WILD FLOWERS BLUE AND PURPLE 
moon with secret incantations, after which it is supposed 
to accomplish remarkable cures. Bridal wreaths 
made of Vervain are used in Germany. It was one of 
the most important assets of the old herb doctors who 
were called “Simplers,” and who professed to cure 
everything that flesh was heir to. Virgil and Shakes- 
peare both mention Vervain in their writings. The 
Wild Hyssop, as it is sometimes called, is found from 
Canada to Florida, Nebraska and New Mexico. 
BLUE CURLS. BASTARD PENNYROYAL 
Trichostéma dichétomum. Mint Family. 
This rather stiff, slender-stemmed, sticky haired, 
strong-scented, and much-branched annual grows from 
six inches to two feet high in dry, sandy fields. The 
toothless, short-stemmed, and nearly smooth, lance- 
shaped leaves occur in opposite pairs. They are sticky 
haired, and exhale a balsamic odour, coarsely suggest- 
ing that of Pennyroyal. ‘The numerous blue, pink, 
or rarely white, deeply five-cleft, tubular flowers have 
ridiculously long, hair-like blue or violet stamens, 
which extend far beyond the corolla. When the flower 
opens they are nearly erect, but soon curl gracefully 
inward, forming a large spiral. ‘The lobes of the corolla 
spread open, and the lower and longer one is widely 
flared like a long tongue or lip. They terminate the 
branches, usually in pairs, and opening in the morning, 
last only for the day. Some of the flowers grow upside 
down, owing to the peculiar twisting of their short 
stems. They blossom from July to October, and 
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