HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



sunshine, and closes upon the approach of a shower. Moist 

 woods, low grounds, often along springy roadsides, Maine to 

 Idaho, southward to Georgia. In places this flower grows 

 abundantly, but it is by no means common. (See illustra- 

 tion, p. 325.) 



Closed or Bottle Gentian 



G. Andrfcwsii. — Color, blue, sometimes plaited with white, 

 when old turning a reddish purple. Calyx, tubular, with linear, 

 rerurved lobes. Corolla, tubular with closed or nearly closed 

 lobes, with intervening broad appendages or plaits. Stamens, 

 with anthers joined making a tube. Leaves, starting from a nar- 

 row base, become broader in the middle, acute at apex, whorled 

 or opposite. Flowers, in clusters, terminal or several in the 

 upper axils, crowded together, 1 to 2 inches long. August to 

 October. 



Moist ground, low woods, from Maine to Georgia and west- 

 ward to Missouri. This would seem, of necessity, to be a 

 self - pollinating flower. But bumblebees have been seen 

 cutting their way into the closed corolla, and in their search 

 for nectar they may become pollen-carriers to another flower. 

 It is not uncommon to see the petals lacerated. (See illus- 

 tration, p. 327.) 



Stiff Gentian. Ague Weed 



G. quinquefolia. — Color, pale blue. Calyx, tubular, with 5 

 narrowly linear lobes. Corolla, a long, narrow tube divided 

 into 5 bristle-pointed, triangular broad lobes. Flowers, about 

 5, at the summit of the stem or branches in racemes or panicles 

 on slender pedicels. Stem, 2 feet tall or less, slender. Leaves, 

 with heart-shaped or clasping bases, pointed, ovate to lance- 

 shaped. August to October. 



Moist or dry hillsides, Maine to Florida and westward to 

 Missouri. Found 6,000 feet high in North Carolina. 



Periwinkle. Blue Myrtle 



Vinca minor — Family, Dogbane. Color, blue. Parts of the 

 flower in fives. Calyx and corolla, tubular; limb of the corolla, 

 salver-form. Stamens, joined to the corolla. Smooth, pros- 

 trate plants, represented in the tropics by shrubs or trees, gen- 

 erally poisonous plants. Leaves, opposite, thick, shining, ever- 

 green. Flowers, single, in the axils, peduncled. February to 

 May. 



Escaped from cultivation, found now in corners of neg- 

 lected gardens, along roadsides, etc. 



326 



