BLUE AND PURPLE 



curious pitcher-like leaves, which are usually partially filled with 

 water and drowned insects ; part of their inner surface being 

 covered with a sugary exudation, below which, for a space, they 

 are highly polished, while on the lower portion grow the stiff 

 bristles which point downward. Insects attracted by the sugary 

 secretion find themselves prisoners, as they can seldom fight 

 their way through the opposing bristles, neither can they usually 

 escape by such a perpendicular flight as would be necessary from 

 the form of the cavity. The decomposed bodies of these unfort- 

 unates are supposed to contribute to the nourishment of the 

 plant, as it is hardly probable that this elaborate contrivance 

 answers no special purpose. 



WILD GERANIUM. WILD CRANESBILL. 



Geranium maculatum. Geranium Family. 



Stem. Erect, hairy. Leaves. About five-parted, the divisions lobed 

 and cut. Flowers. Pale pink-purple, rather large. Calyx. Of five se- 

 pals. Corolla. Of five petals. Stamens. Ten. Pistil. With five styles, 

 which split apart at maturity so elastically as to discharge the seeds to some 

 distance. 



In spring and early summer the open woods and shaded 

 roadsides are abundantly brightened with these graceful flowers. 

 They are of peculiar interest because of their close kinship with 

 the species, G. pratense, which first attracted the attention of 

 the German scholar, Sprengel, to the close relations existing be- 

 tween flowers and insects. The beak-like appearance of its fruit 

 give the plant both its popular and scientific names, for geranium 

 is from the Greek for crane. The specific title, maculatum, re- 

 fers to the somewhat blotched appearance of the older leaves. 



GlLL-OVER-THE-GROUND. GROUND IVY. 

 Nepeta Glechoma. Mint Family (p. 16). 



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 suggest, this little plant 

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



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