GROUND IVY. 34 



which flowers from July to September. This has an erect 

 stem, with leaves approaching more to heart-shape, the teeth 

 sharper ; both stem and leaves downy and whitish. Flowers 

 white, marked with rose-colour. The name Nepeta is the 

 classical Latin one, and is said to have been given because the 

 plant was common round the town of Nepet in Tuscany. 



The Ivy-leaved Toad-flax (Linaria cymbalaria) will be found 

 forming a beautiful tapestry on ruins and old walls. It is a 

 Continental species, and those found naturalized here are 

 believed to be the descendants of greenhouse escapes. The 

 stems are very long and slender ; the leaves lobed like 

 certain forms of Ivy, often purple beneath, dark green above. 

 The calyx is five-parted, and the corolla is like that of the 

 familiar Snapdragon of our gardens. The two lips are so 

 formed that they close the mouth of the corolla, which is hence 

 said to be personate or masked ; the tube is spurred, in which 

 it differs from Snapdragon. When the seed-capsule is nearly 

 ripe it turns about on its stalk and seeks a cranny in the wall, 

 where it can disperse its seeds. Flowers July to September. 

 The name Linaria is derived from the Latin Linum, from the 

 resemblance of the leaves of the common Toad-flax (see page 

 105) to those of the Flax (see page 96). 



Round-leaved Crane's-bill (Geranium rotundifolium). 



This neat member of a charming family is by no means a 

 common plant ; in fact, northward of South Wales and Norfolk 

 it is unknown. Southward it may be found in hedges and 

 waste places, flowering in June and July. The stems are slight, 

 and greatly swollen at the joints. The leaf-stalks are long, and 

 the leaves, though their general outline is kidney-shaped, are 

 deeply cut into about seven lobes, which are in turn lobed or 

 toothed. Owing to the close general resemblance of this species 

 to its immediate congeners some rather minute differences 



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