ii8 KLOWERS ()]• LAKES, RIVERS, ETC. 



was a i'ej)uU'd cure; aiul thr second l.alin name refers to its semi- 

 acjuatic habitat. Figwort was applied because it was supposed to l)e 

 a cure for the disease funs by the Doctrine of Signatures. 



l^rook or W ater Betony, Bishop-leaves, Broomwort, Brownwort, 

 Bullwort, Stinkin;4' Christopher, Cressel, Cressil, Crowdy-Kit, I'iddles, 

 Fiddlewood, Figwort, Ilunismans Cap, Boor Man's Salve, Stinking 

 Roger, are the common names for this handsome semi-acjuatic plant. 



Because the stalks are coloured it was called Brownwort. It is 

 called Fiddlewood because the stems are stripped by children of their 

 leaves and scrai)ed across each other liddle-fashion to produce a 

 squeaking sountl. 



The plant is purgative in action. It was from the tuberous roots 

 of S. nodosa that the notion arose that this plant (like the other) was 

 a cure for scrofula. At the siege of Rochelle (1628) the French were 

 reduced to eating" the roots. 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



231. Scrophiilaria aqitatica, L. — Stem tall, erect, quadrangular, 

 4-winged, leaves cordate, ol^long, crenate. serrate, bracts linear, blunt, 

 llowers, 1-15, purple, in a corymbose cyme, with renitorm staminodes, 

 caly.K with 5 rounded lobes. 



Musk (Miniulus I.angsdorffii, Donn.') 



This is an American plant of comparatively recent introduction into 

 Europe {1812), and a member of the N. Temperate flora. Like Elodea 

 canadensis, also introduced from America, it is now found in all parts 

 of the country. In Skye it ascends to 1000 It. It is tound also in 

 Ireland. 



Musk grows by the waterside in most damp places, bv the margins 

 of streams, in reservoirs, and other natural or artificial pieces of water. 

 Associated with it are Purple Loosestrife. Three-lobed Butterbur, 

 Scorpion Grass, Gijasy Wort, Blue Skull-cap, Yellow Flag, Flowering 

 Rush, &c. 



The habit is compact, the stems rather trailing or creeping, and the 

 whole plant is more or less bushy. The lower leaves are stalked, the 

 upper clasping", heart-shaped, egg-shaped, smooth, shiny, veined, with 

 six or more nerves. The stalks of the upper leaves are occasionally 

 lobed. 



The first Latin name has reference to some supposed resemblance 

 between the seeds and the e.vpression of a monkey when grinning. 

 The flower is bright-yellow with carn"iine spots, borne on slender 



