WILD FLOWERS blue and purple 



from a more serious and practical side, and long ago 

 used the root as a remedy for stomach troubles. Now 

 the flowers furnish a fine blue colouring, which is used 

 by chemists as a test for acids and alkalies. This 

 highly ornamental species is found in low places, parti- 

 cularly in wet meadows and swamps, from May to July, 

 and ranges from Newfoundland and Manitoba, south 

 to Florida and Kansas. The long, narrow, pointed, 

 sword-shaped light green leaves rise from a thick, 

 fleshy, horizontal rootstock, which is covered with 

 numerous fibrous rootlets. The leafy flower stalk 

 grows two or three feet tall, and often branches for the 

 blossoms. The large, handsome, plumy flowers are 

 violet-blue, variegated with white, green and yellow. 

 They are composed of nine petal-like divisions, which 

 are divided into three distinct sets of three parts each. 

 The three large lower parts are broadest toward the 

 rounded tip, and are prettily spread and curved. They 

 are violet coloured, with white and yellow markings, 

 and purple veinings. The next three parts taper to a 

 narrow base, and are much smaller, less spreading and 

 nearly erect. They are violet coloured, with delicate 

 purple veinings. The third set of parts represent the 

 curious pistil, which is divided into three narrow arch- 

 ing sections, each curving outward and directly over- 

 lying the first three large parts beneath. These divi- 

 sions are notched at the tips and are violet coloured — 

 darker at the tips and purplish on the arch. Each of 

 the latter parts hides a large, slender yellowish stamen. 

 The magnificent flower is mounted on a three-angled, 



323 



