[+] _Leaves obscurely or not at all cordate, sessile or short-petioled._

1. S. hyssopiflia, Michx. _Smooth and glabrous_, or the nodes hirsute; stems slender (1 high); _leaves linear-oblong or narrowly linear, sessile_, obscurely toothed toward the apex; whorls 4--6-flowered, rather distant; _corolla glabrous_, twice or thrice the length of the triangular-awl-shaped spreading calyx-teeth.--Wet sandy places, Ma.s.s. to Mich., south to Fla. and Mo.--Var. AMBiGUA, Gray, is stouter (1--2 high), sometimes with scattered retrorse bristles on the angles of the stem, and with broader (3--6") serrulate leaves.--Ill. and Ky. to Ga.

2. S. pal.u.s.tris, L. Stem 4-angled (2--3 high), leafy, _hirsute with spreading or reflexed hairs_, especially on the angles; _leaves_ sessile, or the lower short-petioled, _oblong- or ovate-lanceolate, crenately serrate_, rounded at base, _downy or hairy-p.u.b.escent_, obtusish (2--4' long), the upper floral ones shorter than the nearly sessile calyx; whorls 6--10-flowered, the upper crowded into an interrupted spike; calyx hispid; the lance-subulate teeth somewhat spiny, half the length of the corolla, diverging in fruit; _upper lip of corolla p.u.b.escent_.--Wet ground, Newf. to Penn., westward across the continent.

3. S. aspera, Michx. Taller; _stem more commonly smooth on the sides, the angles beset with stiff reflexed bristles_; leaves hairy or smoothish, as in the last, but _nearly all distinctly petioled_, the lower floral as long as the flowers; spike often slender and more interrupted; _calyx mostly glabrous_, the tube rather narrower and the teeth more awl-shaped and spiny; _corolla glabrous throughout_. (S.

pal.u.s.tris, var. aspera, _Gray_.)--Wet ground, common.

Var. glabra, Gray. More slender, _smooth and glabrous throughout_, or with few bristly hairs; leaves taper-pointed, more sharply toothed, mostly rounded or truncate at the base, _all more conspicuously petioled_. (S. pal.u.s.tris, var. glabra, _Gray_.)--Western N. Y. to Ill., and southward.

[+][+] _Nearly all the leaves long-petioled and cordate._

4. S. cordata, Riddell. Rather weak, hirsute, 2--3 high; leaves all ovate- or oblong-cordate, ac.u.minate, crenate (2--5' long), the floral mostly minute; spikes slender, of numerous few-flowered cl.u.s.ters; calyx only 2" long; corolla glabrous throughout (or nearly so), barely 5"

long. (S. pal.u.s.tris, var. cordata, _Gray_.)--Thickets, S. Ohio to Iowa, south to Va., Tenn., and Mo.

ORDER 83. PLANTAGINaCEae. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.)

_Chiefly stemless herbs, with regular 4-merous spiked flowers, the stamens inserted on the tube of the dry and membranaceous veinless monopetalous corolla, alternate with its lobes_;--chiefly represented by the two following genera.

1. PLANTaGO, Tourn. PLANTAIN. RIBWORT.

Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, mostly with dry membranaceous margins. Corolla salver-form or rotate, withering on the pod, the border 4-parted. Stamens 4, or rarely 2, in all or some flowers with long and weak exserted filaments, and fugacious 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2- (or in n. 5 falsely 3--4-) celled, with 1--several ovules in each cell. Style and long hairy stigma single, filiform. Capsule 2-celled, 2--several-seeded, opening transversely, so that the top falls off like a lid and the loose part.i.tion (which bears the peltate seeds) falls away. Embryo straight, in fleshy alb.u.men.--Leaves ribbed. Flowers whitish, small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape.

(The Latin name.)

-- 1. _Stamens 4; flowers all perfect; corolla not closed over the fruit_.

[*] _Flowers proterogynous, the style first projecting from the unopened corolla, the anthers long-exserted after the corolla has opened; seeds not hollowed on the face (except in_ P. lanceolata).

[+] _Corolla glabrous; leaves strongly ribbed; perennial._

[++] _Ribs of the broad leaves rising from the midrib._

1. P. cordata, Lam. Tall, glabrous; leaves heart-shaped or round-ovate (3--8' long), long-petioled; spike at length loosely flowered; bracts round-ovate, fleshy; capsule 2--4-seeded.--Along streams, N. Y. to Minn., and southward.

[++][++] _Ribs of the leaf free to the contracted base_.

2. P. major, L. (COMMON PLANTAIN.) Smooth or rather hairy, rarely roughish; _leaves ovate, oblong, oval_, or slightly heart-shaped, often toothed, abruptly narrowed into a channelled petiole; _spike dense, obtuse_; sepals round-ovate or obovate; _capsule ovoid, circ.u.mscissile near the middle, 8--18-seeded; seeds angled, reticulated_.--Waysides and near dwellings everywhere. Doubtless introduced from Eu., but native from L. Superior and N. Minn., northward.

3. P. Rugelii, Decaisne. Leaves as in the last, but paler and thinner; _spikes long and thin, attenuate at the apex_; sepals oblong, acutely carinate; _capsules cylindraceous-oblong, circ.u.mscissile much below the middle, 4--9-seeded; seeds oval-oblong, not reticulated_. (P.

Kamtschatica, _Gray_, Man., not _Cham._)--Vt. to Minn., south to Ga.

and Tex.

4. P. eripoda, Torr. _Usually a ma.s.s of yellowish wool at the base; leaves thickish, oblanceolate to obovate_, with short stout petioles; spike dense or loose; _sepals and bract more or less scarious but not carinate; capsule ovoid, never over 4-seeded_.--Moist and saline soil; Red River valley, Minn., and westward; also on the Lower St. Lawrence.

