Turtlehead

 Hello fellow flower lovers..... you may think I have been away, but actually the blogger site was experiencing a glitch. During that time I have found two more beauties. One is the Turtle Head ,  the other for the next post is our fall wild orchid, the Ladies Tresses.  You may wonder how the Turtlehead got its name and so was I .... because it doesn't really look like a turtle head to me. You know what it does resemble........ Mr. Limpet...... Don Knots turns into a fish in an old Walt Disney Movie. Well anyway, I did find that the genus name is Chelone glabra. Chelone is Greek for Tortoise. This, though, does not explain why..... Turtlehead. In an old 1917 flower guide by Neltje Blanchan, it is written
about how difficult it is to enter this flower before the anthers have matured enough to dust pollen on the insects that make it in . She also mentioned that when it is ready, the plant is a little easier to enter, though even the Bumble Bee with all its brawn has to struggle to get in. Here is what she writes in such an amusing way " At the moment when he  (the bee)  is forcing his way in, causing the lower lip to spring up and down, the eyeless turtle seems to chew and chew until the most sedate beholder must smile at the paradoxical show. Of course it is the bee that is feeding, though the flower would seem to be masticating the bee with the keenest relish ! The counterfeit tortoise soon disgorges its lively mouthful, however,, and away flies the bee, carrying pollen on his velvety back to rub on the stigma of an older flower."   So there you have it. Don't you love these older flower guides..... there are people behind the words.

Where I found it : in a friend's field where it tends to be wet