BLUE AND PURPLE 



in wet places as far south as North Carolina, its most favorite 

 haunt being perhaps a cranberry-swamp. Concerning it, Mr. 

 Burroughs writes : " Arethusa was one of the nymphs who at- 

 tended Diana, and was by that goddess turned into a fountain, 

 that she might escape the god of the river Alpheus, who became 

 desperately in love with her on seeing her at her bath. Our 

 Arethusa is one of the prettiest of the orchids, and has been pur- 

 sued through many a marsh and quaking-bog by her lovers. She 

 is a bright pink-purple flower, an inch or more long, with the 

 odor of sweet violets. The sepals and petals rise up and arch 

 over the column, which we may call the heart of the flower, as 

 ifshielding it. In Plymouth County, Mass., where the Arethusa 

 seems common, I have heard it called Indian pink." 



BLUE VERVAIN. SIMPLER'S JOY. 



Verbena hastata. Vervain Family. 



Four to six feet high. Leaves, Opposite; somewhat lance-shaped ; the 

 lower often lobed and sometimes halberd-shaped at base. Flowers. Pur- 

 ple; small; in slender erect spikes. Calyx. Five-toothed. Corolla. 

 Tubular, somewhat unequally five-cleft. Stamens. Four; in pairs. Pistil. 

 One. 



Along the roadsides in midsummer we notice these slender 

 purple spikes, the appearance of which would be vastly improved 

 if the tiny blossoms would only consent to open simultaneously. 



In earlier times the vervain was beset with classic associa- 

 tions. It was claimed as the plant which Virgil and other poets 

 mention as being used for altar-decorations and for the garlands 

 of sacrificial beasts. It was believed to be the herba sacra of 

 the ancients, until it was understood that the generic title Ver- 

 bena was a word which was applied to branches of any de- 

 scription which were used in religious rites. It certainly seems, 

 however, to have been applied to some special plant in the time 

 of Pliny, for he writes that no plant was more honored among 

 the Romans than the sacred Verbena. In more modern times 

 as well the vervain has been regarded as an * ' herb of grace, ' ' 



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