SCROPHULARIACEAE — FIGWORT FAMILY 



735 



Poisonous properties. The common mullein produces an irritation but is 

 probably not very poisonous to stock. 



2. Linaria (Tourn.) Hill. Toad Flax 

 Herbs or shrubs, with alternate leaves, or those of the sterile shoots op- 

 posite or whorled ; flowers in racemes or spikes ; caly.x 5-parled ; corolla per- 



Fig. 427. Verbascum Thapsus. 

 son's Medical Botany of N. A.). 



(From John- 



Fig. 428. Toad flax (.Lina- 

 ria vulgari.';) . a, seed. Re- 

 garded with suspicion. (Selby). 



senate and with a spur at the base; the upper lip erect, 2-Iobed, the lower 3- 

 lobed; stamens 4, didynamous, not exserted; fruit a capsule, opening by 1 or 

 more holes in the top; seeds small, numerous. 



About ISO species of wide distribution. One native species in the northern 

 states. 



Linaria vulgaris Hill. Ramsted. Butter and Eggs. 



A pale green perennial with erect, leafy globose or sparingly pubescent 

 stem; leaves sessile, entire, upper, at least, alternate; flowers in dense racemes; 

 calyx segment oblong, spur subulate ; corolla orange color, nearly erect, 1 inch long, 

 spur subulate, nearly as long as the body of the corolla. 



Distribution. Native to Europe. In fields and waste places from Nova 

 Scotia to Kansas, North to Manitoba. 



Poisonous properties. It is regarded with suspicion. The plant has a very 

 disagreeable odor. A glucoside linariin Cg^H-^O^^ has been isolated. 



Veronica peregrina L. Purslane Speedwell, Neckweed 

 Glabrous, glandular, or nearly smooth, branching annual, 4-9 inches high; 



