COMMON TOADFLAX 221 



Essential Spixtfic CuARAtTKRs: — 



228. Linai'ia repeiis. Mill. — Root creeping, stem slender, erect, 

 leaves glaucous, linear, (lowers lilac, in racemes, sepals lanceolate, 

 seeds anguUir. 



Common Toadflax (Linaria vLilgaris, Mill.) 



This plant is not an ancient one apparently, though its range to-day 

 is that of the northern plants, being found in the N. Temperate and 

 Arctic Zones in Arctic Europe, anil \\ . Asia. It is introduced in 

 North America. In (ireat Britain it is absent trom Cardigan, Stirling, 

 X. Perth, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Easterness, \\ . Highlands, e.vcept 

 Main Arg\ le, Dumbarton, Clyde Islands, and it docs not grow in the 

 N. Highlands or the Northern Islands. It is found in Ireland and the 

 Channel Islands. 



Comiuon Toadflax is found in L^ix-al abundance on waste ground, 

 and is especially abundant where\-er ballast has been thrown down, as 

 on railway banks, at stations, and in quarries, docks, and similar places. 

 It grows profusely also in the south of England on dr\-, open ground. 



This showy, erect plant is leafy, with a grass-like habit, smooth 

 and bluish-green below. The leaves are linear lance-shaped, acute, 

 rather close, not whorled. The stems are numerous, downv, and 

 glandular above. 



The general shape of the corolla is that of a Snapdragon, with 

 a spur below, and the flowers are large, yellow, with an orange 

 palate, in a raceme, overlapping, terminal. The sepals are ovate- 

 lance-shaped, the upper one longest. The corolla is gaping, with the 

 .spur parallel to the tube, and blunt, the upper lip bifid, divided into 

 two nearly to the base, with turned-back lobes, the lower lip trifid, 

 divided nearly to the base. The anther-stalks are white, the anthers 

 yellow. There are traces of a posterior stamen. The seeds are brown 

 or black, rounded, notched at the base, flattened at the niarein, winged, 

 and netted. Common Toadflax is about i ft. high, antl the flowers are 

 in bloom from June to September, perennial, reproduced by seed or 

 division of roots, and worth cultivating. 



The flower has a long spur, 10-13 mm. long, and is like a closed 

 vessel. The honey is protected by hairs. It is secreted by the base of 

 the ovary, which is swollen in front, opposite the lower lip. The honey 

 collects in a groove which leads to the ti|) of the spur, filling ii up to 

 5-6 mm., the hairs being arranged between the nectary and the two 

 anterior stamens. The sides of the inferior stamens are clothed with 



