142 i'i.()\\i:i^s oi.- •rii].; coi^Niii'.i.ns 



The ca[)sulc is loiii^' ;iiul narrow and rihliuil, and the seeds niav lie 

 partly dispersed liki- ihnse (il the censei- li'uils l)y aid ol the wind. 



'I his planl is larL;el\ a lime plant ^rowin;.,; on a lime snll, l.m will 

 also suhsisl on a dry sand soil. 'The ( )oliies an: a speciall}- la\()iirite 

 formation of this plant. 



/.(XONSia is h-oni Lei^otis, in honour of an earl\ hoiaiiist, and the 

 second Latin naini: reler.s to the luolold culonr of the corolla, blue 

 inside, lilac outside. 



This plant is called \'enus's or Oin- Lady's Lookino- Glass and 

 Corn X'iolet. 



Essential Spixtfic Characters: — 



189. Li-ooitsia liybrida, Delarbre.- Stem wir\, terete, siib-simple, 

 glabrous, angular, leaves sinuate, railical leaves stalked, stcMiideaves 

 sessil(\ llowers tew, solitar\', lilac blue, sessile, in the axils, corolla 

 rotate, shoiier than the rou^li calx \, capsule trianii'ular. 



Scarlet Pimpernel (.Xna^.illis arxensis, L.) 



This ])retty trailing' cornlield weed is apparently cjuite a modern 

 plant in this country, not having- been found in ancient deposits. At 

 the present day it is found in Europe and X. Africa, Siberia, West 

 Asia, as far east as the Himalayas in the Xorth Temperate Zone. 

 It is an introduction in North America. The Scarlet Pimpernel is 

 found in every part of Great Ilritain e.xcept Peebles, Selkirk, Ross, 

 and the Shetland Islands. It is thus common from Ross and IJanft 

 southwards. Watson regards it as a colonist in Scotland. 



The Scarlet I'impernel is a typical cornfield plant, growing in oijen, 

 loamy, clayey fields, rarely lingering long in fields that have run to 

 fallow. It is similarly found in all places that are connected with 

 farming operatiftns, and in the garden, Ix-ing iniable to compete with 

 grass in a meadow, ami on the sea coast it is found upon shingle 

 and sand. 



This plant has the habit of Wood Loosestrife, which has in fact 

 been called Yellow Pimpernel. The stem is erect or lying on the 

 ground, branched, square, smooth and twisted, with water furrows 

 between the leaves. The leaves are opposite, stalkless, three-nerved, 

 egg-shaped, narrowlv elli[)tical, or heart-shaped, smooth, and with 

 brown dots below. 



The flowers are usually scarlet and solitary. They are borne in 

 the axils on long, slender, turned-back flower-stalks. The calyx has a 

 membranous margin and is triangular. The petals are purplish at the 



