U SCROPHULAUmE^ 



linear, the lower ones whorled, the upper alternate, those of the barren shoots 

 broader and ternate ; flowers in short racemes ; flower-stalks as long as the 

 bracts ; sepals linear, acute ; annual. This plant occurs in one or two places 

 in Jersey. Its stems are erect, about a foot high, and it has, in June, purple 

 flowers marked with darker veins. 



7. Diffuse Toad-flax (L. supiiia). — Smooth ; stem diff"u3e or ascending ; 

 flower-stalks and sepals glandular, haiiy ; leaves linear, blunt, mostly whorled ; 

 sepals narrow, shorter than the capsule ; perennial. This plant has been 

 introduced, in all probability, with ballast, in the few spots on which it is 

 found. Its recorded places of growth are Catdown Quarries, Plymouth, 

 Poole in Dorsetshire, Hayle, and St. Blazey's Bay, Cornwall. Mr. Babington 

 thinks that the plant may possibly be truly wild at the Cornish Stations, but 

 Sir J. D. Hooker excludes it from the British list. The flowers are in short 

 racemes, yellow, the throat and spur marked with slender purple lines. The 

 stem is but a few inches high, and much branched at the base. The plant is 

 in flower during July and August. 



8. Least Toad-flax (L. minor). — Leaves lineai--lanceolate, blunt, mostly 

 alternate, covered with glandular down ; flowers solitary, axillary ; flower- 

 stalks three times as long as the calyx ; segments of the upper lip of the 

 corolla spreading ; annual. This species is found in sandy and gravelly fields, 

 chiefly in the eastern and south-eastern parts of England, and rarely in Scot- 

 land. It bears, from May to October, small flowers, of which the lower lip 

 is yellowish ; and the tube, upper lip, and spur purplish. The stem is erect, 

 from four to ten inches high. 



11. Monkey-flower {Mimuhm). 



Yellow Monkey-flower {M. luteus). — Leaves opposite, egg-shaped, 

 the lower stalked, the upper sessile ; flowers solitary, from the axils of the 

 leaves, yellow. This North American plant has now got thoroughly estab- 

 lished along many rivers throughout the country. It flowers from July to 

 September. The stigma is irritable, the two lobes into which it is divided 

 folding together when touched on the inner surface. This is probably a 

 provision for the retention of pollen dej^osited by visiting insects. 



12. Mud-wort {Limosella). 



Common Mud-wort {L. aqudtica). — Leaves lanceolate, narroAv at the 

 base, on long stalks ; flowers on stalks which are shorter than the leaf-stalks, 

 axillary and crowded ; annual. This little plant would be likely to escape 

 the notice of any who were not intent on searching carefully the muddy 

 shores for their vegetable curiosities. It grows on the borders of ponds, and 

 on the edges of small standing muddy pools in many parts of England and 

 Scotland, but it is not a common plant. Its creeping root throws up a 

 number of leaves on long foot-stalks. They are quite smooth, and overtop 

 the minute blossoms, which are pale pink or white, Avith purplish anthers, and 

 appear in Juno and July. They are succeeded by a globose capsule, which 

 opens by two valves to distribute the wrinkled seeds. The Mud-wort is 

 sometimes called Bastard Plantain. The French call it Ln Liiimelle ; and 

 the Germans, Bas Sumpfkraut. 



