66 



BRITISH FLORA 



round, purplish black or yellow. There are 4 

 ovules, 1-2 seeds. The plant is 4-15 ft. high, 

 flowering in June and July, and is a semi-ever- 

 green shrub. 



ORDER APOCYNACE^J 



Great Periwinkle ( Vinca major, L.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is copses and hedges. The habit 

 is that of a trailer. The stem is slightly ascend- 

 ing, I hen prostrate, and does not root again. The 

 leaves are egg-shaped, heart-shaped at the base, 

 acute, fringed with hairs. The flowers are bluish- 

 purple, the corolla salver-shaped in flower. The 

 calyx-segments are long, awl-like, fringed with 

 hairs, and equal to the corolla. The flowering 

 stems root at the tip, and are not tough. The 

 plant is 3-6 ft. long, flowering in April, May, and 

 June, and is a herbaceous or ligneous perennial or 

 undershrub. 



ORDER POLEMONIACE;E 



Jacob's Ladder (Polemonitim ccerttleum, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is copses, streams, bushy 

 hilly places. The plant has the rosette habit more 

 or less. There is a short, creeping rootstock. 

 There are no hairs on the stems,- or the plant may 

 be downy and glandular above, hollow, angular, 

 leafy, simple. The leaves are alternate, pinnate, 

 with 6-12 pairs of nearly stalkless leaflets, with a 

 short-winged stalk. The leaflets are entire, ovate, 

 oblong to lance -shaped, acute or blunt, The 

 flowers are numerous, drooping, blue or white, in 

 a downy glandular panicle. The calyx is bell- 

 shaped, with oblong, acute lobes. The lobes of 

 the corolla are spreading, more or less acute. 

 The capsule is erect and included in the calyx. 

 The seeds are angular, flattened at the border, 

 with a winged, rough testa. The plant is 1-3 ft. 

 high, flowering in June and July, and is a herb- 

 aceous perennial. 



ORDER BORAGINACE^E 



Tuberous-rooted Comfrey (Sytn phylum tuberos- 

 ttm, L.). The habitat of this plant is copses in 

 wi-t places, shady places, damp woods, and river 

 hanks. The habit is erect, the stem being slender, 

 glandular, hairy, leafy, nearly simple, scarcely 

 winged, the rootstock tuberous. The leaves 

 hardly run down the stem, the radical leaves being 

 long-stalked, egg-shaped, tence-shaped, the stem- 

 leaves lance-shaped. The flowers are yellowish- 

 white, small. The anthers are twice as long as 

 the stalks. The plant is 1-2 ft. in height, and 

 flowers from May to July, being a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Purple Cromwell (Lithospermum purpureo- 

 caruleum, L.). The habitat of this plant is copses 

 and thickets. The habit is prostrate. The barren 

 shoots are creeping, the flowering stems rigid, 

 erect, simple or branched, the branches rough. 

 The leaves are lance-shaped, narrow, nearly 

 stalkless, acute, roughly hairy, the hairs above 



closely pressed, bulbous. The flowers are bright 

 blue, large, few, in terminal cymes, the corolla 

 longer than the calyx, with large, leafy bracts. 

 There are no scales in the throat of the corolla, 

 but five downy folds. The nutlets are smooth, 

 shining, polished, white, round. The plant is 

 1-2 ft. in height, and flowers in June and July, 

 being a herbaceous perennial. 



Spotted Lungwort (Pulntonaria officinalis, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is plantations, woods, 

 copses, thickets, and it is frequent in cottage 

 gardens. The habit is the rosette habit. The 

 leaves are spotted, blotched with pale green, egg- 

 shaped, lance-shaped, heart-shaped, long-stalked, 

 the upper stalkless, oblong. The flowers are in a 

 terminal, forked cyme, pale purple, then pink. 

 The throat of the corolla is usually smooth. The 

 plant is 12-18 in. high, flowering from April to 

 June, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Narrow-leaved Lungwort (Pulmonaria angusfi- 

 folia^ L.). The habitat of this plant is woods in 

 the South of England. The habit is erect. The 

 rootstock is short and stout. The stem is hairy, 

 brittle. The radical leaves are stalked, spotted, 

 pale green, lance-shaped, narrow, the stem- 

 leaves stalkless, smaller, oblong, acute, half-clasp- 

 ing. The flowers are pink, then blue, in a short 

 cyme, bent inwards, with leafy bracts. The 

 flower-stalks are slender. The lobes of the calyx 

 are lance-shaped, enlarged in fruit. The corolla 

 is hairy inside. The nutlets are black and smooth. 

 The plant is 6-15 in. in height, flowering in May 

 and June, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Green-leaved Hound's Tongue (Cynoglossnm 

 montanum, L.). The habitat of this plant is 

 woods, copses, shady situations, and waste places. 

 The habit is erect. The stem is rough with short, 

 straight, spreading hairs with a bulbous base. 

 The plant is more slender and green than the 

 common form. The leaves are thin, semi-trans- 

 parent, slightly hairy or smooth, shining above, 

 acute, rough below, the lower leaves oblong, long- 

 stalked, and the stem-leaves are stalkless, nar- 

 rowed below, half-clasping. The flowers are red 

 then blue. The sepals are linear, long in fruit. 

 The nutlets are not thickened on the margin, and 

 the marginal spines are the longest. It is 1-3 ft. 

 in height, flowering in June and July, and is a 

 herbaceous biennial. 



ORDER SCROPHULARIACE^E 



Knotted Figwort (Scrophnlaria nodosa, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is thickets, plantations, 

 shady places, moist hedges, and waste places. 

 The habit is erect. The stem is four-angled, 

 without wings, smooth below, simple. The root- 

 stock is tuberous, nodose. The leaves are egg- 

 shaped, heart-shaped to triangular, acutely and 

 doubly toothed, the lower teeth large, with strong 

 nerves, shortly-stalked. The flowers are small, 

 green or reddish-brown, in loose cymes, with a 

 scale or staminode under the upper lip, notched, 

 wedge-shaped. The sepals have a narrow mem- 

 branous margin, and are egg-shaped, roundish. 



