WILD FLOWERS BLUE AND PURPLE 
close its whereabouts, but, instead, cherish its dis- 
covery with secrecy and number it among your choicest 
and rarest wild flowers as one that demands your pro- 
tection. 
The Marsh Clematis, C. crispa, is our most beau- 
tiful Southern species, and bears large, fragrant, soli- 
tary, nodding, and bell-shaped flowers. They are 
bluish purple, and from three-quarters to an inch and 
a half long, with the petal-like sepals of thin texture, 
and widely spreading and backward curved from the 
opening of the cup which they form. Their broad 
margins are prettily crimped and wavy. The long 
tails of the seed cases are silky and less plumy than 
the foregoing species. The leaves are compound, and 
the three or more lance-shaped leaflets are generally 
entire or occasionally lobed and thin textured. 
This climbing vine grows three or four feet in 
length, and is found in marshes from southeastern 
Virginia to Florida and Texas, through May 
and June. 
The Leather Flower, C. Virona, is found from May 
to August, climbing over bushes in rich soil, sometimes 
to the height of ten feet, from southern Pennsylvania to 
Ohio and West Virginia, south to Georgia and Ten- 
nessee, and also westward and northward. The 
solitary purple flowers are bell-shaped and nodding. 
They have no petals, but the four petal-like sepals 
-measure about an inch long, and are pointed and 
usually slightly recurved at the apex. They are very 
thick and leathery. The flower is scentless. The 
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