Lathrcea.] LV. OEOBANOHACE^. 323 



central and Eussian Asia, except the extreme north. Not uncommon 

 in England and Ireland, and extends into the central counties of Scot- 

 land. Fl. early spring. 



LVL SCROPHULARINEJE. SCROPHULARIA FAMILY. 



Herbs, or in some exotic species shrubs, with opposite or 

 alternate leaves and no stipules. Calyx persisting round the 

 fruit, usually with 5 teeth or segments, sometimes fewer. 

 Corolla monopetalous, usually 2-lipped, but sometimes nearly 

 regular, with 4, 5, or rarely more lobes, always overlapping 

 one another in the bud. Stamens usually 2, or 4 in 2 pairs, 

 very rarely 5, inserted in the tube of the corolla. Ovary and 

 capsule divided into 2 cells, with several seeds in each cell. 

 Style simple, usually ending in a 2-cleft stigma. 



A numerous family, widely diffused over the globe, from the Arctic 

 Circle to the tropics, although more abundant in temperate regions than 

 in the extremes of heat or cold, and, generally speaking, well-marked 

 by the 2-lipped or personate corolla, the stamens in pairs, and the several 

 seeds in each cell of the capsule ; but there are some anomalous genera 

 in which these characters are much modified, and two large and natural 

 exotic families, the Bignonia and Acanthus families, are only to be accu- 

 rately distinguished from Scrophularinece by an attentive study of minute 

 characters. To the first of these belong the Bignonias and Tecomas of 

 our hothouses, as well as the Catalpa, often planted in our gardens, and 

 (if taken in its most extended sense) the numerous hothouse Gesnerias, 

 Gloxinias, Achimenes, &c. The Acanthacece include Justicias, Ruellias, 

 and many modern hothouse genera, besides the European Acanthus, 

 which gives its name to the family. 

 Corolla rotate or concave, with a very short tube. 



Stamens 2. Corolla 4-cleft, never yellow 9. VERONICA. 



Stamens 4 or more. 

 Tall, coarse, erect plants. Stamens 5, often woolly . .1. Verbascum. 

 Small or creeping plants. Stamens 4, glabrous. 

 Glabrous, almost stemless plant, with radical leaves and 



minute subsessile flowers 6. Limosella. 



Slender, creeping, hairy plant, with orbicular, alternate 



leaves, and axillary, stalked, minute flowers . . 7. Sibthorpia. 

 Corolla with a distinct tube. 

 Tube of the corolla with a spear or protuberance at the base, 

 the mouth closed by a projecting palate. 



Tube of the corolla spurred 3. Linaria. 



Tube of the corolla with a slight protuberance at the base . 2. Antirrhinum. 

 Tube of the corolla straight at the base, the mouth open (ex- 

 cept in Melampyrum). 

 Calyx with 5 lobes or teeth, or 2 or 3 leafy jagged lobes. 

 Corolla nearly globular, small, dingy, with 5 unequal 



lobes, not 2-lipped 4. Scrophularia. 



Corolla more than an inch long, with a broad tube, and 

 flat, spreading lobes. 

 Flowers red or white, in a long terminal raceme. Leaves 



alternate 8. Digitalis. 



Flowers yellow, on axillary peduncles. Leaves opposite 5. Mimulus. 

 Corolla less than an inch long, the tube slender or short. 



