212 COROLLIFLOR^ 



the corolla. A handsome plant, with numerous leafy stems, each 

 of which bears a spike of large, erect, personate flowers of a purple 

 hue, sporting to rose colour or white. The garden varieties are in- 

 numerable, and range through splendid shades of crimson, pink, 

 white, and yellow, not to mention the curiously veined and colour- 

 flecked forms. Children derive much aniusement from pinching 

 the flowers between the finger and thumb, when the palate opens, 

 as if in imitation of the fabulous monster from which it derives its 

 name. This plant, though not indigenous, is not uncommonly 

 found naturalized in limestone quarries, chalk-pits, and on old walls. 

 — Fl. June to August. Perennial. 



2. A. orontium (Lesser Snapdragon).^ ieatJes very narrow, 

 tapering ; spikes few-flowered ; sepals much longer than the corolla. 

 Smaller and more slender than the last, seldom above a foot high, 

 and at once distinguished by its small flowers which grow in the 

 axils of the upper leaves, the petals of which are pink, and the sepals 

 long and narrow. Cornfields chiefly in the south ; not uncommon. 

 — Fl. July to September. Annual. 



3. LiNARiA (Toad-flax) 



1. L. vulgaris (Yellow Toad-flax). — An erect herbaceous plant 

 1-2 feet high, with numerous grass-like leaves of a glaucous hue, 

 and dense spikes or clusters of yellow flowers which are shaped like 

 those of the Snapdragon, but spurred at the base. A variety is 

 sometimes found with a regular, 5-spurred corolla, but it is rare. 

 Hedges ; common. — Fl. August, September. Perennial. 



2. L. elatine (Sharp- pointed Fluellen). — A small prostrate plant, 

 with downy stem and downy halbert-shaped leaves ; flowers small, 

 solitary, axillary, the upper lip deep purple, the lower yellow, and 

 the spur straight. Cornfields ; frequent. — -Fl. July to September. 

 Annual. 



3. L. spuria (Round-leaved Toad-flax). ^Resembling the last so 

 closely that it might be mistaken for a luxuriant specimen. The 

 flowers are the same colour, but larger, and with the spur recurved ; 

 and the leaves are always rounded at the base, not halbert-shaped. 

 Similar .situations with the last, but less frequent. — Fl. July to 

 September. Annual. 



4. L. cymbalaria (Ivy-leaved Toad-flax). — Leaves kidney-shaped, 

 5-lobed, smooth ; stem creeping. Not a native species, but quite 

 naturahzed, growing freely from seed, and extending widely by help 

 of its long, rooting stems. The flowers are small, solitary, and pale 

 lilac ; the leaves somewhat fleshy, and of a purple hue on the under 

 side. So rapidly does it increase in some places that it has been 

 given the name of "Mother of Thousands."' On old garden walls ; 

 common. — Fl. nearly all the year round. Perennial. 



