= = Lk ‘N 
Lf pumt rs 
S/&0 
aaa > N waste places, wherever 
, | the soil is fairly light, we 
-may look for a rough leafy plant, 
two or three feet in height, with 
ce curving sprays of red and blue 
r= flowers and buds. These sprays 
are at first short, with the buds 
closely packed together, but as they open in turn, 
and become blue, the cyme increases greatly 
in length and the seed-vessels become distinct 
one from another. This is the curiously - named 
Viper’s Bugloss (Hchium vulgare), the second word 
having reference to the shape and roughness of the 
leaves, which are supposed to resemble the tongue of 
the ox—Greek, bows, ox, and glossa, tongue. The 
irregularly five-lobed corolla is funnel-shaped, ex- 
panding widely at the mouth, and is thus suited for 
the visits of many insects that differ considerably in 
size and other respects. The large humble-bees can 
get their heads well in, and reach the honey with 
235 
