VIPER 'S-BUGLOSS 



Pollinated by many insects. Nectar-bearing. Sta- 

 mens mature before the stigmas. 



"The Bugloss paints the sterile fields." 



— Crabbe. 



The Viper's-Bugloss came to us from Europe and 

 gained its first foothold in this country in Virginia, 

 thence made its way north along the coast to New 

 England and Canada, and west to the valley of the 

 Mississippi. 



The flowers are clustered upon one side of a tightly 

 curled raceme, which the books call a scorpoid inflores- 

 cence, because the stem curls like the tail of a scorpion. 

 The color runs on the chord of blue. The flower-buds 

 are pink; as they develop they become a most intense 

 blue and they vary by age to reddish purple. The 

 result is a very brilliant color scheme. Both stamens 

 and pistil are rosy tinted and project beyond the 

 corolla, which gives a touch of softness to the flower. 

 The central stem branches freely and every branch is 

 tipped with a blossoming raceme, and the result is 

 that a well-grown specimen in bloom is a very gorgeous 

 affair. Farmers, however, do not admire well-grown 

 specimens, for the plant is a troublesome weed as its 

 root system is strong and well developed, which makes 

 it difficult of eradication. The entire plant is hairy 

 and bristly from top to toe, so that it escapes all graz- 

 ing animals. It produces abtmdant nectar and is 

 visited by many insects. Muller reports having seen 

 sixty-seven species about it— consequently it ripens 

 many seeds. 



The English name is Viper's-Bugloss, the specific 

 name is from Echium, the Greek for viper. For an 



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