Stems weak, decumbent and branched at the base, the ends slender, erect, very leafy, 6 inches to 2 feet tall, angled and hairy on the angles. Leaves rounded, one-fourth to 1 inch broad, clasping the stem by a broad, heart-shaped base, pointed or blunt, about as long as broad. Flowers violet-blue or rarely white, borne solitary or two or three together, sessile in the axils of the leaves; corolla wheel-shaped, those in the axils of the upper leaves with five triangular-lanceolate, long-pointed, rigid calyx lobes and a five-lobed, deeply cleft corolla, one-half to three-fourths of an inch broad, those in the axils of the lower leaves with a shorter, three or four-lobed calyx, longer than the rudimentary corolla. Fruit an oblong capsule, one-sixth to one-fourth of an inch long, opening at maturity at about the middle. In dry woods and dry soil, especially sandy fields and waste places, Maine and Ontario to British Columbia south to Florida, Louisiana, Mexico, Arizona and Oregon. Also in the mountains of Jamaica and Santo Domingo. Flowering in New York from May to Seotember.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 219

B. Venus's Looking-Glass - Specularia perfoliate.