THE GREATER WILLOW-HERB. 43 



The greater willow-herb has a perennial root; the 

 stems thrown up from it are strong and stout, and branch 

 freely, frequently attaining to a height of four feet, and at 

 times exceeding it. The leaves are long and narrow, finely 

 serrated at their edges, and having their bases partially clasp- 

 ingthe stem. The flowers, from their large size, are a striking 

 feature. The petals are four in number. The calyx is cleft 

 into four segments. The style, in the centre of the flower, 

 is prominent, and divides at its extremity into four stigmas. 

 The stamens are eight in number. The capsule that con- 

 tains the seeds is very long, roughly quadrangular when 

 cut across, hairy, and divides, as the seeds ripen, into four 

 long strips that curl back towards the base. The seeds 

 have each a hairy tuft at one extremity, a peculiarity that 

 is very noticeable as the valves of the capsules are just 

 beginning to come apart, and the interior is seen filled 

 with this mass of fluffy white hair. The greater willow- 

 herb may be found in blossom during the months of July 

 and August, and from the rich masses of pink blossoms 

 and the profusion with which the plant is found in its 

 appropriate localities, it often becomes a striking object in 

 the general landscape, as it towers above the reeds and the 

 luxuriance of the smaller and equally beautiful forms that 

 fringe the winding margins of our inland streams. 



Amongst the allied species the rose-bay, or U. augnsti- 

 folium, is one of the most beautiful. The flowers are much 

 larger than the present species, of a deeper colour, and 

 arranged in long racemes. The plant is about four feet 

 high. Though widely distributed, it is nowhere common ; it 

 is more frequent, however, in Scotland than in England. 

 It is generally found in moist woods, though we have seen 

 it growing on a high bank by the roadside, with little or 



