236 PKIMULACE.E. 



family, the corolla is wheel-shaped, and both it and the calyx 

 are five-cleft, enclosing five stamens. 



The Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia), is a very gay 

 plant ; its stems prostrate, and creeping along the ground in 

 every direction, thereby covering large spaces. Its leaves are 

 ovate and pointed, of a light glossy green, and grow in pairs. 

 The flower-stalks spring from the axils, and are rather longer 

 than the leaves. The segments of the calyx are large, and 

 those of the corolla not fully expanded, so that the flower par- 

 takes slightly of the bell shape ; it is large, and when you 

 meet with an entirely-open flower, it is as large as a sovereign. 

 My specimens grew in a moist meadow near Kenilworth, and 

 Edward describes it as growing in profusion in woods and on 

 hedgebanks about Coalport and Ironbridge, in Shropshire. I 

 have occasionally seen it wild in Yorkshire. 



The Wood Loosestrife, or Yellow Pimpernel (L. nernorum), 

 is a common ornament of moist woods in every county : it 

 greatly resembles the Scarlet Pimpernel, but is rather larger. 



The Great Yellow Loosestrife (L. vulgaris, Plate XIV., fig. 6), 

 I am proud to introduce to you, for it is really a handsome 

 plant. Disdaining the creeping habit of its fellows, it rears its 

 head erect, reaching the height of two feet and upwards. It 

 bears its flowers in terminal panicles, each blossom being nearly 

 as large as those of the Moneywort, and of a full yellow. The 

 leaves are opposite, or whorled, and of a broad lance- shape. 

 Edward found it growing by the moat at Bodinan Castle, a 

 beautiful ruin not many miles from Hawkhurst. I have it also 

 from the Spa Valley, near Aldfield, in Yorkshire. 



The rarest of the Loosestrifes is also a Yorkshire plant ; it is 

 called the Tufted Loosestrife (L. thyrsiflora). Its flowers are 

 smaller than those of the other species ; and the segments into 

 which the wheel-shaped corolla is divided are narrow. The 

 leaves, too, are narrow and in pairs, and the numerous flower- 

 clusters spring from their axils. Leckby Scar, near Topclifie, 

 is its habitat. My specimen came from thence. July is the 



