384 AUTUMN FLOWIDRS AND FRUITS. 



each side. — Dry chalky and gravelly places. Fl. August, 

 September. 



(46) Scilla. Squill. 



S. autumnalis : bulbous ; leaves linear, numerous ; flowers 

 purplish-blue, with a green line down the back, in perfection 

 before the leaves appear, forming a slightly corymbose raceme 

 on a scape 4-6 inches high; peduncles ascending, without 

 bracts. — Dry pastures in the south and west. Fl. August or 

 September. 



(47) Colchicum. 



C. autujnnale : tuberous ; leaves flat, lanceolate, erect, a 

 foot long, and often an inch broad, dark green, smooth ; 

 flowers several, bright purple, rising from the root with very 

 long tubes, the germen at first remaining under ground, ap- 

 pearing in the spring with the leaves. — Meadow Saffron. — 

 Meadows. Fl. September, October. 



(48) Eriocaulon. 



E. septangulare : aquatic : stem varying in height according 

 to the depth of the water, usually with six or eight, rarely seven 

 or ten angles, each corresponding with a bundle of vessels sur- 

 rounding a central bundle ; scapes striated, longer than the cel- 

 lular compressed subulate glabrous leaves ; flowers four-cleft, 

 hairy at the extremities, each flower with a broad, blunt, black 

 scale in front, shorter and broader than the flower. — Pipewort. 

 — Peaty lakes and pools. 



(49) Leersia. 



L. oryzoides : stem 1-2 feet high, the leaves and sheaths 

 very rough ; panicle loose, with wavy branches, usually more 



