Zenobia flowers

Item information

Title:

Zenobia flowers

Description:

Zenobia (honey cups); Original label on slide: [704 or 804 ?]; From Natural Gardens (pages 63-65): "In all of the bogs no more beautiful flowers are borne by any plant than the pendent bells of the honey-cup (Fig. 36). Developed profusely in long terminal inflorescences, they make a most attractive picture, especially when one finds them in masses where the shrubs are thick. It is the blue-ribbon winner of our bog society (Fig. 37). It gets its name from the story that the blossom has honey in the base, but due to the conformation of the flower, the bees cannot reach it. The reason given for tantalizing these seemingly harmless insects is that God, disliking the misbehavior of the bees in working on Sunday, made the attractive but useless honey-cup to punish them. It is to be suggested that there is as much doubt in regard to the first part of the story as the last. Like most of our bog heaths, this one is a very low producer of nectar. Reference to the leaf diagrams will help in identifying this desirable form (Fig. 33). There are two forms of leaves as to shape, both of which are shown. The species z. pulverulenta differs from the other one in having the underside of the leaf covered with a heavy white bloom which makes its appearance totally distinctive from all the rest. This latter plant is not common. It has been observed by the writer occurring in the small stream border bogs of the Sandhill district. Both species are very desirable for landscape work if they can be given a reasonably moist place with partial shade. The author has grown this shrub at Raleigh on a north wooded slope for many years. It does not flower so profusely in such a place but the flowers one does obtain are so lovely as to make any effort to grow this species well worth while.

Topics:

Botany

Subjects:

Flowering shrubs
Flowers
Honeycups (Zenobia pulverulenta)
Shrubs

Original Format:

Hand colored lantern slide

Extent:

3.25 x 4 in.

Item identifier:

0021003

Photographer:

Wells, B. W. (Bertram Whittier), 1884-1978 more info on Wells, B. W. (Bertram Whittier), 1884-1978 

Created Date:

1920 to 1932

Genre:

Close-up views

Location:

Eastern (N.C. : Region)

Digital Project:

B. W. Wells