ATIIOPA.] SOLANE^. 257 



1. A. Belladonna, L. ; leaves ovate acuminate. Deadly Nightshade. 

 Waste places, especially in chalk and limestone soils, oftenest near ruins, 

 from Westmoreland southwards ; also rare and near houses in Forfar, 

 Argyle, and Ireland ; fl. June-Aug. Glabrous or pubescent and glandular. 

 Routstovk stout, fleshy, stoloniferous. Stem 2-3 ft., stout. Leaves usually 

 in unequal pairs, larger 3-8 in., contracted into the petiole. Flowers axillary 

 supra-axillary and from the forks, drooping ; peduncles |-1 in., slender. 

 Calyx ^-f in., lobes broadly ovate. Corolla 1 in., greenish-purple ; lobes 

 subequal, spreading, acute. Filaments subequal, tip incurved ; anthers pale, 

 included. Berry spheroidal, obscurely 2-lobed. 



ORDER LII. PLANTAGIN'EJE. 



Annual or perennial scapigerous herbs. Leaves usually all radical with 

 parallel ribs, rarely cauline and opposite or alternate. Scapes axillary. 

 Flowers small, green, usually spiked, regular, bisexual (1 -sexual in Litto- 

 rella). Sepals 4, persistent, imbricate in bud. Corolla hypogynous, 

 salver-shaped, scarious, tube slender ; lobes 4, spreading, imbricate in 

 bud. Stamens 4, inserted on the corolla-tube, alternate with its lobes 

 (hypogynous in Littorella), filaments capillary, inflexed in bud. pendulous 

 in flower, persistent ; anthers large, versatile, deciduous. Ovary free, 

 2-4-celled (1-celled and 1-ovuled in Littorella) ; style filiform, with 2 lines 

 of stigmatic glands ; ovules solitary and basal, or many and attached by 

 their faces to the septum. Fruit a 1-4-celled, ] - or more-seeded, mem- 

 branous capsule, bursting transversely (bony and indehiscent in Littorella), 

 seed-bearing septum with free margins. Seeds peltate, albumen fleshy ; 

 embryo cylindric parallel to the hilum, cotyledons oblong or linear, radicle 

 inferior. DISTRIB. All temp, regions; genera 3; species about 50. 

 AFFINITIES. Altogether doubtful. PROPERTIES. Mucilaginous, unim- 

 portant. 



Terrestrial. Flowers spiked, 2-sexual 1. Plantago. 



Aquatic. Flowers few, 1-sexual 2. Littorella. 



1. PLANTA'GO, L. PLANTAIN, EIB-GRASS. 

 Perennial or annual herbs. Flowers 2-sexual, in terminal spikes or 



heads. Sepals 4. Stamens 4,' inserted on the corolla. Ovary 2-4-celled. 



Capsule dehiscing transversely. Seeds with a mucilaginous testa. 



DISTRIB. of the Order ; species about 48. ETYM. the old Latin name. 

 1. P. major, L. ; leaves petioled oblong or ovate-oblong toothed 3-7- 



ribbed, scape short not furrowed, spike very long, sepals free, capsule 2- 



celled 8-16-seeded, seeds flat in front. 



Pastures and waste places, ascending to near 2,000 ft. in Northumberland ; 

 fl. May-Sept. Glabrous or hairy, liootstock stout, truncate. Leaves 2-5 in., 

 petioles broad short, teeth very irregular. Scape about as long as the 

 leaves ; spike slender, longer than the scape ; bracts equalling the calyx, 

 oblong-ovate, concave, obtuse, glabrous. Sepals in., obtusely keeled, 

 margins scarious. Corolla-tube glabrous. Filaments short ; anthers purple. 

 Seeds black, rough. DISTRIB. Europe, N. Africa, N. Asia, W. Asia to the 

 Himalaya ; introd. in N. America. Seeds used for feeding cage-birds. 



