BLUE AND PURPLE 



BLUETS. QUAKER LADIES. 



Hoiistonia carulea. Madder Family. 



Stem. Erect ; three to five inches high. Leaves. Very small ; oppo 

 site. Flowers. Small ; delicate blue, lilac, or nearly white, with a yellow- 

 ish eye. Calyx. Four-lobed. Corolla. Salver-shaped ; four-lobed ; co^ 

 rolla-tube long and slender. Stamens. Four. Pistil. One, with two 

 stigmas. 



No one who has been in New England during the month 

 of May can forget the loveliness of the bluets. The road- 

 sides, meadows, and even the lawns are thickly carpeted with 

 the dainty enamel-like blossoms, which are always pretty, but 

 which seems to flourish with especial vigor and in great profusion 

 in this lovely region. Less plentiful, perhaps, but still common 

 is the little plant in grassy places far south and west, blossoming 

 in early spring. 



The flowers are among those which botanists term "dimor- 

 phous. ' ' This word signifies occurring in two forms, and refers 

 to the stamens and pistils, which vary in size, some flowers hav- 

 ing a tall pistil and short stamens, others tall stamens and a short 

 pistil. Darwin has proved, not only that one of these flowers 

 can seldom fully fertilize itself, but that usually the blossoms 

 with tall pistils must be fertilized with pollen from the tall sta- 

 mens, and that the short pistils are only acted upon by the short 

 stamens. With a good magnifier and a needle these two forms 

 can easily be studied. This is one of the many interesting safe- 

 guards against close fertilization. 



GILL-OVER-THE-GROUND. GROUND IVY. 



Nepeta Glechoma. Mint Family. 



Stems. Creeping and trailing. Leaves. Small and kidney- shaped. 

 Flowers. Bluish-purple ; loosely clustered in the axils of the leaves. Calyx. 

 Five-toothed. Corolla. Two-lipped ; the upper lip erect and two-cleft, 

 the lower spreading and three-cleft. Stamens. Four. Pistil. One, two- 

 lobed at the apex. 



As the pleasant aroma of its leaves suggests, this little plant 

 is closely allied to the catnip. Its common title of Gill-over-the- 



274 



