BLUE AND PURPLE 



have are wanting. These flower-heads are surrounded by an 

 involucre composed of small scales which are tipped with a tiny 

 point and are usually of a purplish color also. 



SPIDERWORT. 



Tradescantia Virginica. Spiderwort Family. 



Stems. — Mucilaginous ; leafy ; mostly upright. Leaves. — Linear ; keeled. 

 Flowers. — Blue ; clustered ; with floral leaves as in the day-flower. Calyx. — 

 Of three sepals. Corolla. — Of three petals. Stamens. — Six; with bearded 

 filaments. Pistil. — One. 



The flowers of the spiderwort, like those of the day-flower, to 

 which they are nearly allied, are very perishable, lasting only a 

 few hours. They are found throughout the summer, somewhat 

 south and westward. The genus is named in honor of Trades- 

 cant, gardener to Charles I. of England. 



BLAZING STAR. 



Liatris scariosa. Composite Family. 



Stem. — Simple; stout ; hoary ; two to five feet high. Leaves. — Alternate, 

 narrowly lance-shaped. Flower-heads. — Racemed along the upper part of 

 the stem ; composed entirely of tubular flowers of a beautiful shade of rose- 

 purple. 



These showy and beautiful flowers lend still another tint to 

 the many-hued salt marshes and glowing inland meadows of the 

 falling year. Gray assigns them to dry localities from New 

 England to Minnesota and southward, while my own experience 

 of them is limited to the New England coast, where their stout 

 leafy stems and bright-hued blossoms are noticeable among the 

 golden-rods and asters of September. The hasty observer some- 

 times confuses the plant with the iron-weed, but the two flowers 

 are very different in color and in their manner of growth. 



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