202 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



narrowly linear, semicylindrical, deeply channelled above or with only 

 a furrow, spreading, at length Ij'ing on the ground and flexuons 

 Raceme short, oblong-ovoid, the rachis swollen in fruit. Pedicels 

 slender, recurved in flower, shorter than the flowers, spreading in 

 fruit. Flowers oblong-ovoid, urceolate, dim, indigo-blue, with the 

 teeth of the limb white ; upper flowers nearly sessile, erect, abortive, 

 pale blue, smaller than the others. Capsule with 3 compressed flat- 

 tened semicircular lobes, and a deep notch at the apex. 



In sandy pastures, ^"ery local. Apparently a true native in 

 Sufiblk, about Packenham and Cavenham. In hedgebanks in Cam- 

 bridgeshire, especially about Hinton between Cambridge and the Gog- 

 magog Hills; but it was not obser\"ed in the county before 1827. It 

 also grows at Norwich on the city walls. It is said to be well established 

 on the banks of the Blackwater, near Fermoj', co. Cork, Ireland. 



England, [Ireland (?)]. Perennial. Late Spring, early Summer. 



Bulb flowering when about the size of a hazel-nut, producing an 

 immense number of bulbules at the base, so that when the plant is 

 once introduced in a locality it increases with great rapidity. Leaves 

 almost rushlike, 3 to 8 inches long, dark green, striate, glaucous 

 and dim above, reddish at the base. Scape 4 inches to 1 foot higli, 

 generally solitary, but sometimes a second scape is produced fi'om the 

 same bulb after the first. Raceme ^ to li inch long. Pedicels very 

 slender, lengthening in fruit, when also tlie rachis becomes swollen 

 to a considerable extent, and fistulous. Flowers about ^ inch long, 

 crowded. Capsule scarcely ^ inch long. Seeds subglobular, black, 

 about the size of mignionette seed. 



I have gathered this plant near Cambridge under the guidance of 

 Piofessor Babington; and the Rev. Kirby Trimmer has sent me 

 numerous fresh specimens from Cavenham Field, SuffVjlk.* From roots 

 thus obtained I have cultivated the Cambridge and SutFolk plants for 

 some time, and there is no doubt it is the M. raccmosuni of continental 

 botanists. 



M. neglectnm (Gw^sone), to which the British jilant is referred 

 by Professor Babington, is a subspecies of ]\I. racemosum, twice 

 as large in all its parts as the form above described, the leaves 

 much stiffer, broader, flatter, more enlarged towards the apex, the 

 raceme often 3 inches long; flowers and capsule much larger, the 

 former appearing much earlier than those of M. (eu-)raceniosum. 

 JL neglectum is sold in the nurseries as M. racemosum, and does 

 duty for it in most botanic gardens; but the M. (eu-)racemosum 

 appears to be rare in cultivation. 



M. racemosum of Miller is apparently M. botryoides, D.C.^ or one 



* " Field," in Suffolk, is applied, not to an enclosure, but to an uncultivated open 

 Bhecpwalk. 



