EYEBRIGHT 107 



weed, Strangle Tare. The name Scald is from the scalded appearance 

 it gives to bean crops. The name Devil's Guts is derived from the 

 thread-like stems which wind round other plants and strangle them. 

 " Hellweed grows upon tares more abundantly in some places, where it 

 destroyeth the pulse or at least maketh it much worse, and is called of 

 the country people Hellweed because they know not how to destroy it." 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



222. Cuscuta europ&a, L. Stem yellow, filiform, branched, leafless, 

 flowers whitish-yellow, clustered, corolla longer than the calyx, scales 

 appressed, stamens included. 



Eyebright (Euphrasia nemorosa, H. Mart. = E. officinalis, L., 



in part) 



There are no traces of Eyebright, which is a northern type, in any 

 ancient deposits. It is found in the Arctic and N. Temperate Zones 

 in Arctic Europe, N. and W. Asia, the Himalayas, and N. America. 

 As an aggregate the old E. officinalis occurs in every county except 

 Cardigan, Stirling, Main Argyle, but the segregate is found in only 

 47 vice-counties. It ranges as far north as the Shetlands, and in the 

 Highlands up to 3600 ft. It is native in Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. 



Eyebright is an upland species as a rule, and is found in meadows, 

 as well as frequent on heaths, moors, and commons. It is a xero- 

 phyte. Associated with it are Milk wort, Grassy Stitchwort, Furze, 

 Broom, Tormentil, Heath Bedstraw, Harebell, Red Rattle, and many 

 other ericetal and pratal species. 



The stem is large, robust, without any glands, branched, with 

 deeply coarsely-toothed and folded leaves, spreading, egg-shaped to 

 lance-shaped, acute, with curved teeth, the bracts spreading, curved 

 back, with broad and short and acute teeth. 



The flowers are white, with a blue upper lip, and yellow on the 

 lower lip, borne on a long spike, terminal, with triangular sepals. The 

 corolla is small. The fruit is inversely egg-shaped, notched at the end, 

 fringed with hairs, and longer than the calyx. 



This plant may be i ft. high, but is usually about 6 in. It flowers 

 in July up till September. The plant is annual, propagated by seeds. 



It is a hemi-parasite on the roots of grasses, penetrating by nodular 

 suckers into the host. Possibly some nutriment is returned to the 

 latter on the death of the Eyebright. 



The honey is secreted by the lower part of the ovary, which is 



