LYTHRACE^E. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 183 



brichia Nuttallii, ]\f. A. Curtis.) — Wisconsin and Minnesota ( T. J. Hale), 

 Illinois (Buckley, Vasey, Hall, &c. ), and southward. — When in deep water the 

 steins are L°-S° long, very leafy, the flowers and pods not larger than a pin's 

 head : when terrestrial 2' - 6' long, larger-flowered, resembling depauperate 

 specimens of No. 1, with obsolete projections at the sinuses. 



2. LYTHEUM, L. Loosestrife. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 5 - 7-toothed, with as many little processes in the 

 Binnses. Petals 5-7. 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; produced in summer. (Name from \v8pov, blood; per- 

 haps from the crimson blossoms of some species.) 



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



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

 mediate processes : plants smooth. 



1. L. HysSOpif61ia, L. Low annual (6'- 10' high), pale; leaves oblong- 

 linear, obtuse, longer than the inconspicuous' 'flowers ; petals (pale-purple) 5-6. — 

 Marshes, coast of New England and New Jersey. (Eu.) 



2. L. alatum, Pursh. Tall and wand-like perennial ; branches with 

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

 flowers; petals (deep purple) 6. — Michigan, Wisconsin, and southward. 4. 



3. L. lineare, L. Stem slender and tall (3° -4° high), 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. — Brackish marshes, New Jersey and southward. 



* * Stamens 12, twice the number of the petals, 6 longer and 6 shorter : flowers large, 



crowded and ivhorled, in an interrupted wand-like spike. 



4. L. Salicaria, L. (Spiked Loosestrife.) Leaves lanceolate, heart- 

 shaped at the base, sometimes whorled in threes. — Wet meadows, Eastern New 

 England, and Orange County, New York : also cultivated. — Plant more or less 

 downy, tall : flowers large, purple, trimorphous, as to respective length of style 

 and filaments in 3 different kinds of individuals. 



3 . NES5IA, Commerson, Juss. Swamp Loosestrife. 



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

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

 Stamens 10-14, exserted, of two lengths. Pod globose, 3-5-celled. — Peren- 

 nial herbs or slightly shrubby plants, with opposite or whorled leaves, and ax- 

 illary flowers (these probably dimorphous or trimorphous). 



1. N. verticillata, H. B. K. Smooth or downy; stems recurved (2°- 

 8° long), 4-6-sidcd ; leaves lanceolate, nearly sessile, opposite or whorled, the 

 upper with clustered flowers in their axils on short pedicels: petals 5, wedge- 

 lanceolate, rose-purple (i' long); stamens 10, half of them shorter. (De'codon 

 verticillatum, Gmelin.). — Swampy grounds : common eastward. July- Sept. 



