254 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Nov, 



i. laos. 



ally united by short transverse ribs, chiefly at the 

 end of the seed; ribs faintly transversely striated. 

 Colour a bright sherry-brown (fig. 232, x40). 



Bird's-foot Toad-flax (Linaria triornithophora)- 

 — Nearly circular and discoid, convex on one side, 

 and plane, or slightly concave on the other. Surface 

 granular. Dull umber. 



Fig. 231. 



Fig. 232. 



Fig. 233. 



Three-leaved Toad-flax [Linaria triplnjllci). — 

 Seeds elongated, angular, and variable. The surface 

 granular, with numerous irregular depressions. 

 The ridges slope gradually on each side to the bot- 

 tom of the pits, so as to have the appearance of 

 undulations, and not of distinct ridges, as in most of 

 the preceding. Colour blackish-brown. 



Yellow Mimultjs {Mimulus lutew). — Kiclney- 

 or shell-shaped, with furrows radiating from the 

 hilum to the convex ridge, and with similar trans- 

 verse depressions, leaving small irregular elongated 

 elevations covering the surface of the seed. The 

 elevations are in a regular series. Resembling the 

 seeds of some of the Pink and Sweet William family 

 (Caryophyttacea), varying from a rust-colour to a 

 blackish-brown (fig. 233, x 40). 



Hooker's Schizanthus (Schizanthus returns). — 

 Seeds kidney-shaped, the surface deeply honey- 

 combed into hexagonal pits, which are concentric, 

 and parallel with the convex side of the seed. The 



crimped," or 

 acutely zigzag. Colour, pale umber (fig. 234, x 40). 



Fig. 234. 



Fig. 235. 



Great Mullein (T'erbascum Thapsv.s). — Seeds 

 elongated, sides straight, slightly narrower towards 

 one end. The end view bluntly pentagonal. De- 

 pressions in longitudinal series. Colour, dull 

 light-brown. These seeds again are a distinct type, 

 somewhat like a truncated cone. The seeds of 

 other Mulleins furnish varieties of the same general 

 form (fig. 235, x 40). 



Water Figwort {Scrophularia aquatica). — The 

 form is more cylindrical than in the Mulleins, the 



texture more horny, the depressions less decided, 

 and the general character less interesting. 



Cape Cilenostoma (Chmiostoma polycmtha). — 

 These are pretty little amber-coloured seeds of the 

 Pig wort kind, elongated, rather angular, and 

 covered with parallel transverse linear depressions. 



Cape Night Stock (Nycterinia eapensis). — 

 These seeds almost baffle description ; no two of 

 them are precisely alike : the general form is angular 

 and irregular, with a collapsed appearance. The 

 colour is a delicate primrose, and the surface granu- 

 lated like a piece of shagreen (fig. 23G, x 40). 



Eyebright Seed (Euphrasia officinalis). — More 

 elongated than the majority of seeds in this order, 

 with the ends attenuated. The body of the seed 

 nearly black and glossy, with longitudinal mem- 

 branaceous dirty-white ridges. Between the ridges 

 are faint transverse striae (fig. 237, x 40). 



Fig. 236. 



Fig. 23". 



Crimson Alonzoa (Alonzoa Warczewicsii). — 

 Elliptical or ovate, with four or five parallel longi- 

 tudinal shallow grooves. The surface rough, with 

 granular projections. Colour, a shining brownish- 

 black, as though coated with asphalte. 



Common Collinsia (Collhisia bicolor).—Ova\. in 

 outline, convex on one side, concave on the other, 

 with the margin turned inwards. Texture horny, 

 and of a shining brown, covered on the convex side, 

 and the margin which is rolled over the concave 

 side, with pale hexagonal reticulations (fig. 238). 

 The form approaches closely to that of some of the 

 species of Plantain (Plantago). j 



Fig. 238. 



Ovate Penstemon (Pentstemon ovaf/u;i).—Yery 

 irregular and angular, often presenting nearly a 

 triangular face. Brownish, or blackish-brown, paler 

 along the angular edges. Surface rough, with a 

 fugitive superficial reticulation. 



Climbing Lophospermum (Lophospermum scan- 



