72 ENGLISU BOTANY. 



Very like L. intermedium, of which it may be but a sub-species, 

 but a smaller and more delicate plant, with much more the aspect of 

 L. purpureum, from the fact that none of the bracts are pseudo-con- 

 nate, and also from their being much more cut. The verticillasters are 

 more approximate, usually all crowded at the apex of the stem ; the 

 bracts are also much more deeply cut; the calyx-teeth shorter, 

 broader, and less rigid ; the corolla much shorter, rarely above ^ inch 

 long; the nucules about -J- inch long, but broader in proportion than in 

 L. intermedium, in other particulars the two forms are very similar. 



Cut-leaved Dead-nettle. 



Frencli, Lamicr decoiipe. German, E'lngeschnittene Tnuhiessel. 



SPECIES IV.— LAMIUM PURPUREUM. Linn: 



Plate MLXXXIII. 



Reich, Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVIII. Tab. MCCIV. Fig. 3. 

 Billot, Fl. Germ. Exsicc. No. 1297. 



Annual. Leaves stalked, roundish-deltoid, subcordate, subobtuse, 

 irregularly and faintly (rarely deeply) crenate. Verticillasters all 

 contiguous at the apex of the stem. Lowest pair of bracts distmctly 

 stalked, deltoid-ovate, subcordate ; upper ones subsessile, deltoid, 

 truncate at the base; all subacute, irregularly crenate, rarely inciso- 

 crenate, none of the pairs overlapping and pseudo-connate. Calyx 

 thinly pubescent ; teeth longer than the tube, green generally 

 stained with purple, triangular-subulate, sparingly ciliated, spreading 

 even after flowering. Corolla tube with a conspicuous transverse 

 internal rmg of hairs, rather slender, slightly curved, one-fourth longer 

 than the calyx-teeth. Nucules scarcely twice as long as broad. 



Var. a, genuinum. 

 Leaves and bracts shallowly crenate. 



Var. 3, decipiens. Sond. 



Bracts inciso-crenate. 



In cultivated ground and waste places, by the sides of ditches, and 

 on wall tops and hedge-banks. Very common, and generally dis- 

 tributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Spring to Autumn. 



Stem 6 to 18 inches long, decumbent and branched at the base; the 

 flowering portion erect, stout, succulent, often tinged with purple. 

 Leaves ^ to 2 inches long. Lowest pair of bracts 2 to 5 inches from 

 point to point, the upper pairs diminishing rapidly, so that the inflores- 



