Chelmie glabra. 17 



branching, strong, from two to three feet high, terminating in fascicled 

 spikes of singular cream-white flowers. Leaves smooth, pale on the 

 under side, opposite, numerous, crowded towards the summit of the 

 stems and branches, situated on petioles not exceeding an eighth of 

 an inch long, lanceolate, acuminate, sharply and deeply serrated, costa 

 and nerves very conspicuous. Flowers crowded together in dense 

 spikes, surrounded with clusters of large leaves. Spike becoming 

 elongated during florescence. Calices imbricated. Scales convex, ob- 

 long, obtuse, of a pale yellowish-green colour margined with carmine. 

 Corolla resembling a snake's head with the mouth gaping ; hence the 

 common name; ventricose, of a cream-white colour in the inflated por- 

 tion and towards the base ; apex discoloured with dingy green, mottled 

 with reddish spots. Stamens included, very villous. Grows along the 

 margins of rivulets and meadow drains, in watery thickets, and on the 

 banks of grassy water courses, very common throughout the Union. 

 Flowers from July till October, and I have often met with luxuriant 

 flowering specimens during that revival of vegetation which takes 

 place in our autumn, as late as November. 



Pui-sh does not consider this a distinct species from the Ghelone 

 obliqua, which is surprising to me. They cannot be confounded, 

 consistently with our present rules for specific discrepancy. 



The name Chclone is derived from %ix»», a tortoise. 



VOL. III. 5 



