• 

 PLUMB AGIIfE^. 431 



The geograpLical range is the same as that of the family, of wliich thia 

 genus includes the great majority of species. 



Leaves usually several inches long, the veins pinnate (when visible). 



Panicle very spreading and corymbose 1. Common S, 



Leaves usually not above au inch, with 1 or 3 ribs, and no pinnate veins. 

 Panicle elongated, usually one-sided. 



Branches all or nearly aU flowering 2. Sock S. 



Short, flowerless, intricate branches very numerous 3. Matted S, 



Several exotic species are occasionally cultivated in our flower-gardens or 

 planthouses. 



1. Common Statice. Statice Xiimonium, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 102. Sea Lavender.) 



Stock short and thick, with tufts of radical leaves from 2 to 5 or 6 inches 

 long, obovate or oblong, quite entire, glabrous, and narrowed at the base into 

 a long stalk ; the midrib is alone prominent when fresh, but when di-y the 

 lateral reticulate veins branching from it distinctly appear, riower-stem 

 erect, leafless, 6 inches to a foot or even more high, repeatedly forked, so as 

 to form a broad corymbose panicle, with a membranous bra<^t at each divi- 

 sion. Flowers numerous, in short, rather loose spikes at the end of the 

 branches, with a green bract, coloured at the edge, under each flower. Calyx 

 green at the base, dry, scarious, and of a pale purple in its upper part, with 

 5 short, broad teeth, which are often shghtly toothed or jagged. Petals of 

 a bluish ijurple, at the time of flowei-ing rather longer tlian the calyx, but 

 the latter becomes subsequently much enlarged, so as to assume the appear- 

 ance of a corolla conceahng the real one. 



In maritime sands and salt-marshes, on the coasts of western Europe, the 

 Mediterranean, and western Asia, and apparently the same species on the 

 South American and Califoruian sea-shore. Frequent on the coasts of Eng- 

 land, very local on those of Scotland. Fi. summer and auUimn. A small 

 variety, with less compact spikes, has been described as a species, under the 

 name oi S. bakusiensis {S. rarijiora, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2917). It grows 

 in the same situations, and is often very difficult to distinguish, even as a 

 variety. 



2. Rock Statice. Statice auriculsefolia, Yalil. 



(/S. binervosa, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2663. S. Dodartii and S. occidentalism 



Bab. Man.) 



Kesembles in many respects the common S., but the tufted stock is more 

 branched and compact. The leaves are much smaller, usually scarcely an 

 inch long, with shorter stalks, and, when dry, often show a lateral nerve on 

 each side of the midrib, but never any diverging veins. Stems about 6 to 10 

 inches high. Spikes more compact, with rather larger flowers than in the 

 common S., but the spikes themselves are fewer and more distant, forming 

 an elongated, not a corymbose panicle. The bracts are greener and longer. 



On dry, rocky, maritime banks, or more rarely in sands, on the shores of 

 western Europe, penetrating also far along the ilediterranean. In Britain, 

 it extends up the west coast to Wigtonshire, but not beyond Lincolnshii'e 

 on the east coast, and occm-s in Ireland. Fl. summer. 



3. Matted Statice. Statice reticulata, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 328.) 

 This is a still smaller plant than the last, with leaves often not more than 



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