From Blue to Purple 



verbena may so easily be made to blossom forth into whatever 

 hue the gardener wills. His plants have been obtained, for the 

 most part, from the large-flowered verbena, the beautiful purple, 

 blue, or white species of our Western States {^. Canadensis) 

 crossed with brilliant-hued species imported from South America, 



Mad-dog Skullcap or Helmet-flower; Mad- 

 weed ; Hoodwort 



(Scutellaria lateriflora) Mint family 



Flowers — Blue, varying to whitish ; several or many, % in. long, 

 growing in axils of upper leaves or in i -sided spike-like 

 racemes. Calyx 2-lipped, the upper lip with a helmet-like 

 protuberance; corolla 2-lipped; the lower, ^-lobed lip spread- 

 ing ; the middle lobe larger than the side ones. Stamens, 4, 

 in pairs, under the upper lip; upper pair the shorter ; one pis- 

 til, the style unequally cleft in two. Stem : Square, smooth, 

 leafy, branched. Sin. to 2 ft. high. Leaves: Opposite, oblong 

 to lance-shaped, thin, toothed, on slender pedicles, i to 3 in. 

 long, growing gradually smaller toward top of stem. Fruit: 

 4 nutlets. 



Preferred Habitat — Wet, shady ground. 



Flowering Season — J uly — September. 



Distribution — Uneven throughout United States and the British 

 Possessions. 



By the helmet-like appendage on the upper lip of the calyx, 

 which to the imaginative mind of Linnaeus suggested Scutellum 

 (a little dish), which children delight to spring open for a view of 

 the four tiny seeds attached at the base when in fruit, one knows 

 this to be a member of the skullcap tribe, a widely scattered genus 

 of blue and violet two-lipped flowers, some small to the point of 

 insignificance, like the present species, others showy enough for 

 the garden, but all rich in nectar, and eagerly sought by bees. 

 The wide middle lobe of the lower lip forms a convenient plat- 

 form on which to alight ; the stamens in the roof of a newly 

 opened blossom dust the back of the visitor as he explores the 

 nectary ; and as the stamens of an older flower wither when they 

 have shed their pollen, and the style then rises to occupy their 

 position, it follows that, in flying from the top of one spike of 

 flowers to the bottom of another, where the older ones are, the 

 visitor, for whom the whole scheme of color, form, and arrange- 

 ment was planned, deposits on the sticky top of the style some of 

 the pollen he has brought with him, and so cross-fertilizes the 

 flower. When the seeds begin to form and the now useless corolla 

 drops off, the helmet-like appendage on the top of the calyx 



42 



