51 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



stigmas ripen before the anthers ; in the smaller the anthers 

 mature before the stigmas. The tubular calyx is divided into 

 four sharp lobes. The corolla is white, streaked with purple, 

 except the central lobe of the lower lip, which is yellow. This 

 is the only native species of the genus which is comprised in 

 the order Scrophularineas though there are several varietal 

 forms. Flowers from May to September. The name is from 

 the Greek, Euphraino^ to delight or gladden, in allusion to the 

 pleasing contrast of its bright flowers with the dark foliage, or 

 from its supposed efficacy for complaints affecting the eyes its 

 removal of these giving gladness. 



The plant is at least partially a parasite, and preys upon 

 the roots of other plants, which it robs. Probably the lowly 

 forms to which we have referred may be less parasitic than 

 those of greater stature ; for if the seeds are sown in pots by 

 themselves they will germinate and grow, but will never get 

 large robust plants. 



Great Reed Mace (Typha latifolia). 



Of late years it has become the general error to call this 

 plant Bulrush, a name which belongs by right to Scirpus 

 lacushis. Every autumn the hawkers in London and other 

 cities offer the cylindrical spikes of Typha for sale as aesthetic 

 decorations, and call them bulrushes ; but they are not the 

 originators of the blunder. It is the artists who have done 

 this thing, especially one Delaroche, whose picture of " The 

 Finding of Moses" is of world-wide popularity. In that 

 painting he depicted the future leader of his people rocking in 

 his ark amid a forest of Typha. What more was needed to 

 associate the word bulrush of the Bible (itself a blunder of the 

 learned translators) with this plant ? 



There are two British species, perennial plants with long, 

 narrow, grass-like leaves, the bases of which sheath the stem. 



