Epilobium.] XXVII. ONAGRACEjE. 151 



little to separate it but the soft hairs with which it is clothed, the 

 narrower (mostly alternate) leaves with shorter stalks, and the rather 

 larger flowers. But none of these characters appear to be quite con- 

 stant, and it may possibly prove to be a mere variety of E. montanum. 



In Europe and western Asia, but not so common as E, montanum, 

 and generally found in wetter situations. It has nearly the same 

 range over Britain, excepting the extreme north of Scotland. Fl. 

 summer. [E. rivulare, Wahlb., is an almost glabrous form, and E. inter- 

 medum, Merat., one with all the leaves alternate.] 



4. E. montanum, Linn. (fig. 345). Broad-leaved E. — Stems erect, 

 simple or slightly branched, from 6 inches to a foot or more high, 

 cylindrical, without any decurrent lines or angles, and usually glabrous 

 or slightly hoary ; the autumnal offsets usually short, and sometimes 

 sessile. Leaves shortly stalked, or sometimes almost sessile, ovate or 

 broadly lanceolate, and toothed. Flower-buds erect or slightly nodding ; 

 ovary downy, tapering into a stalk at the base, and crowned by a calyx 

 2 or 3 lines long, divided below the middle into 4 reddish lobes. Petals 

 pink, usually nearly twice as long, but sometimes scarcely exceeding the 

 calyx, always deeply notched. Style divided at the top into 4 oblong, 

 spreading, stigmatic lobes. Pod slender, 2 to 3 inches long. 



In waste and cultivated places, roadsides, woods, &c, throughout 

 Europe and Russian and central Asia, and apparently in many other 

 parts of the globe. Very abundant in Britain. Fl. summer. It varies 

 much in the size of the flowers, which are in dry situations often nearly 

 as small as in E. roseum, from which it is then chiefly distinguished by 

 the deeply-cleft stigma. [E. montanum has usually opposite leaves ; 

 the closely allied E. lanceolatum, Sebast. and Maur., which occurs in 

 some of the southern counties of England, has these mostly alternate. 

 It is sometimes regarded as a variety of E. roseum.] 



5. E. roseum, Schreb. (fig. 346). Pale E. — An erect plant, glabrous 

 or hoary when young, much resembling at first sight a small-flowered 

 E. montanum, but the leaves are narrower, on longer stalks, the lower 

 ones generally opposite, with a raised line descending more or less along 

 the stem from the junction of the leafstalk on each side, almost as in 

 E. tetragonum. They vary from ovate-lanceolate to narrow-oblong, and 

 from 1 to 3 inches in length. Flowers in a short, terminal, leafy, 

 branched raceme or panicle ; the limb of the calyx scarcely 2 lines 

 long, and the notched petals not much longer. Buds erect or slightly 

 nodding, the style ending in a club-shaped stigma, either entire or 

 very shortly 4-lobed. Pods from 1 to 2 inches long. 



Along ditches, and in moist situations, in Europe and Russian Asia, 

 but not so common as either the preceding or the following species, 

 nor extending so far to the north. Scattered over several parts of 

 Britain, from Edinburgh southwards. It is often confounded with E. 

 montanum or E. parviflorum. Fl. summer. 



6. E. tetragonum, Linn. (fig. 347). Square E. — Stems erect, often 

 much branched, 1 to 2 feet high, glabrous or hoary with a very short 

 down, and more or less angular from raised lines descending on each 

 side from the margins of the leaves ; the autumnal offsets often long 

 and thread-like, with a fleshy bud at the extremity, more rarely short 

 and scaly or leafy, as in E. montanum. Leaves sessile or nearly so, 

 narrow, and toothed. Flowers small, in terminal leafy racemes, the 



