WILD FLOWERS blue and purple 



habits, but is not easily discouraged in maintaining its 

 livelihood, and spreads freely by its joints. It is 

 common in fields and along woodsides from Quebec 

 and Ontario, southern Maryland, and Michigan, from 

 June to September. 



WILD LUPINE. OLD MAID'S BONNETS. 

 WILD PEA 



Luptnus perennis. Pea Family. 



Lupinus is derived from lupus, a wolf, and was ap- 

 plied to this plant because the roots, which are deeply and 

 firmly buried, were believed to rapidly exhaust the 

 fertility of the soil. There might have been a time and 

 place wherein its means of subsistence was begrudged. 

 But it is certainly welcomed nowadays, when we are 

 privileged to enjoy the azure reflections of its attrac- 

 tive, pea-like flowers along railroad banks and on dry, 

 sandy hillsides and waste fields, where it gathers to 

 bloom during May and June. The round, hairy, 

 leafy, perennial stalk is erect and branching, and 

 grows one or two feet in height. The slender-stemmed, 

 wheel-shaped leaf is composed of from seven to eleven 

 long, narrow leaflets, which are widest toward their 

 acutely pointed apex. They radiate from the stem 

 and are thin textured, light green and toothless. At 

 night they fold together like an umbrella. The numer- 

 ous, sweetly scented, butterfly-shaped flowers form 

 a long, loosely clustered, showy terminal spike of vivid 

 blue. They blossom in great numbers at about the 

 same time, and produce a very striking effect. Wild 



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