BLUE AND PURPLE 



THYME-LEAVED SPEEDWELL. 



Veronica serpyllifolia. Figwort Family. 



Stem. Much branched at the creeping base ; almost smooth. Leaves. 

 Obscurely toothed ; almost smooth. Flowers. Whitish or pale blue 

 with deeper stripes ; in loose terminal clusters, otherwise as in above. 



The thyme-leaved speedwell is beginning to make itself con- 

 spicuous on our lawns, as well as in the fields and along the 

 roadsides. 



WILD LUPINE. 



Lupinus perennis. Pulse Family. 



Stem. Erect; one to two feet high. Leaves. Divided into seven to 

 eleven leaflets. Flowers. Blue ; papilionaceous ; showy ; in a long ra- 

 ceme. Pod. Broad ; hairy. 



In June the long bright clusters of the wild lupine are 

 very noticeable in many of our sandy fields. Its pea-like 

 blossoms serve easily to identify it. Under date of June 8th, 

 Thoreau writes : " The lupine is now in its glory. ... It 

 paints a whole hill-side with its blue, making such a field (if not 

 meadow) as Proserpine might have wandered in. Its leaf was 

 made to be covered with dew-drops. I am quite excited by 

 this prospect of blue flowers in clumps, with narrow intervals, 

 such a profusion of the heavenly, the Elysian color, as if these 

 were the Elysian fields. . . . That is the value of the lu- 

 pine. The earth is blued with it. ' ' 



FORGET-ME-NOT. 



Myosotis laxa. Borage Family. 



Stems. Slender. Leaves. Alternate, lance-oblong. Flowers. Blue; 

 small, growing in a raceme. Calyx. Five-lobed. Corolla. Salver-shaped, 

 five-toothed. Stamens. Five. Pistil. One. 



Along the banks of the stream, and in low, wet places, 

 throughout the summer, we may look for these exquisite little 

 flowers. Our plant is smaller and less luxuriant than the Euro- 

 pean species. 



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