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P E D I C U L A R I S paluftris.
Marjh Loufewort.
ZoZ
D ID T N A M IA Angiofpermia.
Gen. Char. Cal. (moftly) with 5 clefts. Capfuls
pointed, oblique, with 2 cells. Seeds few, angular,
pointed.
Spec. Char. Stem folitary, branched. Calyx ovate,
hairy, ribbed, in two notched divifions.
Syn. Pedicularis paluftris. Linn. Sp. PI. 845. Hudf.
FI. An. 270. With. Bot. Arr. 643. Relh. Cant,
241. Sibtb. Ox. 193.
P. paluftris rubra elatior. Rail Syn. * 284.
B y no means unfrequent in boggy meadows, flowering in
June and July. We believe it to be, as mod authors afiert, perennial
; though both this and the following are marked as annuals
in Ray’s Synopfis. #
Root fmall. Stem folitary, ered, 12 to 15 inches high, angular,
confifting of one principal branch and many fmaller
fpreading lateral ones, which fpring irregularly from the bottom
to the top. The angles are hairy. Leaves fcattered, here and
there oppofite, bipinnatifid and notched ; the fegments obtufe,
varying much in breadth, their margins often recurved. Flowers
axillary, folitary, on fhort flower-ftalks, purple, very handfome.
Calyx inflated, ovate, ribbed, hairy, its margin divided perpendicularly
into two leafy lobes, very much cut and notched ; but
this part can fcarcely be faid to be 5-lobed,‘ as the Linnaean generic
character requires. Corolla ringent; the tube, white;
upper lip much comprefled, vaulted, purple with a deeper ftain
at the fummit, tipped with 2 minute teeth, but fcarcely emargi-
nate; lower lip oblique, in 3 large fpreading purple lobes, each
ftreaked with a red line, and minutely fringed with white. Stamina
inferted into the bottom of the tube. Germen ovate. Style
incurved. Stigma fimple. Capfule ovate, comprefled, when ripe
projeding, with its lharp oblique beak, beyond the permanent
calyx. Partitions contrary to the valves. Seeds about 5 or 6
in each cell. We have fpent a great deal of time to no purpofe
in looking for the tunic of the feeds, mentioned by Linnaeus,
and we find Gsertner denies its exiftence, at the fame time de-
fcribing a minute membranous appendage in P.verticillata, which
may perhaps have been what Linnseus had feen more confpicu-
ous in other fpecies.
P.palujirh is an acrid ufclefs weed,which cattle will not touch.