BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 



with a slender, sharply-pointed, curving spur. The 

 upper lip has two small, rounded and erect lobes. The 

 lower lip has three rounded, spreading lobes, and at the 

 throat there is a prominent, white, two-ridged swelling 

 that hides the stamens and pistil. Several flowers are 

 set on tiny stems in a loose terminal spike. They 

 remind one somewhat of the Lobelias, but are easily 

 distinguished by the rounded lobes of the corolla, while 

 those of the latter flower are always sharply pointed. 

 This species is found from Nova Scotia to Florida, and 

 west to Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and California. 



HAIRY BEARD-TONGUE 



Pentstemon birsutus. Figwort Family. 



The beautiful showy purple or violet trumpets of this 

 rather common Beard- tongue are found from May 

 to July in dry, open woods and rocky fields and thickets. 

 The stalk rises from one to three feet high, and is slender 

 and downy, with fine whitish hairs. The slightly 

 toothed, pointed oblong to lance-shaped light green 

 leaves are somewhat woolly, and vary in size and shape 

 as they mount the stalk in opposite pairs. The upper 

 ones are clasping, and the lower ones are stemmed. 

 The flowers are borne in a loose terminal spike. The 

 five sharply pointed sepals are overlapping. The 

 tube of the corolla is gradually swelled above, and has 

 two grooves on the lower side. The upper lip is 

 two-lobed, and the lower one is three-cleft. At the 

 base of the latter is a hairy palate that nearly closes 

 the throat. One of the stamens is densely bearded 



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