PRIMULACEiE. 



535 



and America, obviously allied to Winter green, but readily distinguished 

 by the want of green leaves. As in the case of Winter green, it has 

 been divided into almost as many genera as there are species. 



1. Common Monotrope. Monotropa Hypopitys, Linn. 



(Fig. 640.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 69. Yellow Bird's -nest.) 



Stem about 6 or 8 inches high, often 

 rather downy in the upper part, bearing 

 oblong or ovate concave scales instead 

 of leaves. Flowers few, in a short ter- 

 minal raceme. Sepals and petals nearly 

 of the same size, ovate or oblong, gla- 

 brous or slightly downy inside, persist- 

 ing round the capsule. Anthers small, 

 on slender filaments, opening by trans- 

 verse valves. The terminal flower has 

 its parts in fours, the lateral ones in fives. 

 The whole plant is of a pale yellowish- 

 brown colour, turning black in drying. 



In Fir, Birch, and Beech woods, in 

 Europe and all across Russian Asia and 

 North America, becoming a mountain 

 plant in southern Europe, but extends 

 neither to high northern latitudes nor to 

 great elevations in the Alps. Scattered 

 over nearly the whole of England, but only found in some of the south- 

 ern counties of Scotland, and very rare in Ireland. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 640. 



XLIII. THE PRIMROSE FAMILY. PRIMULACE.E. 



Herbs, with leaves undivided except when under water; the 

 flowers either axillary or in terminal racemes or umbels. Calyx 

 usually of 5, sometimes 4, 6, or 7 divisions or teeth. Corolla 

 regular, more or less deeply divided into as many lobes or teeth 

 as divisions of the calyx, or rarely wanting. Stamens as many as 

 the lobes of the corolla, inserted in the tube opposite the centre of 

 the lobes, or where there is no corolla, alternating with the lobes 

 of the calyx. Capsule single, 1-celled, containing several seeds 



