BLUE AND PURPLE 



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- v 

 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. 



BLUEBELLS. VIRGINIAN COWSLIP. LUNGWORT. 



Mertensia Virginica. Borage Family. 



One to two feet high. Stem. Smooth, pale, erect. Leaves. Oblong, 

 veiny. Flowers. Blue, pinkish in bud, in raceme-like clusters which are 

 rolled up from the end and straighten as the flowers expand. Calyx. Five- 

 cleft. Corolla. Trumpet-shaped, one inch long, spreading. Stamens. 

 Five. Pistil. One. 



These very lovely blossoms are found in moist places during 

 April and May in parts of New York as well as south and west- 

 ward. The English naturalist, Mr. Alfred Wallace, seeing them, 

 for the first time, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, writes in the 

 Fortnightly Review: " In a damp river-bottom, the exquisite 

 blue Mertensia Virginica was found. It is called here the ' Vir- 

 ginian cowslip,' its drooping porcelain-blue bells being somewhat 

 of the size and form of those of the true cowslip." 



BLUE-EYED MARY. INNOCENCE. 



Collinsia verna. Figwort Family. 



Six to twenty inches high. Stems. Branching, slender. Leaves. Op- 

 posite, the lower oval, the upper ovate lance-shaped, clasping by the heart- 

 shaped base. Flowers. Blue and white, long-stalked, appearing whorled 

 in the axils of the upper leaves. Calyx. Deeply five-cleft. Corolla. 

 Deeply two-lipped, the upper lip two-cleft, the lower three-cleft. Stamens. 

 Four. Pistil. One. 



Unfortunately these dainty flowers are not found farther 

 east than Western New York. From there they spread south 

 and westward, abounding so plentifully in the vicinity of Cin- 

 cinnati that the moist meadows are blue with their blossoms in 

 spring or early summer. 



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