34° 



PORACfNE.^ 



(j'Vj^ 



Latin put nil), the lungs, its spotted leaves being supposed, 

 according to the old doctrine of "signatures," to indicate its 

 value in lung-disease.) 



I. P. aiii'jisliliilia (Narrowdeaved Lungwort). — .\bout a foot 

 high ; leave<; narrow lanceolate, the upper ones sessile, often 

 spotted with pale green ; flowers pink in bud and afterwards deep 

 blue- — Woods in Dorsetshire, the Isle" -of AVaght, and the New 



Forest. — Fl. February — 

 June. Perennial. 



2. P. ofju'iiidlis (Com- 

 mon Lungwort). — Leaves 

 ovate, always spotted ; 

 flowers pale purple. — 

 \\'oods : rare. Generally 

 an escape from gardens. — 

 Fl. April, j\Iay. Perennial. 



8. Mertknsia (Smooth 

 Gromwell, Lightwort). — 

 Herbs with radical and 

 cauline leaves, and blue- 

 purple flowers in terminal 

 cymes ; ealyx-tube short, 

 deeply 5-cleft : corolla 

 funnel - shaped ; stamens 

 long, exserted ; nutlets 

 fleshy. (Name in honour 

 of F. C. Mertens, a Ger- 

 man liotanist, ) 



I. M. mar'itiina (Sea- 

 side Smooth Gromwell). — 

 The only British species, a 

 singular plant about iS in, 

 high, with fleshy, glaucous 

 leaves, without bristles, but sprinkled with hard dots, which are very 

 evident in dried specimens ; flowers blue-purple, crimson in bud. 

 — Seashores in the north. When fresh the plant is said to have 

 the flavour of oysters. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



9. I\l\osi')ris (Mouse-ear, Scorpion-grass). — Herbs with stalked 

 radical, and sessile cauline leaves, and terminal i -sided clusters of 

 small, generally blue flowers : ealyx 5-cIeft ; eorolla salver-shaped. 

 \vith blunt lobes, twisted in bud, and throat nearly closed by 

 blunt scales : viillels smooth. (Name from the Greek, signif\ing 

 a mouse's cai-, from the shape of the ofteli downy leaves.) 



