128 DIDYNAMIA— ANGIOSPERMIA. Pedicularis. 



Perennial. April. 



Lower part of the stem immersed in loose earth, or dead leaves, 

 branched, spreading, densely leafy,round,smooth, whitish ; flow- 

 ering branches terminal, solitary, erect, 4 or 5 inches high, 

 round, a little hairy, purplish, unbranched, leafy, many-flowered, 

 ieai'esovate, thick,juicy, entire, smooth, cream-coloured; closely 

 imbricated on the lower part of the stem ; more loosely on the 

 flowering branches. Fl. axillary, solitary, stalked, drooping, 

 rather longer than the leaves. Cal. of the hue and texture of 

 the leaves ; hairy at the base ; segments smooth, incurved, 

 the 2 uppermost largest. Cor. of a pale dull purple, with a 

 white tube, about as long as the limb ; upper lip deeply cloven. 

 Anth. large, hairy. Caps, large, thin, crowned by the withered 

 style, and invested with the permanent calyx. 



The analogy of the preceding genus helps us to understand the 

 herbage of this singular plant, and proves what is usually taken 

 for roots to be a partly subterraneous stem. The real root is, I 

 believe, fibrous and parasitical. The^oraZ /cores agree with the 

 rest, as in Melampyrum sylvaticum. L. Clandestina has also ax- 

 illary^owers, from a subterraneous herbage. 



308. PEDICULARIS. Louse-wort, or Red 



Rattle. 



Linn. Gen. 307. Juss. 101. Fl. Br. 655. Tourn. t. 77. f. A, D, 

 Ej H— L. Lam. t.b\7. Gcertn. <. 53. 



Nat. Ord. see n. 303 — 306. 



Cal. with a roundish-ovate, tumid, but somewhat compressed, 

 tube; the border in 5, sometimes only 2, unequal, leafy, 

 more or less defined, jagged segments. Coi'. ringent ; tube 

 oblong, unequal; upper lip narrowest, erect, vaulted, 

 compressed, notched ; lower dilated, flat, in 3 deep obtuse 

 lobes, the central one narrowest. Nect. a gland under 

 the germen. Filam. thi-ead-shaped, concealed by the 

 upper lip. Anth. incumbent, 2-lobed, acute at the lower 

 part, compressed. Germ, ovate. Style thread-shaped, 

 longer than the stamens. Stigma simple, deflexed. Caps. 

 oblong, or ovate, pointed, oblique, of 2 cells and 2 valves, 

 bursting at the summit, the partitions from the centre of 

 each valve. Seeds few, angular, pointed, attached to a 

 roundish receptacle, at the base between the partitions. 



A numerous and handsome, chiefly alpine, genus, of which 

 we have only two species in Britfiin. The whole are in 

 general perennial, herbaceous, erect, or ascending, with 

 variously pinnatifid or pinnate, rather bluntly toothed, 

 leaves, and red, purple, or partly yellow, Q[eg?a\tJlo'wers. 

 They are mostly of an acrid quality, not acceptable to 



