KNOT-GRASS FAMILY 



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i. Illecebrum (Knot-grass). — A genus containing only the one 

 species I. verticilldtum (Whorled Knot-grass), is a pretty little 

 glabrous plant, with slender, tangled, prostrate stems, of a red tint, 

 glaucous, sessile, ovate leaves, and axillary whorls of white flowers 

 remarkable for their thickened white sepals terminating in a long, 

 soft point. — In boggy ground and standing water, among other 

 aquatic plants ; not uncommon in Cornwall, but much rarer in 

 Devonshire, and has been found in Berkshire. (Name from the 

 Latin illecebra, an attraction.) — Fl. July — September. Perennial. 



2. HerniAria (Rupture-wort). — Small, prostrate plants with 

 narrow, opposite, and scattered leaves ; crowded, minute, axillary, 

 green flowers; sepals 4 — 5, united, blunt, green; petals 4 — 5, 



illecebrum verticillAtum {Whorled Knot-grass). 



resembling barren filaments, or absent ; stamens 3 — 5, inserted on 

 a fleshy ring ; stigmas 2, nearly sessile. (Name from the disease 

 for which these plants were formerly supposed to be a remedy.) 



1. H. glabra (Smooth Rupture-wort). — A small, prostrate plant, 

 with much of the habit of the Wild Thyme ; stems herbaceous, 

 with minute decurved hairs ; leaves oblong, pale yellowish-green, 

 glabrous ; flowers green, sessile, axillary, collected into a leafy 

 spike. — Sandy soils, mostly in the eastern counties ; rare. — Fl. 

 July — September. Annual or biennial. 



2. H. cilidta (Fringed Rupture-wort). — A stouter plant, forming 

 larger tufts, with minute, decurved hairs on the upper side only ; * 

 leaves broader, orbicular, fringed, dark green ; flowers larger, in 

 distant clusters. — The Lizard, Cornwall; and Guernsey; very 

 rare. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



3.* H. hirsi'tta (Hairy Rupture-wort). — Leaves elliptic-oblong, 

 covered all over with straight, spreading hairs. — Sandy ground at 

 Christchurch, Hampshire. — Fl. July, August. Annual. 



