330 THE SCROPHULARIA FAMILY. oop 
globular, with short, broad lobes ; the 2 upper ones erect and united 
into an upper lip; the 2 lateral ones often shorter and erect; the 
lowest one turned downwards. Stamens 4, turned downwards, with 
l-celled anthers; a fifth barren stamen usually forming a scale under 
the upper lip. Capsule 2-celled, opening at the partition in 2 valves. 
The species are numerous, having their great centre in the Medi- 
terranean region, and in central Asia, a few only extending over 
the rest of Europe, northern Asia, and a part of North America. 
The shape of the corolla readily distinguishes the genus from all 
others, 
Leaves glabrous. Panicle almost leafless. 
Stem acutely angled but not winged, with numerous knotty 
tubers at its base. Leaves acute. Border of the sepals 
very narrow : ; : . 1, S. nodosa. 
Stem 4-winged, without tubers at the base. Leaves usually ob- 
tuse. Sepals with a conspicuous scarious border . ; 2. S. aquatica. 
Leaves downy. Panicle leafy at the base, or cymes all axillary. 
Leaves cordate-triangular. Flowers dull purple, with a scale 
under the upper lip . : : c ; ; . 3. S. Scorodonia. 
Leaves orbicular or broadly cordate. Flowers yellow, without 
any scale under the upper lip . : ; r f ‘ . 4, 8. vernalis. 
1. S. nodosa, Linn. (fig. 742). Figwort.—A coarse, erect perennial, 
2 to 3 feet high, glabrous or nearly so, with a disagreeable smell; the 
short stock emitting a number of small green knots or tubers. Stem 
sharply quadrangular. Leaves large, broadly ovate or heart-shaped, 
pointed, and doubly crenate or serrate. Panicle loosely pyramidal or 
oblong, usually sprinkled with minute glandular hairs. Lobes of the 
calyx rounded, with a very narrow, often scarcely perceptible, scarious 
border. Tube of the corolla of a pale greenish purple, twice as long 
as the calyx; the upper lip more deeply coloured, much longer than 
the lateral lobes. 
In rather moist cultivated and waste grounds, in Europe, Russian 
Asia, and some parts of North America. Extends allover Britain. Fl. 
all summer. 
2. S. aquatica, Linn. (fig. 743). Water S.—Very variable in size, 
but is generally taller and rather less branched than S. nodosa, which 
it much resembles in habit and in flowers. The angles of the stem 
project into narrow wings, there are no tubers at its base, and the 
leaves are not so broad, and more obtuse. Panicle long and narrow. 
Lobes of the calyx surrounded by a scarious border, much more con- 
spicuous than in S. nodosa. Corolla of a dull purple. 
In wet places, along ditches and sides of streams, in Europe and 
Russian Asia. Abundant in England, from Berwick southwards. 1. 
summer. It varies in the shape of the scale or barren stamen under the 
upper lip of the corolla, in station, and in the more or less acute teeth 
of the leaves, and two species have been generally distinguished: 8. — 
Ehrharti, Stevens, is a more luxuriant and leafy plant, with the scale — 
reniform, much broader than long, and the capsule nearly globular; 
and 8. Balbisti, erowing in drier situations, the leaves more pointed, the 
scale often nearly orbicular, and the capsule more ovoid and pointed ; 
but these differences in foliage and capsule do not always correspond 
with those of the shape of the scale, which will often vary in different — 
flowers of the same plant. 
