T'8o HAL0RAGE7E 



more-flowered cymes; calyx-tube cylindric, with 8 — 12 ribs and 

 teeth, the alternate teeth smaller ; petals 4 — 6, or absent ; stafnens 

 8 — ■\2 in I or 2 whorls often lying to one side; ovajy superior, 

 2-chambered ; style long, thread-like ; capsule very many-seeded. 

 (Name from the Greek luthroji^ gore, from the colour of the 

 flowers.) 



1. L Salicdna (Purple Loosestrife). -r An exceedingly hand- 

 some plant, 2 — \ feet high'; rhizome creeping; stem 4 — 6-angled 

 or winged ; leaves opposite, or in whorls of 3 — 4, decussate, 

 lanceolate, cordate, acute ; flow2rs in tall, tipering, leafy spikes 

 of axillary glomerules or sessile cymes, about i in. across, red ; 

 calyx-tube 1 2-ribbed ; petals wrinkled ; stamens 12 in 2 whorls, both 

 differing in length from the style ; style in some plants longer than 

 all the stamens, in others shorter than all of them, and in others 

 intermediate between the two whorls. — River banks and ditches; 

 common. Growing among sedges and rushes, its flower-spikes 

 might, at a distance, be mistaken for Foxgloves, which, however, 

 would scarcely grow in such a situation. The trimorphism of the 

 flowers is connected with cross-pollination by insects, Darwin 

 having shown that the pollen from any of the stamens most readily 

 fertilises the stigma of a style of the same length, one, that is, on 

 another plant. Long-styled, medium-styled, and short-styled 

 plants grow together, and are equally numerous. — Fl. July — 

 September. Perennial. 



2. L. Hyss(pifdlia (Hyssop-leaved Purple Loosestrife) is a much 

 smaller, mostly prostrate, glabrous plant 6 — 18 in. high, with alter- 

 nate narrow leaves ; small, pink flowos solitary in the axils ; and 

 6 stamens. — It grows in moist, often inundated, places ; but is 

 rare. — Fl. June — October. Annual. 



§§ Stamens epigynous ; ovary syncarpous, inferior 



Ord. XXXI. Halorage.^. — The Mark's-tail Family 



A small Order, comprising about 80 species of plants, mostly 

 herbaceous aquatics, with exstipulate leaves, generally whorled 

 and inconspicuous y7<97<!'^;-j-, often destitute oi petals, d^nd in several 

 species having the stamens and carpels in separate flowers. The 

 calyx is generally superior, adhering to the ovary and having some- 

 times 2 or 4 sepals; petals 2 — 4, or absent; stamens 1—^8; 

 carpels i — 4 ; capsule i — 4-chambered, indehiscent ; seeds solitary 

 in each chamber, pendulous. No member of this Order has any 

 important use or known properties. 



I. HiPPURis. — Leaves whorled, entire ; sepals 2, superior ; petals 

 absent ; stamen i ; carpel 1. 



