BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 
ing in numerous long, beady, rocket-like, flowering 
spikes, each so lengthened and regulated as to form an 
elaborate, equally balanced, floral candelabra. It is 
a handsome perennial, growing from three to seven 
feet high in moist fields and meadows, or along rail- 
roads and highways. The stout, rough, leafy stalk 
is four-sided and grooved, and is often stained with 
red. The opposite lance-shaped leaves are irregularly 
double-toothed and taper-pointed, with noticeable 
veins, They are short-stemmed and rough surfaced, 
and the lower ones are sometimes lobed or arrow- 
shaped at the base. The five-lobed tubular flowers 
are very small, and several open at a time in a single 
circle as they mount the extending, purple-stained spike. 
They are deep purplish-blue in colour, and have a 
pistil and two pairs of stamens. As the flowers continue 
to blossom toward the top of the spike, they are suc- 
ceeded by ripening seed enclosed within the overlapping, 
purplish calyx, which lends much to the attractiveness 
of the royal colour scheme. Vervain is also known as 
the Holy Herb, and was one of the religious plants 
of the Druids. Long, long ago, Vervain was held 
sacred to Thor, the god of thunder, and like other plants 
connected with lightning, it was supposed to possess 
peculiar influences upon the eyesight. It is also said 
to have been found growing upon the Mount of Calvary 
when Jesus died. On account of its mystic virtues, it 
was formerly much used for stimulating affections and 
charms. It was reputed to break the power of witches. 
In France, it is gathered under certain changes of the 
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