BRITISH FLORA 



The root-stock is stout and woody. The stem is 

 stout, branched one-third to four-fifths of its length, 

 tapering- upwards with barren branches occasion- 

 ally. The leaves are inversely egg-shaped to 

 spoon-shaped, shortly blunt-pointed, with broadly- 

 winged stalks, are 5- 9 -veined, thick, leathery. 

 The scales are large, egg-shaped to triangular. 

 The inner bracts are roundish, twice as long as 

 the outer, with a bright-red band and mem- 

 branous border. The spikelets are 2-flowered, 

 densely overlapping, in 2 rows. The spikes are 

 thick, spreading or nearly horizontal. The calyx- 

 segments are short, with blunt ribs, hairy. The 

 anthers are oblong. The plant is 4-12 in. high, 

 flowering in July and August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



ORDER GENTIANACE^: 



Cenfaurium {Erythrcea) latifolium, Sm. The 

 habitat of this plant is sands by the sea. The 

 plant has the rosette habit. The stem is short, 

 more or less simple, branched, 3-cleft at the top. 

 The lowest leaves are more or less round. The 

 upper leaves are egg-shaped, oblong, 5-y-nerved, 

 blunt. The flowers are rose-colour, more or less 

 in a head or cyme, or in terminal, forked, round, 

 compact tufts, with short stalks. The tube of the 

 corolla is as long as the calyx, the lobes lance- 

 shaped. The flowers are half as large as in 

 Centaurium umbellatum. The plant is 2-4 in. in 

 height, flowering in July and August, and is a 

 herbaceous annual. 



Centaurium vulgare, Raf. = C. littoralis, Fr. 

 The habitat of this plant is sandy seashores. The 

 habit is as in the last. The stem is simple (i or 

 more). The radical leaves are narrow, numerous, 

 spoon-shaped, crowded, the upper oblong, linear, 

 blunt, narrowed below. The flowers are rose- 

 colour, stalkless, between the floral leaves, in 

 dense cymes, or corymbose, usually 3-forked, 

 with long branches. The corolla-tube equals the 

 calyx, and the lobes are oval, oblong, blunt. The 

 plant is 2-6 in. high, flowering between June and 

 September, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Centaurium pulchellum, Druce (= C. ramosissi- 

 mum, Pers.). The habitat of this plant is sandy 

 ground. The habit is as in the last. The stem 

 is simple, with i flower, or much-branched with 

 several, acutely square in section. The leaves 

 are egg-shaped to oblong, the upper lance-shaped. 

 The radical leaves are few. The flowers are with- 

 out bracts, rose-colour, all stalked, terminal, and 

 in the axils, in a loose cyme or forked panicle, with 

 a flower in each fork. The corolla tube is longer 

 than the calyx, the lobes elliptic to oblong, lance- 

 shaped, blunt. The lateral flowers are distant 

 from the floral leaves. The plant is 1-6 in. high, 

 flowering from June to September, and is a herba- 

 ceous annual. 



Small Yellow Gentian (Microcala filiformis, H. 

 & L.). The habitat of this plant is sandy bogs, 

 damp sandy places. The plant has the rosette 

 habit. The stem is slender, threadlike (hence fili- 

 formis), forked, angled, simple or branched above, 



the branches more or less erect. The radical 

 leaves are linear to lance-shaped, the stem-leaves 

 awl-like, all stalkless. The flowers are solitary, 

 yellow, with the parts in fours, the calyx bell- 

 shaped, with broad, triangular, acute lobes, the 

 corolla-lobes blunt, as long as the tube. The 

 flower-stalks are stout and very long. The stigma 

 is pin-headed. The capsule is round. The plant 

 is 4-8 in. in height, flowering between July and 

 October, and is a herbaceous annual. 



ORDER BORAGINACE^; 



Blue Gromwell (Pneumaria (Mertensia) mari- 

 tima, Don). The habitat of this plant is northern 

 seashores and sea shingle. The habit is prostrate, 

 then ascending. The root-stock is fleshy, and the 

 plant is stoloniferous. The stems are leafy, much- 

 branched. The plant is hairless, bluish-green., 

 The leaves are fleshy, egg-shaped, acute, rough, 

 with hard dots, in 2 rows, the lower stalked, the 

 upper stalkless, with prominent horny points (when 

 dry), and are said to taste like oysters. The flowers 

 are purplish-blue and pink, in forked cymes, with 

 2 opposite, leafy bracts below. The flower-stalks 

 are short, curved back in fruit. The calyx in fruit 

 is angular. The corolla is 5-lobed to the middle, 

 with yellow folds or protuberances in the throat. 

 The nutlets are flattened, large, fleshy, free, 

 smooth, and form a pyramid, the membranous 

 outer coat becoming inflated and papery, rounded 

 on the back, and longer than the calyx. The 

 seed-cavity is larger than the seeds. The plant 

 is 1-2 ft. high, flowering between May and August, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER SCROPHULARIACE^E 



Euphrasia scotica, Wettst. This plant is dis- 

 tinguished by its long and slender habit, the leaves 

 being shorter and narrower with longer internodes 

 and more compact flowers than in E. minima, to 

 which Mr. Beeby reduced it as a variety, in which 

 opinion Mr. F. N. Williams (Prodr., p 307) concurs. 

 The stem is firm, simple, or branched at or below 

 the middle. The leaves are rigid, nearly hairless, 

 with few short hairs on the margin, ovate to 

 oblong, with 6-8 teeth. The stem-leaves have 

 blunt teeth. The spike is interrupted below. The 

 lower bracts have blunt teeth. The upper bracts 

 have a wedge-shaped base, and the teeth have a 

 short awn, the lower ones being bent inwards. 

 The flowers are white or violet and white. The 

 calyx-teeth are broadly triangular, acute, and 

 clothed with small bristles, like the veins. The 

 corolla is small. The upper lip has notched lobes, 

 the lower is the same length, longer than the tube. 

 The capsule is oblong or narrow below, fringed 

 and covered with hairs above. 



Euphrasia occidentalis, Wettst. The habitat of 

 this plant is maritime. The whole plant is downy. 

 The stem is stout, ascending, branched below. 

 The leaves are clothed with small stiff bristles 

 and short glandular hairs. The stem-leaves are 

 ovate, or more or less acute, with 6-10 acute teeth. 



