460 SCROPHULARIACE^E. 



naturalized ; growing freely from seed, and extending 

 widely, by help of its long, rooting stems. The flowers 

 are small, solitary, and light purple ; the leaves some- 

 what fleshy, and of a purple hue beneath. In the west 

 of England it is commonly known by the name of 

 Mother-of -thousands. Fl. nearly all the year round. 

 Perennial. 



* Less common species of Linaria are L. minor (Least 

 Toad-flax), a small, erect, much-branched plant, with very 

 narrow downy leaves, and solitary purplish-yellow flowers : 

 and L. repens (Pale-blue Toad-flax), a slender; erect 

 plant, 1 2 feet high, with glaucous, very narrow leaves, 

 and veined, purplish-blue flowers growing in spiked 

 clusters. Several other species sometimes occur as weeds 

 in gardens, and growing on ballast near the sea, but they 

 have no claim to be considered natives. 



4. SCROPHULARIA (Fig-wort). 



1. S. nodosa (Knotted Fig-wort). Stem square, with 

 the angles blunt ; leaves smooth, heart-shaped, tapering 

 to a point ; flowers in loose panicles. Moist bushy 

 places, common. A tall herbaceous plant, 3 4 feet 

 high, with repeatedly-forked panicles of almost globular, 

 dingy purple flowers, but attractive neither in form nor 

 colour. Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



2. S. aqudtica (Water Fig-wort). Stem square, with 

 the angles winged ; leaves smooth, heart-shaped, oblong, 

 blunt ; flowers in close panicles. Sides of streams and 

 ditches, common. Eesembling the last, but at once dis- 

 tinguished by the winged angles of its stems, which, 

 though hollow and succulent, are rigid when dead, and 

 prove very troublesome to anglers, owing to their lines 

 becoming entangled in the withered capsules. Fl. July, 

 August. Perennial. 



* S. Scorodonia (Balm-leaved Fig-wort) is found 

 only in Cornwall, and at Tralee, in Ireland j it is dis- 

 tinguished by its downy, wrinkled leaves : 8. verndlis 



