BLUE AND PURPLE 



Its taste and odor nearly resemble that of the true pennyroyal, 

 Mentha pulegium, of Europe. 



MONKEY-FLOWER. 



Mimulus ringens. Figwort Family. 



Stem. Square, one to two feet high. Leaves. Opposite, oblong or lance- 

 shaped. Flowers. Pale violet-purple, rarely white, growing singly from 

 the axils of the leaves. Calyx. Five-angled, five-toothed, the upper tooth 

 largest. Corolla. Tubular, two-lipped, the upper lip erect or spreading, 

 two-lobed, the lower spreading and three-lobed, the throat closed. Sta- 

 mens. Four. Pistil. One, with a two-lobed stigma. 



From late July onward the monkey-flowers tinge the wet 

 fields and border the streams and ponds ; not growing in the 

 water like the pickerel- weed, but seeking a hummock in the 

 swamp, or a safe foothold on the brook's edge, where they can ab- 

 sorb the moisture requisite to their vigorous growth. 



The name is a diminutive of mimus a buffoon, and refers to 

 the somewhat grinning blossom. The plant is a common one 

 throughout the eastern part of the country. 



COMMON MOTHERWORT. 



Leonurus cardiaca. Mint Family (p. 16). 



Stem. Tall and upright. Leaves. Opposite, the lower rounded and 

 lobed, the floral wedge-shaped at base and three-cleft. Flowers. Pale 

 purple, in close whorls in the axils of the leaves. Calyx. "With five 

 nearly equal teeth, which are awl-shaped, and when old rather spiny, pointed, 

 and spreading." (Gray.) Corolla. Two-lipped, the upper lip somewhat 

 arched and bearded, the lower three-lobed and spreading. Stamens. 

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



The tall erect stems, opposite leaves, and regular whorls? of 

 closely clustered pale purple flowers help us to easily identify the 

 motherwort, if identification be needed, for it seems as though 

 such old-fashioned, time-honored plants as catnip, tansy, and 

 motherwort, which cling so persistently to the skirts of the old 

 homestead in whose domestic economy they once played so im- 

 portant a part, should be familiar to us all. 



250 



