U>erv)ain Jfamil^. 



Lop-seed. Phryma Leptostachya. 



Found in light woods in July. 



The large stout stalk bears slender branches, grows from 3 to 4 feet 

 in height, and is square, hollow, and woody-fibred ; it is smooth, or 

 covered sparsely with small hairs, and grooved at the joints. Green, 

 dashed with bronze, the branches sometimes purplish. 



The lower leaves are large, broadly oval, and tapering to a sharp 

 point, and sit on long trough-like stems ; the upper are small and nar- 

 row. They have irregularly toothed margins, are thin in texture, and 

 hairy ; green in color. They are set on the stalk in pairs with a notice- 

 able joint, the pairs occuri'ing at light angles, and at a considerable dis- 

 tance apart. 



The very small corolla is 2-lipped ; the lower lip is 3-parted, the 

 upper and smaller being 2-parted, and their color is light crimson with 

 a violet tint ; the long, dull green calyx is 2-divided, the upper division 

 being longer, with 3 curving crimson tips. The flowers are arranged in 

 pairs, at light angles to each other, in slender spikes, whose long stems 

 bear one or two pairs of little leaves midway their length. 



The blackish seed-pod is the oddest feature of this plant ; it is 

 grooved, and sharply turns down upon the stem, its little curved hooks 

 bristling with expectation of getting a clutch upon a way-farer. 



49° 



