402 primulacejE. [Lysimachia. 



** Flowers solitary, axillary. Stem procumbent. 



I ? 2. L. Nummularia, L. Creeping Loose-strife. Moneywort. 

 Herb Twopence. * " Leaves opposite subcordate or ovate obtuse 

 shortly stalked, stem prostrate creeping, peduncles 1-flowered 

 axillary solitary shorter than the leaves, calycine segments ovate 

 acute, filaments glandular connected at the base." — Br. Fl.^. 

 333. E. B. t. 528. 



On wet ditchbanks, in low moist meadows and wet clayey pastures ; very rare, 

 and doubtfully wild. i^/. June, July. 71. 



E. Med. — In a field exactly opposite Lord Spencer's house, Ryde, in a hole 

 formerly dug for planting a tree, William Jullifie .'.'.' 



W. Med. — Above the shore near W. Cowes, the Rev. W. H. Coleman, who is 

 not certain of the correctness of the observation. 



A less elegant though more showy plant than the following. Root slender, 

 creeping with many lateral fibres. Stems several, quite trailing or prostrate, often 

 rooting below, scarcely branched, 1 — 2 feet in length, glabrous, quadrangular, 

 compressed alternately or between each pair of leaves in a different direction, — 

 that is to say, now laterally, now vertically, — the angles winged. Leaves oppo- 

 site, on very short channelled footstalks, orbiculari-cordate, with a minute point, 

 bright green, wavy, smooth and shining. Stipules none. Peduncles solitary in 

 the axil of each leaf, single-flowered, more or less erect or recurved, smooth and 

 angular like the stem, mostly shorter than, or about as long as, the leaves. 

 Flowers much larger and more showy than those of L. nemorum, though of a 

 paler yellow, and more resembling the blossoms of L. vulgaris or rather of L. 

 punctata. Sepals cordato-triangular, acute, equal, their bases deflexed. Petals 

 ovate, obtuse, fringed with minute, yellow, stalked glands that are scattered over 

 the whole surface. Stamens 5, erect, thickly beset with stalked glands, combined 

 at their dilated bases ; anthers erect, pale yellow, apiculate. Style long, straight 

 and angular ; stigma flat, glandular. 



The leaves, calyx and corolla in my specimens are sprinkled all over with mi- 

 nute red dots, as observed by Mr. Leighton in his admirable ' Flora of Shropshire,' 

 though they had been previously remarked by Mertens and Koch ; they are indeed 

 common to most if not all the species of Lysimachia. 



Naturalized occasionally in shrubberies and on banks near gardens, in which 

 with us this handsome creeper is universally cultivated. In London it is com- 

 monly grown in pots, for decking window-sills and balconies. 



3. L. nemorum, L. Wood Loose-strife. Yellow Pimpernel. 

 " Leaves ovate acute opposite shortly stalked, stem prostrate, 

 peduncles 1-fl.owered axillary solitary longer than the leaves, 

 calycine segments linear-subulate, stamens smooth distinct." — 

 Br. Fl. p. 333. E.B. t. 627. Leronxia nemorum, Merat. Nouv. 

 Fl. de Par. ed. 2da, p. 77. 



On moist shady hedgebanks and in woods ; common. Fl. May— August. If. 



Herb quite glabrous in every part. Root or rather rhizoma creeping, and send- 

 ing off numerous brownish white ranch-branched fibres. Stem one or several, 

 from a few inches to a foot or a foot and a half long, simple or very slightly 

 branched below, leafy, procumbent, the extremities only erect or ascending, wavy, 

 rounded, but grooved on opposite sides in an alternate direction between the 



* The Latin name was anglicized into Herb Twopence by Turner from a fanci- 

 ful resemblance in the small round leaves to (silver) pennies " by copies one 

 against another." 



