120 DIDYNAMIA— ANGIOSPERMIA. Rhinanthus. 



cells, and 2 valves separating at the margin ; partitions 

 transverse, combined, narrow. Seeds several, obovate, 

 compressed, imbricated, curved downwards, more or 

 less bordered. 



Annual herbs, with square, leafy, upright stems ; oblong, 

 sessile, sharply and copiously serrated leaves; and nu- 

 merous yellow flowers, in leafy spikes, without scent. 



JElephas of Tournefort, t. 482, might perhaps form a distinct 

 genus, though there is no propriety in calling it an Ele- 

 phant ; any more than there would be in giving the name 

 of Asinus to a genus with long hairy ears to the coroUa. 



1. R. Crista gain. Common Yellow Rattle. 



Stem slightly branched. Leaves lanceolate, serrated. Ca- 

 lyx smooth. Style concealed by the upper lip. Seeds 

 with a dilated membranous border. 



R. Crista galli. Linn. Sp. PI. 840, a. Willd. u. 3. 1 88, a. Fl. Br. 



649. Engl. Bot. v. 10. t. 657. Curt. Lond.fasc. 5. t. 43. Mart. 



Rust. 1. 138. Hook. Scot. 186. FL Dan. t. 981 ? 

 R. minor. Ehrh. Herb. 46. Beitr. v. 6. 144. 

 Alectorolophus n. 313. Hall. Hist. v. 1 . 137. 

 Pedicularis sen Crista galli lutea. Rail Syn. *284. 

 Crista galli. Ger. Em. 1071./. ? Riv. Monop. Irr. t. 92./. 3. 

 C. galli foemina. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 436./. 



In rather barren meadows and pastures very common. 



Annual. June. 



Root fibrous. Stem about a foot high, with few and generally short 

 branches, leafy, square, often spotted with red or purple, smooth. 

 Leaves lanceolate, spreading, acute, sharply serrated, rough and 

 minutely wrinkled on both sides, from an inch to an inch and 

 half long ; dilated and heart-shaped at the base. Fl. crowded 

 into a terminal, leafy, or rather bracteated, spike, each pair 

 cro.?sing the next. Bracteas heart-shaped, acute, serrated, 

 green. Cal. bladdery, strongly ribbed, smooth. Cor. yellow ; 

 the segments of its upper lip short, blueish. Neat, an ovate, 

 purple, concave scale, at the base of one edge of the broad 

 flattish germen. Anth. red, awnless, of 2 distinct very hairy 

 lobes, quite concealed by the arched upper lip of the corolla, as 

 are likewise the style and stigma, though the latter sometimes 

 becomes prominent as the flower fades. Caps, dry and mem- 

 branous, making a rattling noise when touched. Seeds brown, 

 smooth, each bordered with a broadish, thin, flat, membranous 

 wing. 



This plant is reckoned unprofitable to the farmer, encumbering 

 rather than enriching his crop of hay, as cattle are not fond of 

 jt; an4 whether they ever eat it by choice is doubtful. 



