128 LYTHRACEJS. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 



1. AMMA.NHTIA, Houston. AMMANNIA. 



Calyx globular or bell-shaped, 4-angled, 4-toothtd, with a little horn-shaped 

 appendage at each sinus. Petals 4 (purplish), small and deciduous, sometimes 

 wanting. Stamens 4, short. Pod globular, 4-celled. Low and inconspicuous 

 smooth herbs, with opposite narrow leaves, and small greenish flowers in their 

 axils. (Named after Ammann, a Russian botanist anterior to Linnaeus.) 



1. A* linmillS, Michx. Leaves lanceolate or linear-oblong, tapering into a 

 slight petiole, or the base somewhat arrow-shaped ; flowers solitary or 3 together 

 m the axils of the leaves, sessile ; style very short. Low and wet places, 

 from Massachusetts and Michigan southward July - Sept. 



2. A* latifoli.l, L. Leaves linear-lanceolate (2' -3' long), with a broad 

 auricled sessile base ; style mostly slender. Ohio, Illinois, and southward. 



2. L, Y THRUM, L. LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 4 - 7-toothed, with as many little processes in the 

 sinuses. Petals 4-7. Stamens as many as the petals or twice the number, in- 

 serted low down on the calyx, commonly nearly equal. Pod oblong, 2-celled. 

 Slender herbs, with opposite or scattered mostly sessile leaves, and purple 

 (rarely white) flowers. (Name from \\>Qpov, blood ; perhaps from the crimson 

 blossoms of some species.) 



* Stamens and petals 5 - 7 : flowers small, solitary and nearly sessik in the axils of 

 the mostly scattered upper leaves : proper calyx-teeth often shorter than the interme- 

 diate processes : plants smooth. 



1. It. HYSSOPIFOLIA, L. Low (6' -10' high), pale; leaves oblong-linear, ob- 

 tuse, longer than the inconspicuous flowers; petals (pale purple) 5-6. 

 Marshes, coast of Massachusetts, c. (Nat. from Eu. 1) 



2. It. ulatiiiii, Pursh. Tall and wand-like ; branches with margined 

 angles ; leaves varying from oblong-ovate to lanceolate, the upper not longer than tfie 

 Jlowers ; petals (deep purple) 6. 1J. Michigan, Wisconsin, and southward. 



3. L.. line a I'C, L. Stem slender and tall, bushy at the top, two of the 

 angles margined ; leaves linear, short, chiefly opposite, obtuse, or the upper acute 

 and scarcely exceeding the flowers; calyx obscurely striate; petals (whitish) 6. 

 1J. Brackish marshes, N. Jersey and southward. Aug. Stem 3 -4 high. 



* * Stamens 12-14, twice tJie number of the petals, half of them sometimes much 



shorter : flowers large, crowded and whorlcd in an interrupted wand-like spike. 



4. L.. Sail cfril, L. (SPIKED LOOSESTRIFE.) Leaves lanceolate, 

 heart-shaped at the base, sometimes whorlcd in threes. Wet meadows, Eastern 

 New England, and Orange County, New York : also cultivated. July. Plant 

 more or less downy, tall : flowers large, purple. (Eu.) 



3. NES^EA, Commerson, Juss. SWAMP LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx short, broadly bell-shaped or hemispherical, with 5-7 erct teeth and 

 as many longer and spreading horn-like processes at the sinuses. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 10-14, exserted. Pod globose, 3-5-celled. Perennial herbs or 

 slightly shrubby plants, with opposite or whorled leaves, and axillary flowers. 



