9 6 



BRITISH FLORA 



simple, the leaves enveloping them at the base, 

 so that creeping insects cannot climb up the stem, 

 and are square or round, several. The radical 

 leaves are inversely egg-shaped to spoon-shaped, 

 blunt, narrowed below. The stem -leaves are 

 smaller, broadly egg-shaped, acute, in distant 

 pairs, clasping the stem. The flowers are num- 

 erous, yellow (hence chlora\ in a forked panicle. 

 The calyx is divided to the base into 8 slender, 

 narrow, linear, awl-like segments. The corolla- 

 lobes are oblong, blunt, the tube ruptured by the 

 ripe capsule. The stigmas are yellow, divided 

 into 2 nearly to the base. The plant is 4-18 in. 

 high, flowering from June to September, and is a 

 herbaceous annual. 



ORDER SCROPHULARIACEJE 



Large-flowered Mullein ( Verbascum -virgatum, 

 Stokes). The habitat of this plant is gravelly 

 banks, waste places. This species has been re- 

 garded as a sub-species of V. Blattaria. The habit 

 is erect, pyramidal. The plant is stouter than the 

 latter. The leaves are doubly toothed, glandular, 

 hairy, and run down the stalk. The radical leaves 

 are oblong to lance-shaped, with lobes more or 

 less larger upwards, lobed, scalloped, toothed, 

 the upper oblong, with a long, narrow point, half- 

 clasping. The flowers are yellow, on short stalks, 

 with 1-5 flowers, shorter than the bracts or calyx. 

 The flowers are in a dense raceme, glandular, 

 softly hairy. The anther-stalks have purple hairs, 

 2 longer and only hairy within, the stamens nearly 

 equal. The plant is 1-3 ft. high, flowering from 

 June to August, and is a herbaceous biennial. 



ORDER LABIATE 



Wood Calamint (Saiureia (Calamintha) sylva- 

 /ica, Bromf. = 5. grandtflora, Sch. = C. officinalis, 

 Moench). The habitat of this plant is bushy 

 places and chalk banks. The habit is somewhat 

 creeping. The branches are long, ascending 

 (or not). The stem is nearly simple, wavy. The 

 leaves are broadly egg-shaped, scalloped, toothed, 

 large. The flowers are large, in loose, many- 

 tlowcred cymes, the common stalk as long as the 

 primary partial stalk. The calyx is tubular, 

 2 -lipped, the upper teeth turned back, fringed 

 with hairs, purple-tinged, bent on the stalk. The 

 lower lip of the large purple corolla has touching 

 or overlapping lobes, long, nearly equal, the 

 middle lobe short and broad, nearly equalling the 

 lateral, the tube projecting far, and twice as long 

 as the calyx. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering 

 in August and September, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Salvia Marquandii^ Elruce (= 5. clandestina, 

 Syme). The habitat of this plant is dry gravelly 

 hanks, sandy coasts. The plant has the rosette 

 habit. It is more slender than S. Verbenaca. The 

 li-avcs are stalked, narrower, heart-shaped, ob- 

 long, wavy-toothed, the upper oblong, acute. The 

 calyx-teeth are stalkless, the upper are less spiny, 

 small, the corolla longer than the calyx, more purple 



or pale-blue, the upper lip longer, arched. The plant 

 is i ft. high, flowering in July, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



ORDER SANTALACE.S 



Bastard Toadflax (Thesium humifusum, D.C. 

 = T. linophyllitm, Sm.). The habitat of this plant 

 is dry calcareous pastures, chalk and oolite hills. 

 The plant is a hemi-parasite on the roots of other 

 plants. The habit is prostrate. The rootstock is 

 yellow, woody, the roots fibrous, with white suckers 

 on the sides. The stems are branched, numerous, 

 leafy, spreading in a circle. The leaves are linear, 

 lance-shaped, obscurely nerved, yellowish-green, 

 blunt or acute, slender, the upper leaves finely 

 toothed, rough. The flowers are greenish-white, 

 in leafy, tufted racemes on rough stalks, as long 

 as or longer than the flowers, spreading in fruit, 

 the angles rough. The bracts are rough, finely 

 toothed, the lower middle ones longer than the 

 flowers. The perianth-tube is funnel-shaped, short, 

 open, the lobes triangular, bent inwards, spread- 

 ing at the end, toothed in fruit. The fruit is 

 green, egg-shaped, oval to oblong, longer than 

 the persistent perianth, ribbed, netted, narrowed 

 into the short, stout stalk. The fruit is a nut, 

 i -seeded. The plant is 4-12 in. long, flowering 

 from May to July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER ORCHIDACE^E 



Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes autumnalis, Rich. 

 = 5. spiralis, Koch). The habitat of this plant is 

 turfy places, dry calcareous and gravelly places, 

 dry pastures. The plant has the orchid habit, 

 and is erect. The stem is slender, downy above. 

 The 2-3 tubers are few, oblong, thick. The radical 

 leaves are in lateral rosettes, egg-shaped to ob- 

 long, acute, appearing after the flowers. The 

 stem-leaves are bract-like. The flowers are in 

 a slender, dense, spirally -twisted spike (hence 

 Sptran//ies), fragrant, greenish- white, in one row. 

 The scape is sheathed by the bracts, which are 

 abrupt and cucullate. The column and lid are 

 acute, with a blunt, membranous process between. 

 The lip is channelled below, the tip scalloped, pro- 

 jecting. The plant is 4-6 in. high, flowering in 

 August and September, and is a herbaceous per- 

 ennial. 



Dark-winged Orchis (Orchis us/nla/a, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is calcareous hills, pas- 

 tures, and downs. The habit is the orchid habit. 

 The tubers are egg-shaped. The leaves are 

 oblong, narrow, lance-shaped, acute, not spotted. 

 The bracts are long. The flowers are small, 

 whitish-purple, purple above, whitish below, many, 

 in a dense spike. The lip is white, with raised, 

 purple spots, 3-lobed, the middle one divided into 

 two nearly to the base, nearly equalling tin- 

 lateral, linear to oblong, with no point in the 

 notch of the lower segment. The sepals form a 

 hood including the petals, which are linear to lance- 

 shaped, blunt. The helmet is dark-purple. The 

 contrast between the colour of the flower, dark 

 above and white below, has suggested the name 



