ACANTHACEjE. 159 



2. Phry'ma. Flowers in loose slender spikes, re flexed in fruit. Calyx 

 cylindrical, 2-lipped, the upper lip of three slender teeth. 

 Corolla 2-lipped. Ovary 1-celled and 1 -seeded. 



1. vr.ititi: vt. L. VERVAIN. 



1. V. hasta'ta, L. (BLUE VERVAIN.) Stem 3-5 feet high. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, taper-pointed, serrate. Spikes of 

 purple flowers dense, erect, corymbed, or panicled. Low 

 meadows and fields. 



2. V. urtieifo'lia, L. (NETTLE-LEAVED V.) Stem tall. 

 Leaves oblong-ovate, acute, coarsely serrate. Spikes of 

 small white flowers very slender, loosely panicled. Fields 

 and roadsides. 



3. V. angustifo'lia, Michx. Stem low. Leaves narrowly 

 lanceolate, tapering at the base, sessile, roughish, slightly 

 toothed. Flowers purple, in a crowded spike. Dry soil. 



4. V. braeteo'sa, Michx. Stem spreading or procum- 

 bent, hairy. Leaves wedge-lanceolate, cut-pinnatifid or 3- 

 cleft. Spikes single, thick, sessile, leafy-bracted, the bracts 

 longer than the small purple flowers. S. W. Ontario. 



2. I'll It 1 ' II A. L. LOPSEED. 



P. LeptOStaeh'ya, L. Corolla purplish or pale rose- 

 coloured. Stem slender and branching, 1-2 feet high. 

 Leaves ovate, coarsely-toothed. "Woods and thickets. 



ORDER LXII. ACANTHA'CE^E. (ACANTHUS FAMILY.) 



Herbs (with us), with opposite leaves, diandrous (or didy- 

 namous) stamens inserted on the tube of the 2-lipped corolla, 

 and a 2-celled and several-seeded capsule. Seeds flat, sup- 

 ported by hooked projections of the placentas. Flowers 

 commonly much bracted. Calyx 5-cleft. Represented with, 

 us by the single genus 



DIANTHE'RA, Gronov. WATER-WILLOW. 



D. America' na, L. A perennial herb growing in water 

 or wet places, with entire leaves and purplish flowers in 

 oblong, dense, long-peduncled, axillary spikes. Corolla 



