PRIMULACEiE. 143 



GENUS r.— LYSIMACHIA. Linn. 



Calyx 5-partite, free from the ovary. Corolla deciduous, rotate, or 

 saucershaped-rotate or bell-shaped ; tube very short or scarcely any ; 

 limb concave or nearly flat, deeply 5-partite. Stamens 5, sometimes 

 with 5 sterile ones between them ; the fertile ones, as in the rest of the 

 order, opposite the petals. Capsule subglobular, opening at the apex 

 by 5 valves, which are often 2- or 3-cleft, or by 2 valves. Seeds nume- 

 rous, ampliitroj^ous. 



Herbs of various habit. Leaves entire, 02:)posite, or whorled. 

 Flowers yellow, more rarely rosy-white or purple. 



The name of tliis genus of plants is said by one -writer to be derived from the Greek 

 •words \vu, I loose, I end, and /utix'?, tbe strife; while Dr. Mayne tells ns it was named 

 after Lysimachus, its discoverer, according to Pliny, he being one of Alexander's 

 generals. It is also stated that a King of Sicily of the same name first discovered its 

 virtues, which appear to consist in the power of taming wild beasts. 



Sub-Genus I.— NAUMBURGIA. Mdnch. 



Segments of the corolla with a minute tooth between them. Seeds 

 smooth, scarcely margined. Flowers yellow, in dense axillary ra- 

 cemes ; stamens subexserted. 



SPECIES I._LYSIMACHIA THYRSIPLORA. Linn. 



Plate MCXL. 



Bekh. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVH. Tab. MLXXXV. Fig. 2. 

 BilhA, Fl. GaU. et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1762. 

 Naumburgia guttata, Mdnch, Meth. Suppl. p. 23. 

 N. thyi-siflora, Dnlij, in B.C. Prod. Vol. VIII. p. 60. 



Stem erect, stiff. Leaves opposite, rarely verticillate, sessile, semi- 

 amplexicaul, oblong-strapshaped or oblong-lanceolate, densely spruak'led 

 with black dots. Flowers in opposite stalked racemes from the axils 

 of a few of the pairs of leaves near the middle of the stem. Calyx 

 segments strapshaped, subacute. Corolla bellshaped, with 5 or 6 

 strapshaped subobtuse suberect segments, with a minute tooth in the 

 sinus between them, dotted -with black points. Stamens 5 or 6, rather 

 longer than the corolla,, slightly combmed at the base into a very short 

 ring. 



In wet marshes, by the sides of ditches or canals, and m shallow 

 water. Rare. In England it occurs in "Wiltshire (but probably intro- 

 duced), iu Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and possibly in Anoiesea 



