128 LYTIIRACEiE. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 



1. AMMANNIA, Houston. Ammannia. 



Calyx globular or bell-shaped, 4-angled, 4-toothcd, with a little horn-shaped 

 appendage at each sinus. Petals 4 (purplish), small and deciduous, sometimes 

 wanting. Stamens 4, short. Pod globular, 4-celled. — Low and inconspicuous 

 smooth herbs, with opposite narrow leaves, and small greenish flowers in their 

 axils. (Named after Ammann, a Russian botanist anterior to Linnaeus.) 



1. A. llSlllliliS, Michx. Leaves lanceolate or linear-oblong, tapering into ■< 

 slight petiole, or the base somewhat arrow-shaped ; flowers solitary or 3 together 

 in the axils of the leaves, sessile; style very short. © — Low and wet places. 

 from Massachusetts and Michigan southward. July - Sept. 



2. A. SatifoIi.B, L. Leaves linear-lanceolate (2'-3' long), with a broad 

 awicled sessile base; style mostly slender. © — Ohio, Illinois, and southward. 



2. lVtHBVIW, L. Loosestrife. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 4-7-toothcd, with as many little processes in the 

 sinuses. Petals 4-7. Stamens as many as the petals or twice the number, in- 

 serted low down on the calyx, commonly nearly equal. Pod oblong, 2-cclled. 

 — Slender herbs, with opposite or scattered mostly sessile leaves, and purple 

 (rarely white) flowers. (Name from \v6pov, blood ; perhaps from the crimson 

 blossoms of some species.) 



# Stamens and petals 5 - 7 : flowers small, solitary and nearly sessile in the axils of 

 the mostly scattered upper leaves : proper calyx-teeth often shorter than the interme- 

 diate }>rocesscs : jilants smooth. 



1. L.. Hyssopifolia, L. Low (C- 10' high), pale; leaves oblong-linear, ob- 

 tuse, longer than the inconspicuous flowers; petals (pale purple) 5-6. (T) — 

 Marshes, coast of Massachusetts, &c. (Nat. from Eu. ?) 



2. It. alatltltl, Pursh. Tall and wand-like ; branches with margined 

 anqles ; leaves varying from oblong-ovate to lanceolate, the upper not longer than the 

 flowers; petals (deep purple) 6. 1J. — Michigan, Wisconsin, and southward. 



3. 1(. lillcai'C, L. Stem slender and tall, bushy at the top, two of the 

 angles margined ; leaves linear, short, chiefly opposite, obtuse, or the upper acute 

 and scarcely exceeding the flowers; calyx obscurely striate; petals (whitish) 6. 

 1J. — Brackish marshes, N. Jersey and southward. Aug. — Stem 3° -4° high. 



* # Stamens 12-14, twice the number of the petals, half of them sometimes much 



shorter: flowers large, crowded and whorled in an interrupted wand-like spike. 



4. L.. Salicaria, L. (Spiked Loosestrife.) Leaves lanceolate, 

 heart-shaped at the base, sometimes whorled in threes. — Wet meadows, Eastern 

 New England, and Orange County, New York : also cultivated. July. — Plant 

 more or less downy, tall : flowers large, purple. (Eu.) 



3. NESjEA, Commerson, Juss. Swamp Loosestrife. 



Calyx short, broadly bell-shaped or hemispherical, with 5 -7 er ct teeth and 

 as many longer and spreading horn-like processes at the sinuses. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 10-14, exserted. Pod globose, 3 -5-celled. —Perennial herbs or 

 slightly shrubby plants, with opposite or whorled leaves, and axillary flowers. 



