White to Green and Brown Flowers 189 



WHITE LOUSEWORT 



Pedicularis racemosa. Figwort Family 



Stems: glabrous, leafy to the top. Leaves: all cauline, lanceolate, un- 

 divided, finely serrulate. Flowers: few, in short leafy racemes; calyx 

 oblique, deeper cleft before than behind, the lobes abruptly acuminate ; 

 galea produced into an incurved beak, nearly as long as the broad lower 

 lip, hamate-deflexed. 



The dull white or very pale yellow beaked flowers of the 

 White Lousewort are set in a close cluster at the top of the 

 stalks, and are embedded amongst small deeply- fringed 

 leaves. 



The repellent common name of this plant is derived di- 

 rectly from the Latin one, which w r as bestowed upon it be- 

 cause once upon a time farmers believed that when their 

 flocks fed upon these flowers the sheep were liable to be 

 attacked by certain tiny lice, called pediculus. 



Pedicularis contorta, or Contorted Lousewort, is very like 

 the White Lousewort but has cream-coloured flowers set 

 singly all the way up on the slender stalks. Its foliage is 

 fern-like and often tinged with reddish-brown; long leaves 

 grow out from the base, and small ones are interspersed 

 with the numerous blossoms on the stems. 



The Contorted Lousewort grows at very high altitudes, 

 being usually found at 7000 feet. 



COMMON PLANTAIN 



Plantago major. Plantain Family 



Rootstock short, thick, erect. Leaves : spreading, ovate, entire ; spike 

 dense, obtuse at apex. Flowers: perfect, proterogynous ; sepals broadly 

 ovate, scarious on the margins. Fruit: pyxis seeded, circumsessile near 

 the middle. 



