high, upright, sharply 4-angled, usually tinged with red, either 
smooth or downy, leafy, simple or branched. Leaves sessile, spear- 
shaped, pointed, entire, various in length, the upper ones diminish- 
ed to bracteas ; all mostly opposite, sometimes alternate, and there 
are occasionally 3, or even 4, in each whorl ; in which cases the 
number of angles in the stem is likewise increased. Flowers in 
tufts, placed at a little distance from each other, in the axils of the 
leaves, each tuft of from 6 to 8 flowers, sometimes more ; forming 
long, whorled, leafy spikes. Calyx (fig. 1 .) hairy, striated, six of 
the teeth short and blunt, the other six long, awl-shaped, reddish. 
Corolla of a variable crimson or purple colour. Petals 6, (occa- 
sionally only 5,) inserted into the edge of the calyx, between its 
longer segments. Anthers conspicuous, red, with green or yellow 
pollen. [Dr. Withering says, that sometimes a single anther 
grows to one of the petals, and in that case, besides the 12 perfect 
stamens, a single filament is found without an anther.] Germen 
egg-shaped, pointed, with a groove on each side, smooth, greenish. 
Style cylindrical, white ; stigma forming a little head. Capsule 
(figs. 8 & 9.) elliptical, small, enclosed in the permanent calyx. 
Seeds numerous, very small. 
This plant produces its long and beautiful spikes of purple flowers in great 
abundance during the latter part of the Summer, at which season it is a very 
elegant and conspicuous ornament to the margins of our rivers, ponds, and watery 
ditches. It is generally almost smooth, and of a dark green colour; but when 
growing in a dry situation, it often becomes hoary and downy, or in some degree 
hairy, as well as more dwaif in stature. Ur. Thiu i.km.d, a physician who 
flourished somewhat more than a century ago, notices the good effects of a strong 
decoction of the dried plant, with white sugar, in cases of dysentery, /'Synopsis 
Stirpium HibernicarumJ ; and, since his time, the celebtated lit 11 a c n has 
maintained the credit of the remedy both in the atuive disorder, and in obstinate 
diarrheea. It has been used with success in tanning leather. Cattle generally 
leave it untouched ; yet, according to the observations of LtNN.tes, cows, goats, 
sheep, and horses eat it ; swine refuse it. 
The Xatural Order, LYTHRARiE'yE, consists of dicotyledonous 
herbs, rarely shrubs, with round, or more frequently 4-cornered, 
branches ; and opposite, seldom alternate, entire, feather-nerved 
leaves, without either stipuke or glands. Their flowers are either 
axillary, or produced in spikes or racemes at the tops of the 
branches. The calyx is monosepalous, tubular, or bell-shaped, 
lobed at the summit, the lobes with a valvate or separate aestivation ; 
their sinuses sometimes lengthened into other lobes which are pro- 
duced on the outside. The petals are variable in number, and are 
inserted between the lobes of the calyx, very deciduous, sometimes 
wanting altogether. The stamens are inserted into the tube of the 
calyx below the petals, to which they are sometimes equal in num- 
ber ; sometimes they are twice, thrice, or even four times as numer- 
ous, but they are very seldom fewer ; the anthers are oval, 2-celled, 
and inserted by the back. The ovary ( germen J is superior, free, 
and from 2 to 4-celled ; the style is thread-shaped ; and the stigma 
usually capitate. The capsule is membranous, and covered by the 
calyx ; it is usually 1 -celled, and opens either longitudinally or in an 
irregular manner. The seeds are numerous, small, without albumen, 
and are attached to a central placenta ; they have a straight embryo ; 
flat, leafy cotyledons ; and a radicle turned towards the hilum. — 
See Lindl. Syn. ; and Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. Bot. 
