224 



SCROPHULARIACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



40. MELAMPYRUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 605. 1753. 



Annual branching herbs, with opposite leaves, and small white yellow violet or variegated 

 flowers, solitary in the upper axils, or in terminal bracted spikes. Calyx 4-toothed, the 2 

 upper teeth somewhat the longer. Corolla irregular, 2-lipped, the tube narrow, gradually 

 enlarged above, the upper lip compressed, obtuse or emarginate with a groove behind the 

 margins, or these recurved or with a tooth on each side; lower lip spreading or ascending, 

 3-toothed, 2-grooved beneath. Stamens 4, didynamous, ascending under the upper lip ; anther- 

 sacs distinct, parallel obtuse or mucronulate at the base. Capsule flat, oblique, loculicidally 

 dehiscent, 2-4-seeded. Seeds smooth, strophiolate. [Greek, black wheat.] 



About 10 species, all of the northern hemisphere. Only the following are known in North 

 America. Type species : Melampyrum arvense L. 

 Leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, the floral 2-4-toothed at the base ; capsule much longer than 



wide, long-beaked. i. M. lineare. 



Leaves ovate, all entire ; capsule slightly longer than wide, short-beaked. 2. M. latifolium. 



i. Melampyrum lineare Lam. Narrow-leaved Cow-Wheat. Fig. 3856. 



Melampyrum lineare Lam. Encycl. 4: 22. 1797. 

 M. americanum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 16. 1803. 



Puberulent; stem slender, obscurely 4-sided 

 above, at length widely branched, 6'-i* high. 

 Leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate to ovate, 

 short-petioled, acuminate or acute at the apex, 

 narrowed, obtuse, or the upper truncate at the 

 base, i'-2 long, ii"-6" wide, the lower entire, 

 the upper floral ones ovate or lanceolate, with 

 2-6 bristle-pointed teeth near the base or entire ; 

 flowers short-peduncled, 4"-6" long; calyx about 

 one-third the length of the corolla, its subulate 

 teeth longer than its tube ; corolla white or whitish, 

 puberulent, the lower lip yellow; capsule 4"-S" 

 long, about 2" wide, twice as long as the calyx, 

 long-beaked. 



In dry woods and thickets, Nova Scotia to British 

 Columbia, south to Georgia, Tennessee, Iowa, Mon- 

 tana and Idaho. Consists of several races, differing 

 in leaf-form. Ascends 3500 ft. in Virginia. May- Aug. 



2. Melampyrum latifolium Muhl. Broad- 

 leaved Cow- Wheat. Fig. 3857. 



Melampyrum latifolium Muhl. Cat. 57. 1813. 



Similar to the preceding, widely branched, l-ii 

 high ; but the leaves all entire, short-petioled, the lowest 

 small, spatulate, obtuse, the middle ones lanceolate or 

 ovate, acuminate, narrowed at the base, 2'-3' long, the 

 floral ovate or ovate-lanceolate, shorter, acute, mostly 

 rounded at the base ; corolla purple, veiny, larger ; cap- 

 sule little longer than wide, short-beaked. 



In dry woods, Delaware (according to Muhlenberg) ; 

 mountains of Virginia to Georgia and Tennessee. June- 

 Aug. 



