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Where the white
variety grows, one might think a light snowfall had powdered the
grass, or a milky way of tiny floral stars had streaked a
terrestrial path. Linnaeus named the flower for Dr. Houston, a
young English physician, botanist, and collector, who died in
South America in 1733, after an exhausting tramp about the Gulf
of Mexico.
To secure cross-fertilization, the object toward which so much
marvelous floral organism is directed, this little plant puts
forth two forms of blossoms - one with the stamens in the lower
portion of the corolla tube, and the stigmas exserted; the other
form with the stigmas below, and the stamens elevated to the
mouth of the corolla. But the two kinds do not grow in the same
patch, seed from either producing after its kind. Many insects
visit these blossoms, but chiefly small bees and butterflies.
Conspicuous among the latter is the common little meadow
fritillary (Brenthis bellona), whose tawny, dark-speckled wings
expand and close in apparent ecstasy as he tastes the tiny drop
of nectar in each dainty enameled cup.


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