BLUE AND PURPLE 



CORN COCKLE. 



Lychnis Githago. Pink Family. 



About two feet high. Leaves. Opposite, long and narrow, pale green, 

 with silky hairs. Flowers. Rose-purple, large, long-stalked. Calyx-lobes. 

 Five, long and slender, exceeding the petals. Corolla. Of five broad 

 petals. Stamens. Ten. Pistil. One, with five styles. 



In many countries some of the most beautiful and noticeable 

 flowers are commonly found in grain-fields. England's scarlet 

 poppies flood her farm-lands with glorious color in early summer; 

 while the bluets lighten the corn-fields of France. Our grain- 

 fields seem to have no native flower peculiar to them ; but often 

 we find a trespasser of foreign descent hiding among the wheat 

 or straying to the roadsides in early summer, whose deep-tinted 

 blossoms secure an instant welcome from the flower-lover if not 

 from the farmer. "What hurte it doeth among corne ! the 

 spoyle unto bread, as well in colour, taste, and unwholesomeness, 

 is better known than desired," wrote Gerarde. The large dark 

 seeds fill the ground wheat with black specks, and might be 

 injurious if existing in any great quantity. Its former generic 

 name was Agrostemma, signifying crown of the fields. Its pres- 

 ent one of Lychnis, signifies a light or lamp. 



BLUE VERVAIN. SIMPLER' s JOY. 



Verbena hastata. Vervain Family. 



Four to six feet high. Leaves. Opposite, somewhat lance-shaped, the 

 lower often lobed and sometimes halberd-shaped at base. Flowers. Purple, 

 small, in slender erect spikes. Calyx. Five-toothed. Corolla. Tubular, 

 somewhat unequally five-cleft. Stamens. -Two, in pairs. Pistil. One. 



Along the roadsides in midsummer we notice these slender 

 purple spikes, the appearance of which would be vastly improved 

 if the tiny blossoms would only consent to open simultaneously. 



In earlier times the vervain was beset with classic associa- 

 tions. It was claimed as the plant which Virgil and other poets 

 mention as being used for altar-decorations and for the garlands 

 of sacrificial beasts. It was believed to be the herba sacra of 

 the ancients, until it was understood that the generic title 

 Verbena was a word which was applied to branches of any de- 



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