214 THE LTTHEUM FAMILY. 



6, longer than the calycine teeth. Stamens as many, or nearly twice as 

 many, inserted below the petals on the tube of the calyx. Ovary and cap- 

 Bule 2-ceUed. Stigma borne on a distinct style. 



The genus consists of very few species, spread over the northern hemi- 

 sphere of the new as well as the old world. 



Stems 2 feet or more. Leaves all opposite or whorled. Flowers large, 



in a showy, terminal raceme 1. Spiked L. 



Stems 6 or 8 inches or less. Upper leaves alternate, narrow. Flowers 



small, with minute petals 2. Hyssop L. 



1. Spiked Lythrutn. Ijythruiii Salicaria, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1061. Purple Loosestrife.) 



Kootstock perennial, with short, annual, erect stems, 2 or 3 feet high, 

 slightly branched, glabrous or softly downy. Leaves opposite or some- 

 times in threes, sessile, and clasping the stem at the base, lanceolate and 

 entire, from 2 to 3 inches long. Flowers reddish-purple or pinlc, in rather 

 dense whorls, forming handsome terminal spikes, more or less leafy at the 

 base ; the upper floral leaves reduced to bracts scarcely longer, or even shorter 

 than the flowers. Calyx about 3 lines long, with as many ribs as teeth ; of 

 these the outer ones are subulate, the inner ones short and broad. Petals 

 oblong, often near half an inch long. 



In wet ditches and marshy places, throughout Europe and Russian and 

 central Asia, in Australia and North America. Abundant in England, 

 Ireland, and southern and western Scotland, very local in the east and 

 north. Fl. summer. 



2. Hyssop Ijythruiu. Iisrthrum hyssopifolium, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 292.) 



A glabrous annual, seldom more than 6 or 8 inches high, the stems 

 slightly branched, and decumbent at the base, or, in starved specimens, erect 

 and simple. Leaves sessile, narrow, and entire, barely half an inch long ; 

 the lower ones opposite, the upper ones alternate. Flowers small, and soli- 

 tary in the axils of the upper leaves ; the calyx scarcely more than a line 

 long, with minute teeth ; the petals purple, about half that length. 



In moist or muddy places, especially those which are occasionally inun- 

 dated. Widely spread over central and southern Europe, all across central 

 Asia, in North and South America, South Africa and Australia, but not 

 so common in Europe as the spiJced L. In Britain but few localities are 

 recorded for it in some of the southern and eastern counties of England and 

 in Ireland. Fl. summer. 



II. FEPI.ZS. PEPLIS. 



Small glabrous annuals, with opposite entire leaves, and minute axillary 

 flowers. Calyx shortly campanulate, with 6 external and 6 internal smaller 

 teeth. Petals very minute or none. Stamens 6. Style very short, scarcely 

 distinct. Capsule globular. 



A genus of very few species, widely spread over Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



1. Common Peplis. Peplis Portula, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1211. Water Purslane.) 

 A slightly branched aunual, creeping and rooting at the base, seldom 

 above 2 or 3 inches high, but sometimes many plants grow together in 



