132 DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA. 



173. GALEOPSIS. 



1. G. Tetrahit, bristly ; stem swelled below the joints ; leaves 

 ovate, serrated ; corolla twice the length of the calyx, upper lip 

 nearly straight. Common Hemp-nettle. 



Hal. Cultivated fields, common. July, Aug. 



The flowers are reddish, cream-coloured, or white, with a 

 spot on the lower lip variegated with purple and yellow. 

 Labourers in harvest are sometimes affected with a se- 

 vere inflammation of the hand, or of a finger, which they 

 uniformly attribute to the sting of a Day-nettle, the name 

 by which this plant is known amongst them. On exa- 

 mining its bristles, we perceive they consist of 3 or 4 tu- 

 bular joints, and arise from a swollen base or vesicle *. 

 On the upper part of the branches, on the calyx and flower, 

 they are intermixed with others tipped with a gland. 

 Now the former seem fitted, by their structure, for con- 

 taining and emitting a fluid ; and, though in general too 

 soft to wound, yet by chance, when rudely pressed, they 

 may perforate the skin and lodge their contents, which 

 must be virulently poisonous, if the opinion of the cause 

 of the disease be correct. 



2. G. versicolor, bristly; stem swelled below the joints ; leaves 

 ovate, serrated ; corolla thrice the length of the calyx, upper lip 

 tumid, middle lobe of the lower heart-shaped. See-Nettle. 



Hob. Corn-fields. " Near Burnhouses and Whitchester," 

 Berwickshire, Rev. A. Baird. About Wooler, Mrs M. 

 T. Johnston. Abundant in a field below Langleyford. 

 In the west of Berwickshire. We observed it in gi*eat 

 plenty between Huntly-wood and Ledgerwood, some- 

 times varying with a white lower lip. Aug. Sept. 



The flowers are large, yellow, the lateral lobes whitish, the 

 lower one fine purple, bordered with white, and streaked 

 in the throat. A very beautiful plant. 



174. BETON1CA. 



1. J3. officinalis, stem naked in the middle ; lower leaves on 

 long stalks, upper sessile ; flowers crimson, in a dense spike, the 

 lowest whorl a little remote. Wood Betony. 



* This structure of the bristles is common to many plants of this natural 

 order. 



