124 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



hairy plant, and its blue, although fading to almost white, is 

 sufficiently noticeable to attract the insects' attention. Both of 

 these flowers are cleverly designed for cross-fertilization. 

 The generic name lobelia has become so familiar to us that we 

 use it freely and are unconscious of its being more difficult to 

 manage than the common name. In this connection it comes 

 to the mind to ask if not all botanical names would become 

 equally simple if we would but put ourselves on closer terms of 

 intimacy with them. 



Z. spicata is also found in moist, open places. Its stem is 

 high ; but its flow^ers are considerably smaller than those of the 

 species described above. 



ROUND=LEAVED P50RALEA. {Plate LXI.) 



Psoralen orbicularis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Fulse. Purplish. Scentless. Western and southern states. Early summer. 



Flowers : growing in a dense, pyramidal spike. Calyx : deeply parted ; of 

 five, nearly equal teeth ; hairy. Corolla : papilionaceous ; the standard rather 

 oblong. Stamens : ten ; united by their filaments. Leaves : three-foliate ; 

 orbicular ; entire ; hairy ; on long peduncles. Stem : prostrate ; creeping. 



This herbaceous plant, with its creeping stem, is a native of 

 California. There is a vigour and energy about its growth 

 which is very pleasing. One also fancies that like John Gilpin's 

 wife it is blessed with a frugal mind. 



WILD MINT. 



Mmtha Canadensis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mint. Pijikish lavender. Like pennyroyal. Mostly 7iorth. August^ September. 



Flowers : tiny ; growing in round clusters in the axils of the leaves. Calyx : 

 five-toothed. Corolla : tubular ; four-lobed ; the upper lobe being larger and 

 cleft at the top. Stamens: four; exserted. Pistil: one; style, two-Iobed. 

 Leaves : opposite ; ovate-lanceolate, pointed at both ends ; veined ; serrated; 

 rough underneath. Stem : four-angled ; nearly erect. 



The usefulness of a magnifying glass is well illustrated by 

 the wild mint ; as its two styles and the tiny notch of one of its 

 corolla-lobes are hardly perceptible to the naked eye. M. Can- 



