DODECANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Lythrum. 573 
upwards, and extremely crowded towards the end; twice-forked, bristle¬ 
shaped, harsh and somewhat brittle, semi-transparent, green, spotted 
with short purple lines, and the extreme forks toothed on the outside 
only; those on the part of the stem covered with or lying on the mud, 
short, forked, much thicker than those above, and appearing as if broken 
' or bitten. Flowers few, in the bosom of the leaves. Seed-vessel with 
one long thorn at the summit, and two shorter on opposite sides near 
the base. Woodw. 
Floating Horn weed or Hornwort. Ditches and slow streams. 
P. Aug.—Sept.* 
G. submer/sum. (Capsules without spines: segments of the calyx 
acute, entire. E.) 
(E. Bot. 679. E.)—Taill. Hist, de VAcad. 2. 2. vol.for 1719. p. 16. 
So nearly allied to C. demersum tliat it may prove to be only a variety. 
Linn. 
Unarmed Hornwort. E.) Ditches on the side of the road from Chi¬ 
chester to the Isle of Selsey. Ray. (Near Yarmouth; and at Gorles- 
ton, Suffolk. Mr. Dawson Turner. Newburgh ponds, Yorkshire. Rev. 
Archdeacon Pierson. Bot. Guide. E.) P. Sept. 
LY'THRUM.f Cal. with twelve (or sixteen) teeth: Petals 
(five or) six, inserted on the calyx : Capsule two-celled, 
many-seeded. 
L. salica'ria. Leaves opposite, heart-spear-shaped: flowers in 
whorled, leafy spikes, twelve stamens in each. 
Curt. 186— {E. Bot. 1061. E.)— Kniph. 5—FI. Dan. 671—Matth. 950— 
Clus. ii. 51. 1— Dod. 86. 1— Ger. Em. 476. 5— Park. 546. 1— Pet. 62. 6— 
Blackw. 520— Ger. 386. 2. 
Stem upright, (three or four feet high, quadrangular. E.) Leaves spear- 
shaped, sessile, all opposite, or all alternate, or the lower ones opposite 
and the upper ones alternate. Flowers in tufts in the bosom of the leaves, 
sometimes close together ; forming a long leafy spike. Calyx hairy, six of 
the teeth short and blunt, the other six awl-shaped. Petals fixed within 
the longer teeth of the calyx, purple. Sometimes a single anther grows 
to one of the petals, and in this case, besides the twelve perfect stamens, 
a single filament is found without an anther. (. Leaves occasionally three 
in each whorl, with the stem hexangular. E.) 
Purple-spiked Loosestrife or Grasspoly. (Irish: Irebull Caitin. 
Braian Leane. Welsh: Gwyarllys; Llys y milwr. E.) Marshes and 
banks of rivers. P. July—Aug.J 
* (Mr. Purton mentions this plant having suddenly become very abundant in a pond, 
(after the process of mudding), wherein it had been unknown before; and conjectures 
that, till then the seeds must have been buried too deep for vegetation: a circumstance 
which, doubtless, may frequently account for the fluctuating appearance of plants. Vid. 
Osmunda regalis. E.) 
+ (From XvQpov, blood; the colour descriptive of its purple flowers. E.) 
f (Threlkeld, a physician who flourished somewhat more than a century ago, notices the 
good effects of a strong decoction of this plant in cases of dysentery, and since his time, the 
celebrated De Haen has maintained the credit of the remedy both in the above disorder, 
and in obstinate diarrhoea. E.) 
t 
