Speaker 1: Section twenty three of Birds and All Nature, Volume seven, No. Two,
Speaker 1: February nineteen hundred, recorded for LibriVox dot org by Tavarish
Speaker 1: The Scarlet Painted Cup Professor William Kerr, highly Secretary of
Speaker 1: the Chicago Academy of Sciences. These children of the meadows,
Speaker 1: born of sunshine and of showers. Whittier. The scarlet painted
Speaker 1: cup belongs to a large and interesting group of plants
Speaker 1: known as the figwort family scrofolariaca. The common name of
Speaker 1: the family is derived from the reputed value of some
Speaker 1: of the species in the cure of Phycus or figwort,
Speaker 1: a disease caused by the growth of a stalked excrescence
Speaker 1: on the eyelids, tongue, or other parts of the body
Speaker 1: that are covered with the mucous membrane. The technical name
Speaker 1: is derived frommescropula, as some of the species are considered
Speaker 1: efficacious in the treatment of that disease. This family includes
Speaker 1: about one hundred and sixty five genera and over twenty
Speaker 1: five hundred species. They are common all over the world,
Speaker 1: reaching from the equator into the regions of constant frosts.
Speaker 1: It is claimed by some authorities that fully one thirty
Speaker 1: fifth of all the flowering plants of North America are
Speaker 1: classed in this family. Besides the painted cup, there are
Speaker 1: classed in this group the malin, the common toad flax,
Speaker 1: the foxglove digitalis, the Gerardius, and the calceolarias. The fox glove,
Speaker 1: though causing death when the extract is taken in excess,
Speaker 1: is one of the most highly valued medicinal plants known.
Speaker 1: Nearly all the species of the family are herbs without fragrance.
Speaker 1: Some of the species are known to be partially parasitic.
Speaker 1: True parasites are usually white of very light colored and
Speaker 1: contain no green coloring matter, which is essential when the
Speaker 1: plant is self supporting. The parasitic forms of this family, however,
Speaker 1: do contain green coloring matter, and others not entirely dependent
Speaker 1: on their host for the preparation of their food supply.
Speaker 1: The Gerardias false fox gloves are frequently found attached to
Speaker 1: the roots of oaks, large shrubs, and even on the
Speaker 1: roots of grasses. It has also been shown that there
Speaker 1: is a cannibalistic tendency in some of the species of Gerardia.
Speaker 1: They will not only fasten their succa like roots on
Speaker 1: those of other species, but also upon those of other
Speaker 1: individuals of the same species, and even upon the root
Speaker 1: branches of their own plants. This double parasitism is not rare.
Speaker 1: The scarlet painted cup of our illustration Castilia Coxinia linaeus
Speaker 1: is a native of the eastern half of the United
Speaker 1: States and the southern portion of Canada. It prefers the
Speaker 1: soil of meadows and moist woods, and has been found
Speaker 1: growing abundantly at an elevation of from three to four
Speaker 1: thousand feet. The generic name was given this plant by Linaeus,
Speaker 1: in honor of a Spanish botanist. The specific name is
Speaker 1: from the Latin meaning scarlet. Nearly all of the forty
Speaker 1: species are natives of North and South America. The flowers
Speaker 1: are dull yellow in color and are obscured by the
Speaker 1: rather large floral leaves or bracts, which are bright scarlet
Speaker 1: rarely bright yellow in color. These conspicuous leaves broader toward
Speaker 1: the apex and usually about three cleft. By the novice,
Speaker 1: They are usually mistaken for the flower, which is hardly noticeable.
Speaker 1: The stem seldom exceeds a foot in height and bears
Speaker 1: a number of leaves that are deeply cut in narrow segments.
Speaker 1: The bright color of this plant has given it many
Speaker 1: local names, more or less descriptive. Prominent among these is
Speaker 1: the Indian paint brush. A pretty myth tells us that
Speaker 1: the painted cup was originally yellow, but at Venus, when
Speaker 1: lamenting the death of Apollo, pressed a cluster of the
Speaker 1: blossoms to her parched lips and drank the dew from
Speaker 1: the flowers, the outer leaves of which have ever since
Speaker 1: retained the color of her lips end of Section twenty three.
Speaker 1: This recording is in the public domain.