APETAL.E 231 



The anthers, which remain some time, ripen with the 

 stigma. When wet they close at once. Kerner 

 estimated the time in one case to be half a minute. 



In the group is included the fragrant Sandalwood, 

 used as a perfume. Astringent properties belong to 

 some members of the group. Some of the exotic 

 species furnish edible seeds. 



Bastard Toadflax (Thesium linophyllum), 



Theophrastus is the author of the first scientific 

 name. Alcock says it was named from " Theseus, a 

 king of Athens, B.C. 1235, one of the most celebrated 

 heroes of antiquity. Festivals and games were 

 instituted to his memory, and these were still cele- 

 brated with their original solemnity in the age of 

 Pausanias and Plutarch, about 1200 years after his 

 death." Sprengel says that " the Thesion of PHny is 

 the Thesium linophyllum of modern botany, but from 

 Pliny's description there seems little ground for this 

 opinion. The Greek Theseion was some plant used to 

 form the crown competed for at the games (called 

 Theseia) just mentioned." The second scientific 

 name refers to the flax-like foliage. 



Being restricted to soils derived from chalk or 

 limestone, or calciphile. Bastard Toadflax is confined 

 in the British Isles to England, where it is found in 

 the south, east and west of England, between Norfolk 

 and Gloucester and Cornwall and Sussex. It occurs 

 also in the Channel Islands. 



