LYTUllACEyE. 3 



included. Fruit ovate-ovoid, about as long as the tube of the calvx, 

 which entirely conceals it. Seeds very numerous, angular, pear- 

 shaped, faintly wrinkled, striate. Plant dark dull-green, varying 

 from nearly glabrous to densely pubescent. The calyx, upper part 

 of the stem, and the margins of the leaves, however, 'almost always 

 with short white hairs, those on the stem and calyx jointed. 



A very variable plant, with the leaves at the base of the verti- 

 cellasters sometimes scarcely exceeding the flowers, sometimes 2 to 

 4 times as long, almost always opposite, but sometimes in whorls 

 of 3, or even alternate. According to Professor Boreau, when the 

 main stem is broken over, it produces in autumn branches with 

 few-flowered clusters in the axils of large alternate bracts, in which 

 case it is L. alternifolium of Lorey. 



Vaucher notices three kinds of flower on the same plant 

 (Lecoq, Etudes, VI. 156) :— 



" 1st. Stigma prominent, anthers yellow. 



" 2nd. Stigma bent back, not exceeding the prominent stamens 

 with violet anthers, but exceeding the short yellow anthers hidden 

 at the bottom of the tube. 



" 3rd. Stigma rounded, with papillae not exceeding even the 

 short anthers, which, like the rest, are exserted out of the tube." 



Purple Loosestrife. 



French, Salicaire Commuiie. German, Gemenier Weiderieh. 



This plant is associated with many of our autumn walks, and abounds in ditches 

 and marshy meadows. It has a reputation as a tonic and astringent, and has been 

 used with success in diarrhoea in Ireland, where it is a common village remedy. A 

 decoction of the dried plant, formed by boiling two ounces of it in a quart of water 

 until reduced to a pint, and administered twice a day, is recommended by some 

 practitioners. 



SPECIES II.-LYTHRUM H YSSOPIFOLI A. Linn. 



Plate CCCCXCII. 



L. hyssopifblium, Sibtli. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 292. Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viiL 

 p. 148. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 214. 



Root annual. Pootstock none. Stem decumbent or procumbent, 

 sub-cylindrical, with faintly elevated lines arising from the bases 

 of the leaves. Leaves almost all alternate, sessile, not amplexicaul, 

 strap-shaped, attenuated at the base, sub-acute at the apex. Plowers 

 sub-sessile, solitary in the axils of the leaves. Pedicels with 2 

 small scarious bracts at the summit, embracing the bottom of the 

 calyx-tube. Calyx glabrous, funnel-shaped in flower, cylindrical 

 in fruit, 12-nerved, the 6 alternate ones fainter; 6 inner teeth 

 deltoid, 6 outer twice as long, and linear-lanceolate. Petals twice 



