, 1909-11-06

plant "a found in the WestIndies, and it prob
ably is not. To his list of Colonia! names, how
ever, he has VerUdin, which he says is Verbena
mticfoii0, that is to say the nettle-leaved
verbena. This plant is not found in Santa
Cruz. Hence it appears that the vervains of
the States, the vervain OF Europe and the
vervain of the British W. islands are none of
them the same plant as we call by that name
in Santa Cruz. That was why it was neces-
sary, on the presumption OF the article IN
question finding O few readers outside Of the
Danish Islands, to Indicate by the use of the
botanical name what pant was meant. Sta
c6yturphG means Mick-spike, a good de-
s~criptive name. But why add, it may be
asked, a second long name, as if one was not
already enough ? Well, there is o reason
for that too, for when we turn to our Grise-
bach, we find that there are no less than
four different &achyta'phaS in the West
Indies, and the second name is therefore
necessary to point cut which of the four is
meant. Moreover it should be remembered
that the name vervain ought rightly to be
limited to lant4 of the genus Ferben0, where
as here it is applied to plants OF other genera.
Does the critical reader now see the ne
c~es5ity Of giving the botanical names, where
there may be a possibility OF an article being
read outside our own island ? If so we may
come back to our subject, the study Of some
Of the vervain's relatives.
With children the learning Of the hard
names ought not to be insisted on, but they
should be taught to compare the actual
plants and see for Themselves their reaen-
biances and their differences. Our thoughts
poIut to an excellent piece Of work OF this
kind, easy yet highly ms r%uctiye, a light but
valuable exercise IN the art Of observing.
II our walks we may sometimes meet with
a plant SO like tie yervain already described
that we see at once there must be Il very
near relationship, yet the plants are separnt-
ed by differences, SOM of which are obvious,
while others have to be discovered by a
closer examination. Possibly the first thing
that we notice will be that the new plant
has light purple flowers, while those of our
older friend are deep blue. In the absence
of Il better name, We may therefore call the
new plant the purple UorU0iR. Looking at
the whole benring Of the plant we see that
while the blue yervain is somewhat sprawl
ing the purple one has an upright habit.
1t is taller too. Where it grows III groups,
which it often does, the plants appear to
support each other and it can then reach a
height Of three or four feet. Comparing the
stems of the plants we find that while the
bLeA OF Iu6 common VOL Ndlu is IOuuutU, tlIuJ
OF the purple vervain is four cornered. The
leaves Of the two kinds resemble each other
in being notched like a saw (serrated) but
differ i'll colour, the leaves of the purple
vervain being Of q much lighter green. The
spike which holds the flowers is at first sight
much like that of the blue y~ervain5 it is rather
thick and while the fowers are lying close to
it,can hardly at q glance be distinguished from
the thicker stem. But when we look closer we
see that the flowers are not at all embedded
in the spike, but each is independent on q
little stalk of its own. When the corolla is
about to open, the flower swings out q little
on this stalk aud the difference is then plain
enough. From this difference it is plain that
the whole calyx IS in view ind having had to
protect the fl ,wer it is quite sturdy and has
five teeth, not like The calyx of the blue
vervain, which being embedded III the spike
is a delicate little affair with only two teeth.
The corolln is about the same size as the
blue one, but is wider i'll the throat, where
there are two pairs of anthers, all of them
bearing pollen, while in the blue vervain
two of the four are barren Of pollen. There
is a bract too below each flower, but it is
smaller and Of much less Importance than
that of the blue flower. The trnit con-