FIGWORT FAMILY. 



225 



a thin, powdery woolliness and yellow (sometimes white) flowers, in a 

 pyramidal panicle. It is said to hybridize or cross-breed with the com- 

 mon Mullein, thus producing some remarkable varieties. 



2. LINA'RIA, Tournef. TOAD-FLAX. 



[Latin, Linum, flax ; from the resemblance of the leaves.] 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla with the limb personate, the upper lip bifid 



with the lobes folded back the lower lip trifid, closing the throat by 



its prominent palate ; tube inflated, spurred at base. Stamens 4, didyn- 



amous, usually with a minute abortive rudiment of a fifth. Capsule 



ovoid or globose, mernbranaceous, 2-celled, opening below the summit 



by 1-2 pores or chinks, toothed. Seeds numerous, margined. Mostly 



lierbs, annual or perennial. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or verti- 



cillate. Flowers usually racemose. 



1. L. vulga'ris, Mill. Stem erect, simple ; 



leaves lance-linear, acute, alternate, numerous ; 



flowers imbricated, in a terminal raceme ; spur 



of the corolla acute, about as long as the tube. 



COMMON LIXARIA. Toad-flax. Ranstead-weed 



Butter and Eggs. 



Fr. Muflier linaire. Germ. Das Flachskraut. 



Span. Linaria. 



Plant smooth and somewhat glaucous. .Roof perennial, 

 creeping, subligneous. Stem 1-2 or 3 feet high, slender, 

 terete, leafy, sometimes branched at summit and bearing 

 several racemes, generally growing in bunches or small 

 patches. Leaves 1-2 inches long, narrow, irregularly sec- 

 tored on the stem, but very numerous. Flowers pedunc i- 

 latc, hi a di-nso bracteate raceme the peduncles shortor 

 than the bracts. Corolla pale greenish-yellow, smooth, 

 the palate of the lower lip bright orange color, villous in 

 the throat ; spur subulate, about half an inch long. Style 

 shorter than the longest stamens ; stigma obliquely trun- 

 cate. Capsule ovoid oblong, thin, smooth, longer than the 

 calyx. Seeds with a dilated orbicular margin, roughish- 

 dotted in the centre. 



Pastures, fence-rows, &c.: introduced. Native of Europe. 

 Fl. June -September. Fr. August -October. 



Obs. This is extensively naturalized, and 

 has become a vile nuisance in our pastures and 

 upland meadows. Mr. WATSON, in his annals 

 of Philadelphia, says it was introduced frorfi 

 Wales, as a garden flower, by a Mr. RANSTEAD, 

 a Welsh resident of that city ; and hence one 



of its common names. It inclines to form large patches, by means of 

 its creeping roots, and as far as it extends, takes almost exclusive pos- 



10* 



FIG. 150. Toa'1-flax (Linaria vulgaris). 



