hairy ftalk ; the flowers are produced in fliort fpikes on 
the fide of (lie brandies ; they are fniall, and fcarcely ap¬ 
pear above the calyxes. Sonic plants have white flowers, 
others purplifli. 
ix. Echiurn rnbrutn, or red viper’s buglofs : flowers 
in a long ('pike made up of fliort little racemes; corollas 
nearly equal; leaves hifpid. Stem ereff, about a foot 
high ; radical leaves long and lanceolate, hairy, deepilh 
green above, paler below, and with a flrong back nerve ; 
Hem-leaves fmaller and narrower; flowers rather final 1 
than large, of a palifli red, and with nearly equal and 
fomewhat triangular fegments; antherae pale blue. Na¬ 
tive of Hungary, where it grows in plenty. 
12. Echiurn vulgare, or common viper’s buglofs : (lem 
tubercled and hifpid; ftem-leaves lanceolate hifpid; 
flowers in lateral fpikes. Stem erect, eighteen inches 
or more in height, when young Ample, but becoming 
branched. The whole plant is hifpid. The Item fre¬ 
quently, and fometimes the leaves, are beautifully fpot- 
ted with red. The hairs on the (tern rife from glolly 
purplifli black tubercles. It is a fhowy plant; and, if it 
were not common, would have a place in our gardens. 
It is biennial, and once in three years appears abundantly 
in the corn fields of Cambridgefliire, &c. where it is 
known by the name of cat's-tail. Bees are fond of the 
flowers, hut their wings are apt to.be torn by the flrong 
hairs. That the echiurn Anglicuin of Hudfon is the eclii- 
um vulgare of Linnaeus, cannot be doubted. 
13. Echiurn violaceum, or violet-flowered viper’s bu¬ 
glofs: corollas equal to the ftamens ; tube fhorter than 
the calyx. Refembles the foregoing very much, but the 
corolla is of a violet-colour ; the colour of the herb is a 
more pleafant green, and it is not fo hairy. The whole 
plant is fmaller and weaker than the foregoing, which 
frequently grows very flrong and large on walls, whereas 
this grows in corn-fields and on banks. Gouan fuppofes 
this plant to be no more than a variety of echiurn vul¬ 
gare ; and Monf. Villars can fcarcely think that his echi- 
vm violaceum is the fame with that of Linnaeus, and 
thinks it poflible that it may be an intermediate fpecies 
between the echiurn violaceum and Italicum of Linnaeus. 
He fays that, in his plant, the leaves are wider, the ftem 
branching, the flowers red and more regular, and the fta¬ 
mens not appearing out of the corolla. The plant is 
very rough with white hairs, which give it a whitift) co¬ 
lour, and it is much branched. Native of Auftria and 
Germany. In England, near Norwich ; introduced in 
1780 by Cafimir Gomez Ortega, M. D. flowers in July. 
14.. Echiurn Creticum, or Cretan viper’s buglofs : ftem 
procumbent; fruiting calyxes diftant. This has trailing 
hairy ftalks about a foot long, -putting out feveral fide 
branches ; leaves lanceolate, hairy, about three inches 
long, and three quarters of ah inch broad, feffile; the 
flowers come out on (lender fpikes, upon long peduncles, 
from the axils; they are large, of a reddifli purple, ^vhich 
turns to a fine blue when they are dried ; feeds folitary, 
ovate, long-beaked, fomewhat compreffed, of a bay co¬ 
lour. Native of the Levant; biennial, and flowers from 
July to September. 
There is a variety with brandling ftalks, a foot and a 
half long, declining towards the grofind, and covered 
with (tinging hairs ; leaves four inches long, and not more 
than half an inch broad, pretty much warted, and hairy. 
The flowers grow in loofe fpikes from the (ides of the 
ftalks, and alfo at the ends of the branches; they are of 
a reddifli purple colour, but not fo large as thofe of the 
preceding ; and the ftamens are longer than the corolla. 
This alfo, if different, is a native of the Levant. 
15, Echiurn orientale, or oriental viper’s buglofs; ftem 
branched; ftem-leaves ovate; flowers folitary, lateral. 
