311 
Melampyrum.'] lxii. scrophulariacea:. 
rolla ovate or oblong, bracteas ovate acuminate. E. major Sm.: 
E. B. S. t. 2737 (not Ehrh.). 
Corn-fields in the north of England. ©. 7, 8. — Mr. Backhouse 
observes that the present plant has denser and more bushy spikes than 
R. Crista- Galli, and yellowish bracteas, each terminated by an elongated 
^reen point. The upper leaves are much acuminated from a lanceo- 
late base. The appendages of the upper lip of the corolla are wedge- 
shaped, purple, usually longer than broad ; the germen is narrower, 
and more tumid. The seeds are thick at the edge, with a membranous 
margin, which is variable in breadth, sometimes almost wanting. 
R. major Ehrh. (R. hirsutus Lam. or R. villosus Pers.) has a hairy 
calyx, and has not yet been found in this country. 
5. Melampyrum. Linn. Cow-wheat. 
Cal. tubular, 4-toothed. Upper lip of the cor. laterally com- 
pressed, turned back at the margin ; lower lip trifid. Ovary 
with 2 superposed ovules in each cell. Caps, oblong, 2-celled, 
obliquely acuminate, opening on one side, Cells 1 — 2-seeded. 
Seeds oblong, even (not striate), gibbous at. the base. — Named 
from ptXae, black , and rrupog, wheat. Its seeds resemble grains 
of wheat, and are said, when mixed with flour, to make the 
bread black. 
1. M. cristdtum L. ( crested C.) ; spikes densely imbricate 
4-sided, bracteas cordate acuminate finely ciliato-dentate. 
E. B. t. 41. 
Woods, thickets, and sometimes in corn-fields, chiefly in Norfolk, 
Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Huntingdonshire. ©. 7. — A 
beautiful plant, as is the following. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, en- 
tire. Bracteas rose-coloured at the base. Flowers yellow, purple 
within the upper lip, solitary in the axil of each bractea or floral-leaf, 
as in all the rest of the genus. 
2. M. arvense L. ( purple C.) ; spikes oblong lax bracteas 
ovato-lanceolate attenuate pinnatifid with subulate segments, 
teeth of the calyx much longer than the tube, lips of the corolla 
closed. E. B. t. 53. 
Corn-fields and dry gravelly banks, rare. Near Norwich. Isle of 
Wight. ©. 6 — 8. — Spikes of flowers much larger than in the pre- 
ceding, and exceedingly handsome, from the bright varied colours, 
yellow, purple, rose-colour, and green, of the blossoms and bracteas : 
the latter have elevated glandular points beneath. Cal. hispid, as long 
as the tube of the corolla. 
3. M. pratense L. ( common yellow C .) ; flowers axillary se- 
cund, leaves in distant pairs, corolla 4 times as long as the 
calyx closed, the lower lip straight. — a. leaves glabrous, upper 
bracteas 1 — 2-toothed at the base. E. B. t,. 113. — (3. smaller 
and somewhat succulent, leaves glabrous, bracteas quite entire. 
M. montanum Johnst. FI. of Berw. — y. leaves hispid, bracteas 
with diverging and declining teeth at the base. 
