182 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



deep furrows. Segments a little longer than the tube, ascending, 

 acute. Flowers opening in summer and autumn. 



Var. 3, biennis. 



Plate MCLXXV. 



B'dlot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Essicc. No. 3382. S. biennis, I!i;ntrt; " Bull. Soc. Hall, 

 p. 20." Cat. de Geneve, p. 183. 



Biennial. Internodes very short. Fruiting calyx tube with 10 

 shallow furrows; segments rather shorter than the tube, erect, 

 incurved, much broader and less acute than in var. a. Flowers pro- 

 duced only in spring and early summer. 



Var. a in cultivated ground and waste places. Common, and 

 generally distributed, but becoming scarce in the north of Scotland. 



Var. 3 on sandy and gravelly commons. Frequent in the vicinity 

 of London. I have it also from St. David's, Pembrokeshire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual or Biennial. Spring to 



Autumn. 



Var. a has elongated decumbent diffusely branched stems, 3 to 9 

 inches long. Leaves slightly recurved, ^ to f inch long, strapshaped, 

 acute, flat above, convex below, the bases enlarged and scarious at the 

 margins, which are united so as to be connate. Flowers subsessile, \ 

 inch long, the tube becoming hardened in fruit, and readily falling off 

 when ripe, without permitting the fruit to escape. Plant green, 

 glabrous ; the stems hairy, and the margins of the leaves ciliated, 

 the rest of the plant glabrous. 



Var. & is very different in aspect, but these differences probably 

 depend on the difference of situation. It is much smaller than var. a. 

 The stems are rarely more than 1 to 3 inches long, suberect, numerous, 

 and very slightly branched; the leaves are shorter, and less fiilcate. 

 The calyx is about J inch long ; the tube less deeply furrowed ; the 

 teeth shorter, more triangular, more erect, and with much broader 

 scarious margins. The bracts are shorter than the flowers, while in 

 var. « they are genei'ally a little longer. 



Common Knawcl. 



French, Ouavelle. German, einjdhriger Knmiel. 

 The Swedes inhale a decoction of this plant as a cure for toothache. 



SPECIES IL-SCLER A NTHUS PERENNIS. Lmn. 



Plate MCLXXVI. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 197. 



Perennial. Flowers aggregated into dichotomous fascicles at the 



