* 



4 



BLUE AND PURPLE 



BEACH PEA. 



Lathyrus maritimus. Pulse Family (p. 16). 



About one foot high, or more. Stem. Stout. Leaves. Divided into 

 from three to five pairs of thick oblong leaflets. Flowers. Papilionaceous, 

 large, purple, clustered. 



The deep-hued flowers of this stout plant are commonly 

 found along the sand-hills of the seashore, and also on the shores 

 of the Great Lakes, blooming in early summer. Both flowers 

 and leaves are at once recognized as belonging to the Pulse fam- 

 ily. 



Strophostyles angulosa. Pulse Family (p. 16). 



Stems. Branched, one to six feet long, prostrate or climbing. Leaves. 

 Divided into three leaflets, which are more or less prominently lobed toward 

 the base, the terminal two-lobed ; or some or all without lobes. Flowers. 

 Purplish or greenish, on long flower-stalks. Pod. Linear, straight, or nearly 

 so. 



This somewhat inconspicuous plant is found back of the sand- 

 hills along the coast, often in the neighborhood of the beach 

 pea, and climbing over river-banks, thickets, and fences as well. 

 It can usually be identified by its oddly lobed leaflets. 



BLUE VETCH. 



Vicia cracca. Pulse Family (p. 16). 



Leaves. Divided into twenty to twenty-four leaflets, with slender tips. 

 Flowers. Papilionaceous, blue turning purple, growing in close, many-flow- 

 ered, one-sided spikes. 



This is an emigrant from Europe which is found in some of 

 our eastern fields and thickets as far south as New Jersey. It 

 usually climbs more or less by means of the tendril at the tip of 

 its divided leaves, and sometimes forms bright patches of vivid 

 blue over the meadows. 



Another member of this genus is V. sattva, the common 

 vetch or tare, with purplish or pinkish flowers, growing singly 

 or in pairs from the axils of the leaves, which leaves are divided 



264 



