A rough and hairy plant whose deep blue flowers stand out in a field or roadside meadow. Occasionally new flowers are pink fading to purple, as we see here. This specimen grew by a disused railroad siding in Oakmont.

From Gray’s Manual of Botany: E. VULGARE L. (BLUE-WEED, BLUE DEVIL.) Rough-bristly biennial; stem erect, 3-9 dm. high; stem-leaves linear-lanceolate, sessile; flowers showy, in short lateral clusters, disposed in a long and narrow thyrse or in an open panicle; buds pink; corolla brilliant blue (rarely pale or roseate). Roadsides and meadows, locally abundant. June-Sept. (Nat. from Eu.)