374 



VALERIAXACEAE 



1. Valerianella Lo- 

 custa (L.) Bettke. Euro- 

 pean Corn Salad. (Fig. 

 406.) Glabrous, or pubes- 

 cent at the nodes, 6'-12' 

 high, usually repeatedly 

 forked. Basal leaves spatu- 

 la te or oblanceolate, 

 rounded and obtuse at the 

 apex, 1-2' long, entires- 

 upper stem leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, usually dentate; 

 peduncles short; cymes 3"- 

 6" broad, almost capitate; 

 bracts linear or linear-ob- 

 long; corolla blue, about 

 1" long; fruit flattened, 

 rounded on the edges, 1" 

 long, glabrous, depressed- 

 orbicular in outline, the 

 two empty cavities smaller 

 than the fertile one, which 

 has a corky mass at its 

 back. [F. olitoria Poll.] 



Collected by Lefroy on St. David's Island prior to 1877, as evidenced by speci- 

 mens 'subsequently studied by Reade (Plants of Bermuda, p. 38). Introduced. Per- 

 haps cultivated for salad. Native of Europe. Naturalized in the United States. 

 Flowers in spring. 



2. CENTRANTHUS DC. 



Herbs, annual or perennial, the lower leaves mostly dentate, the upper 

 entire, dentate, lobed or pinnatifid, the red or white flowers in terminal com- 

 pound cymes or panicles. Calyx-limb short at flowering time, developing into 

 plumose or ciliate bristles in fruit. Corolla-tube slender, spurred at or below 

 the middle, the limb spreading, 5-lobed. Stamen 1, rarely 2. Style 2-3-lobed 

 at the apex. Fruit compressed, convex 

 and 1-nerved on one side, concave on 

 the other. [Greek, spur-flower.] About 

 8 species, natives of the Mediterranean 

 region. Type species: Centranthus 

 ruber (L.) DC. 



1. Centranthus macrosiphon Boiss. 

 Sugar Plum. (Fig. 407.) Glabrous, 

 glaucous, l°-li° high, the stem hollow, 

 swollen, the branches ascending. Lower 

 leaves broadly elliptic or obovate-ellip- 

 tic, coarsely few-toothed, lV-2i- long, 

 obtuse, their petioles about one-half as 

 long as the blades; upper leaves sessile, 

 incised or pinnatifid ; bracts linear-lance- 

 olate; cymes l'-2' broad, many-flowered; 

 corolla pink or rose, about 7" long its 

 limb about 2" broad, its tube spurred 

 near the base; fruit narrowly oblong, 

 I2" long. 



Occasional in waste grounds and on 

 roadsides. Naturalized. Native of Spain 

 and northern Africa. Flowers in spring. 



