BLUE AND PURPLE FLOWERS 
Water Lobelia ( Lobelia Dortmanna) . Lobelia family. 
July to September. 
A perennial with linear leaves in water, its leafless stem 
hollow, about a foot in height, bearing a short, open raceme of 
small (one-half to two-thirds inch) light-blue flowers. The 
calyx is five-pointed, the corolla with straight tube, two-lipped, 
upper lip with two, lower with three lobes. Ponds. Generic 
name after Matthias de I'Obel, of Flanders. 
Meadow Violet. Blue Violet {Viola cucullata). Violet 
family. April to June. 
A common violet having heart-shaped leaves, with wavy 
edges. The smooth, slender stalks bear each a single flower, 
violet-blue, with five pointed sepals and five unequal petals, 
the lateral bearded. The centre is white and fuzzy with the 
beard of the lateral petals, which conceal the orange-colored 
stamens. The white centre of the lower petal is deHcately 
veined with purple. The spur is straight and rounded at the 
end. The flower-stalks are longer than the leaves. Roadsides 
and meadows with a preference for wet ground. 
Viola fimbriatula, on higher ground, is of similar growth, but 
with fuzzy leaves, leaf-stalks, and flower-stalks, its leaf rather 
egg- than heart-shaped, its root-stalk stout, vertical. Bird-foot 
Violet (Viola pedata) has leaves three- to five-divided or parted, all 
divisions linear or nearly so, sometimes notched at apex. 
Flowers single, large (one inch broad) with centre noticeably 
orange-colored from the ends of the stamens. Dry ground. 
Arrow-leaved Violet {V. sagittata) is a small plant with small 
violet flowers, the flower-stalks as long as, or longer than, the 
arrow-shaped leaves. Damp ground. 
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