fftppophae.] LXV. EL^AGNACE^. 389 



In stony or sandy places, especially in beds of rivers and torrents, in 

 central and eastern Europe and central and Russian Asia, also occasion- 

 ally near the seacoasts of the Baltic and the North Sea. In Britain, 

 very local, and only near the seacoasts of some of the eastern and 

 southern counties of England. FL spring. 



LXYI. SANTALACE-E. THE SANDALWOOD FAMILY. 



A family limited in Britain to a single species, but compris- 

 ing several exotic genera, chiefly tropical or southern, differing 

 from Thymeleacece in the perianth combined with the ovary at 

 its base, in its valvate, not imbricate, lobes, and in minute but 

 important particulars in the structure of the ovary. 



I. THESIUM. THESIUM. 



Low herbs or undershrubs, with alternate entire leaves, no stipules, 

 and small flowers. Perianth adhering to the ovary at the base ; the 

 limb divided into 4 or 5 lobes or segments, valvate in the bud. Stamens 

 4 or 5, opposite the lobes of the perianth. Ovary inferior, 1 -celled, with 

 2 ovules suspended from a central placenta. Style short, with a 

 capitate stigma. Fruit a small green nut, crowned by the lobes of the 

 perianth. Seed solitary, with a small, straight embryo in the top of the 

 albumen. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over Europe and temperate Asia, 

 but chiefly abundant in southern Africa. Some of the European species 

 have been ascertained to be partially parasitical on the roots of other 

 plants, to which they attach themselves by means of expanded suckers, 

 like Rhinanthus and some others of the Scrophidaria family. 



1. T. linophyllum. Linn. (fig. 883). Bastard Toadflax. A glabrous, 

 green perennial, forming a short, woody rootstock, with several annual, 

 procumbent or ascending, stiff stems, usually simple, 6 or 8 inches long, 

 but sometimes near a foot. Leaves narrow-linear, or, when very luxu- 

 riant, rather broader, and above an inch long. Flowers small, in a ter- 

 minal raceme, leafy, and sometimes branching at the base ; each flower 

 on a distinct peduncle, with 3 linear bracts close under it. Perianth 

 cleft almost down to the ovary ; the tube of a greenish-yellow colour ; 

 the segments white, waved or almost toothed on the edges, and rolled 

 inwards after flowering. Nuts small, ovoid, marked with several longi- 

 tudinal veins or ribs. T. humifuswm, DC. 



In meadows and pastures, attaching itself to the roots of a great 

 variety of plants, generally dispersed over temperate Europe and Russian 

 Asia, but not extending into Scandinavia. In Britain, only in the chalky 

 pastures of the southern counties of England. Ft. all summer. 



LXYII. AEISTOLOCHIACEJE. THE ARISTOLOCHIA 



FAMILY. 



Herbs, or, in exotic species, tall climbers, with alternate 

 leaves, and' often leafy stipules ; the flowars brown or greenish. 



