WILD FLOWERS BLUE AND PURPLE 



close its whereabouts, but, instead, cherish its dis- 

 covery with secrecy and number it among your choicest 

 and rarest wild flowers as one that demands your pro- 

 tection. 



The Marsh Clematis, C. crispa, is our most beau- 

 tiful Southern species, and bears large, fragrant, soli- 

 tary, nodding, and bell-shaped flowers. They are 

 bluish purple, and from three-quarters to an inch and 

 a half long, with the petal-like sepals of thin texture, 

 and widely spreading and backward curved from the 

 opening of the cup which they form. Their broad 

 margins are prettily crimped and wavy. The long 

 tails of the seed cases are silky and less plumy than 

 the foregoing species. The leaves are compound, and 

 the three or more lance-shaped leaflets are generally 

 entire or occasionally lobed and thin textured. 

 This climbing vine grows three or four feet in 

 length, and is found in marshes from southeastern 

 Virginia to Florida and Texas, through May 

 and June. 



The Leather Flower, C. Virona, is found from May 

 to August, climbing over bushes in rich soil, sometimes 

 to the height of ten feet, from southern Pennsylvania to 

 Ohio and West Virginia, south to Georgia and Ten- 

 nessee, and also westward and northward. The 

 solitary purple flowers are bell-shaped and nodding. 

 They have no petals, but the four petal-like sepals 

 measure about an inch long, and are pointed and 

 usually slightly recurved at the apex. They are very 

 thick and leathery. The flower is scentless. The 



