202 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
narrowly linear, semicylindrical, deeply channelled above or with only 
a furrow, spreading, at length lying on the ground and flexuous, 
Raceme short, oblong-ovoid, the rachis swollen in fruit. Pedicels 
slender, recurved in flower, shorter than the flowers, spreading in 
fruit. Flowers oblong-ovoid, urceolate, dim, indigo-blue, with the 
teeth of the limb white; upper flowers nearly sessile, erect, abortive, 
pale blue, smaller than the others. Capsule with 3 compressed flat- 
tened semicircular lobes, and a deep notch at the apex. 
In sandy pastures. Very local. Apparently a true native in 
Suffolk, about Packenham and Cavenham. In hedgebanks in Cam- 
bridgeshire, especially about Hinton between Cambridge and the Gog- 
magog Hills; but it was not observed in the county before 1827. It 
also grows at Norwich on the city walls. It is said to be well established 
on the banks of the Blackwater, near Fermoy, co. Cork, Ireland. 
England, [Ireland (?)]. Perennial. Late Spring, early Summer. 
Bulb flowering when about the size of a hazel-nut, producing an 
immense number of bulbules at the base, so that when the plant is 
once introduced in a locality it increases with great rapidity. Leaves 
almost rushlike, 3 to 8 inches long, dark green, striate, glaucous 
and dim above, reddish at the base. Scape 4 inches to 1 foot high, 
generally solitary, but sometimes a second scape is produced from the 
same bulb after the first. Raceme { to 14 inch long. Pedicels very 
slender, lengthening in fruit, when also the rachis becomes swollen 
to a considerable extent, and fistulous. Flowers about } inch long, 
crowded. Capsule scarcely } inch long. Seeds subglobular, black, 
about the size of mignionette seed. 
I have gathered this plant near Cambridge under the guidance of 
Professor Babington; and the Rev. Kirby Trimmer has sent me 
numerous fresh specimens from Cavenham Field, Suffolk.* From roots 
thus obtained I have cultivated the Cambridge and Suffolk plants for 
some time, and there is no doubt it is the M. racemosum of continental 
botanists. 
M. neglectum (Gussone), to which the British plant is referred 
by Professor Babington, is a subspecies of M. racemosum, twice 
as large in all its parts as the form above described, the leaves 
much stiffer, broader, flatter, more enlarged towards the apex, the 
raceme often 3 inches long; flowers and capsule much larger, the 
former appearing much earlier than those of M. (eu-)racemosum. 
M. neglectum is sold in the nurseries as M. racemosum, and does 
duty for it in most botanic gardens; but the M. (eu-)racemosuin 
appears to be rare in cultivation. 
. racemosum of Miller is apparently M. botryoides, D.C., or one 
* “ Wield,” in Suffolk, is applied, not to an enclosure, but to an uncultivated open 
sheepwalk, 
