• LASS V. oiiUER I, i AiVAGALLIS. 249 



vound tlie orifice of tlie tube, as is the scarlet 3ower, it is scarlet. 

 Stamens inserted around the orifice of the tube. Filaments dilated at 

 the base, shorter tlum the limb of tlie corolla, and more or less thickly 

 closed with glandular hairs. ^«//ters heart-shaped. .S/j/Zc longer than 

 the stamens. Stigma obtuse, notched. Capsule globose, smooth, with 

 live ribs, crowned with the persistent style, and bursting open all round 

 into two hemispheres. Seeds numerous, angular, arranged in a globose 

 manner around the central receptacle. 



Habitat. — Corn lields, road sides, and waste places; frequent. 



Annual; flowering from June to August. 



Much doubt has been entertained as to whether the blue flowered 

 plant is a distinct species or not ; it is still retained as such by some 

 Botanists: but the Rev. Professor Henslow has proved, by cultivation 

 from seed, that they are varieties of the same species ; and certainly in 

 the greater number of specimens which we have collected, both in 

 various parts of England and the Continent, we are unable to perceive 

 any diff"erence in their character, except the fugacious one of the colour 

 of the corolla, not even those above mentioned of the more deeply 

 notched corolla, and fewer glandular hairs are by any means constant. 



This pretty ornament to our cultivated fields and road sides is one 

 of those remarkable plants which close their petals over the stamens 

 and pistil, to protect them from injury, on the approach of rain. 

 Hence it is that it has obtained the common name of poor man's 

 weather-glass. It has been lauded as a remedy in cases of epilepsia, 

 and even hydrophobia was said to be conquered by its use, for which 

 it was used both in powder extract and infusion, but has now entirely 

 lost its reputation. 



2. A. tenel'la, Linn. (Fig. 330.) Bog Pimpernel. Stem creeping 

 prostrate, filiform, leaves opposite, ovate, or roundish, on footstalks. 



English Botany, t. 530. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 282. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 106. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 183. 



Root fibrous, frequently put out from the axis of the leaves of the 

 -branched prostrate stems, which lay close to the earth, and are thus 

 continued for some distance around the central root ; the stem is slen- 

 der, thread-like, smooth, angular, from two to three inches long. 

 Leaves numerous, opposite on short footstalks, roundish, or ovate, 

 smooth, shining, pale green, veiny, and mostly finely dotted beneath. 

 Floicers axillary, on long slender pedicles, large for the size of the 

 plant. Calg.v of five lanceolate segments. Corolla three limes as long 

 as the calyx. The tube very short. The limb deeply divided in five 

 ovate segments, of a beautiful pale rose colour, deeply pencilled with 

 veins. Stamens nearly as long as the corolla. Filaments dilated at the 

 base, fringed with long-headed hairs, each of which is terminated with 

 a small gland. Anthers small. Pistil longer than the stamens. 



