LYTHRAEIiE— LOOSESTRIFE TRIBE 11 



Turks to impart a yellowish red hue to their nails. The practice is of high 

 antiquity, for the nails of the mummies have evidently received this tinge. 



1, Purple Loosestrife {Lythrum). — Calyx cylindrical, with 8 to 12 

 divisions, alternately smaller : petals 4 to 6 ; stamens 8 to 1 2 ; style thread- 

 like. Named from the Greek lyfhron, blood, from the hue of the flowers. 



2. Water Purslane (A^/zs). — Calyx bell-shaped, with 12 divisions, 

 alternately smaller ; petals 6, minute, soon falling off ; stamens 6 ; style very 

 short. Name of Greek origin, and anciently gi\'en to another plant. 



1. Purple Loosestrife {Lythrum). 



1. Purple Loosestrife {L. salicdria). — Leaves opposite, or about three 

 in a whorl, long and narrow, heart-shaped at the base ; flowers whorled, and 

 forming a leafy spike. Plant perennial. This Loosestrife is among the 

 handsomest of our native flowers, rivalling the foxglove and viper's bugloss 

 in beauty. Its blossoms appear in June and July, forming tall tapering 

 spikes, sometimes a foot long, on a stem which is from two to four feet in 

 height. The colour is of rich purplish red, and when these gay pyramids 

 rise up, as they often do, above the sedges, and rushes, and willow boughs 

 Avhich fringe the water, they render the margin most beautiful, and may be 

 seen far away over the landscape. The plant is called by several country 

 names, as Grass-poly, Purple Grass, and Willow Lythrum. It is in many 

 counties called Long Purples ; and Clare in several of his poems alludes to 

 it under that name : — 



"As shadowy April's suns and showers would pass, 



And summer's wild profusion plenteous grew, 

 Hiding the spring-flowers in long weeds and grass, 



What meads and copses would I wander through, 

 When on the water oped the lily buds, 



And fine Long Purples shadowed in the lake, 

 When purple bugles peeped in the woods 



'Neath darkest shades that houghs and leaves could make." 



Additional interest has been given to this species in recent years by the 

 discovery that the flowers are " trimorphic " — that is, three separate plants 

 may yield us flowers differing from each other in the length of their style ; 

 but really there are six forms. No. 1 may have a long style accompanied " 

 by stamens of medium length and yellow pollen grains of medium size. 

 No. 2 will also have a long style, but its stamens will be short and its yellow 

 pollen grains smaller than those of No. 1. No. 3 has a style of medium 

 length, long stamens and large grains of green pollen. No. 4, medium style, 

 short stamens, and small yellow pollen. No. 5, a short style, long stamens 

 and large green pollen. No. 6, a short style, medium stamens and medium 

 yellow pollen. These differences have very direct relation to the fertiliza- 

 tion of the seed-eggs l)y the agency of bees, the pollen of one flower being 

 useless for the fertilization of its own seeds. The pollen grains of Nos. 2 

 and 3, for instance, will only serve for fertilizing the short-styled Nos. 6 

 and 6, and thereby a healthy cross between individuals of the same species 

 is assured. 



This Loosestrife grows in all parts of this kingdom, and is very general 

 on the Continent. It occurs in great profusion in the streams and ditches 



2—2 



