132 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



Blue Vervain. Blue vei'vaiu is a tall weed with 

 Vcrheiia hat^tata. j-jj^y liomelj flowci's, that grows ill 

 waste places and beside the road. There is very little 

 suggestion of blue about it ; the 

 flowers are decidedly purple, 

 and so few of them are in 

 bloom at one time that they 

 lack color effect. The plant be- 

 gins to show its tiny blossoms 

 in July. It is a relative of our 

 beautiful garden verbenas, as its 

 name implies. 

 Water Arum. The water arum, 

 Calia paludvis. which is similar 

 in appearance to the cultivated 

 hothouse flower called calla lily 

 (wrongly named, as it does not 

 belong to the Lily family), is 

 common in boggy places north 

 of Pennsylvania. It flowers in 

 early . summer, and is certainly 

 pretty enough to deserve culti- 

 vation ; but its magniflcent rela- 

 tive, so much superior in size, 

 evidently precludes the prob- 

 ability of the horticulturist taking interest in the 

 lesser flower. It seems a pity, for the wild calla is 



Blue Vervain. 



