Honeysuckle Family

( Originally Published 1908 )

CAPRIFOLIACEAE

TWIN-FLOWER. To the botanist the beautiful little blossoms of the Twin-flower or Linnĉa are valued not only for their delicate beauty and delicious fragrance but also because this blossom was chosen to perpetuate the name of the great founder of botanical science--Linnĉus, the Swedish naturalist. In its structure the flower is also of decided interest. The inside of the blossom is filled with hairs projecting transversely from the corolla, while the outside of the flower-stalk and the calyx is covered with glandular hairs. Both of these are evidently devices for preventing the visits of ants and other unbidden guests. The stigma projects beyond the stamens, so that cross-fertilization is insured. The flower is probably visited by small bees.

The Twin-flower is one of the very few herbaceous plants that belong to the great Honeysuckle family, most of the members of which are shrubs. This family includes the numerous species of

Honeysuckle which are found in the United States, as well as the Hobble-bush, Cranberry-tree, Elder and various other well-known shrubs.

The Twin-flower is a northern species, inhabiting cool woods not only in the northern regions of North America but also those of northern Europe and northern Asia. Although the flowers develop into a rounded three-celled fruit, only one of the cells bears a seed. The plants run along the ground in a way suggestive of our familiar Partridge Vine.