BLUE AND PURPLE FLOWERS 
GROUP IX 
Leaves alternate. Flowers not bell-shaped, five-lobed, five- 
petalled, papilionaceous, or composite. 
Purple-fringed Orchis ( Hahenaria fimbriata) . Orchis 
family. June to August. 
A tall and showy orchis, sometimes reaching three feet. The 
spike (sometimes a foot long) is loosely flowered; the flowers 
are large, light-purple or pinkish, with long spurs and fringed 
lip. The lower leaves are oval to lance-shaped, the upper much 
smaller. Wet meadows. Smaller Purple-fringed Orcpiis ( if a6^- 
naria psychodes) is similar but much smaller, with a denser 
spike of smaller flowers, with hp less fringed. 
Day Flower {Commelina virginica). Spiderwort family. 
June to September. 
This dainty blossom is found from southern New York 
southward and westward. Its life, a brief one at the best, as 
its name implies, is brought to a sudden close by picking it, 
for the delicate petals are promptly reduced to pulp. But 
growing by a wood path along the river bank, their beautiful 
blue strikes the eye at once. The slender, somewhat zigzag 
stem tends to take root at the joints. The lance-shaped, par- 
allel-veined leaves are clasping. There are two rounded petals 
and one insignificant one, three unequal sepals and a prom- 
inent style; three fertile, and generally three sterile, stamens. 
A spathe-like bract subtends the flower. Named for the 
Commehn brothers, two of whom were successful botanists. 
Sea. 'Roc)^Qt {CakUe edentula). Mustard family. July to 
September. 
A low fleshy spreading annual in sandy soil by the seaside. 
The flowers are small, purplish; petals four. The leaves are 
thick, toothed, or with wavy margins. (From the Arabic.) 
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