FIGWOPtT FAMILY. 



225 



a thin, powdery woolliness and yellovN' (sometimes white) flowers, in a 

 pyramidal panicle. It is said to hybridize or cross-breed with the com- 

 mon Mullein, thus producing some remarkable varieties. 



2. LIXA'EIA, Tournef. Toad-flax. 



[Latin, Linum, flax ; from the resamblance of the leaves.] 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla with the limb personate, the upper lip bifid 

 with the lobes folded back — the lower lip trifid, closing the throat by 

 its prominent palate ; tube inflated, spurred at base. Stamens 4, didyn- 

 amous, — usually with a minute abortive rudiment of a fifth. Capsule 

 ovoid or globose, membranaceous, 2-celIed, opening below the summit 

 by 1 - 2 pores or chinks, toothed. Seeds numerous, margined. Mostly 

 herbs, annual or perennial. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or verti- 

 cillate. Flowers usually racemose. 

 1. L. vulgaris, MtU. Stem erect, simple ; 

 leaves lance-linear, acute, alternate, numerous ; 

 flowers imbricated, in a terminal raceme ; spur 

 of the corolla acute, about as long as the tube. 

 Common Lixarl^. Toad-flax. Ranstead-weed- 

 Butter and Eggs. 



Fr. Muflier linaire. Germ. Das Flachskraut. 

 Span. Linaria. 



Plant smooth and somewhat glaucous. i2oo< perennial, 

 creeping, sub ligneous. Stem 1-2 or 3 feet high, slender, 

 terete, leafy, sometimes branched at summit and bearing 

 several racemes, generally growing in bunches or small 

 patches. Leaves 1-2 inches long, narrow, irregularly sca.*- 

 tered on the stem, but very numerous. Flowers peduncu- 

 late, in a dense bracteate raceme — the peduncles shorter 

 than the bracts. Corolla pale greenish-yellow, smooth, — 

 the palate of the lower lip bright orange color, villous in 

 the tliroat ; spur subulate, about half an inch long. Style 

 short T than the longest stamens ; stigma obliquely trun- 

 cLito. C'Tpsule ovoid oblong, thin, smooth, longer than the 

 calyx. Seeds with a dilated orbicular margin, roughish- 

 dotted in the centre. 



Pastures, fence-rows, &c. : introduced. Xative of Europe. 

 Fl. June -September. Fr. August -October. 



Gbs. This is extensively naturalized, — and 

 has become a vile nuisance in our pastures and 

 upland meadows. Mr. AVatson', in his annals 

 of Philadelphia, says it was introduced from 

 Wales, as a garden flower, by a Mr. Eanstead, 

 a Welsh resident of that city ; and hence one 

 of its common names. It inclines to form large patches, by means of 

 "its creeping roots, — and as far as it extends, takes almost exclusive pos- 



FiG. 150. Toad-flax (Linaria vulgaris). 



10^ 



