BLUE AND PURPLE GROUP 



Bellflower 

 C. ranunculoides. — Color, purple. Leaves, bract-like above, the 

 lower with long petioles, heart - shape. Flowers, nodding, in 

 racemes or single in the axils of the upper bracts, pedioelled. 



July and August. 



A rather stiff plant, escaped from cultivation in country 

 gardens, now found along roadsides and in thickets. At the 

 base of the capsule, small pores are found through which the 

 seeds are set free. 



Marsh Bellflower 



C. aparinoides — Color, pale blue or white. Corolla, twice the 

 length of the calyx, but small, less than \ inch long. Stamens, 5. 

 Leaves, long, narrow, small, rough along the edges and midrib. 

 June to August. 



The little bells of this plant must be sought for. Look 

 among the leaves around a mossy, wet stump, and you may 

 find a weak, triangular stem about 20 inches long, witli 

 flowers here and there on slender pedicels. By means of 

 tiny hooks along the angles of the stem the plant is able to 

 raise itself and keep from being utterly smothered by the 

 stronger growths around it. Maine to Nebraska, south to 

 Georgia and Kentucky. 



Great Lobelia 



Lobelia siphilitica — Family, Lobelia. Color, light blue. Calyx- 

 tube, short, 5-cleft. Corolla, bell - shape, longer than the calyx- 

 tube, but split down on the upper side, slightly 2-lipped; upper 

 lip 2, lower 3-lobed, 1 inch long, showy. Leaves, thin, numerous, 

 ovate or lance -shape, irregularly serrate. Flowers, pedioelled, 

 in a dense raceme, with leafy bracts. July to October. 



The blue of this lobelia is rather pale, fading sometimes 



to nearly white. It is a hairy, tall-stemmed plant, 3 feet 

 high, with a long, leafy panicle of showy (lowers. A near 

 relative of the cardinal-flower. As the pistil matures after 

 the anthers have discharged their pollen, this is a flower 

 specially prepared for cross-pollination. 



In low, damp grounds, Maine to Minnesota, south to 

 Georgia, Louisiana, and Kansas. (See illustration, p. 354.) 



Indian Tobacco 

 L. inflkta. — Color, purplish blue. Flower much like the last, 

 but smaller. Calyx, roundish, with long, awl-shaped divisions 



353 



