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usually stemless, occasionally with a stem ; hairs simple, articulated. Leaves flat and 
ribbed, or taper and fleshy. Flowers in spikes, rarely solitary. 
Anomalies. In Littorella the flowers are solitary. 
Affinities. By Jussieu this is considered apetalous, the corolla being’ 
called calyx, and the calyx bracts. But this appears so contrary to all analogy, 
that it IS impossible to adopt the opinion. To this order Plumbaginacese 
seems to he more near than any other, agreeing in habit, and also in the general 
structure of the flower, but differing in having a 1 -celled ovary, with a solitaiy 
ovule, and several stigmas. Don {Jameson s Journal, Jan. 1830, p. 166) refers 
Glaux to Plantaginacese, “ where it will form the connecting link between that 
family and Primulacese.” 
Geography. Scattered over the whole world, in almost every quarter of 
which they are found in one situation or another. 
Properties. The herbage is slightly bitter and astidngent, and they have 
even been reckoned febrifuges. Their seeds are covered with mucus. Accord- 
ing to De Candolle, those of P. arenaria are exported in considerable quantities 
from Nismes and Montpelher to the north of Europe, and are supposed to be 
consumed in the completion of the manufacture of muslins. The seeds of 
Plantago Ispaghula are of a very cooling nature, and, hke those of Plantago 
Psyllium, form, with boiling water, a rich mucilage, which is much used in 
India in catarrh, gonorrhoea, and nephi'itric affections. Ainslie, 2. 116. 
GENERA. 
Plantago, L. 
Psyllium, Juss. 
Littorella, L. 
Order CXCIX. GLOBULARIACE^. 
Globularine^, DC. FI. Fr. 3. 427. (1815) ; Cambessedes in Ann. des Sciences, 9, 15. 
(1826) ; Link. Handb. 1. 675. (1829). 
Essential Character. — Calyx persistent, 5-cleft, usually equal, sometimes 2-lipped. 
Corolla hypogynous, tubular, bilabiate, rarely 1 -lipped, made up of 5 petals. Stamens 4, 
the uppermost being wanting, arising from the top of the tube of the corolla, somewhat 
didynamous ; anthers reniform, bursting longitudinally, the 2 cells confluent into 1. Ovary 
superior, 1 -celled, with a single pendulous ovule; style filiform, emarginate at the apex. 
Fruit small, indehiscent, pointed with the persistent style. Albumen fleshy ; embryo 
straight, in its axis ; radicle superior, about as long as the ovate cotyledons. — Shrubs or 
small low under-shrubs or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, often fascicled, turning black 
in drying. Flowers collected in small heads, upon a convex paleaceous receptacle. 
Affinities. These Avere placed near Primulacese both by Jussieu and De 
Candolle ; but their closest affinity is now known to be with Dipsacese, with 
w’hich Globulariacese agree in a multitude of particulars, especially in habit, 
but differ in having a superior ovaiy, and in so little besides, that it may be 
doubted whether, considering the peculiar nature of the cohesion of the calyx 
and ovaiy of Dipsacese, they and Globulariacese are not the same family. They 
were united by Lamarck in the same order as Proteacese. 
Geography. Natives of the hot and temperate parts of Europe ; Dantzic 
is their most northern station. 
Properties. Bitter, tonic, and purgative herbaceous plants. 
GENUS. 
Globularia, L. 
Alypum, Tourn. 
