VERBENACE^ 



ii5 



They derive their name from their general re- 

 semblance to Nettles, but they do not sting. They 

 are also smaller, seldom exceeding a foot in height. 

 The White Dead-nettle (Lamium album) is one of 

 the commonest of our wild flowers, on every hedge 

 and bank, and its large white flowers make it very 

 conspicuous. It flowers from spring to autumn. 

 On the Continent a preparation of this plant is 

 used internally to check haemorrhage. 



Upright Woundwort — Stachys recta 

 (Plate LXXIII) 



This plant is common in Central and Southern 

 Europe in rocky places, and flowers from the end 

 of June till autumn. It is not British, though 

 other species of the genus are found in the 

 British Islands. The root is woody, branching 

 and nodular. The stems are erect or ascending, 

 simple or branched, quadrangular, and hairy, like 

 the Calamint. The leaves are longer or shorter, 

 lanceolate, with serrated edges, and narrowed into 

 a short stalk. The lower leaves are obtuse, the 



upper ones pointed, and those which stand among 

 the flowers gradually pass into oval sessile awn- 

 bearing bracts. The flower-whorls consist of six 

 or more flowers together, and finally form a 

 long interrupted flower-spike. The calyx becomes 

 gradually broader above ; its tube is not hairy, 

 and the teeth end in a bare prickly awn. The 

 tube of the corolla is rather obliquely constricted 

 below the middle, and is furnished with an oblique 

 fringe of hairs at the constriction. 



The Bugle (Ajuga reptans) is a common plant 

 in swampy places, growing to the height of nearly 

 a foot, and bearing a thick spike of conspicuous 

 blue flowers. 



Order LIX. Verbenacece (1 genus) 



Vervain — Verbena officinalis 



(Plate LXXIV) 



This is the only British plant of its Order, and 

 it is not uncommon in waste places both in Britain 

 and on the Continent. It has an upright quad- 

 rangular stem nearly two feet high, which throws 



