remarkable by the fact that all the flowers in the dense, spike-like raceme seemed to bloom 

 nearly simultaneously, not in ascending succession. In the flowering season the whole 

 raceme becomes, as a consequence, equally thick throughout its length, accordingly 

 nearly cylindrical, not tapering upwards, as is common in the genus, and whereby the 

 flower cluster assumes an appearance much recalling the one to be found in the nearly 

 allied genus Wulfenia, which our plant also recalls in other respects. The rather long and 

 coarse hairs covering the bracts, the pedicels and the calyx, give the raceme a greyi h- 

 wooUy appearance. 



The stem is simple, 60—70 cm. high, strict and stout, round, or slightly quadran- 

 gular. In the lower part it is sparingly, in its upper part more densely puberulent and 

 glandulous. These glandular hairs are rather long and pluricellular, but the glands them- 

 selves are very small, and it is only after a microscopic examination I have been anie 

 to make them out with certainty as real, glandular hairs. By means of a common magni- 

 fying glass only, the heads themselves are not easily visible. The leaves are opposite or 

 verticillate in 3's, completely sessile, and on both sides sparingly hairy, and glandulous. 

 The leaves are generally 5—7, rarely to 9 cm. long, and 2 — 2,5, rarely 3,5 cm. broad, 

 oblong-ovate to lanceolate, with a rounded base, partly clasping the stem, tapering and 

 acuminate at the apex, rather densely and sharply serrate, at times duplicate-serrate at 

 the margin. The raceme is terminal and solitary, 9—11 cm. long, and rather densely 

 flowered. The flowers are shortly pedicelled, the length of the pedicels being about 1 — 1,5 

 mm. The bracts are very narrow, linear-subulate, the lower ones generally a little longer 

 than the calyx, the others generally equalling the calyx or only slightly exceeding it. The 

 calyx is split nearly to the base into 4 lobes, which are uniform, very narrow and linear, 

 tapering upwards, and acuminate, 5 — 6 mm. long, and, like the bracts and the pedicels, 

 rather densely villovis, giving the whole flower cluster a greyish-woolly appearance. While 

 the stem itself is rather densely glandulousi, the raceme seemed to be nearly destitute of 

 glandular hairs. The corolla is split above into 4 very narrow, linear lobes, generally a 

 little exceeding the calyx, all but linear, tapering upwards from the base, acuminate at the 

 top, and generally furnished with a distinct midnerve; the hindmost lobe is somewhat 

 broader, 3-nerved, and is, by deeper incisions, distinctly apart from the other 3, which 

 are more united at the base. The tube is very short, only about 1 mm. long; the 

 throat rather densely pilose within. In the dried specimens the corollas are pallid and 

 discoloured, some of them, however, being of a pale blue, which is probably their 

 natural colour. The stamens, with the yellow anthers, are protruding, about 8 mm. 

 long. The style, too, protrudes beyond the corolla, but is, as a rule, somewhat shorter 

 than the stamens. The capsule is 3—4 mm. high, distinctly shorter than the calyx, com- 

 pressed, suborbicular or sHghtly oblong, obtuse, sometimes nearly imperceptibly emar- 

 ginate at the summit, rather densely villous, especially so near the margin. In point of 

 external habitus this species somewhat resembles V. sibirica L., but is very distinct by 

 the structure of the flowers, and by the leaves, which, in V. sibirica, are verticillate in 

 6's— 9's. It also probably belongs to quite another section of the genus. 



387 



