Samolus.] primulace^. 407 



VI. Samolus, Linn. Brookweed. 



" Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla salver-shaped, its tube short, with 5 

 scales (imperfect stamens) at its mouth, alternating with the lobes. 

 Capsule half-inferior, opening with 5 valves." — Br. Fl. 



1. S. Valerandi, L. Common Brookweed. Water Pimpernel. 

 " Stem simple or sparingly branched leafy, leaves obovato-oblong 

 or spathulate very obtuse, racemes many-flowered straight simple 

 erect leafless finally much elongated, pedicels bracteate patent, 

 coroUa twice the length of the calyx." — Br. Fl. p. 334. Sm. E. 

 Fl. i. p. 324. Lind. Syn. p. 185. E. B. x. t. 703. Curt. Fl. Lond. 

 fasc. 4, t. 20. Curt. Br. Entom. iv. t. 154. 



In wet marshy places, along broots, the sides of drains, ditches and pools, often 

 near salt water ; not unfrequeut. Fl. June — September. Fr. September, Octo- 

 ber. 2^ . 



E. Med. — In the marsh-ditches behind ihe Dover, here and there. Plentifully 

 in the boggy part of the wood on the West shore of the Wootton river at its 

 mouth, 1845. On the beach at Woolverton, by St. Lawrence, near a spring, 

 Samuel Hailstone, jun., Esq. ! 



W. Med. — Salt-mavshes along the Yar, and about a little pool in a meadow 

 not far from Yarmouth mill. Pretty plentiful in the marsh at Freshwater gate. 

 In salt-marsh land by the Yar, opposite Freshwater farm, plentifully, 1844. 

 Pretty abundant on the boggy part of Colwell heath. Banks in Colwell bay, Mr. 

 Snooke .'.'.' Near Blackgang, Miss G. Kilderbee ! Blackgang chine, /. Curtis, 

 Esq. 



Herb pale subglaucous green, remarkably glabrous in every part. Root a dense 

 tuft of whitish slender fibres. Stem solitary, or one principal and several smaller 

 ones, from an inch or two to upwards of 18 inches in height, erect, solid, roundish 

 or obscurely 2-edged, simple or branched, leafy. Leaves alternate, quite entire, 

 with a small point, narrowed below into short petioles, their surface with a waved 

 or blistered appearance, their edges more or less inflexed ; those of the root form- 

 ing q roselte, on longer footstalks and somewhat spathulate. Flowers erect, in 

 gradually elongating, axillary and terminal, upright racemes, \heix pedicels execl 

 or patent, with a sudden bend or joint about Jrd of their length beneath the calyx, 

 and at which joint there is a small leafy hract. Calyx in 5 (sometimes 6) erect, 

 triangular, pointed and persistent segments, sprinkled with small dots or depres- 

 sions ^glands). Corolla in 5 (rarely 6) deep, roundish, somewhat wedge-shaped 

 divisions, the tube very short and wide, at the summit of which, and between 

 each segment, is a narrow, white, scale-like process, pointing inwards and up- 

 wards, supposed to be abortive stamens, as the 5 perfect ones are inserted below and 

 alternate with them near the base of the tube, and, like the barren ones, conni- 

 vent ; filaments short, broad at the base ; anthers broadly triangular, bursting along 

 their lateral edges. Style very short, thick and angular ; stigma flat. Capsule 

 globose, adnate with the calyx, tipped with the style, bursting by 6 equal, 

 recurved, triangular valves opposite to the erect and much longer calyx-segments, 

 that form a crown to the seed-vessel. Seeds numerous, brown, roughish and sub- 

 pellucid, in shape resembling those of Anagallis, but more angular, and, like them, 

 attached to a large, round, free and central receptacle. 



In May, 1847, I remarked a form of this plant growing plentifully at Carroll- 

 ton and elsewhere about New Orleans, having the stem much branched, leaves 

 oblong, obovate or obovato-elliptical, of a bright green, very shining and mem- 

 branaceous, all, even the radical, leaves acute, those on the stem most pointed. 

 It is probably only a variety, resulting from a rich soil and shaded situation, but 

 I have not seen anything like it in Europe. 



This plant is generally stated to occur in nearly all quarters of the globe, and 



