NEILGHERRY PLANTS. i fe] 
difference therefore is found in the ovary which has parietal, not axile, placentas as in 
true Scrophulariacez, a distinction however not always easily made out. Cyrtandracee 
is another order which very nearly approaches this, having similarly formed flowers but 
having, like the Orobanchs, parietal placentas, 
This order has a very extended geographical distribution, but most abounds in the 
northern hemisphere. In India, the number of its species is certainly considerable, though 
small as compared with the whole order, but then they are found all over the world, extend- 
ing from the Arctic to the Antartic circle, from Melville Island to Terra del Fuego. In 
India, they are found in all soils and situations from the sea shore to the tops of the 
highest mountains, in marsh and on the most arid plains, in the deepest recesses of the 
forest and exposed to the full blaze of our tropical sun. _ 
With the exceptions of Digitalis and the officinal Gratiola, the properties of this 
family are not of much consequence. The former is important as supplying a peculiar 
narcotic, remarkable for its power of allaying and modifying excessive or irregular 
action of the heart, while, at the same time, acting as a powerful diuretic. The other 
Gratiola is an active drastic. Many of the species are admired for their handsome flowers 
and find a place in the flower garden, not the least worthy of which is the Torenia asia- 
tica, found as a weed by the road sides on the Hills; though little thought of there, imme- 
diately it found its way into English gardens it took its place among the choice prize 
flowers of their floral exhibitions. Many species of Digitalis have handsome flowers and 
are very ornamental, while the Snap-dragons and Toad-flaxes are found in almost every 
garden, Several of the Hill species might be turned to similar account, and growing in 
their native climate might, with the aid of appropriate culture, become interesting addi- 
tions to the flower border. Limnophila hypericifolia, is a very beautiful species, but in- 
habits marshy ground and might not perhaps take kindly to the garden, but if it did, 
and the flowers enlarged under cultivation, and their present lilac colour deepened into 
blue or purple, which I think probable, as some of the other species have very deep blue 
flowers, it would become very ornamental, the flowers contrasting favourably with the 
bright shining green of the leaves. The Pedicularis is also well worth cultivation, could 
it be made to flower at other than its natural season, as it is then too common to meet 
with much notice in the garden. Another species of the genus, P. Perrottetii, which 
I have never had the good fortune to find growing, but which is found in valleys of the 
Koondahs, is really a most charming plant, and deserving of every care in cultivation. 
Its flowers are nearly 4 inches long, and I am told pure white. It ought to be in every 
garden. 
VERBASCUM. 
Calyx deeply 5-cleft or 5-parted, rarely 5-toothed. Corolla spreading, wheel-shaped, rarely concave, 
lobes somewhat unequal. Stamens 5, the three posterior ones, or all, woolly, rarely naked. : Style flattened 
at the apex, thickish. Capsule globose, ovoid, or oblong, dehiscent. Herbs, usually biennial, rarely peren- 
nial or suffruticose, usually erect, tall, more or less tomentose, or covered with fleecy wool, Leaves all 
alternate, the radical ones usually large, long-petioled, the cauline ones progressively shorter, more sessile 
or decurrent. Corolla ephemeral, yellow, brown, purple, or red, rarely white. 
Of this vast genus, including nearly 100 species, 4 only are found in India, and two of these common 
to Europe, so that one might almost suppose they had been ? ee a ean ne Peer 
naturalized. In general appearance they so greatly resemble Célsia, one species of which is wee 
on the Hills, that they might almost be mistaken, but are generally easily distinguished by the flowers, 
