i8o FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE RIVIERA 



At Carqueiranne is a remarkable specimen, the only survivor of an old 

 colony of these trees. The largest part of the trunk when cut had a circum- 

 ference of nearly 5 ft. (Jahandiez.) 



Verbena officinalis L. (Vervain) is very common in the south of France 

 and flowers from June to October. Small lilac .flowers in a long spike. 



LIPPIA L. 



L. nodif lora Rich. A small creeping glabrous green plant. The flowering 

 stems erect and bearing a small dense head of pink sessile flowers. Leaves 

 oval-spathulate, entire at base, toothed above. 



Borders of ditches and road-sides, well naturalized, and perhaps native in 

 the Var. June-September. 



PLUMBAGINACE^). 



Stem naked, simple ; flowers in a bracteate head ARMERIA. 



Stem naked, branched ; flowers in a panicled, unilateral cyme STATICE. 



Stem leafy, branched ; flowers in a panicle PLUMBAGO. 



PLUMBAGO L. 



P. europfta L. Plant 2-3 ft. high, much branched and leafy. Leaves rough 

 at the edges, lower ones oboval petioled, middle ones embracing the stem by 2 

 rounded auricles ; upper ones lanceolate. Flowers violet. Calyx-tube glandular, 

 with 5 angles and 5 short teeth. 



Dry, stony places, fairly common on the littoral. July-September. 



STATICE L. SEA LAVENDER. 

 (Descriptions kindly written by Mr. C. E. Salmon, F.L.S.) 



Statice sinuata L. Plant scabrid, 15-50 cm. high. Root-leaves in a 

 rosette, large, sinuate-pinnatifid or lyrate. Scape and branches stout, with 3 

 (very rarely 5) wings which are produced into linear-lanceolate entire bracts at 

 each node. Flowers corymbose-paniculate with short dense secund spikes. 

 Calyx conspicuous, bluish-mauve, with truncate undivided crenulate limb. Corolla 

 small, pale yellow. Inner bract 2-3 toothed, cornigerous. 



Sea-sands, very rare, and possibly now extinct, as this species and S. 

 Bonduellii Lestib. are sold in a dried condition by florists. May-September. 



Recorded for lies d'Hyeres (Var) and Nice (Alpes-Marit.). 



S. Limonium L. var. macroclada Boiss. ( = S. serotina Rchb.). Plant 

 glabrous, 30-50 cm. high, often glaucous. Leaves large, entire, broad and 

 obovate-oblong and obtuse or narrow and more acute ( = S. angustifolia 

 Tausch.). Scape with long, remarkably patent and often recurved branches and 

 branchlets. Flowers in a corymbose panicle with short and dense or longer and 

 laxer spikes, usually scorpioid. Calyx with acute teeth. Corolla lilac. Spikelets 

 smaller than in type. 



Salt marshes and pastures near the sea. July-October. Especially common 

 on the Plage d'Hyeres and at Giens. 



This is the southern and eastern form of the type ; the latter occurs on the 

 western and northern shores of France and is the ccftnmon plant of Britain, where 

 var. macroclada is unknown. 



S. Girardlana Gnss. (= S. densiflora Gir. non Guss.). Plant glabrous, 

 5-25 cm. high. Leaves small, acute, noticeably wedge-shaped and suddenly 

 contracted into the petiole. Scape erect with short spreading branches, all 

 fertile, bearing short, dense, patent spikes of crowded imbricate spikelets, forming 

 a small unilateral panicle. Inner bract scarcely twice as long as outer. Calyx 

 teeth short, obtuse. Corolla lilac, small. 



Maritime sands and grassy places, rare. June-August. Les Sablettes near 

 La Seyne (Var). 



S. virgata Willd. Plant glabrous, 15-45 cm. high. Leaves irregularly 

 crowded at base of scape, obovate or lanceolate-spathulate. Scape flexuous, 



