SANTALACEiE. 



725 



and small flowers. Perianth adhering to the ovary at the base ; the 

 limb divided into 4 or 5 lobes or segments, valvate in the bud. Stamens 

 4 or 5, opposite the lobes of the perianth. Ovary inferior, 1- celled, 

 with 2 ovules suspended from a central placenta. Style short, with a 

 capitate stigma. Fruit a small green nut, crowned by the lobes of the 

 perianth. Seed solitary, with a small, straight embryo in the top of 

 the albumen. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over Europe and temperate 

 Asia, but chiefly abundant in southern Africa. Some of the European 

 species have been ascertained to be partially parasitical on the roots of 

 other plants, to which they attach themselves by means of expanded 

 suckers, like the yellow Hattle and some others of the Scroplmlaria 

 family. 



1. Flax-leaved Thesium. Thesium linophyllum, Linn. 

 (Fig. 875.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 247. T. humifusum, Bab. Man. Bastard Toad/lax.) 



A glabrous, green perennial, forming 

 a short, woody rootstock, with several 

 annual, procumbent or ascending, stiff 

 stems, usually simple, 6 or 8 inches long, 

 but sometimes near a foot. Leaves nar- 

 row-linear, or, when very luxuriant, ra- 

 ther broader, and above an inch long. 

 Flowers small, in a terminal raceme, 

 leafy, and sometimes branching at the 

 base ; each flower on a distinct peduncle, 

 with 3 linear bracts close under it. 

 Perianth cleft almost down to the ovary ; 

 the tube of a greenish-yellow colour ; 

 the segments white, waved or almost 

 toothed on the edges, and rolled in- 

 wards after flowering. Nuts small, 

 ovoid, marked with several longitudinal 

 veins or ribs. 



In meadows and pastures, attaching 

 itself to the roots of a great variety of 

 plants, generally dispersed over temperate Europe and Eussian Asia, 

 but not extending into Scandinavia. In Britain, only in the chalky pas- 

 tures of the southern counties of England. Fl. all summer. 



Fig. 875. 



