HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Feverwort. Horse Gentian. "Wild Coffee 



Triosteum perfoliatum.— Family, Honeysuckle. Color, brown- 

 ish purple. Fruit, orange - red. Calyx - lobes, 5, long, narrow. 

 Corolla, tubular, with 5 unequal lobes. Stamens, 5, joined to the 

 corolla - tube. Leaves, opposite, downy beneath, entire, broad, 

 narrowed below to a broad base, which clasps the stem and almost 

 unites with the opposite leaf, hence the specific name. Flowers, 

 single or in clusters, sessile in the axils. Stem, straight, stout, 

 2 to 4 feet high, finely hairy. May to July. 



The orange-colored fruit of this plant is a drupe, composed 

 of 2 or 3 nutlets, surrounded by fleshy cells within the outer 

 hard shell. 



Venus's Looking-glass 



Speculkria perfoliate — Family, Bluebell. Color, blue or violet. 

 Calyx, 3 to 5-lobed. Corolla, tubular, with 5-lobed border, wheel- 

 shaped. Flowers, single, or in twos and threes in the upper leaf- 

 axils. Stem, 3 to 20 inches high, simple, weak, with milky juice. 

 Fruit, a 3-sided capsule. Leaves, round, with heart-shaped base 

 clasping the stem and surrounding it, sessile, often crenate. 

 Within these shell-like leaves the lower flowers, 2 or 3 together, 

 small, cleistogamous, are pollinated in the bud and never expand. 

 The upper and later ones expand into a wheel-shaped flower. 

 May to September. 



Sterile, open ground or dry woods, Maine to Florida and 

 Mexico. 



Harebell. Bluebell 



Camp inula, rotundi folia. Family, Bluebell. Color, blue, or 



sometimes with a purplish tint. Calyx, 5-cleft. Corolla, bell- 

 shaped, 5-lobed, nearly an inch long. Stamens, 5. Stigmas, 3. 

 Fruit, a capsule, 3 -celled, nodding. Leaves, the earlier ones from 

 the root, roundish, heart - shape or ovate, dying soon. Later 

 ones on the stem, narrow, lance - shape, numerous. Name most 

 inappropriate, since the round leaves are seldom seen. Varied 

 in height and foliage. A perennial, with slender rootstocks, simple 

 or branched stems, 6 inches to 3 feet high. June to September. 



One of our loveliest blue flowers, which, in its favorite 

 haunts of rocky woods or wet meadows, it is a real pleasure 

 to come across. It may also hang its dainty bells from a 

 lakeside, nestling under tall ferns and grass. It may be 

 found in the rock fissures which attend the Hudson River, 

 and in all the country, including the Rocky Mountains and 

 Sierras. This seems to be the bluebell of Scotland. 



352 



