SECTION VI 

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BLUE TO PURPLE FLOWERS 



PURPLE GARLIC 



Allium Schcenoprasum var. sibiricum. Lily Family 



Bulbs narrowly ovoid, clustered. Stems: scape rather stout, bearing 

 below the middle one or two elongated, linear, terete, hollow leaves; 

 other leaves basal; bracts of the umbel two, broadly ovate. Flowers: 

 in umbels, capitate; perianth of six equal, distinct, lanceolate, one- 

 nerved segments. 



This handsome Purple Garlic with its large dense flower- 

 heads and long hollow leaves is not at all common in the 

 mountains, but is frequently cultivated in cottage-gardens 

 for the sake of its beautifully coloured blossoms. Like all 

 the Garlics, it has a very pungent odour. 



STIFF BLUE-EYED GRASS 



Sisyrinchium angustifolium. Iris Family 



Stems: two-edged, slender, erect, rigid. Leaves: commonly all basal, 

 linear, rigid, almost setaceous, bracts two, very unequal, erect, the 

 lower one twice as long as the upper one. Flowers: six segments of 

 the perianth spreading, aristulate. 



" For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, 

 But it withered the grass, 

 And the flower thereof falleth, 

 And the grace of the fashion of it perisheth." 



Was it of this tiny yet brilliant purple-blue flower that 

 the Apostle Saint James wrote the above verse? Did he 

 espy it, as he walked abroad, nestling amongst the sedges 



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