BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 



per-testing search, usually required to behold this one 

 of the most beautiful of all our American wild flowers. 

 The tall, leafy stalk is often deeply grooved and twisted, 

 and grows from a fleshy root. The long-pointed, 

 lance-shaped leaves are smooth, shining and strongly 

 ribbed. They suddenly become very much smaller 

 and narrower as they mount the stalk. The exquisite 

 lilac or purplish flowers are laden with a heavy fra- 

 grance, and are loosely clustered in a large, thick, 

 terminal, feathery spike, which is very, very showy. 

 The upper petals and sepals are erect, flaring and con- 

 necting. The petals are oblong and more or less 

 toothed. The widely spreading and highly coloured lip 

 is cleft into three broad, fan-shaped divisions, each of 

 which is finely fringed to about the middle. The long, 

 slender spur is thread-like and curving. This tallest 

 and grandest of the Orchids ranges from New Bruns- 

 wick, Ontario and Michigan, south to North Carolina. 



SAND SPURRY. PURPLE SANDWORT 



Spergularia rubra. Pink Family. 



A little bit of a plant, growing from two to six inches 

 high, either single or often forming dense little mats in 

 waste places and along roadsides where the soil is dry 

 and sandy, from Nova Scotia to Virginia, and Ohio. 

 It has also been introduced into California and Oregon. 

 It is a native of Europe and Asia. The rather fleshy, 

 flat leaves are very small and narrow. They are 

 arranged in pairs, and are sheathed at the joint. The 

 five concave petals of the tiny flower are bright pink in 



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