634 



THE SCROPHULARIA FAMILY. 



to be half-parasiticon the rootsof grasses. 

 It is most frequently from 2 to 6 inches 

 high, glabrous or slightly downy. Leaves 

 small, sessile, opposite, ovate, deeply 

 toothed, the teeth of the lower ones ob- 

 tuse, of the upper ones finely pointed. 

 Flowers in loose, terminal, leafy spikes ; 

 the calyx with 4 or 5 pointed teeth ; the 

 corolla white or reddish, streaked with 

 purple, and a yellow spot in the throat, 

 the tube usually shorter than the spread- 

 ing lobes. Capsule oblong. Sometimes, 

 especially in high alpine regions, the 

 whole plant is but 1 inch high, with mi- 

 nute, almost yellow flowers ; when luxu- 

 riant it will attain 8 inches, with flowers 

 near half, an inch long. The leaves in 

 some varieties are all broad, obtuse, al- 

 most orbicular, and the upper ones closely imbricated ; in others they 

 are all narrow, very pointed, and distant. 



In pastures, throughout Europe and Russian and central Asia, from 

 the Mediterranean to the Arctic regions and the highest alpine sum- 

 mits. Abundant in Britain. Fl. summer and autumn. The numerous 

 varieties are referred, by those who have studied them most, to tw r o 

 principal races, — the common JS., with a more glandular down, espe- 

 cially on the calyx, the teeth of the leaves obtuse, or the upper ones 

 shortly pointed, the capsule broadly oblong, and the seeds ovoid ; and 

 the wood JE. (E. nemorosa), w 7 hich is never glandular, the teeth of the 

 upper leaves at least ending in a fine point, the capsule very narrow, 

 and the seeds spindle-shaped ; but many forms occur in which these 

 characters are differently combined, or pass gradually into each other. 



Fig. 762. 



XII. RATTLE. K1IINANTHUS. 



A genus limited to the single species described below, distinguished 

 from Pedicularis chiefly by the calyx and capsule. 



1. Common Rattle. Rhinanthus Crista-galli, Linn. 

 (Fig. 763.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 657.) 

 An erect, glabrous or slightly hairy annual, with a shortly branched, 

 fibrous root, which attaches itself to the living roots of grasses and 



