
132 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 
BLUE STOKESIA. (flate LXV/7/) 
Stékesta cydnea. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Composite. Blue. Sweetly scented.  S. Carolina, Georgia Late summer 
and Louisiana, and autumn. 
Flower-heads : \arge ; terminal ; individual flowers all tubular, the marginal 
ones much larger than those of the centre, irregular, ray-like and split deeply 
on the inside. The summit also deeply cleft. Scales of the involucre imbri- - 
cated in several rows, the outer one becoming bristly and leaf-like. Leaves; 
alternate ; lanceolate ; entire ; glabrous ; the upper one sessile and fringed at 
the base like the bracts. Stem: nearly two feet high ; erect ; downy. 
Very lovely is the blue stokesia, and when we come to in- 
quire into its life history we find that it is no less interesting 
than beautiful. Our curiosity is piqued concerning it because 
it is the only member of its genus and seems not to be closely 
related to any other. Now, as the theory is that every plant is 
evolved from some other, we begin to wonder about the miss- 
ing links between this flower and its antecedents. How has it 
appeared among us without showing any trace of its passage 
here? Has it, like Topsy, “just come?” It also pursues its 
own course indomitably, without showing the slightest inclina- 
tion to vary, or produce new species. From this might be 
argued that the stokesia has reached its height of development 
and is about to die out. As yet we need not grieve too deeply 
over its loss, however ; evolution is very considerate and would 
hardly effect so great a change in much less than a million 
years. 
The gradation of the leaves on the stem into bracts also illus- 
trates the theory of plant morphology almost more than is 
done by any other one of the composites. Whether the 
stokesia believes these theories of which it is so good an exam- 
ple is, unfortunately, like its antecedents, wrapped in mystery. 
WILD LETTUCE. 
Lactuca Canadénsts. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR > RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Chicory. Pale yellow, purple or reddish. Scentless. General. Late summer. 
Flower-heads; growing in leafy panicles ; composed of strap-shaped flowers. 
Leaves; very large, sometimes a foot long ; lanceolate ; the lower ones fre-- 

