GOLDEN-ROD AND ASTER 



which can boast little in the way of either size or 

 color, immortalizes the comparative insignificance 

 of a less renowned brother. At least so runs the 

 tradition. 



From barren sandy banks in much the same Ditto*? 

 latitudes spring the branching stems, opposite 

 aromatic leaves, and clustered, delicate white or 

 lavender-colored flowers of the dittany, one of the 

 mints. On the hill-side the little corollas of the 

 blue-curls are falling so as to reveal within the Blue-curls 

 calyx the four tiny nutlets, which are a promi- 

 nent characteristic of the same family, while the 

 plant's clammy, balsam-scented leaves offer an- 

 other means of identification. 



Near the blue-curls we are likely to find the 

 closely spiked, pea-like blossoms and three-divided 

 leaves of the bush-clover, as well as the pink- Busb-dovei 

 purple flowers and downy and also clover-like 

 foliage of another of the tick-trefoils. As these 

 two groups of plants have so many points in com- 

 mon that it is somewhat difficult ordinarily to Tick- 

 distinguish between them, it is well to remember 

 that the calyx of a tick-trefoil is usually more 

 or less two-lipped, while that of a bush-clover is 

 divided into five slender and nearly equal lobes. 



Two other members of the pulse or pea family 

 are frequently encountered during the earlier part 

 of this month. Along the grassy lanes that wind 



159 



trefoil 



