340 



THE UMBELLATE FAMILY. 



The B.fruticosum, a shrubby south European species, used formerly 

 to be much planted in our shrubberies, but is now more seldom met 

 with, being rather tender. 



1. Hare's-ear Buplever, 



Buplevrum rotundifolium, Linn. 

 (Fig. 412.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 99. Hares-ear or Thoroiv-wax.) 



An erect, stiff, glabrous annual, a foot 

 or rather more high, and remarkable for 

 its broadly ovate leaves, the upper ones 

 embracing the stem, and joined round 

 the back of it, so that they appear per- 

 foliate or pierced through by the stem, 

 the lowest leaves tapering to a stalk. 

 Umbels terminal, of 3 to 5, or rarely 6, 

 short rays, without any general invo- 

 lucre ; the partial involucres very much 

 longer than the flowers, consisting of 4 

 to 6 broadly ovate, yellowish bracts very 

 unequal in size, the largest about 6 lines 

 long. 



A cornfield weed, apparently indige- 

 nous to the Mediterranean region, but 

 now widely spread over Europe and 

 western Asia, and introduced into Worth 

 America. Occurs not unfrequently in 



cornfields in chalky soils in England, but neither in Ireland nor 



Scotland. Fl. with the com. 



Fig. 412. 



2. Narrow Buplever. Buplevrum aristatum, Bartl. 

 (Fig. 413.) 



(B. Odontites, Eng. Bot. t. 2468.) 



An erect annual, slender but stiff, not much branched, from 2 or 3 

 inches to near a foot high. Leaves narrow-linear and grasslike, but 

 rather stiff, 1 to 2 inches long. Umbels small, terminal, of 2 to 6 

 very short rays. Involucres of about 5 lanceolate, green bracts ending 

 in a fine point ; the general one usually longer than the rays ; the par- 

 tial ones rather shorter, but still far exceeding the flowers. 



