3IO PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 



downy and sometimes smooth ; but with enough clearly defined 

 traits to make it always recognisable. 



In olden times its leaves were made into a popular beverage, 

 something like tea, and for which it is said to have been a very 

 good and wholesome substitute. 



K serpyllifblia^ thyme-leaved speedwell, is another variety 

 that is fond of the roadsides. The corolla is very pale, striped 

 with a darker blue, and the leaves are more rounded in outline 

 than those of V. officinalis. 



BUTTER-AND-EGQS. YELLOW TOAD-FLAX. 



Lzndrm Lindria. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Fig-wort. Orange^ and yelloiu. Pleasant. General. Summer. 



Flowers: showy; growing closely in a terminal raceme. Calyx: five- 

 parted. Corolla : two-lipped, closed in the throat ; extending backward into 

 a long, pointed spur ; within hairy. The hairs and tip of the corolla of a 

 deeper orange shade of yellow. Stamens : four, in pairs of unequal length. 

 Pistil : one. Leaves ; alternate ; linear ; grass-like. Stem : erect ; branching ; 

 smooth. 



Our very familiarity with these conspicuous and beautiful 

 flowers inclines us to pay little heed to them ; although they 

 find their way into children's hands almost more than any other 

 of our wayside flora. If we had to seek them through some 

 quaking bog with only a vague hope of finding them we should 

 probably prize them in some such way as we do the yellow 

 orchis. But they give us no trouble. They galivant along the 

 roadsides and we may admire them, or pass them by, just as we 

 choose. No doubt the political economist would remind us in 

 this connection that things are only valuable that are limited 

 in supply. 



BLUE, OR WILD TOAD-FLAX. 



Lmaria Canadensis, 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Figwort. Pale blue^ or purple. Scentless. General. July-October. 



Flowers : growing in a terminal raceme. Calyx : five-parted Corolla : two 

 lipped, closed in the throat, extending backward into a long pointed spur. 



