6 4 
WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
(epi-petalous) ; carpels 2 ; capsule oblique, 2-celled, opening by 2 or 3 pores to free the numerous 
minute seeds. Herbs with the upper leaves alternate and the lower often opposite. 
(1) *Great Snapdragon. (Antirrhinum mijus.) — Flowers large ; calyx-teeth broad and short. 
(2) Corn Snapdragon. (Antirrhinum Oron'tium.) — Flowers small ; calyx-teeth narrow, and 
often long. 
1 . *Great Snapdragon. (Antirrhinum m&jus. Linn.)— Not a native. As just 
described. The flowers are large, 1 £ inches long, purplish-rose or white, each flower with a bract 
at the base, in dense, terminal, spike-like clusters (racemes), the sepals broad and blunt, much 
shorter than the corolla-tube ; the stems 1-2 feet high, stout, and much branched ; and the leaves 
oblong or strap-shaped, entire, and smooth. 
This plant is a very common garden favourite and under cultivation it assumes many brilliant 
colours. When pressed open sideways the flower bears resemblance to the open jaw of some 
fabulous monster ; hence its popular name. 
Rare. An escape from cultivation naturalised on old walls, limestone cliffs, and quarries ; in the 
south of England and in Ireland. July — September. Perennial. 
2 . Corn Snapdragon. (Antirrhinum Oron'tium. Linn.)— A much smaller species with 
similar characteristics ; the flowers are, however, small, |-f inch long, rose-colour, solitary in the 
axils of the upper leaves, with the calyx-teeth narrow and strap-shaped, often lengthening in fruit 
so that they resemble the leaves. The stem is from a few inches to 1 foot or more high, slender, 
branched from the base ; and the leaves are narrow. \Plate 24. 
Not common. Cornfields ; chiefly in the south and west ot England and southern Ireland. 
July — September. Annual. 
IV. FIGWORT. (SCROPHULARIA. Linn.) — Flowers rather small, lurid purple to crimson- 
red, yellow, or green, in clusters up the stem with bracts at the base, the central flower opening 
first (cymes), forming a spreading, much branched cluster (panicle). Calyx of 5 sepals which 
are usually united into a tube and separated into 5 teeth, inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; 
corolla nearly round (globose), of 5 petals, united into a short gaping tube, usually 2-lipped 
(bilabiate), the upper lip larger, 2-lobed, and erect, and the lower with 3 short lobes, of which the 
2 side (lateral) ones are often erect and the middle one turned down, inserted below the seedcase 
(hypogynous) ; stamens 4, in 2 unequal pairs (didynamous), included in and inserted upon the 
corolla-tube (epi-petalous), usually with a fifth imperfect stamen reduced to a scale at the base of 
the upper lip ; carpels 2 ; capsule 2-celled, with numerous minute seeds, opening from the top by 
2 valves down the juncture of the 2 carpels (septicidally). Stout herbs with angular leaves, the 
lower ones being opposite. 
Corolla 2-lipped, with a fifth scale-like stamen. 
Stem 4-winged. 
(1) Water Figwort. (Scrophularia aquat'ica.) — Scale-like stamen not notched, roundish ; 
bracts narrow ; leaves blunt. 
(2) Shade Figwort. (ScrophuHria alata.) — Scale-like stamen notched, kidney-shaped ; bracts 
leafy ; leaves pointed. 
Stem 4-angled. 
(3) Knotted Figwort. (Scrophularia nodosa.) — Scale-like stamen slightly notched; stem 
sharply 4-angled ; leaves pointed, doubly toothed ; root with knotty tubers. 
