BLUE AND PURPLE 



be found along the roadsides. The botanical name, Brunella, 

 is a corruption from Prunella, which is taken from the German 

 for quinsy, for which this plant was considered a certain cure. 

 It was also used in England as an application to the wounds re- 

 ceived by rustic laborers, as its common names, carpenter's 

 herb, hook-heal, and sicklewort, imply. That the French had a 

 similar practice is proved by an old proverb of theirs to the ef- 

 fect that " No one wants a surgeon who keeps Prune He" 



WILD BERGAMOT. 



Monarda fistulosa. Mint Family (p. 16). 



Two to five feet high. Leaves. Opposite, fragrant, toothed. Flowers. 

 Purple or purplish, dotted, growing in a solitary, terminal head. Calyx. 

 Tubular, elongated, five-toothed. Corolla. Elongated, two-lipped. Sta- 

 mens. Two, elongated. Pistil. One, with style two-lobed at apex. 



Although the wild bergamot is occasionally found in our 

 eastern woods, it is far more abundant westward, where it is 

 found in rocky places in summer. This is a near relative of the 

 bee balm (PL LXXXIL), which it closely resembles in its man- 

 ner of growth. 



DAY-FLOWER. 



Commelina Virginica. SpicTerwort Family. 



Stem. Slender, branching. Leaves. Lance-shaped to linear, the floral 

 ones heart-shaped and clasping, folding so as to enclose the flowers. Flow- 

 ers. Blue. Calyx. Of three unequal somewhat colored sepals, the two 

 lateral ones partly united. Corolla. Of three petals, two large, rounded, 

 pale blue, one small, whitish, and inconspicuous. Stamens. Six, unequal 

 in size, three small and sterile, with yellow cross-shaped anthers, three fer- 

 tile, one of which is bent inwai'd. Pistil. One. 



The odd day-flower is so named because its delicate blossoms 

 only expand for a single morning. At the first glance there seem 

 to be but two petals which are large, rounded, and of a delicate 

 shade of blue. A closer examination, however, discovers still 

 another, so inconspicuous in form and color as to escape the 

 notice of the casual observer. This inequality recalls the quaint 

 tradition as to the origin of the plant's generic name. There 

 were three brothers Commelin, natives of Holland. Two of 

 them were botanists of repute, while the tastes of the third had 

 a less marked botanical tendency. The genus was dedicated to 



256 



