38 SCROPHULARIACE^. Lindernia. 



9. LINDERNIA. Allioni, fl. Pedem. 3. p. 178 ; Endl. gen. 3958. LINDERNIA. 



[ Named in honor of F. B. ton Lindern, a German botanist.] 

 Caljrx deeply 5-parted, without bracteoles. Corolla 2-lippe(l : upper lip short, reflexed ; 

 lower 3-lobed , the middle lobe larger and emarginate : tube ventricose. Stamens 4 ; the 

 two longer, forked and sterile ; the two shorter, fertile. Ovary 2-celled ; the dissepiment 

 placentiferous, early separating from the walls of the ovary : stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 

 ovoid-oblong, membranaceous, 1-celled, 2-valved ; the valves entire, not inflexed : dis- 

 sepiment thin and plane. Seeds very numerous, oblong, rough, attached to the firee 

 ancipital-fusiform placenta. — Annual smooth herbs, with opposite ovate serrate or toothed 

 leaves, and axillary one-flowered peduncles. Flowers blue. 



1. Lindernia dilatata, Muhl. hong-stalked Lindernia. 



Leaves ovate or oblong, dilated at the base, clasping, remotely toothed ; peduncles longer 

 than the leaves. — Ell. sk. 1. p. 16 ; Muhl. cat. p. 61 ; Bart. ft. N. Am. 1. p. 109. t. 31 ; 

 Torr. fl. 1. p. 14. L. Pyxidaria, Pursh, fl.2. p. 419 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 7. Gratiola 

 anagallidea, Michx. fl. I. p. 6 (in part). G. inequalis, Walt. fl. Car. p. 61. 



Stem erect or assurgent, 4-8 inches high, slender, branching (often much so), quadrangular. 

 Leaves 6-8 lines long, 3 - 5-nerved. Peduncles at first about as long, or only a little longer 

 than the leaves ; finally elongated, filiform, spreading horizontally when old. Segments of 

 the calyx nearly equal, ciliolate. Corolla pale purplish blue : upper lip broad, entire, only a 

 little emarginate : segments of the lower lip oval, obtuse. The two upper stamens as long 

 as the corolla ; filaments forked and sterile : the two lower (anterior) fertile ; anthers 2-lobed. 

 Ovary oblong, acute, 2-celled ; the dissepiment placentiferous nearly its whole length : ovules 

 numerous : style as long as the fertile stamens. Capsule a little longer than the calyx, be- 

 coming imperfectly one-celled soon after the fertilization of the ovules, in consequence of the 

 placenta separating from the walls of the ovary. 



Low moist grounds, and borders of rivulets ; frequent. July - August. 



9 



2. Lindernia attenuata, Muhl. Short-stalked Lindernia. 



Loaves oblong-lanceolate and obovate, narrowed at the base, serrate-denticulate ; peduncles 

 shorter than the leaves. — Ell. sk. I. p. 17 ; Muhl. cat. p. 61 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 14 ; Darlingt. 

 fl. Cest. p. 364. L. Pyxidaria, var. major, Pursh, fl. 2. p. 419. Gratiola anagallidea, 

 Michx. fl. 1. p. 6 (in part). 



Stem 4-angled, erect or assurgent, branching, stouter than in the preceding species. Leaves 

 half an inch to an inch in length ; the lower ones sometims spatulate. Peduncles at first 

 shorter than the leaves, but finally equalling them. Flowers and capsule as in L. dilatata. 



With the preceding, and more common than that species. July - September. These two 

 species are by some botanists united into one. They are certainly very nearly related, but I 

 have not seen them passing into each other. 



