BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 
roadsides, from July to November, and ranges from 
New Brunswick and Quebec, to Virginia and Kansas. 
Also in Asia. 
GROUND-IVY. GILL-OVER-THE-GROUND. FIELD 
BALM. HAYMAIDS. CAT’S FOOT. 
CREEPING CHARLIE 
Népeta bederacea. Mint Family. 
This gallivanting perennial came to us from Europe, 
and delights to trapse over moist, shady dells, thickets, 
and turnpikes, where it blossoms gaily during the 
spring months. It is an old and familiar herb, formerly 
much used as a “simple” in those homely days when 
hospitals were few and far between, and skill and 
scalpel were less in vogue in the medical line, and 
“Angels with lint and lance, and God’s messenger, 
the ambulance,” were blessings yet to record. 
Dear, quaint, old Gerarde! Quoth he: “Boiled 
in mutton-broth, it helpeth weake and acking backs.” 
It has a peculiar, disagreeable odour, and a bitterish, 
somewhat aromatic taste, and cattle purposely avoid it. 
As a domestic remedy it is said to be a gentle stimulant 
and tonic, and useful in lung troubles. The creeping 
and trailing stalk grows sometimes eighteen inches in 
length, with ascending branches. It is square and 
leafy, and roots at the joints. The small, roundish, 
evergreen leaves are set in pairs, on long, slender, curv- 
ing stems, which are flattened and grooved on one side. 
They are heart-shaped at the base, and their margins 
are cut with broad, rounded scallops. Their surface 
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