LYTHRACEiE. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 183 



brichia Nnttallii, Af. A. Curtis.) — Wisconsin and Minnesota (7". .7. Jlalc), 

 Illinois (Buckley, Vasei/, Hall, &.C.), and soutiiward. — Wiieii in deep water tiie 

 stems arc l°-30 lonj,', very leafy, the flowers and pods not larger than a pin's 

 head : when terrestrial 2' - 6' long, larger-flowered, resembling depauperate 

 specimens of No. 1, with obsolete projections at the sinuses. 



2. LYTHRUM, L. Loosestrife. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 5- 7-toothed, with as many little processes in the 

 sinuses. Petals .5-7. Stamens as many as the petals or twice the number, in- 

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

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

 (rarely white) flowers; produced in summer. (Name from \v6poVi blood; pen 

 haps from the crimson blossoms of some species.) 



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



the mostly scattered upper leaves : proper calyx-teetli often shorter than the inter- 

 mediate processes : plants smooth. 



1. L. Hyssopifblia, L. Low annual (C- 10' high), pale; leaves oblong- 

 liiuur, oltluse, loiii/i:r than the inconspicuous floirtrs ; petals (pale-purple) 5-6. — • 

 Marshes, coast of New England and New Jersey. (Eu.) 



2. Ii. alktum, Pursh. Tall and wand-like perennial ; branches with 

 murgim d (UKjlts ; leaves from ohlony-ocale to lanceolate, the upper not longer than the 

 flowers; petals (deep purple) G. — Michigan, Wisconsin, and southward. 



3. L. line^'e, L. Stem slender and tall (3° -4° high), bushy at the top, 

 two of the uni/lcs margined; leaves linear, short, chiefly opposite, obtuse, or the 

 ui)i)cr acute and scarcely exceeding the flowers ; calyx obscurely striate; petals 

 (whitish) 6. — Brackish marshes, New Jersey and southward. 



* * Stamens 12, twice the numlxn- of the petals, 6 longer and G shorter : floivers large, 



crowded and ichorled, in an inteirupted wand-likv spike. 



4. L. Salickria, L. (Spiked Loosestrife.) Leaves lanceolate, heart- 

 shaped at the base, sometimes whorled in threes. — Wet meadows. Eastern New 

 England, and Orange County, New York : also cultivated. —Plant more or less 

 downy, tall : flowers large, purple, trimoridioiis, as to respective length of stvle 

 and filaments in 3 different kinds of individuals. 



3. NES^A, Commerson, Juss. Swamp Loosestrife. 



Calyx short, broadly hckl-shaped or hcmis])hcrical, with 5-7 erect teeth, and 

 ns many longer and sjireading horn-like i>rocesscs at the sinjises. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 10-14, exsertcd, of two lengths. Pod globose, 3-5-eelled. — Peren- 

 nial herbs or slightly .shrubby i)lants, with opposite or whorled leaves, and ax- 

 illary flowers (these ])robably dinioridious or trimorphous). 



1. N. veX'ticill^ta, IL B. K. Smooth or downy ; stems recurved (2°- 

 8° lung), 4-C-sided ; leaves lanceolate, nearly sessile, opposite or whorled, the 

 npjicr with clustered flowers in their axils oji short pedicels ; petals 5, wedgc- 

 laneeolate. rose-])nrple \^ long) ; stamens 10, half of them shorter. (Dc'codon 

 vertieillatum, Cmelin.]. — Swamj)y grounds : common eastward. July- Sept. 



