f.LAlSe HI. ORDER I.] FEDIA. 37 



Root small. Stem four to twelve inches liigb, furrowed, more or less 

 liairy. Leaves opposite, sessile, lower ones spatulate, stalked, mostly 

 entire, the upper linear, oblong, obtuse, sessile, entire or toothed. 

 Flowers in compact heads, surrounded at the base with linear oblong, 

 sometimes divided bracieas, forming an involucre at the extremity of 

 the forked branches. Corolla small, pale blue, tubular, unequally 

 five cleft. Stamens inserted at the mouth of the tube. Stigma blunt, 

 projecting. Capsule smooth, roundish, unequally ribbed, crowned 

 with three small inflexed teeth of the calyx. 



Habitat. — A common weed in corn-fields, and gardens in a light soil. 



Annual ; flowering during most of the summer months. Frequently 

 cultivated as an early salad, but not now so highly esteemed as for- 

 merly, 



2. F. carina ta, Stev. (Fig. 51.) carinated Fedia. Flowers capitate ; 

 capsule oblong, obtuse, deeply furrowed in front between the two 

 abortive cells, which are nearly equal in size to the fertile one, 

 crowned with a short tooth of the limb of the calyx. 



Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. additions at the end of the volume. — 

 Valerianel'la carina'ta, De Caudolle. Prodromus, vol. iv. p. 629. 



Plant from twelve to eighteen inches high. Stern branched from 

 the base, roughish, with short rigid reflexed hairs, which arise princi- 

 pally from the edges of the eight nearly equi-distant ribs. Lower leaves 

 spatulate, upper oblong obtuse, sessile, half embracing the stem, entire 

 or slightly toothed, somewhat hairy, especially on the edges towards 

 the base. Flowers in terminal heads, pale blue, surrounded at the 

 base with oblong bracteas. Fruit oblong, obtuse, nearly smooth, deeply 

 furrowed in front by the projecting edges of the two abortive cells, each 

 of which is as large as the fertile one placed at the back, which termi- 

 nates in a short obtuse tooth ; each cell is marked by a narrow longitu- 

 dinal rib. 



Habitat. — Near Ongar, Essex — Mr. E. Forster. Sussex ? — 3Ir. 

 Borrer, 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



Seeds of this plant were obligingly sent us by Mr. Borrer, who had 

 not gathered the plant but in a dried-up state ; they were sown in the 

 Sheffield Botanic Garden, and from them our drawing and description 

 has been made. It is allied to F. olitoria, but the seed is very difi"erent. 



3. F. denta'ta, Vahl. (Fig. 52.) smooth narrow-fruited Corn-Salad. 

 Flowers in loose corymbs, capsule smooth, obpyreform, crowned 

 with the cupped unequally four-toothed calyx, convex on the back, 

 plain and ribbed in front; stem forked, with a solitary sessile 

 flower in the axils ; leaves oblongo-lanceolate obtuse, upper ones 

 especially cut or deeply toothed at the base. 



English Flora, vol. i. p. 45. — Hooker, British flora, vol. i. p. 23. — 



