CEUCIFER/E. 



55 



small OYoid bulb in their axil, the lower 

 ones pinnate, with 5 or 7 segments, 

 the upper ones with fewer segments, or 

 quite undivided ; all the segments lan- 

 ceolate, entire or toothed, tapering at 

 the base, mostly 1% to 2 inches long. 

 Mowers few, rather large. The pod is 

 seldom formed, as the plant usually pro- 

 pagates by the axillary bulbs falling to 

 the ground, and there growing. 



In damp woods, and shady places, 

 chiefly in mountain districts, spread over 

 Continental Europe from Scandinavia 

 and central France to the Caucasus. In 

 Britain, confined to some of the metro- 

 politan counties of England. Fl. spring. 



Fig. 6G. 



VIII. HESPERIS. HESPERIS. 



Coarse, erect herbs, more or less hairy, with toothed leaves, and 

 rather large, purple flowers, resembling those of the Stocks. Calyx 

 erect. Petals on long claws. Pods long and linear, nearly cylindrical ; 

 the stigma oblong, erect, and very shortly divided into two parallel 

 lobes. Seeds not winged, apparently in a single row in each cell ; the 

 radicle incumbent on the back of one of the cotyledons. 



A small genus, confined to Europe and northern Asia, nearly allied 

 to the Stocks, but with a somewhat different habit, and the radicle in- 

 cumbent, not accumbent. 



1. Common Hesperis. Hesperis matronalis, Linn. (Fig. 67.) 

 (H. inodora, Eng. Bot. t. 731. Dames Violet.) 



Stem 2 to 3 feet high, usually slightly branched. Leaves shortly 

 stalked, or tapering at the base, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2 to 3 

 inches long, or the upper ones smaller. Flowers usually fragrant in 

 the evening. Pods 2 to 4 inches long, nearly cylindrical, but much 

 contracted between the seeds. 



In hedges, bushy places, and open woods, in central and southern 

 Europe, and all across Russian Asia, and, having been long cultivated 



