HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



a pair of yellow spots. Stamens, 6, 3 of them often being worth- 

 less, all borne upon the perianth-tube. Anthers and style, blue. 

 Leaves, thick, triangular, heart or arrow-shape at base, marked 

 with many parallel veins, on long, sheathing petioles, mostly from 

 the root, 4 to 8 inches long, half as wide. Flowers, borne in a 

 raceme or thick spike growing out of a sheathing bract. After 

 fruiting the flower perianth coils from the apex downward and 

 surrounds the fruit. June to October. 



An aquatic, found on the borders of ponds and lakes from 

 Nova Scotia to Florida westward to Minnesota and Texas. 

 (See illustration, p. 301.) 



Mud Plantain 



Hetera.nth.era reniformis. — Family, Pickerel -weed. Color, pale 

 blue or white. (See White Flowers, p. 44.) 



Grape Hyacinth 



Musckri botryoides. — Family, Lily. Color, deep indigo blue. 

 Leaves, long and narrow, from the base, fleshy. The perianth of 

 this modest spring flower is like a round, small bell or globe with 

 6 little teeth on its edge. Flowers are crowded in long racemes at 

 the end of a scape which rises from a coated bulb. April to June. 



The specific name means, and the flower-bells suggest, a 

 bunch of grapes. The generic name refers to its faint scent 

 of musk. Originally cultivated, and now found in grass- 

 plots and fence-corners, escaped and become wild. Massa- 

 chusetts to Virginia and Ohio. 



Wake Robin 



Trillium erectum. — Family, Lily. Color, purple or crimson, 

 rarely white. (See Pink Flowers, p. 244.) 



Fleur-de-lis. Larger Blue Flag 



Iris versicolor, — Family, Iris. Color, blue with darker veinings 

 and touches of yellow, white, and green. The large flower de- 

 serves study. The perianth is divided into 6 lobes, 3 outer and 

 3 inner, which are united into a short tube below. The outer 

 divisions curve gracefully backward, the inner stand erect. 

 Stamens, 3, almost hidden under the 3 broad, petal-like styles, 

 which bear their stigmas immediately under their 2-lobed, lip- 

 like tips. Capsule, 3 - lobed, ih inches long. Leaves, equitant, 

 one arising from within the base of another, covered with a 

 whitish bloom. Stem, 2 to 3 feet high, leafy, branched above. 

 May to July. 



Every one knows the beautiful iris, one of the blue flowers, 



300 



