CLASS V. ORDER 11.] BUPLEURUM, 353 



southern countries, growing in dry open sunny situations. It has a 

 slight degree of bitterness and astringency, but is not, we believe, ap- 

 plied to any use. 



2. B. tenuiss'imum, Linn. (Fig. 416.) slender Hare's Ear, Stem 

 erect, much branched, slender ; leaves linear, lanceolate ; umbels 

 terminal and lateral, small, of three rays, mostly shorter than the 

 setaceous involucres ; carpels granulated, its five ridges waved and 

 granulated. 



English Botauy, t. 478. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 94. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 131. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 120. 



Root small, tapering, zig-zag, branched. Stem erect, very much 

 branched from the base upwards, round, smooth, slender, wiry, from 

 six to eighteen inches high. Leaves few, distant, linear, lanceolate, 

 with a sharp point, three ribbed, alternate, the lower ones tapering into 

 a footstalk of variable length, quite smooth, of a glaucous green. 

 Umbels very small, sessile, axillary, terminal, or on short footstalks, 

 solitary, or disposed along the branches in a spike-like manner. 

 Involucre mostly of five setaceous pungent segments, longer than the 

 umbels. Floivers small, yellow, from three to five, in an umbel or 

 unequal peduncles. Calyx with an obtuse rim, the obsolete limb. 

 Petals very small. Style very short, from a depressed fleshy base. 

 Fruit oblong, ovate, with compressed sides, finely granulated, its five 

 ridges three at the back, and two forming the margins, uniting the 

 carpels together, obtuse, waved and granulated. Albumen nearly 

 cylindrical, slightly flattened in front. 



Habitat. — Salt marshes on the south and east coasts of England; 

 not common. 



Annual ; flowering in August and September. 



3. B. rotundifo'lium, Linn. (Fig. 417.) common Hare's Ear, 

 Tho7-ow-tvax. Stem branched ; leaves roundish, oval, perforated, the 

 lower ones narrow at the base, embracing the stem; general involucre 

 wanting, partial ovate, with bristle points ; ridges of the fruit filiform ; 

 channels striated. 



English Botany, t. 99. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 93. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 130. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 120. 



Root tapering, branched, white. Stem erect, about a foot high, 

 round, smooth, finely striated, branched and spreading, somewhat 

 corymbose above, often of a purplish colour. Leaves numerous, of a 

 pale glaucous green, each with a mid-rib, terminating in a bristle 

 point, and with numerous fine branched veins, the lower leaves oblong, 

 narrowing at the base, sessile, and embracing the stem, the upper ones 

 roundish, oblong, perforated, alternate. Umbels terminal, compound, 

 of about six rays. General involucre wanting, partial of about four 

 mostly unequal ovate acute bristle pointed veiny segments, of a pale 



