266 PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



and wool-growers is quite a mystery. Its bur-like fruit has the 

 most wicked propensity for attaching itself to the fleece of 

 sheep. Detractors have also likened its odour to that of a nest 

 of mice ; but as this is quite a common expression with country 

 people and means about as much as telling the sick they look 

 as pale as a black dog, there may be a little exaggeration in the 

 statement. The resemblance of its leaves to the shape of a 

 hound's tongue is responsible for its name. 



VIPER'S=BUGLOSS. BLUEWEED. {Plate CXXXVIII.) 



£.chiu7)i vulgare. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Borage. BriUia7it blue^ with Scentless. Eastern states. June^ July, 



pink buds. 



Flowers : small ; thickly clustered on one side of a spike that unfolds as the 

 flowers expand. Ca/yx : five-parted. Corolla ; funnel-form ; of five lobes ; 

 three of vi^hich are shorter than the others. Stamens : five, unequal ; exserted ; 

 red. Pistil : one ; styles, two. Leaves : alternate ; lanceolate ; very hairy ; 

 wavy on the edges. Stem : about two feet high ; rough ; hairy. 



When seen from a distance the blue flowers of the viper's 

 bugloss are hardly credited with having the brilliancy of colour 

 that they are found to possess on a closer examination. The 

 pink buds and red protruding stamens are an invaluable feature 

 of the plant and play their part in lightening the otherwise 

 heavy effect of the green. When growing along the roadsides, 

 its extreme hairiness attracts an immense amount of dust and 

 not until it has been shaken, or washed off, is the prettiness of 

 the blossoms seen. The pink buds and uncoiling growth of the 

 bunches call to mind the little forget-me-nots of which it is a 

 relative. 



GROUND IVY. GILL=OVER=THE=GROUND. 



Glecbma hederacea. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mint. Blue. Leaves fragrant. New England southward. March-May. 



Flowers ; axillary ; growing singly or in clusters along the flower-stalk. 

 Calyx : small; five-toothed. Corolla ; tubular; two-lipped, the upper lip two- 

 cleft; the lower one three-cleft with the middle lobe much larger than the 



