ILLUSTRATIONS. 349 



The Grass of Parnassus'^ is by some botanists classed 

 amongst the Thalamiflores^ and referred to the Hypericaceous 

 family already adverted to, bnt by others it is included with 

 that of the Droseras, or removed to that of the perigynous 

 Saxifrages. It is a very pretty dwarf perennial herb, produc- 

 ing a tuft of stalked smooth heart-shaped leaves, and slender 

 erect flower scapes, six to ten inches high, bearing a single 

 sessile leaf below the middle, and terminated by a rather large 

 white spreading flower. This flower has a calyx of five ovate 

 segments, a corolla of five distinct obovate petals; five sta- 

 mens, which are perigynous, and alternating with them five 

 fringed glands or nectaries, which may be taken to represent 

 groups of imperfect stamens ; these glands are short and thick, 

 placed opposite the petals, and margined with ten or twelve 

 white filaments, each bearing a small globular yellow gland. 

 There is a one-celled four-valved ovary, tipped by four sessile 

 stigmas, and growing into a roundish capsule. The plant is 

 found not unfrequently in boggy and moist heathy situations, 

 flowering in the wane of summer. 



Belonging to the Calyciflores is the Dwarf Furze,t a humble 

 and often prostrate plant found decorating heaths and sandy 

 wastes during the latter part of the floral season, and belong- 

 ing to the family of Leguminous plants. It differs from the 

 Common Furze {Ulex europceus) chiefly in its smaller size. 

 This latter is, however, rather a spring or early summer- 

 flowering plant. The present smaller species is, like the 

 larger, a thorny shrub, but, instead of growing into an erect 

 branching bush, its branches are procumbent, spreading along 

 upon the surface of the heathy waste or stony bank on which 

 it grows. The main branches are thickly clothed with short 



* Parnassia palustris — Plate 22 C. 

 t Ulex nanus— Vl&te 22 D. 



