_Preferred Habitat_--Moist, shady ground.

_Flowering Season_--June-September.

_Distribution_--"Southern New York to Illinois and Michigan, Nebraska,
Texas, and through tropical America to Paraguay."--Britton and Browne.

Delightful Linnaeus, who dearly loved his little joke, himself confesses
to have named the day-flowers after three brothers Commelyn, Dutch
botanists, because two of them--commemorated in the two showy blue
petals of the blossom--published their works; the third, lacking
application and ambition, amounted to nothing, like the inconspicuous
whitish third petal! Happily Kaspar Commelyn died in 1731, before the
joke was perpetrated in "Species Plantarum." Soon after noon, the
day-flower's petals roll up, never to open again.




PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY _(Pontederiaceae)_


Pickerel Weed

_Pontederia cordata_

_Flowers_--Bright purplish blue, including filaments, anthers, and
style; crowded in a dense spike; quickly fading; unpleasantly odorous.
Perianth tubular, 2-lipped, parted into 6 irregular lobes, free from