Once again I have lifted the words of John Burroughs as the best possible description for the native treasure Cardinal Flower. In an essay comparing our native flowers to those found in England, he used the three words in my title as a succinct complete description for this plant. This picture may look familiar but this second shot was taken early in the morning while moisture from night fog still coated the leaves. Ordinarily the stunning color of the flowers captures and holds the focus of the eyes but in this light the glistening dark leaves also star. The other connection here joining this plant with Burrough's words is the dark area of woods. On one of his outings he described finally finding this uncommon plant and its affect of breaking the gloom of the deep woods.
As the newly opened flowers approach the top of the stalk, the time for observing just how this plant creates viable seed is nearly over. Out working early in the day allowed me to witness the ever so brief fertilization ritual of Cardinal Flower. The central tube that is surrounded by five petals is tipped with what looks like a white beard. As the moments of fertilization approach, these white hair like structures explode with a dense coating of yellow pollen. Try as I might, I cannot find a photograph of either the initial appearance of the white beard or its coating with pollen. By 8 AM that time had passed and the fertilization process was well underway.
In this photo, the location of the white beard has been penetrated by a stigma and style. The flower in the lower left corner clearly shows the condition of the stigma extending past the opening of the tube. Its pollen load is already moving toward the ovary at the base of the flower. Soon this stigma will become limp and shrunken its work having been completed. In the center of the photo, two yellow pollen covered stigmas are visible. Our belief is that Cardinal Flower is a self pollinating plant.
This view shows some dropped pollen staining a leaf. It also shows several pollen coated stigmas. Once again we state that all of this activity unfolded early in the morning and the pollination was complete while the birds and the bees remained asleep. For me the remaining mystery is how the pollen is transported from the tip of the stigma to the ovary buried deep within the base of each flower. I am reminded that the function of corn silk is to carry a pollen grain to an area that will grow a seed. Removing a single flower and cutting it open hoping to discover just how an enormous number of pollen grains found their way to the base of the flower crossed my mind but just when to do that remained unknown. As noon approached, we did see a Humming bird working open flowers in the garden near the house. Is it possible that its search for nectar is somehow part of the movement of pollen to the deeply placed ovary?
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