BLUE FLOWERS THAT COME LATE 277 



opens just before the autumn." He was trying to 

 help me think. 



" It's related," I said, " to Cardinal Flower." 



"Right," Tommy answered; "it's Cardinal 

 Flower's brother, or sister; but how did you 

 know? " 



I was a little surprised myself that I had guessed 

 its relative the first time. " It must have been," 

 I said, " on account of the little slit and the way 

 two of its pieces stood up, and three drooped down 

 and flared out." I had noticed all these things 

 about Cardinal Flower, and again, when Tommy 

 had shown me a tiny blue flower growing like a 

 weed in the meadow and had called it " Indian 

 Tobacco," I knew it was also related to Car- 

 dinal Flower, and is the little plant with leaves 

 tasting so much like tobacco that the Indians used 

 to smoke them in their pipes. Just when I hap- 

 pened to think about some of these reasons that 

 make Indian Tobacco related to Cardinal Flower, 

 I saw the same things about Blue Lobelia. I was 

 glad then that J guessed as I did, because I didn't 

 wish Lucy to think I had lived in the country since 

 before the trees budded, and had not learned any- 

 thing about wild flowers. 



" I didn't know plants were related," she 

 said. 



Tommy began telling her then some wonderful 

 things about flowers, and that each one belonged to 

 a family with other members and relatives. He 



