SCR0PHULARIACE5:. 



256 



VERBASCUM. 



S. I'NDICUM. — Leaves lanceolate-ovate, lower ones 3-Iobed, upper ones 

 undivided, serrate. Native of E. India. Stem erect, about 18 inches high. 

 Leaves alternate, entire. Flowers axillary, subsessile. Corolla pale pnrple. 

 The seeds yield an excellent oil which will keep several years without injury. 

 It is used in cookery for all the purposes of sweet oil. Five pounds of the 

 seeds yield about one pound of oil. The leaves are emollient. Oihj-sccd. 



ORDER XCIl. SCROPIIULARIACEiE. The Flgwort Tribe. 



Cal. — Sopals 4 or 5, unequal, more or less uniled at base, inferior, persistent. 



Cor. — Bilabiate, personate or otherwise iircg^ular, the lolies imbricate in ffislivation. 



Sia, — i^ diiJyuanious, rarely with the rudiment of the 5th : sometimes 2 only, the 3 others 



either rudimentary or wholly wanting. 

 Oca. — Free, 2-celled, many seeded. Sti/le simple. Slig7na 2-lobed. 

 Fr. — Capsule 2-celled, 2-valved, with central placentte. 

 6y5.— -Indefinite, albuminous. Embryo straiglil. 



A large order of herbaceous, rarely shrubby plants, with opposite, vertieillate or alternate 

 leaves. They are found in every part of the world, from the equator to the regions of per- 

 petual frost. They constitute about l-3(> of the Phrenogamia of N. America. Lindley. 



Propertie.t. Generally acrid, biUer and deleterious plants. The most remarkable olli- 

 cinal species of the tribe is the foxglove {Digitalis), which exercises a ■wonderful control 

 over the action of the heart, in regulating its pulsations. It is also employed in eases of 

 dropsy, hemorrhage, &c. Takeii in excess it speedily causes death. The Veronica 

 Virgiiiica, (Culvers Physic) and Linaria vulgaris (toad-flax) are purgative and emetic. 

 Nuiuerous species are cultivated for ornament. Nearly all of them turn black in drying. 



Conspectus of the genera. 



* Flowers diandrons. 



I erect. 

 ( upper lip emarginate, | reflexed. 

 ( bilabiate, | upper lip 5-lobed and many-clelt. 

 < tubular, ( campanulale. Stamens and style much exsert. 

 Corolla ( subrotate, limb 4-lobed, lower lobe smallest. 



* * Flowers pentandrous. 

 Corolla subrotate, nearly regular. Stamens .'5, all fertile. 



* '* ■* Flowers didj'namous. 



( Seeds many, 

 equal at base . . , . ( Seeds 2 — 3. . 

 spurred at base beneath, 

 gibbous at base beneath. . 



I Leaves alternate, 

 tube ventricose . . ( Leaves opposite. 



f Sterile I subequal, ^ tube slender 



' filament 0. [ Corolla equal. Scape 1-flowered. 



( shorter, smooth at the end. 

 Sterile ( free, . . . .\ longer, bearded at the end. 

 iilameut 1, \ adherent to the subglobosc corolla. 



( serrate. . 

 ( Leaves opposite, ( subcnlirc. 



f Corolla yellow '( Leaves alternate. Bracts colored. 



4. ( Corolla dark purple. 



( Bracts green 



2, or it is obliquely truncated. ( Bracts scarlet 



' Corolla , , 

 bilabiate. 



Corolla 



(5 



1 . V E R B A' S C U M . 



Corolla rotate, 5-lohcd, unequal ; stamens 5, declinate, all 

 perfect; capsule ovoitl-globose, 2-valve(J. 



Lat. liarha, a beard ; a name significant of the beard with which the plant 

 is covered. Herbs (often suffruticose). Lvs. alternate. Fls. in dense spikes 

 or paniculate racemes. Cal. of 5 deep, acute seg. Cor. of a short lube and 



