ONAGllACEzE. 13 



erect, simple or slightly branched, round, without evident raised 

 lines, sparingly clothed with very short incurved hairs. Leaves 

 mostly opposite, very shortly stalked, with the petioles slightly 

 winged with the wings connate, varying from ovate to lanceolate, 

 rounded at the base, acute at the apex, sharply and irregularly 

 serrate or dentate-serrate. Bracts alternate, resembling the leaves. 

 Flowers numerous, slightly drooping before expansion. Calyx- 

 segments oblong-lanceolate, somewhat obtuse. Petals longer than 

 broad, nearly once and a half to twice as long as the calyx- 

 segments. Stigma 4-partite, with the segments spreading but not 

 revolute. Pod clothed with short incurved hairs. Seeds oblan- 

 ceolate-ovoid, rounded above, blunt below, finely tubercular. Plant 

 sub-glabrous, except the stem, pedicels, and pods, and occasionally 

 also the veins and margins of the leaves, which are hairy. 



In hedge-banks, woods, on old walls, &c. Common, and gene- 

 rally distributed, reaching as far North as Orkney and Shetland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer and Autumn. 



Very variable in size, but generally 1 to 2 feet high, but in 

 mountainous districts sometimes only as many inches. Leaves 

 generally 1} to 3 inches long, deep green, with the veins deeply 

 lined on the upper surface, and very prominent beneath, the petioles 

 not above £ inch long, those of the opposite leaves joined together 

 so as to form an elevated , transverse line. Flowers J to f inch 

 across, pale lilac-rose. Style shorter than the longer stamens; 

 stigmas very strongly papillose. Mature pods 2 to 3 inches 

 long. Plant deep green, frequently tinged with red, the stem 

 and calyx almost always so on the side next the sun. The leaves 

 vary from quite glabrous to hairy on the veins, or with short 

 scattered hairs all over the surface as well as on the veins ; they 

 are generally all opposite, except those which have flowers in the 

 axil, rarely many of them alternate, and sometimes they are in 

 whorls of three, an arrangement which takes place accidentally in 

 many of the species. 



When this plant produces the stolons below ground they are 

 short, thick, and fleshy ; it is then the E. sylvaticum of Boreau ; 

 frequently, however, they appear only above or close to the point 

 where the stem emerges from the ground, and then produce rosettes 

 of green leaves from the first. 



E. collinum (Gmel.) appears to be a small form, with the leaves 

 more distinctly stalked, and the stem often much branched, but of 

 this I have not seen British examples. 



Broad-leaved Willow-herb. 



French, Hpilobe de Montague. German, Berg Scholenweiderich. 



