Pedicularis Sylvatica. Pasture Louse-wort. Y. CMathews Del & Sc.. Pub by Bastor Botanic Garden leford. 1888. PEDICULA'RIS *. Linnean Class and Order. DIDYNA'MIA †, ANGIOSPERMIA+. Natural Order. SCROPHULARI'NEÆ §, Dr. R. Brown.-Lindl. Syn. p. 187.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 228.-Mack. Fl. Hib. p. 198.-SCROPHULA'RINE, Rich. by Macgilliv. p. 434.-Sm. Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 115.-Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 528.-PEDICULARES, Juss, Gen. Pl. p. 99.-Sm. Gram. of Bot. p. 96.-SYRINGALES; subord. PRIMULOSA; Sect. MENTHINA; type, SCROPHULARIACEÆ; Burn. Outl. of Bot. v. ii. pp. 900, 958, & 978.—PERSONATE, Linn. GEN. CHAR. Calyx (fig. 1.) inferior, of 1 sepal, inflated, generally 5-cleft, or unequally 2- or 3-lobed, somewhat leafy. Corolla (fig. 2.) of 1 petal, ringent, tubular, 2-lipped; upper lip long, compressed, arched, often notched; lower lip flat, spreading, 3lobed. Nectary, a gland under the germen. Filaments (fig. 3.) 4, thread-shaped, concealed by the upper lip of the corolla. Anthers incumbent, 2-lobed, acute at the lower part, compressed. Germen (see fig. 5.) egg-shaped. Style (see fig. 5.) thread-shaped, longer than the stamens. Stigma simple, deflexed. Capsule (fig. 6.) oblong, or egg-shaped, pointed, oblique, of 2 cells and 2 valves, bursting at the summit, the partitions from the centre of each valve. Seeds (see figs. 7 & 8.) few, angular, pointed, attached to a roundish receptacle (placenta) at the base between the partitions. The inflated, generally 5-cleft, or unequally 2- or 3-lobed calyx; the compressed upper lip of the ringent corolla; the 2-celled capsule; and the angular, pointed seeds; will distinguish this from other genera in the same class and order. Two species British. PEDICULA'RIS SYLVA'TICA. Wood Lousewort. Pasture Lousewort. Dwarf Red Rattle. Rattle Grass. SPEC. CHAR. Stem much branched at the bottom, simple above, spreading. Calyx oblong, angular, smooth, in 5 unequal, crenate, and almost leafy segments. Engl. Bot. t. 400.-Curt. Brit. Entomol. v. x. t. 451.-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 845.— Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 271.-Willd. Sp. Pl. v. iii. pt. 1. p. 203.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 656.; Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 129.-With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p.732.-Lindl. Syn. p. 190.-Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 286.-Lightf. Fl. Scot. v. i. p. 327.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 194.-Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 136.- Davies' Welsh Bot. p. 60.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. i. p. 290.-Relh. Fl. Cant. (3rd edit.) p. 252.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 188.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 136.-Fl. Devon, pp. 104 & 147.-Johnst. Fl. of Berw. v. i. p. 137.-Winch's Fl. of Northumberl. & Durham, p. 41.-Walker's Fl. of Oxf. p. 176.-Jacob's West Devon & Cornwall Flora.-Bab. Fl. Bath, p. 36.Mack. Catal. of Pl. of Irel. p. 58.; Fl. Hibern. p. 201.-Pediculáris pratensis rubra vulgaris, Ray's Syn. p. *284.-Pedicularis, Johnson's Ger. p. 1071.— Pediculária sylvatica, Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 312. LOCALITIES.-Moist pastures, and on heaths; frequent. Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. Corolla.-Fig. 3. Stamens and Pistil.-Fig. 4. A Stamen magnified.-Fig. 5. Germen, Style, and Stigma.-Fig. 6. Capsule.-Fig. 7. A transverse section of ditto.-Fig. 8. A Seed. From pediculus, a louse; from its imaginary property of infesting sheep with such vermin. WITHERING. Perennial?-Flowers in June and July. Root tapering, fleshy, subdivided. Stem very short, branches from the root, from 3 to 6 inches long, decumbent, simple, angular, leafy. Leaves alternate, doubly pinnatifid and notched; those from the root egg-shaped, undivided, crenate, recurved. Flowers axillary, mostly towards the summit of the branches. Calyx oblong, tubular, with 4 larger angles, and as many intermediate smaller ones; the margin irregularly 5-cleft, the segments crenate, and often leafy. Corolla of a uniform rose colour, rather large and showy, much more slender than the calyx; tube compressed; upper lip with a little tooth on each side; lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe rather the smallest. Filaments thread-shaped, the two longer ones hairy towards the top. Capsule smooth, involved in the calyx. Seeds roundish, compressed, with a membranous border. This is a very pretty little plant, and is found wild, in moist pastures and heaths, and also in woods, not only in Britain, but in many other parts of Europe, and also in Siberia. It occurs sometimes with a white flower; and a very singular variety was found in 1808, near Dunrobin Castle, in Sutherland, North Britain, by the MARQUIS of STAFFORD, with a solitary flower, which, instead of its proper ringent form, with 2 long and 2 shorter stamens, had a salver-shaped regular corolla, with 6 stamens, 4 of which were longer than the other 2. Sir W. J. HOOKER, and W. BORRER, Esq. found one resembling it in the same place in 1809. See Trans. of Linn. Soc. v. x. p. 227. The expressed juice, or a decoction of this plant, has been used with advantage as an injection for sinuous ulcers. It is said, that if the healthiest flock of sheep be fed with it, they become scabby and scurfy in a short time; the wool will become loose, and they will be over-run with vermin. If this effect really follows, it is more probably owing to the poverty of the soil where the plants grow, than to any particular quality in the plants themselves. See WITHERING'S Bot. Arr. and LIGHTFOOT'S Fl. Scot. "FLOWERS, lovely flowers! ye are to me Most dear and precious things; Nature's soft pencil over ye Its brightest colouring flings. Ye seem to me, though blooming here, Bright beings of another sphere.— A fairy band! apart, alone, A bright and beauteous race! Brightening alike the cultured scene, MARY ANN Browne. |