252 PLANTS GROWING IN SANDY SOIL. 



It would seem as though the painted cup had been conscious 

 of the insignificance of its pale yellow bloom and so had called 

 upon the loyalty of its leaves for assistance. They then re- 

 sponded nobly by forming about them a scarlet cloak which 

 enables the flower to appear one of the most brilliant of all. It 

 blooms in such profusion that a sandy meadow where it grows 

 suggests that it is traversed by some vagrant, wandering flame. 



PURPLE GERARDIA. {Plate CXXXI.) 

 Gerdrdia purpurea. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Figivort. Pinkish lavender. Scentless. North and south. August., September. 



Flowers: axillary; growing along the diverging flower-stalks. Calyx: of 

 five-toothed sepals. Corolla : one inch across ; tubular ; bell-shaped with five 

 irregular lobes daintily dotted with a deeper colour. Stamens: four, in pairs of 

 unequal length; downy. Pistil : one. Fruit: an ovate, pointed pod. Leaves: 

 opposite : linear. Stem : branched. 



A lovely little flower of quaint expression which peeps at one 

 in the low meadows. It is very frail and soon drops from the 

 stem when picked ; but the pretty buds come out well after 

 having been placed in water. To climate it is very susceptible, 

 and when it wanders to other than its native soil the bloom 

 soon shows the difference. 



G. marifima is the species that is found on salt meadows. It 

 is seldom over a foot high, while the preceding plant is fre- 

 quently four feet high. The flowers are also smaller and 

 fainter in colour. 



They have both forsaken the two-lipped corolla of the fig- 

 wort family, as have the foxgloves. No doubt they are both 

 of them a trifle perverse ; and that they are indolent is made 

 certain by their having the reputation of being parasites. 



FLOWERING SPURGE. {Plate CXXXII.) 



Euphorbia corollata. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Spurge, White. Scentless. Mass. to Florida. July-October. 



Flo7vers '. staminate and pistillate; growing on forked branches in umbels, 

 and surrounded by a five-lobed corolla-like involucre. The staminate flowers 



