10 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



while, on tlio other hand, no one seems to liave produced the 

 garden Ibrm from var. a. The flowers of var. 3 arc rather paler, 

 and eonsidcrahly lari^er than in var. a ; the pods 1 to IJ inch long; 

 seeds uith a tuft of pure white hairs. 



inid French- JFilloWy Bose-Bay. 



French, £'p'duhe en jL'pi. Geruian, Schnudbldtlriger Schotenweiderich. 

 The jiretty i)uri)li.sh-recl, or we may say jSIagenta-coloured flowers of this plant are 

 knowu to all who own a piece of garden-ground, and some may have discovered that, 

 showy and jjleasing as are the blossoms, it is troublesome in a garden, as it spreads 

 very rapidly, and is ditBcult to extirpate. In its native situations it is very beautiful ; 

 its willow-like leaves and bright flowers adorn many a wayside bank and inaccessible 

 crag in the suamier months of the year. Every piece of the running root will grow, 

 and being very brittle, it is easily distributed accidentally, while the downy seeds are 

 often drifted for miles by the wind. The cottony fibres which surround the seeds have 

 given rise to many suggestions as to their use in the arts, and some experiments have 

 been tried with them ; but it is found that they are too short and brittle to be of any 

 n-ul value, although Withering tells us that they have been used mixed with cotton or 

 fur and woven into stockings and other articles. The Willow-herb is one of the plants 

 whose leaves are found in Eugli^sh adulterations of tea. The leaves form a wholesome 

 vegetable when boiled, and the young shoots or suckers are a substitute for asparagus. 

 The Kamtchatkans make a kind of beer from the yotmg shoots and the pith, which they 

 drink with the juice of Agaricas muscariics for the purpose of intoxication. Vinegar 

 is also made by fermenting this beer. 



Section II.— LYSIMACHION. Tcmsch. 



Flowers regular, funnel-shaped. Limb of the calyx with the 

 segments united for a short distance at the base. Petals obcordate, 

 all similar and equidistant. Stamens and styles erect. Lower 

 leaves opposite or in whorls of 3, but a greater or less number of 

 tlie upper ones alternate. 



SPECIES III.-EPILOBIUM HIRSUTUM. Linn. 

 Plate CCCCXCVII. 

 Stolons subterranean, appearing in summer, and then thick, 

 fleshy, with the leaves represented by opposite distant white 

 fleshy scales. Stem erect, branched, round, w^ithout evident raised 

 Imes, pilose. Leaves on the stem and branches nearly all opposite, 

 sessile, oblong-lanceolate, rounded and semi-amplexicaul at the 

 ba.se with the auricles adhering to the stem, finely and remotely 

 serrate. ]5racts alternate, resembling the leaves. Flowers very 

 numerous, in racemea which terminate the stem and branches. 

 Calyx-segments oblong, acute. Petals nearly as broad as long, 

 twice as long as the calyx-segments. Stigma 1-partitc, with the 



