58 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



required forty daies witli balsam itself." The old herbalist says, " I saw the wound, 

 and offered to heal the same for charitie, which he refused, saying that I could not 

 heal it so well as himself — a clownish answer, I confesse, without any thanks for my 

 good- will ; whereupon I have named it ' Clown's Woundwort.' " Gerarde himself, 

 according to his own account, cured afterwards " manj' grievous wounds, and some 

 mortale, with the same herbe." The plant was regarded as a valuable remedy in 

 such cases, however, long before Gerarde's time, having been long known among 

 country people as All-heal and Woundwort. The Welsh have an ancient name for 

 it, bearing the same signification. The surgical value of the Marsh Woundwort may 

 be doubted, though it is certainly somewhat astringent, but it claims a place among 

 our useful plants for its edible roots. These are tuberous, and attain a considerable 

 size ; when boiled they form a wholesome and nutritious food, rather agreeable in 

 flavour. The young shoots of the plants may likewise be eaten, being cooked like 

 asparagus ; but though pleasant in taste, they leave a strong and disagreeable smell, 

 which would prevent their being relished by most persons. 



(?) HYBRID.— ST ACHYS SYLVATICI-PALUSTRIS. Wirtg. 



Plate MLXX. 



EeicJi. Ic. Fl. Germ et Helv. Vol. XVIII. Tab. MCCXV. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsioc. No. 2334. 



S. ambigua, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 2089. Koch, Syii. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 653. 



Fries, Summ. Veg. Scand. p. 14. Eeich. fil. 1. c. p. 7. 

 S. palustris, ft ambigua. Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 262. Rooh. & Am. Brit. Fl. 



ed. viii. p. 334. 

 S. palustris, y, hybrida, Beiith. in D.G. Prod. p. 740. 

 S. palustri-sylvatica, Sckiecle ; Greii. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. II. p. 689. 



Rootstock with very long creeping fleshy subterranean stolons. 

 Stem stout, erect, branched or simple. Radical leaves not persistent 

 till the time of flowering ; stem leaves all distinctly stalked ; peteole 

 less than half the length of the lamina ; lamma ovate or lanceolate or 

 ovate-elliptical, cordate, crenate-serrate or serrate, green on both sides, 

 not rugose. Lowest pairs of bracts resembhng the leaves ; brac- 

 teoles lanceolate-subulate, not exceeding the pedicels of the flowers. 

 Verticillasters in a long lax spikelike raceme. Calyx not oblique, 

 jiubescent with long simple and short gland-tipped hairs ; teeth trian- 

 gular-subulate, sp)inous-pointed, as long as the tube. Corolla-tube 

 longer than the calyx-teeth, shorter than the undermost pairs of bracts. 

 Nucules always abortive. Plant green, sparingly hispid-pubescent, 

 short with rather stiff" hairs. 



In cultivated ground and by roadsides. Rare, but widely distributed. 

 I have seen it from the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Surrey, 

 Cambridge, Fife and Orkney. It has been reported from many other 

 counties, but the subpeteolate forms of S. palustris are so often mistaken 

 for it, that localities not confirmed by specimens cannot be relied upon. 



