(Plate CII.)

Family

Figwort.

Colour

White, tinged with purple.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

New York to Virginia and westward.

Time of Bloom

Late spring and summer.

Flowers: clustered in a loose panicle. Calyx: of five green, pointed sepals. Corolla: bell-shaped; two-lipped; the upper lip, two-lobed, the lower one, three-lobed and slightly spreading; inflated. Stamens: five. Pistil: one; stigma, two-lobed. Leaves: opposite; lanceolate. Stem: sometimes growing very high; erect; smooth.

The open mouth of these pretty flowers gives them a comical expression as though they were about to speak; and the effect is heightened by the bearding of the sterile stamen, which looks like a saucy little tongue. In the west they are among the attractive blossoms of rocky places.