Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-07-28
National Geographic Society.

Among the stateliest and proudest of
the members OF Americas flower family
none excels the largest blue flag. which
also wears the name of blue iris and fieur-
de-lis. Ruskin calls it the flower of
chivalry. which has a sword for
its leaf and a lily for it's heart.
Longfellow %prOnounces it "a wv
born In the purple to joy and pleas
ance.' 1t blooms in the wet. rich marshes
it's home from Newfoundland and Mani
toba to Florida and Arkansas. The flag
flower must look to the insect world en-
tirely for its propagation. particularly to
the bees as it's pollen carriers. So 1t puts
forth a flower that is blue tinted, for its
experience has taught it that a bee can be
wooed with blue better than with any 9TH
err color.
Iris. Flower Of ChivaIry.
THE iris was long centuries ago adopt
ed by Louis VII. the gallant young cru
sader. as the emblem of his house. 1t
became thereby the flower of Louis,
which was corrupted into 'Fleur-de-lis.'
The iris. or blue flag. is really meant when
one speaks of the lily of France. The iris
is a plant that insures it's life. In its
large rootstock it a W up endowment in
surance in the days of plenty, so that
when the earth is chill, cold and nhos-
pitable it's savings will provide against
need.
The great bindweed. a first cousin to
the morning glory, is a hobo among flow
ers. 1t has Travelled up and down the
lanes Of world trade for centuries. UNI
til it has come to claim most of the north
ern hemisphere for its abiding place. 1t
loves wayside hedges and thickets, where
1t climbs over everything in it's fight for
the survival Of the f~1ttest; but it knows no
JOY greater than getting into a cornfield,
where it can use the talks as a nature
built trellis for its wanderings. 1t flowers
from June until September. 1t keeps solid
hours, getting up with the rising sun and
going to bed when the sun goes down,
except on moonlight nights, When it keeps
open house for the benefit of certain moths
that are its especial friends.
The wild pink, or catchfly, a dweller on
dry, gravelly or sandy soil. giving color
to many lonesome places from April to
June with its delicate pink petals, is
among those flowers which believe in TAX
ing no chances when it comes to the
question of fertilization. The wild pinks
have developed two sets of stamens, one
above the other, so that If one misses the
transfer of its pollen the other is likely
to supply h resulting deficiency. The
wild pink finds its cupboard of sweets a
fair mark for many tiny insects that are
large enough to drain it's cup of nectar
on0 yOI SoO IIldl = UcdI away TIE now.
er's pollen to some distant mate. So 1t
has provided an effective lock and key to
its pantry. This lock and key is a gum
my, viscid fluid that the pink secretes and
spreads around the sticky stem below the
flower. No fly hat ever alighted upon a
piece Of man-made fypaper was more GER
tainly and surely brought to an untimely
end h a the ant that essays to sip the
nectar Of the wild pink. Thus We can
see that the flypaper idea is not mans
invention at all, but an idea borrowed
from a flower.
6lackeyed Susan a Sturdy Pioneer.
Fighting her way across the American
continent. ~blackeyed susan las proven
the master of the allied forces of man
and nature. In the competition Of life
she has been able to make a home wher-
ever h sets her foot, and neither the
rivalrtes Of the field nor the laws and
labors Of man have been able to hold her
In check. Blackeyed susan loves dry
fields n open, sunny places. Its flower
Ing season is long, from May until Sep
tember. It is n of the few Migrants
that has Travelled from the west to the
east. In years gone by much clover seed
was shipped out Of the west, and a
eyed susan hoboed her way along with
It. Most of the weeds of the field have
followed the star of empire. from the east