Blue to Purple Flowers 281 



The False Forget-me-not may, in reality, be easily distin- 

 guished from the true species by a very simple fact, which, 

 once understood and noted, will never again be overlooked. 

 When in fruit the " False " species bears numerous nutlets 

 covered with prickles, in fact tiny burs, which give it the 

 common name of Stickseed, and certainly these little seeds do 

 stick, and stick very fast indeed, to the clothing of persons 

 and the fur of passing animals. The true Forget-me-not 

 has no burs. 



The stems and long narrow leaves of the Lappula nori- 

 bunda are covered with a slight soft down. It grows very 

 tall under favourable circumstances, such as near water and 

 on the open sunshiny slopes, and its flowers, blue as heaven 

 itself, or very occasionally white, are funnel-form, the tube 

 being very short and having its throat nearly closed by five 

 flat lobes, which form a circular arching crest in the centre. 

 The tiny stamens, and the style with its minute capitate 

 stigma, are set inside this bright yellow circle, or " eye." 



It matters little, after all, whether these flowers are 

 " False " or true ; they are beautiful to look upon, and very 

 fragrant, as they hold their 



" Festival 

 Of breaking bud and scented breath " 



high up in some alpine meadow, where the air is fresh and 

 wholesome and where the whole world seems full of won- 

 derful possibilities. 



Lappula diffusa, or Rock Stickseed, is somewhat like the 

 preceding species, but not so tall, and has wider and more 

 pointed leaves. The blue flowers, too, are larger, though 

 fewer in number, and the extremely prickly nutlets have 

 stalks more than a quarter of an inch long. 



Lappula echinata, or Burseed, has much smaller leaves 



