i8o THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



English Clary {Salvia Verbenaca). 



Like Vervain, Clary is no doubt largely dependent, 

 in so far as its present universal distribution is con- 

 cerned, upon its former use as a herb, it being called 

 also Wild Sage. 



In England it is generally distributed, but in 

 Scotland it is found more abundantly south of the 

 Forth, and chiefly on the eastern side. It is found 

 also in Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



Dry pastures appear to be the most native habitat 

 for Clary. Usually it is found in w^aste places, by the 

 roadside, on village greens, in churchyards, on gravelly 

 banks. With it the writer has found Corn Parsley 

 at the foot of a churchyard wall, with Knotted Hedge 

 Parsley, the two last being frequently associated in 

 more natural habitats. 



Having more or less the rosette habit and radical 

 leaves lying on the ground Clary is an erect plant. 

 It is usually hairy or smooth below, glandular hairy 

 above, the stem leafy, with few branches. The 

 radical leaves are numerous, stalked, ovate, oblong, 

 heart-shaped below, blunt, with coarse, angular, 

 wavy teeth, or they may be scalloped, wrinkled. The 

 upper leaves are few, stalkless, clasping, oblong, heart- 

 shaped or triangular to ovate, broader and not so 

 long. 



The flowers are bluish-violet, in a terminal spike, 

 with bracts, and six flowers in a whorl. The bracts 