P. LANCEOLaTA, L. (RIBGRa.s.s. RIPPLEGRa.s.s. ENGLISH PLANTAIN.) Mostly hairy; scape grooved-angled, at length much longer than the _lanceolate or lance-oblong leaves_, slender (9'--2 high); spike dense, at first capitate, in age cylindrical; bract and sepals scarious, brownish; _seeds 2, hollowed on the face_.--Very common. (Nat. from Eu.)

[+][+] _Corolla-tube externally p.u.b.escent; leaves linear or filiform, fleshy, indistinctly ribbed; seeds 2--4; maritime, often woolly at base_.

5. P. decipiens, Barneoud. _Annual_, or sometimes biennial with a stout rootstock, smooth, or the scape p.u.b.escent; leaves flat or flattish and channelled, erect, nearly as long as the scape (5--12'), ac.u.minate; spike slender, rather loose. (P. maritima, var. juncoides, _Gray_, Man.)--Salt marshes, Atlantic coast, from Labrador to N. J. The characters distinguishing biennial specimens of this from the next are obscure.

6. P. maritima, L. _Perennial_; spikes dense.--Coast of Ma.s.s.; Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lab. and Greenland. (Eu.)

[*][*] _Flowers of 2 sorts (as respects length of anthers and filaments) on different plants, mostly cleistogamous; corolla-lobes broad, rounded, persistently spreading; seeds 2, boat-shaped; inflorescence and narrow leaves silky-p.u.b.escent or woolly; annual._

7. P. Patagonica, Jacq., var. gnaphaliodes, Gray. White with silky wool; leaves 1--3-nerved, varying from oblong-linear to filiform; spike very dense (--4' long), woolly; bracts not exceeding the calyx; sepals very obtuse, scarious, with a thick centre.--Prairies and dry plains, Minn. to Ind., Ky., and Tex., westward to the Pacific. Very variable.--Var. NuDA, Gray; with spa.r.s.e and loose p.u.b.escence, green and soon glabrate rigid leaves, and short bracts.--Var. SPINULSA, Gray; a canescent form with aristately prolonged and rigid bracts.--Var.

ARISTaTA, Gray; loosely hairy and green, or becoming glabrous, with narrowly linear bracts 2--3 times the length of the flowers. (Nat. on Martha's Vineyard, and about Boston.)

-- 2. _Flowers subdicious or polygamo-cleistogamous; the corolla in the fertile (or mainly fertile) plant closed over the maturing capsule and forming a kind of beak, and anthers not exserted; sterile flowers with spreading corolla and long-exserted filaments; seeds mostly flat; small annuals or biennial._

[*] _Leaves comparatively broad, short-petioled or subsessile; stamens 4._

8. P. Virginica, L. Hairy or h.o.a.ry-p.u.b.escent (2--9' high); leaves oblong, varying to obovate and spatulate-lanceolate, 3--5 nerved, slightly or coa.r.s.ely and sparingly toothed; spikes mostly dense (1--2'

long); seeds usually 2.--Sandy grounds, S. New Eng. to S. Ill., south to Fla. and Ariz.

[*][*] _Leaves linear or filiform; flowers very small; stamens 2; spike slender._

9. P. pusilla, Nutt. Minutely p.u.b.escent (1--4' high); leaves entire; _capsule short-ovoid, 4-seeded_, little exceeding the calyx and bract.--Sandy soil, southern N. Y. to Va., west to the Rocky Mts.

Apr.--Aug.

10. P. heterophlla, Nutt. Leaves rather fleshy, acute, entire, or some of them below 2--4-lobed or toothed; _capsule oblong-conoidal, 10--28-seeded_, nearly twice the length of the calyx and bract.--Low sandy ground, Penn. to Fla. and Tex. Apr.--June.

2. LITTOReLLA, L.

Flowers moncious; the male solitary on a mostly simple naked scape; calyx 4-parted, longer than the cylindraceous 4-cleft corolla; stamens exserted on very long capillary filaments. Female flowers usually 2, sessile at the base of the scape; calyx of 3 or 4 unequal sepals; corolla urn-shaped, with a 3--4-toothed orifice. Ovary with a single cell and ovule, tipped with a long laterally stigmatic style, maturing as an achene. (Name from _litus_ or _littus_, sh.o.r.e, from the place of growth.)

1. L. lacustris, L. Stoloniferous but otherwise stemless; leaves terete, linear-subulate, 1--2' long.--In water or on gravelly sh.o.r.es, Nova Scotia and N. Brunswick, to L. Champlain (_Pringle_) and Ont.

DIVISION III. APETALOUS DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.

Corolla none; the floral envelopes in a single series (calyx), or sometimes wanting altogether.

ORDER 84. NYCTAGINaCEae. (FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY.)

_Herbs (or in the tropics often shrubs or trees), with mostly opposite and entire leaves, stems tumid at the joints, a delicate tubular or funnel-form calyx which is colored like a corolla, its persistent base constricted above the 1-celled 1-seeded ovary, and indurated into a sort of nut-like pericarp; the stamens few, slender, and hypogynous; the embryo coiled around the outside of mealy alb.u.men, with broad foliaceous cotyledons_ (in Abronia monocotyledonous by abortion).--Represented in our gardens by the FOUR-O'CLOCK, or MARVEL OF PERU (MIRaBILIS JALaPA), in which the calyx is commonly mistaken for a corolla, the cup-like involucre of each flower exactly imitating a calyx.

1. Oxybaphus. Involucre of united bracts. Fruit wingless. Calyx bell shaped.

2. Abronia. Involucre of distinct bracts. Fruit 5-winged. Calyx salver-form.

1. OXBAPHUS, Vahl.