THE FIGWORT FAMILY 
69 
Rare. On roadsides, banks, and waste places ; scattered through England and Ireland. July — 
September. Perennial. 
9. Common Yellow Toadflax. (Lin&ria VUlgAris. Mill.) — Flowers larger than in any 
of the preceding species, nearly inches long, the spur long and straight, lemon-yellow with an 
orange palate, numerous, in a dense spike-like terminal cluster (raceme) ; the 2 valves of the 
capsule each splitting into 3 teeth. [As described in the genus Toadflax (Linaria).] The stem 
1-2 feet high, erect, woody at the base ; and the leaves strap-shaped, entire, and stalkless. 
\Plate 25. 
A strange form, called Peloria, is sometimes found, with the corolla-lobes equal, not divided into 
lips, and 5 spurs. 
Common. On roadsides, banks, and waste places ; throughout England, the south of Scotland, 
and Ireland. June — October. Perennial. 
IX. EYE-BRIGHT. (EUPHRASIA. Linn.) — Flowers stalkless (sessile), solitary in the axils 01 
the leaves terminating the stem and branches, forming dense or loose spikes. Calyx of 4 sepals 
united into a tube and separating into 4 teeth, inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; corolla of 5 
petals uniting into a tube and separating into 2 lips, the upper lip erect, broad, 2-lobed, spreading, 
and the lower with 3 spreading, notched lobes, inserted below the seedcase (hypogynous) ; stamens 
4, in 2 unequal pairs (didynamous), included in and inserted on the corolla-tube (epi-petalous) ; 
carpels 2 ; capsule oblong, flattened, notched, 2-celled, with numerous minute seeds, opening from 
the top by 2 valves down the middle of the cells (loculicidal). Small herbs which are semi- 
parasitic ; their seeds germinate in the earth and develop, but the roots send out numerous long 
branches which, when they come into contact with a suitable root, produce tiny, roundish suckers ; 
these suckers penetrate the neighbouring root and absorb its nutriment ; the leaves are opposite. 
Common Eye-brig-ht, Euphrasie. (Euphr&sia officin&lis. Linn.)— As just described. 
The only British species. The flowers are small, variable in size, inch long, white or pale lilac 
veined with purple and having a yellow spot in the throat; the capsules vary from broadly 
oblong to very narrow ; the stems are 2-18 inches high, wiry, and much or little branched ; and the 
leaves are deeply toothed, stalkless (sessile), varying from almost round and blunt to narrow 
and very pointed. 
This charming and well-known little plant is divided by Mr. Frederick Townsend into 13 
and by the London Catalogue (10th edition) into 15 species, which vary according to the size 
of the flowers, the length of the lower lip of the corolla relatively to the tube, the hairs on the 
calyx being glandular or otherwise, the height and size of the plant, and the shape of the leaves. 
In a work of this description these critical differentiations need not be enumerated. Suffice to 
say that, as is common with most plants which flourish in widely dissimilar situations, on poor soil, 
such as hill- and mountain-sides or sandy soil near the sea, Euphrasie is small, stunted, and some- 
times with fleshy leaves, while in rich soil it luxuriates, is very much branched and even reaches 
the height of 1 J feet. An infusion of this herb was used by old herbalists as an eye-lotion ; hence 
its name; but nowadays this remedy has been discarded. [ Plate 25. 
Common. Meadows, heaths, mountain-sides, &c. ; generally distributed throughout England, 
Scotland, and Ireland. May — September. Annual. 
X. BART'SIA. Linn. — A very similar genus to the last, Eye-bright (Euphrasia), differing in the 
upper lip of the corolla being arched and entire or notched, but never with spreading lobes, and in 
the 3 lobes of the lower lip being less spreading and never notched, also in the capsules being 
