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EPILOBIUM angustifolium.
Hose-bay Willow-herb.
OCTANDRIA Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. in 4 segments. Petals 4. Cap-
sale oblong, inferior. Seeds feathered.
Spec. Char. Leaves scattered, linear-lanceolate, veiny,
smooth. Petals unequal. Stamens declining.
•Syn. Epilobium angustifolium. Linn. Sp. PL 493.
Sm. FI. Brit. 409. Huds. 161. With. 366.
Hull. 82. Sibth 12 1 . Abbot. 84. Curt. Land,
fasc. 2. t.. 24. Winch Guide, v. 1. 36.
Lysimachia speciosa, quibusdam Onagra dicta, sili-
quosa. Raii Syn. 310.
CERTAINLY wild in meadows and shady moist places in
many parts of the north of England. Mr. Winch observed
" | | Cheviot hills ; Mr. Harriman in Teesdale. Nevertheless,
being a very common garden flower, increasing
greatly by its roots, the plants found here and there about
.London are supposed to be outcasts of gardens. Our specimen
was gathered on the hill a little beyond the Robin hood
inn on the road to Kingston, where we have observed the plant
near 20 years, in an apparently wild state, flowering in July
and August, the stem being always simple. Mr. Curtis seems
to have drawn a branched garden specimen.
Root somewhat fleshy, creeping, reddish. Stems from 3
to 6 feet high, erect, wand-like, roundish, leafy, smooth.
Leaves numerous, nearly sessile, linear-lanceolate, acute,
entire or slightly toothed, smooth, veiny; glaucous beneath.
Mowers m long, upright, leafless clusters, very ornamental,
inodorous; with reddish stalks and calyx; hoary, often
purplish, germens; and large, crimson petals, unequal in
size and irregular in position. Stamens and style bent
downwards. Pollen blue. Stigma 4-cleft. It is often called
Persian or French Willow in Norfolk, where, though almost
universal in gardens, we have never met with any naturalized
specimens.