STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



slender, branching, the leaves rather coarse; color of the 

 blossoms azure blue, with the small upper lip somewhat 

 curved. 



The old settlers imputed great virtues to this very humble 

 herb, which it is more than doubtful if it possesses. Good 

 faith, however, will often work marvellous cures. The idea 

 was that the plant would avert the terrible effects of the 

 bite of a mad dog. 



There is also a much handsomer species with larger 

 flowers and simpler stem the Common Skull-cap (8. 

 galericulata) . 



MARSH VETCHLING MARSH -PEA Lathy rus palustris (L.). 



(PLATE XI.) 



The Marsh Vetchling or Marsh Pea is a graceful climbing 

 plant with purple flowers and long slender leaflets, arranged 

 in pairs from two to four or six along the leafstalk, which 

 terminates in a cluster of clasping thread-like tendrils. 

 The flowers are placed on long slender arching peduncles 

 springing from the base of the leafstalk, which is furnished 

 at the joint with a pair of sharply-pointed stipules. 



The Marsh Pea is found chiefly in damp ground, among 

 herbs and dwarf bushes, along the margins of low-lying 

 lakes and creeks and sandy grassy flats. Its pretty purple 

 pea-shaped blossoms and pale-green leaves attract the eye 

 as it twines among the herbage and forms graceful garlands 

 amidst the ranker and coarser plants to which it clings. A 

 taller species with slender stalks two to four feet high, 

 with ovate-elliptical leaves, much larger stipules, and an 

 abundance of small pale blue-purple flowers, is also found 

 on marshy shores. This is the variety myrtifolius of Gray. 



There are many other graceful twining plants of this 

 order. The most remarkable of these is the 



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