Occasionally escaped from cultivation farther
north,.
Small-flowered bush honeysuckles elected to serve and be served
by bees; those with longer tubes welcomed bumblebees; the white
and yellow flowered twining honeysuckles, deep of tube and
deliciously fragrant, especially after dark, when they are still
visible, cater to the sphinx moths (see sweet wild honeysuckle);
but surely the longest-tongued bumblebee could not plumb the
depths of this slender-tubed trumpet honeysuckle, nor the
night-flying moth discover a flower that has melted into the
prevailing darkness when he begins his rounds, and takes no pains
to guide him with perfume. What creature, then, does it cater to?
After reading of the aims of the trumpet-flower on the preceding
page, no one will be surprised to hear that the ruby-throated
hummingbird's visits are responsible for most of the berries that
follow these charming, generous, abundant flowers, so eminently
to his liking. Larger migrants than he, in search of fare so
attractive, distribute the seeds far and wide.
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