BLUE AND PURPLE 



the trio : the two large bright petals commemorating the brother 

 botanists, while the small and unpretentious one perpetuates the 

 memory of him who was so unwise as to take little or no interest 

 in so noble a science. These flowers appear throughout the sum- 

 mer in cool woods and on moist banks. 



BLUE LINARIA. BLUE TOADFLAX. 



Linaria Canadensis. Figwort Family. 



Stems. Slender, six to thirty inches high. Leaves. Linear. Flowers. 

 Pale blue or purple, small, in a long terminal raceme. Calyx. Five- 

 parted. Corolla. Two-lipped, with a slender spur, closed in the throat. 

 Stamens. Four. Pistil. One. 



The slender spikes of the blue linaria flank the sandy road- 

 sides nearly all summer, and even in November we find a few 

 delicate blossoms still left upon the elongated stems. These 

 flowers have a certain spirituality which is lacking in their hand- 

 some, self-assertive relation, butter-and-eggs. 



SPIDERWORT. 



Tradescantia Virginica. Spiderwort Family. 



Stems. Mucilaginous, leafy, mostly upright. Leaves. Linear, keeled. 

 Flowers. Blue, clustered, with floral leaves as in the day-flower. Calyx. 

 Of three sepals. Corolla. Of three petals. Stamens. Six, with bearded 

 filaments. Pistil. One. 



The flowers of the spiderwort, like those of the day-flower, to 

 which they are nearly allied, are very perishable, lasting only a 

 few hours. They are found throughout the summer, somewhat 

 south and westward. The genus is named in honor of Trades- 

 cant, gardener to Charles I. of England. 



PICKEREL-WEED. 



Pontedaria cordata. Pickerel-weed Family. 



Stem. Stout, usually one-leaved. Leaves. Arrow or heart-shaped. 

 Flowers. Blue, fading quickly, with an unpleasant odor, growing in a dense 

 spike. Perianth. Two-lipped, the upper lip three-lobed and marked with 

 a double greenish-yellow spot, the lower of three spreading divisions. Sta- 

 mens. Six, three long and protruding, the three others, which are often im- 

 perfect, very short and inserted lower down. Pistil. One. 



The pickerel- weed grows in such shallow water as the pick- 

 erel seek, or else in moist, wet places along the shores of streams 



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