From Blue to Purple 



In Europe, where the aromatic leaves of this little creeper were 

 long ago used for fermenting and clarifying beer, it is known by 

 such names as ale-hoof and gill ale — gill, it is said, being derived 

 from the old French word, guiller, to ferment or make merry. 

 Having trailed across Europe, the persistent hardy plant is now 

 creeping its way over our continent, much to the disgust of cattle, 

 which show unmistakable dislike for a single leaf caught up in a 

 mouthful of herbage. 



Very closely allied to the ground ivy is the Catmint or Catnip 

 {Nepeta Cataria), whose pale-purple, or nearly white flowers, dark- 

 spotted, may be most easily named by crushing the coarsely 

 toothed leaves in one's hand. It is curious how cats will seek 

 out this hoary-hairy plant in the waste places where it grows and 

 become half-crazed with delight over its aromatic odor. 



Self-heal; Heal-all; Blue Curls; Heart-of-the- 

 Earth ; Brunella 



(Prunella vulgaris) Mint family 



Flowers — Purple and violet, in dense spikes, somewhat resem- 

 bling a clover head ; from'j^ to i in. long in flower, becoming 4 

 times the length in fruit. Corolla tubular, irregularly 2-lipped, 

 the upper lip darker and hood-like ; the lower one 3-lobed, 

 spreading, the middle and largest lobe fringed ; 4 twin-Hke 

 stamens ascending under upper lip ; filaments of the lower and 

 longer pair 2-toothed at summit, one of the teeth bearing an 

 anther, the other tooth sterile ; style thread-like, shorter than 

 stamens, and terminating in a 2-cleft stigma. Calyx 2-parted, 

 half the length of corolla, its teeth often hairy on edges. Stem : 2 

 in. to 2 ft. high, erect or reclining, simple or branched. Leaves: 

 Opposite, oblong. Fruit: 4 nutlets, round and smooth. 



Preferred Hadifai— Fields, roadsides, waste places. 



Flowering Season — May — October. 



Distribution — North America, Europe, Asia. 



This humble, rusty green plant, weakly lopping over the sur- 

 rounding grass, so that often only its insignificant purple, clover- 

 like flower heads are visible, is another of those immigrants from 

 the old countries which, having proved fittest in the fiercer struggle 

 for existence there, has soon after its introduction here exceeded 

 most of our more favored native flowers in numbers. Every- 

 where we find the heal-all, sometimes dusty and stunted by the 

 roadside, sometimes truly beautiful in its fresh purple, violet, and 

 white when perfectly developed under happy conditions. In 



45 



