I-8o HALORAGE^E 



more-flowered cymes; calyx-tube cylindric, with 8 — 12 ribs and 

 teeth, the alternate teeth smaller ; petals 4 — 6, or absent ; stamens 

 8 — -12 in 1 or 2 whorls often lying to one side; ovary superior, 

 2 -chambered ; style long, thread-like ; capsule very many-seeded. 

 (Name from the Greek Mthron, gore, from the colour of the 

 flowers.) 



1. L. Salicdria (Purple Loosestrife). — An exceedingly hand- 

 some plant, 2 — 4 feet high - ; rhizome creeping ; stem 4— 6-angled 

 or winged ; leaves opposite, or in whorls of 3 — 4, decussate, 

 lanceolate, cordate, acute ; flowers in tall, tapering, leafy spikes 

 of axillary glomerules or sessile cymes, about 1 in. across, red ; 

 calyx-tube 1 2-ribbed ; petals wrinkled ; stamens 1 2 in 2 whorls, both 

 differing in length from the style ; style in some plants longer than 

 all the stamens, in others shorter than all of them, and in others 

 intermediate between the two whorls. — -River banks and ditches ; 

 common. Growing among sedges and rushes, its flower-spikes 

 might, at a distance, be mistaken for Foxgloves, which, however, 

 would scarcely grow in such a situation. The trimorphism of the 

 flowers is connected with cross-pollination by insects, Darwin 

 having shown that the pollen from any of the stamens most readily 

 fertilises the stigma of a style of the same length, one, that is, on 

 another plant. Long-styled, medium-styled, and short-styled 

 plants grow together, and are equally numerous. — Fl. July — 

 September. Perennial. 



2. L. Hyssopifblia (Hyssop-leaved Purple Loosestrife) is a much 

 smaller, mostly prostrate, glabrous plant 6 — 18 in. high, with alter- 

 nate narrow leaves ; small, pink flozvers solitary in the axils ; and 

 6 stamens. — It grows in moist, often inundated, places ; but is 

 rare. — Fl. June — October. Annual. 



§§ Stamens epigynous ; ovary syncarpous, inferior 



Okd. XXXI. Halorage^. — The Mare's-tail Family 

 A small Order, comprising about 80 species of plants, mostly 

 herbaceous aquatics, with exstipulate leaves, generally whorled 

 and inconspicuous flowers, often destitute of petals, and in several 

 species having the stamens and carpels in separate flowers. The 

 calyx is generally superior, adhering to the ovary and having some- 

 times 2 or 4 sepals; petals 2 — 4, or absent; stamens 1 — 8; 

 carpels 1 — -4 ; capsule 1 — 4-chambered, indehiscent ; seeds solitary 

 in each chamber, pendulous. No member of this Order has any 

 important use or known properties. 



1. Hippuris. — Leaves whorled, entire ; sepals 2, superior ; petals 

 absent ; stamen 1 ; carpel 1. 



