BLUE AND PURPLE 



might almost believe the Apostle had had it in mind, were it to 

 be found in the East. 



The blue-eyed grass belongs to the same family as the showy 

 fleur-de-lis and blossoms during the summer, being especially 

 plentiful in moist meadows. It is sometimes called " eye- 

 bright," which name belongs by rights to Euphrasia officinalis. 



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. Burroughs's " Bunch of Herbs " a de- 

 scription of this little plant, which blossoms from May till August. 

 " 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 appear 

 that never expand into flowers, but when the top of the stalk is 

 reached, one and sometimes two buds open a large, delicate pur- 

 ple-blue corolla. All the first-born of this plant are still-born 

 as it were ; only the latest, which spring from its summit, attain 

 to perfect bloom." 



SKULL-CAP. 



Scutellaria. Mint Family (p. 16). 



Stem. Square, usually one or two feet high. Leaves. Opposite, ob- 

 long, lance-shaped or linear. Flovvers. Blue. Calyx. Two-lipped, the 

 upper lip with a small, helmet-like appendage which at once identifies this 

 genus. Corolla. Two-lipped, the upper lip arched, the lateral lobes mostly 

 connected with the upper lip, the lower lip spreading and notched at the 

 apex. Stamens. Four, in pairs. Pistil. One, with a two-lobed style. 



The prettiest and most striking of this genus is the larger 

 skull-cap, S. integrifolia, whose bright blue flowers are about 

 one inch long, growing in terminal racemes. In June and July 

 they may be found among the long grass of the roadsides and 



242 



