204 FLOWERS OF WASTE PLACES, ETC. 



Essential Specikic Characters: — 



i7<S. Crepis virens, W'allr. — Sum erect, tunowed, glabrous, 

 branched, radical leaves lyrate, stem-leaves linear, sagittate, flower- 

 heads yellow, outer phyllaries linear, inner glabrous inside, fruit shorter 

 than pappus. 



Hound's Tongue (("xnoglossum officinale, L.) 



This is one of the soiuhern l\[)(!s. not usually found in ancient 

 deposits. To-day it is found in h. urope. N. Africa, Silx-^ria, eastward 

 to .Asia, and it has been intnidm-ed iiiiu the I'nited -Stales. In CJreat 

 Britain it has been found in the I'eninsuhi proxince, Channel, Thames, 

 Anglia provinces; Severn prox'ince; not in l>n;con, Radnor, oi- (."ar- 

 cligan, in .S. Wales; Montgomery, in X. Wales; Irent pnnince; 

 Mersey, 1 lumber, Tyne, Lakes provinces, except I. of .Man; E. Low- 

 lands, except Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh; E. Highlands, except 

 Stirling, -S. Perth, Aberdeen, I>anff, Elgin. Ivisterness. It is rare in 

 I reland. 



Hound's Tongue is rc-all\' a plant oi thi; fiekls, but is founil com- 

 nionh^ in waste places. It grows by the sea-coast on sand\' (hmes. It 

 is to be found survi\Mng on the kitchen-miclclens of okl houses. It is 

 often extensively spread in parks and similar jilaces. Its status at best 

 is that of such plants as Burdock, Borage, Comfrey, Henbane, Deadly 

 Nightshade, and others. 



Th(! first Greek name, and its Flnglish eiiuivalent, refer to the 

 characteristic shape of the leaves of this plant, which is upright, tall, 

 and leafy, the stem being rarely branched at the top, angular, very 

 downy, with short close hairs, with long root, radical leaves, stalked, 

 egg-shaped to acute, downy witli silky, greyish, closely appressed hairs. 

 both sides, the stem-leaves stalkless, lance-shapeci, and heart-shaped 

 below. 



The reddish, purple-veined fiowcrs are borne in long cymes, on 

 curved-back flower-stalks which are downy and alternate. The calvx 

 lobes are blunt, shiny within. The corolla is half as long as the cahx. 

 and funnel-shaped. The capsules are fiat, pricklv, and catch in the 

 wool of animals. 



The plant is 2 ft. high. It fiowers in June and July, and is 

 biennial, propagated by seeds, and worth a place in the garden. 



The corolla is monopetalous, and the mouth is closed by 5 scales, 

 which are purple, swollen above, on the vA^^q of the tube, and half as 

 long as the limb, and perforated. The anthers are below the nectaries, 



