Blue Curls.Trichostema dichotomum.
Found on dry sandy plains and in open fields, in September.
The branching, leafy, and erect stalk grows from 6 to 12 inches high; it is strong and woody-fibred, not noticeably square as is usual among the Mints, minutely hairy, and soft to the touch. Its color is green, reddish near the root.
The leaf is oval, with an entire margin, and is nearly smooth to the touch. It is green in color. The leaves, on short stems, grow in pairs. They are strong scented.
The corolla is irregular in shape; 5-lobed, 4 of which are equal in size, slightly pointed, and erect or bent slightly forward, while the remaining lobe is long, narrow, and down-curving; in color a deep violet-blue. The 4 stamens and the pistil are long, pale, or reddish-violet; the green calyx is 5-parted. The flowers are set on short stems from the ends of the branches.
The blossom opens in the early morning sunlight. At first the pistil and stamens extend beyond the flower in a long curve, but as the day advances their tips gradually draw inwards until they are brought into the throat of the corolla, and thus become the little blue curl which gives the plant its bye-name; by three o’clock of the afternoon the curl is completed and the flower falls. Its odor is strong, with a rank resemblance to the Pennyroyal.