PRIMULACE^. 155 



arc iu health must not shrink from searching the salt marshes on the coast, for many 

 very charming botanical treasures find their homes there. It is said that the leaves 

 and stem of the plant make a good pickle after the manner of sampliire. 



GENUS IX.— S A M O L U S. Tournef. 



Calyx with the tube adhering to the lower half of the ovary; the 

 limb free, 5-cleft. Corolla deciduous, inserted on the upper part of 

 the tube of the calyx, funnelshaped-salvershaped; tube very short; 

 limb concave, 5-partite. Perfect stamens 5, alternating with 5 scale- 

 like sterile stamens. Capsule half inferior, ovate-globose, oj)ening at 

 the apex by 5 teeth. Seeds numei'ous, anatropous. 



Herbs with the radical leaves stalked; the stem leaves alternate, 

 sessile, or shortly stalked. Flowers small, in racemes or corymbs. 



The derivation of the name of this genus of plants is somewhat obscure. It is 

 said by some writers to be a diminutive of Samos, a Grecian island, in which it' 

 abounds. 



SPECIES I.-SAMOLUS VALERANDL Linn. 



Plate MCLI. 



Rdch. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MLXXXIII. Pig. 3. 

 miluf, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Essicc. No. 625. 



Stem erect, simple or paniculately branched, leafy. Leaves obo- 

 vate or oblanceolate, obtuse, the lower ones attenuated into a petiole, 

 the uppermost ones subacute. Racemes many-flowered, elongating in 

 fruit. Capsule subglobose, shorter than the calyx. 



In wet places, and by the sides of ditches, especially near the sea. 

 Generally distributed, except in the north of Scotland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Late Summer, Autumn. 



Stem stiff erect, 3 to 30 inches high, nearly simple in small speci- 

 mens, paniculately branched, Avith the branches ascending, in large ones. 

 Kadical leaves m a rosette, 1 to 5 inches long ; stem leaves alternate, 

 decreasmg in size the higher they are placed on the stem, and 

 becommg more shortly stalked till the upper ones are quite sessile. 

 Flowers at first corymbose, with the corymb lengthening into a 

 raceme after flowering. Pedicles without bracts at the base, erect, 

 ascending, slightly incurved after flowering, much longer than the 

 calyx, each with a small bracteole a little below the calyx. Flowers 

 ^ inch across. Calyx tube ovoid in flower, hemispherical in fruit ; 

 segments deltoid. Corolla funnelshaped, not much exceeding the 

 calyx, white, deeply divided into 5 obovate truncate or emarginate 

 segments, witli a scale-like process between each pointing inwards. 

 Filaments sliort, broad at the base. Style short. Seeds very numc- 



X 2 



