166 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



late-spathulate, witli no veins except a midrib. Scapes paniculately 

 branched from a little above the base; branches ascending- spreading, 

 the greater number of the lower ones sterile and destitute of spikelets. 

 Spikelets 2- to 3-flowered, arranged in 2-ranked unilateral spreading 

 straight or slightly recurved spikes. Imiermost bracteole one-thii'd 

 longer than the intermediate one, and more than twice as long as the 

 outer one. Calyx segments broadly ovate, rounded, apiculate, with- 

 out teeth between them. Scapes and branches scabro-papillose. 



On the drier parts of sandy salt marshes, and by the sides of 

 brackish ditches. Rare. Round the coasts of the Wash, Norfolk, in- 

 cluding the north of Cambridge and south Lincoln ; found by Professor 

 Babington in Suffolk, but not included in Henslow and Skeppar's 

 Flora of that county. 



England. Perennial. Late Summer, Autumn. 



Rootstock with numerous heads close together, each producmg a 

 few leaves, which are rarely more than 1 inch long (including the 

 petiole) and which usually decay before the plant has done flowering. 

 Stems decumbent, spreadmg in a circle, 3 inches to 1 foot long, gene- 

 rally branched nearly to the base, and with very numerous repeatedly 

 forked barren branches, the ultimate divisions divaricate and mostly 

 destitute of spikelets. Bracts with a mvicli broader white membranous 

 margin than in the other British species. The corolla much smaller 

 and pale lilac, not purplish blue. 



Matted Sea Lavender. 



ORDER LVIIL— PLANTAGINACE^. 



Herbs, generally with the leaves all radical : more rarely with the 

 stems elongated and sometimes shrubby at the base, with the leaves 

 opposite. Flowers perfect or unisexual ; in the former case with cylin- 

 drical or ovoid or headlike spikes ; when unisexual, with the male flowers 

 solitary and stalked, and the female 2 or 3 together and sessile. Calyx 

 free from the ovary, persistent, 4-partite, in the male or perfect flowers : 

 in the female of 3 sepals, subunilateral. Corolla persistent, hypogynous : 

 in the male and jicrfect flowers, salvershaped, with a 4-partite scarious 

 limb : in the female flowers, urceolate, and unequally 3- or 4-toothed. 

 Stamens 4, very rarely 1, in the perfect flowers inserted on the middle 

 of the tube of the corolla, in the male flowers hypogynous, in both 

 alternate with the corolla segments ; filaments much exscrted ; anthers 

 versatile, caducous. Ovary free : in the perfect flowers imperfectly 2- 



