CUPHEA VISCOSISSIMA. 



BLUE WAX-WEED. 



NATURAL ORDER, RYTIIRACE/E. 



Cuphfa vtscostssima, Jacquin. — Annual, clammy-pubescent; leaves thin, opposite, ovate- 

 lanceolate, long petioled, rough ; flowers nearly sessile, borne between the petioles, solitary ; 

 petals violet-purple; stamens 12. (Chapman's Flora of the Southern States, See also 

 Gray's Manual and Wood's Class-Book of Botany.) 



HIS plant, known by the common name of " Blue Wax- 

 Weed," is not particularly showy, but is sure to attract 

 the collector by its singular structure. The flower has six petals 

 inserted on the calyx, but four of them are mere narrow threads, 

 leaving to the two upper ones the support of all the reputation 

 for beauty the little flower may possess. We are often tempted 

 to believe that the color of a flower is for the purpose of attracting 

 insects. It may be so, and there are many botanists who accept 

 this as the true explanation of the motive for color. Yet it 

 would seem that our plant would have been better served in this 

 respect if all the six petals were of equal prominence in size and 

 color ; and it is more than likely, if flowers be really intended to 

 attract insects, and if, as some botanists further contend, certain 

 special flowers are even specially designed to attract special 

 insects, that form is quite as important as color in this respect, 

 and that the variety of form as well as the origin of color may be 

 due to the same cause. 



The calyx and stems are somewhat colored, and so help to 

 make the plant attractive. There is a slight swelling on the 

 upper side of the calyx at the base, which gives it a gibbous 

 appearance, and this suggested the botanical name, Cuphea, which 



