236 VARIOUS SPECIES. 



shape of a shield (Lat. scutum), whence its name, scutellaria. 

 (Fig. 52, b.) Thus, the emblems of military and judicial rank 

 are found united in the calyx of our pretty labiate. 



a b The second species (Scutellaria minor), rarer 



JL than the former, is met with on the banks of 

 ponds and in damp woodland paths. It attracts 



FIG. 52. Calyx of 



the Scutellaria. your gaze by its tiny caps or helmets : the mo- 

 ment you see it, you exclaim, " That 's a scutellaria ! " More 

 diminutive in all its parts than its congener, it is also distin- 

 guished by its whole leaves (they are crenelated or dentate in 

 the Scutellaria galericulata), by its soft, rose-hued corolla, with 

 brown lips coquettishly pointed with red, and by its hairy 

 calyx. 



The Scutellaria Columns * is very rare. It may be recog- 

 nised by its erect stems and flowers of a bright violet hue, 

 arranged in terminal spikes and garnished with bracts ; while 

 the flowers are axillary, and form no spike, in the two species 

 above described. 



The Scutellaria were first described with accuracy and classi- 

 fied by Linnseus, who included them among his Didynamia, a 

 class of vegetables distinguished by the unequal length of the 

 stamens. 



THE FORGET-ME-NOT. 



" Ye field flowers ! the gardens eclipse you, 'tis true ; 

 Yet, wildlings of nature, I dote upon you, 

 For ye waft me to summers of old, 



* Fabius Columna (Fabio Colonna), an Italian man of science, who 

 died in 1650, at the age of eighty-three. 



