128 LYTHRACE^E. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 



1. AMMANNIA, Houston. AMMANNI A. 



Calyx globular or bell-shaped, 4-angled, 4-toothed, with a little hern-shaped 

 appendage at each sinus. Petals 4 (purplish), small and deciduous, sometimes 

 wanting. Stamens 4, short. Pod globular, 4-celled. Low and inconspicuous 

 smooth herbs, with opposite narrow leaves, and small greenish flowers in their 

 axils. (Named after Ammann, a Russian botanist anterior to Linnaeus.) 



1. A. Ii II ill ills, Michx. Leaves lanceolate or linear-oblong, tapering into a 

 slit/lit petiole, or the base somewhat arrow-shaped ; flowers solitary or 3 together 

 in the axils of the leaves, sessile; style very short. (I) Low and wet places, 

 from Massachusetts and Michigan southward. July - Sept. 



2. A. latifolii*, L. Leaves linear-lanceolate (2' -3' long), with a broad 

 aurickd sessile base; style mostly slender. Ohio, Illinois, and southward. 



2. LY THRUM, L. LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 4-7-toothcd, with as many little processes in the 

 sinuses. Petals 4-7. Stamens as many as the petals or twice the number, in- 

 serted low down on the calyx, commonly nearly equal. Pod oblong, 2-celled. 

 Slender herbs, with opposite or scattered mostly sessile leaves, and purple 

 (rarely white) flowers. (Name from Av0poi/, blood ; perhaps from the crimson 

 blossoms of some species.) 



* Stamens and petals 5-7 : flowers small, solitary and nearly sessile in the axils of 

 the mostly scattered tipper leaves : proper calyx-teeth off en shorter than the interme- 

 diate processes : plants smooth. 



1. L<. HYSSOPIF6LIA, L. Low (6' -10' high), pale; leaves oblong-linear, ob- 

 tuse, longer than the inconspicuous flowers; petals (pale purple) 5-6. 

 Marshes, coast of Massachusetts, c. (Nat. from Eu. ?) 



2. JL, aliVtlim, Pursh. Tall and wand-like ; branches with marginfd 

 angles ; leaves varying from oblong-ovate to lanceolate, the upper not longer than the 

 flowers ; petals (deep purple) 6. 1J. Michigan, Wisconsin, and southward. 



3. L.. lineare, L. Stem slender and tall, bushy at the top, tiro of the 

 angles margined ; leaves linear, short, chiefly opposite, obtuse, or the upper acute 

 and scarcely exceeding the flowers; calyx obscurely striate ; petals (whitish) 6. 

 1|. Brackish marshes, N. Jersey and southward. Aug. Stem 3 -4 high. 



# # Stamens 12-14, twice the number of the petals, half of them sometimes much 



shorter: flowers large, crowded and ivhorled in an interrupted wand-like spike. 



4. l<. Salicni'ia, L. (SPIKED LOOSESTRIFE.) Leaves lanceolate, 

 heart-shaped at tin- lose, sometimes whorled in threes. Wet meadows, Eastern 

 New England, and Orange County, New York : also cultivated. July. Plant 

 more or less downy, tall : flowers large, purple. (Eu.) 



3. MES^EA, Commorson, Juss. SWAMP LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx short, broadly bell-shaped or hemispherical, with 5-7 er ct tetth and 

 AS many longer and spreading horn-like processes at the sinuses. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 10-14, exserted. Pod globose, 3-5-celled. Perennial herbs or 

 slightly shrubby plants, with opposite or whorled leaves, and axillary flowers. 