Root above a foot long, and two inches thick, mucilagi¬ 
nous and fwectifl] ; ftem about three feet high, an inch 
thick, pale green, hard, folid ; lower leaves fifteen or fix- 
teen inches long, and four or five inches wide, pointed, 
wlntifh green, (attiny above, cottony underneath, with a 
flrong midrib ; they diminifh confiderably along the ftem, 
not being above half a foot in length ; they are alfo lefs 
cottony than the former, and much more pointed; branches 
about half a foot long ; both they and the top of the ftem 
rough with ftrojig hairs, accompanied by leaves about an 
inch and a half in length. All thefe branches are fubdi- 
vided into fmaller ones bending like a fcorpion’s tail, and 
loaded with flowers an inch and a half in length, of a 
pale blue colour, with two red bands on three of the feg¬ 
ments, on a bright purple ground. The flower has no 
l'mell. Found in the Levant by Tournefort. 
16. Echiurn Lufitanicum, or, Portugal viper’s buglofs: 
corollas longer than the ftamens. The lower leaves of 
this are mote than a foot long, and two inches broad in 
tlie middle, gradually leftening to both ends, and covered 
with foft hairs. The ftalks grow two feet high ; the 
flowers are in fliort fpikes from the fides of them. Na¬ 
tive of Spain and Portugal. 
17. Echiurn fericeum, or filky viper’s buglofs r leaves 
linear wedge-fliaped ; ftem fuffruticofe ; both hoary.. 
Stems feveral, diffufed, woody at the bafe, Ample, a 
palm or more in height, foft at the bottom, fomewhat 
rugged at the top, hoary, with white hairs, prefled clofe, 
and placed on minute tubercles, the lower ones longer, 
the upper ones more difperfed. The lower leaves from 
two to three inches long ; the upper ones an inch long, 
and recurved. Native of Egypt. 
18. Echiurn fetofum, or hoary viper’s buglofs: leaves 
linear-lanceolate; ftem fuffruticofe, procumbent; both 
hifpid and hoary. Stems a palm in height, branched at 
tlie bottom, covered with little whitifh tubercles, crowd¬ 
ed clofe together, and having white rigid hairs on the 
top ; leaves feffile, half an inch long, gradually fmaller. 
19. Echiurn glabrum, or fmooth viper’s buglofs: leaves 
linear-lanceolate, fmooth above, callous-dotted beneath, 
on the outfide ; fpikes alternate. Branches fcattered, a 
little cotnprelfed at the top, purplifli alh-coloured, with 
very (lender apprelfed villofe hairs ; leaves feffile, firm, 
an inch long, even. 
20. Echiurn rofmarinifolium, or rofemary-leaved vi¬ 
per’s buglofs : leaves petioled, linear-lanceolate, reflex at 
the edge, hairy underneath, and hoary. Branches round, 
fcarred, hoary, with hairs ; leaves fcattered, an inch long, 
refembling thofe of rofemary, on the upper furface hairy 
and green, with a groove along the middle, and fome¬ 
what rugged. The place of the four laft is between the 
fixtli and feventh fpecies. 
21. Echiurn fphrerocephalum, or round-headed viper’s 
buglofs : leaves linear-lanceolate, ftrigofe ; heads folita¬ 
ry, terminating ; branches fmooth. Branches fcattered, 
round below, angular above, towards the end villofe and 
toothletted from the fallen leaves ; leaves fcarcely half 
an inch long. This and the two preceding forts are na¬ 
tives of the Cape of Good Hope. The place of the laft 
is between the feventh and eighth fpecies. 
Propagation and Culture. The firft fort is propagated by 
feeds, when they can be obtained, which fhould be fovvn 
'in pots filled with light fandy earth foon after they are 
received. Thefe may be expofed to the open air till the 
beginning of Oitlober, when the pots (hould be placed 
under a frame, to guard them from froft ; but in mild 
weather, they fhould have the free air, to prevent the 
feeds from vegetating till the winter is part ; for, if the 
plants come up at that feafon, their ftems will be weak 
and full of juice, and very liable to rot with damps; 
therefore it is much better if the plants do not come up 
till towards March, which is the ufual time of their ap¬ 
pearing, when the feeds are not forced by warmth. When 
the plants are fit to remove, they fhould be each planted 
into a (mail pot filled with light earth, and placed under 
a frame to forward their putting out new roots ; then they 
fhould be gradually inured to hear the open air, and the 
latter end of May be placed abroad in a flieltered fitua- 
tion, where they may remain till the beginning of O6I0- 
ber; at which time they muft he removed into an airy 
