW AND ORANGE FLOWERS(16)

How many of us ever pause to test the sensitiveness of this exquisite foliage that borders the roadsides, and in appearance is almost identical with the South American sensitive plant's, so commonly cultivated in hothouses here? Failing to see its fine little leaflets fold together instantly when brushed with the hand, as they do in the tropical species (Mimosa pudica), many pass on, concluding its title a misnomer.By simply touching the leaves, however roughly, only a tardy and slight movement follows.A sharp blow produces quicker effect, while if the whole plant be shaken by forcibly snapping the stem with the finger, all the leaves will be strongly affected; their sensitiveness being apparently more aroused by vibration through jarring than by contact with foreign bodies.The leaves, which ordinarily spread out flat, partly close in bright sunshine and "go to sleep" at night, not to expose their sensitive upper surfaces to fierce heat in the first case, and to cold by radiation in the second."Lifeless things may be moved or acted on," says Asa Gray; "living beings move and act - plants less conspicuously, but no less really than animals.In sharing the mysterious gift of life they share some of its ******r powers."The PARTRIDGE PEA or LARGE-FLOWERED SENSITIVE PLANT (C.

Chamaecrista) likewise goes to sleep; the ten to fifteen pairs of leaflets which, with a terminal one, make up each pinnate leaf, slowly turning their outer edges uppermost after sunset, and overlapping as they flatten themselves against their common stem until the entire aspect of the plant is changed.By day the expanded foliage is feathery, fine, acacia-like; at night the bushy, branching, spreading plant, that measures only a foot or two high, appears to produce nothing but pods.These leaves respond slowly to vibration, just as the sensitive pea's do.In spite of their names, neither produces the butterfly-shaped (papilionaceous) blossom of true peas.The partridge pea bears from two to four showy flowers together, each measuring an inch or more across, on a slender pedicel from the axils.It fully expands only four of its five bright yellow petals; they are somewhat unequal in size, the upper ones, with touches of red at the base, as pathfinders, not, however, as nectar-guides, since no sweets are secreted here.Curiously enough, both right and left hand flowers are found upon the same plant; that is to say, the sickle-shaped pistil turns either to the right or the left.

One lateral petal, instead of being flexible and spread like the rest, stands so stiffly erect and incurved that it commonly breaks on being bent back.Why? The pistil, it will be noticed, points away from the ten long black anthers.Obviously, then, the flower cannot fertilize itself.Its benefactors are bumblebee females and workers out after pollen.Cup-shaped nectaries ("extra nuptial") are situated on the upper side and near the base of the leaf stalks on these cassia plants, where they can have no direct influence on the fertilization of the blossoms.

Apparently, they are free lunch-counters, kept open out of pure charity.Landing upon the long black anthers with pores in their tips to let out the pollen, the bumblebees "seize them between their mandibles, says Professor Robertson, "and stroke them downward with a sort of milking motion.The pollen...falls either directly upon the bee or upon the erect lateral petal which is pressed close against the bee's side.In this way the side of the bee which is next to the incurved petal receives the most pollen....A bee visiting a left-hand flower receives pollen upon the right side, and then flying to a right-hand flower, strikes the same side against the stigma." When we find circular holes in these petals we may know the leaf-cutter or upholsterer bee (Megachile brevis) has been at work collecting roofs for her nurseries (see Hairy Ruellia).The partridge pea, which has a more westerly range than the sensitive pea's, extends it southward even to Bolivia.Game birds, migrants and rovers, which feed upon the seeds, have of course helped in their wider distribution.The plant blooms from July to September.

WILD or AMERICAN SENNA

(Cassia Marylandica) Senna family Flowers - Yellow, about 3/4 in.broad, numerous, in short axillary clusters on the upper part of plant.Calyx of 5 oblong lobes; 5 petals, 3 forming an upper lip, 2 a lower one; 10stamens of 3 different kinds; 1 pistil.Stem: 3 to 8 ft.high, little branched.Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compounded of 6 to 10 pairs of oblong leaflets.Fruit: A narrow, flat curving pod, 3to 4 in.long.

Preferred Habitat - Alluvial or moist, rich soil, swamps, roadsides.

Flowering Season - July-August.

Distribution - New England, westward to Nebraska, south to the Gulf States.

Whoever has seen certain Long Island roadsides bordered with wild senna, the brilliant flower clusters contrasted with the deep green of the beautiful foliage, knows that no effect produced by art along the drives of public park or private garden can match these country lanes in ****** charm.Bumblebees, buzzing about the blossoms, may be observed "milking" the anthers just as they do those of the partridge pea.No red spots on any of these petals guide the visitors, as in the previous species, however;for do not the three small, dark stamens, which are reduced to mere scales, answer every purpose as pathfinders here? The stigma, turned sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, strikes the bee on the side; the senna being what Delpino, the Italian botanist, calls a pleurotribe flower.

While leaves of certain African and East Indian species of senna are most valued for their medicinal properties, those of this plant are largely collected in the Middle and Southern States as a substitute.Caterpillars of several sulphur butterflies, which live exclusively on cassia foliage, appear to feel no evil effects from overdoses.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 无良骑士

    无良骑士

    哦?你的腰带很帅,特效很不错,下一秒就是我的了!PS:虽然我很想些正经文,可谁叫我人不正经呢
  • 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!
  • 创造诡秘世界

    创造诡秘世界

    穿越到了似是而非的美国七八十年代。无意间接触到了混沌,侥幸未死,也获得了强大的力量,却开始日渐疯狂。于是为了自保,他开始编织序列,散布超凡特性。将疯狂传递出去,也将力量扩散了出去。他创造了一个诡秘的世界,他就是唯一的神,绝对真理。PS:本书幕后黑手类型,向诡秘之主致敬!
  • 联盟的曙光

    联盟的曙光

    介绍赛尔号的战神联盟和他们对立面暗黑战神联盟的故事。还有一些自创人物
  • 扫除道笔记

    扫除道笔记

    扫除道的读书笔记,记录个人读这本书的一点感悟。
  • 僵尸来袭之美男相公

    僵尸来袭之美男相公

    “娘子,让为夫吸口血吧~”“你给老娘滚!!”
  • 最强修真世家

    最强修真世家

    仙魔时代末期,修真世家秦家逐渐没落。万年之后,秦晨在祖祠偶遇奇异怪石,且看一代修真世家如何迅速崛起。武技华丽,修真的奥秘,法宝的神奇,尽在最强修真世家。修真世家,唯我秦家。(新人新书需要大家的呵护,求各位多多点击收藏推荐,冬瓜在这谢过大家了)
  • 那一刹那的年华

    那一刹那的年华

    那一刹那的年华,你还记得么?教室里,欢声笑语,你还记得么?痛苦悲伤,你还记得么?身为同桌的你还记得么?那几个一刹那的年华,那几个欢声笑语的年代,那几个让你难以忘怀的年华,你们还记得么?
  • 巫龙魂匣

    巫龙魂匣

    高中生意外穿越,灵魂被扔进一颗龙蛋。这是个关于凡人,诸神,和一位龙巫妖的故事。……(原创世界观和力量体系,龙族生理特征设定参考dnd,其他的与dnd无关,借鉴多个奇幻游戏设定)
  • 闻命

    闻命

    六百年前屠戮众神的人类女子改变了人神关系之后消失不见。因愤怒而越发残暴的众神将人世间变成了修罗炼狱。站在人类顶端的绝顶高手们决定联合抗天。各国大战一直硝烟不息,众神即将归位血洗人间,此时一个正在最强大国乞讨的小乞丐双童却阴差阳错的被卷入这场战争...