VOI,. II.] 



LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY. 



473 



5. Lythrum Salicaria L. Spiked or Purple 

 Loosestrife. (Fig. 2549.) 



Lythrum Salicaria L. Sp. PI. 446. 1753. 



Perennial, erect, 2-3 high, glabrous or pubescent, 

 at length much branched. Leaves opposite or some- 

 times verticillate in 3*3, sessile, lanceolate, cordate or 

 clasping at the base, 2 / ~3 / long, $"-$" wide; flowers 

 purple, trimorphous, 6 // -8 // broad, in dense com- 

 pound terminal interrupted bracted spikes; stamens 

 8-10, alternately longer and shorter, even the longer 

 ones little exserted ; ovary short-stalked; fruiting calyx 

 about 3" long. 



In swamps and wet meadows, Cape Breton Island to 

 Ontario, south to southern New York and Delaware. Said 

 to be naturalized from Europe. June-Aug. Widely 

 distributed in the Old World. English names, Spiked 

 Willow-herb, Long Purples, Soldiers. 



1756. 



6. PARSONSIA P. Br. Civ. & Nat. Hist. Jamaica, 199. 



[CUPHEA P. Br. Civ. & Nat. Hist. Jamaica, 216. 1756.] 



Herbs (or shrubs in tropical regions), with opposite or verticillate leaves. Flowers 

 showy, solitary or racemose, axillary, irregular and unsymmetrical. Calyx-tube elongated, 

 tubular, 12-ribbed, gibbous or spurred at the base, oblique at the mouth, with 6 primary 

 teeth and usually as many accessory ones. Petals 6, unequal. Stamens n (sometimes 12 

 in our species), inserted on the throat of the calyx, unequal; filaments short. Ovary sessile 

 or obliquely stipitate, with a curved gland at its base, unequally 2-celled; ovules several or 

 numerous; style slender; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule included in the calyx, oblong, i-celled, 

 laterally dehiscent. Seeds flattened. [In honor of James Parsons, M. D., a Scotch botanist.] 



About 180 species, natives of America. Besides the following, 2 others occur in the southern 

 States. 



i. Parsonsia petiolata (L,.) Rusby. Blue 



Wax-weed. Clammy Cuphea. Tar-weed. 



(Fig. 2550.) 



Lythrum fetiolatum L. Sp. PI. 446. 1753. 



Cuphea mscosissima Jacq. Hort. Vind. 2: 83. pi. 777. 1772. 



Cuphea petiolata Koehne, Engler's Bot. Jahrb. 2: 173. 1882. 



Parsonsia petiolata Rusby, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 231. 1894. 



Annual, erect, very viscid-pubescent, branched, 6 / -2o / 

 high. Leaves slender-petioled, ovate- lanceolate, sca- 

 brous, mostly rounded at the base and blunt-pointed at 

 the apex, I'-iJ^'long; flowers axillary, short-peduncled, 

 purple, 3 // -4 // broad; petals ovate, clawed; stamens 

 sometimes 12; fruiting calyx swollen, about 4" long; 

 capsule dehiscent before the seeds are ripe, the placenta 

 projecting through the lateral orifice. 



In dry soil, Rhode Island to northern Illinois and Kansas, 

 south to Georgia and Louisiana. Introduced into southern 

 Ontario. Ascends to 3300 ft. in West Virginia. July-Oct. 

 ~Y 



Family 86. MELASTOMACEAE R. Br. Exp. Congo, App. 5. 1818. 



MEADOW-BEAUTY FAMILY. 



Herbs (shrubs or trees in tropical regions) , with opposite 3~9-nerved simple 

 leaves, and regular perfect often showy but rarely odorous, generally clustered 

 flowers. Stipules none. Calyx-tube adnate to or free from the ovary, usually 

 4-5-lobed, the lobes imbricated. Petals as many as the lobes of the calyx, and 

 inserted on its throat, more or less oblique, imbricated. Stamens twice as many, 

 or equal in number to the petals, often inclined or declined, the alternate ones 



