BLUE AND PURPLE 



BLUEWEED. VIPER'S BUGLOSS. 



[PI. CXXXIX 



Echium vulgare. Borage Family. 



Stem. Rough; bristly; erect; about two feet high. Leaves. Alter- 

 nate ; lance- shaped ; set close to the stem. Flowers. Bright blue ; spiked 

 on one side of the branches, which are at first rolled up from the end, 

 straightening as the blossoms expand. Calyx. Five-parted. Corolla. 

 Of five somewhat unequal, spreading lobes. Stamens. Five; protruding; 

 red. Pistil. One. 



When the blueweed first came to us from across the sea it 

 secured a foothold in Virginia. Since then it has gradually 

 worked its way northward, lining the Hudson's shores, over- 

 running many of the dry fields in its vicinity, and making itself 

 at home in parts of New England. We should be obliged to 

 rank it among the " pestiferous" weeds were it not that, as a 

 rule, it only seeks to monopolize land which is not good for very 

 much else. The pinkish buds and bright blue blossoms, with 

 their red protruding stamens, make a valuable addition, from the 

 aesthetic point of view, to the bunch of midsummer field-flowers 

 in which hitherto the various shades of red and yellow have pre- 

 dominated. 



VENUS'S LOOKING-GLASS. 



Specularia perfoliata. Campanula Family. 



Stem. Somewhat hairy; three to twenty inches high. Leaves. 

 Toothed ; rounded ; clasping by the heart-shaped base. Flowers. Blue. 

 Calyx. Three, four, or five-lobed. Corolla. Wheel- shaped ; five-lobed. 

 Stamens. Five. Pistil. One, with three stigmas. 



We borrow from Mr. Burrough's "Bunch of Herbs" a de- 

 scription of this little plant, which blossoms from May till Au- 

 gust. "A pretty and curious little weed, sometimes found 

 growing in the edge of the garden, is the clasping specularia, a 

 relative of the harebell and of the European Venus's looking- 

 glass. Its leaves are shell-shaped, and clasp the stalk so as to 

 form little shallow cups. In the bottom of each cup three buds 



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