JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER. 



195 



Viper's Bugloss, 

 or Blueweed. 



Echiuiii vulgar e. 



Along tlie banks of the Hudson, be- 

 side Esopus Creek, and on waste 

 ground, in parts of the country where 

 civilization has its strongest foothold, there the blue- 

 weed's seeds have obtained a lodgment ; but 

 I have not found it yet in the fields of 

 New Hampshire. Gray says it came to 

 us from the old gardens of Europe, and 

 has become a weed in the fields from 

 Pennsylvania to Virginia and south- 

 Avard, but I have found it on the 

 banks of the Neponset River near 

 Boston, and it is very common in 

 the vicinity of Hoboken. It pos- 

 sesses a charming aesthetic color ; 

 the green is soft and silvery, 

 and the blossom is violet-blue 

 when open and crimson-pink 

 when in the bud. The curv- 

 ing lines of the flower-bearing 

 branches are very beautiful. 

 The plant is rough and bristly, 

 grows about two feet high, and 

 blooms during the early sum- 

 mer and on into September. Lycojjsis a?'vensis (small 

 bugloss), about a foot high, bears smaller blue flowers 

 on a bristly stem. It is rarer than blueweed. 



Viper's BurIoss, or Blue- 

 tt eed. 



