86 FLOWERS OF LAKES, RIVERS, ETC. 



swellings, as it was supposed to be binding and cooling. It would 

 be a suitable plant for use as spinach, for it is to be found all the 

 year round. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



54. Stellaria aquatica, Scop. Stems tall, brittle, glandular, lower 

 leaves stalked, upper sessile, cordate, ovate, flowers large, white, in 

 the axils of the leaves, petals narrow, divided, longer than the calyx, 

 capsule with 5 bifid teeth. 



Purple Loosestrife (Ly thrum Salicaria, L.) 



This choice and gay-flowered plant is found to-day (not earlier) 

 in the Temperate, Northern, and Arctic regions, Arctic Europe, and in 

 Australia. It is found in Great Britain throughout the Peninsula, 

 Channel, Thames, Anglia, and Severn provinces, and in S. Wales 

 generally except in Radnor and Cardigan; in N. Wales only in Den- 

 bigh and Anglesey; and throughout the Trent, Mersey, Humber, 

 Tyne, and Lakes provinces. In Scotland it is found throughout the 

 West Lowlands; only in Berwick and Haddington in the E. Lowlands; 

 in the Eastern Highlands only in Fife, Stirling, West Perth; in 

 N. Aberdeen, Easterness, Argyle, Dumbarton, Clyde Islands, Cantire, 

 S. Ebudes, and the Hebrides. 



The Purple Loosestrife is a common riverside flower, associated 

 with Great Yellow Cress, Great Hairy Willow Herb, Scorpion Grass, 

 Gipsywort, Blue Skullcap, Amphibious Knotweed, Yellow Flag, 

 Reed Mace, Sweet Flag, Flowering Rush, &c. It is hygrophilous, 

 and grows along the margins of most watery places, preferring especially 

 rivers, but frequenting ditches, lakes, and similar spots. 



Tall and erect, this handsome riverside flower at once attracts 

 attention. The stems are winged, or angular and branched, but never 

 widely spreading. The leaves are lance-shaped with a heart-shaped 

 base, and are either in whorls or opposite. They may be smooth and 

 very narrow, as in the long-styled form, the leaves in the short-styled 

 forms being large and more downy. The uppermost bracts are not as 

 long as the flower. As the English name and first Greek name in- 

 dicate, the flowers are purple. They are in long, tapering spikes, in 

 whorls, with or without bracts, with a calyx with 1 2 ribs and awl-shaped 

 teeth. The petals are narrow. There are 12 stamens. The three 

 lengths of style have from Darwin's researches contributed to render 

 the plant famous from the interest they have for us in their connec- 

 tion with pollination. 



