The Azalea

Can it be true you are a fraud?

That your fair gown's a luring snare?

Such dismal rumors are abroad,

0, Blossom Dear, beware, beware.

Azalea a lovely plant, but poisonous to young children and pets!

       All the flowers you have been studying bloom out near the ground; but you know that there are flowers on bushes above your heads. One of the loveliest flowers you see on your summer vacation comes out on a bush. Sometimes its flowers are low enough for you to reach; sometimes they are higher than a giant's stretch. This is the Azalea.

       You see her lovely bushes along the streams. At the end of the branches are crowded many large flowers. Some are white with markings of pink or of yellow, and others are pink.

       The Azalea has a simple calyx cut into five sepals. Her corolla, too, is of five parts, but she has joined the lower parts of the petals together. No bug can creep in at the bottom. He has to enter at the top if he wants to taste her honey.

       Azalea grows very long stamens that reach quite outside the corolla. The pistil comes from the center and reaches still further out than the stamens. Tiny bugs could crawl into Azalea's heart without getting pollen upon them.

       But if a butterfly or a humming-bird dips its tongue in, it will surely hit the loose hanging anthers and be powdered with the pollen. Then, when it goes to the next Azalea, it will first touch the top of the pistil and leave there the pollen.

       When the pollen gets to the ovules, the seeds begin to grow. You would expect large seeds from so large a plant. But no. The Azalea seems to want to get many new plants started. So she packs her seedcase full of tiny seeds, many, many of them. She makes the seed-case hard and woody, so that they will be well taken care of until they are ready to grow in a new place. Look at it. How do the seeds get out?

       The Azalea does not send out her blossoms until the bush is well covered with leaves. Then she groups the flowers at the end of the branches. They can well be seen by any flying creature. They are hidden from the ground by the leaves. Any one coming up from the ground has a long hard journey through her forest of leaves. That is why Azalea grows this way. She does not care for the insects that live at the ground.

       Look at a leaf. See how thick it is. How heavy its veins are. See how it curves its edges downward so that all the rain will drop off. Is the lower side the same as the upper?

       It is said that the honey of the Azalea is poisonous; that even the honey in a beehive, which the bees have collected from the Azalea is poisonous. I do not know if this is true; but little children had better leave it alone. It is all right to enjoy the honey of White Forget-Me-Not, but never eat any part of the Azalea.

       Even if it is unwise to touch your tongue to Azalea, you can feast your eyes on her beauty. She is a handsome addition to our gardens. Her form is graceful and her leaves glossy. You can bring in a bush from the wilds, or you can buy one at the florist's. It will grow easily and give you much pleasure throughout the year. But, make sure you are aware of whether or not it is poisonous to eat!

7 common poisonous plants found in your garden!
Gardener's beware... from Cityline.

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