BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 
with a slender, sharply-pointed, curving spur. The 
upper lip has two small, rounded and erect lobes. The 
lower lip has three rounded, spreading lobes, and at the 
throat there is a prominent, white, two-ridged swelling 
that hides the stamens and pistil. Several flowers are 
set on tiny stems in a loose terminal spike. They 
remind one somewhat of the Lobelias, but are easily 
distinguished by the rounded lobes of the corolla, while 
those of the latter flower are always sharply pointed. 
This species is found from Nova Scotia to Florida, and 
west to Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and California. 
HAIRY BEARD-TONGUE 
Pentstémon birsittus. Figwort Family. 
The beautiful showy purple or violet trumpets of this 
rather common Beard-tongue are found from May 
to July in dry, open woods and rocky fields and thickets, 
The stalk rises from one to three feet high, and is slender 
and downy, with fine whitish hairs. The slightly 
toothed, pointed oblong to lance-shaped light green 
leaves are somewhat woolly, and vary in size and shape 
as they mount the stalk in opposite pairs. The upper: 
ones are clasping, and the lower ones are stemmed. 
The flowers are borne in a loose terminal spike. The 
five sharply pointed sepals are overlapping. The 
tube of the corolla is gradually swelled above, and has 
two grooves on the lower side. The upper lip is 
two-lobed, and the lower one is three-cleft. At the 
base of the latter is a hairy palate that nearly closes 
the throat. One of the stamens is densely bearded. 
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