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L I T T O R E L L A lacuftris.
Plantain Shore-weed.
M O N OE C I A EetrandrTa.
G e h . C h a r . M ale, Cal. 4-leaved. Cor. o f one petal,
4-cleft. Stamina very long.
Female, Cal. none. Cor. of one petal, unequally
3-cleft. Style thread-like, very long. Nut o f one
cell.
Spec. Char. ------
Syn. Littorella lacuftris. Linn. Mant. 295. Hudf. 415.
With. 194. Relh. 358.
Plantago uniflora. Linn. Sp. PI. 167.
P . paluftris gramineo folio monanthos, Parifienfis.
Rail Syn. 316.
A NATIVE of marfhy fandy fpots in various parts of Great
Britain, though not very common. Sir T . G. Cullum, Bart,
fhewed it to Mr. Sowerby at Cavenham, Suffolk, flowering in
June laft.
The whole habit is that of a plantain. Root perennial, long,
fpindle-fhaped, throwing out numerous Ample fibres. Stem
none. Leaves linear, entire, fmooth; convex beneath, flat, or
a little channelled above; dilated at the bafe ; very much re-
fembling thofe of Plantago maritima. Male flowers feveral, fo-
litary, on long Ample naked ftalks fcarcely fo high as the leaves,
creft. Calyx of 4 equal leaves. Corolla with an inflated
tu b e ; the limb in 4 equal concave divifions, exactly as in
Plantago. Stamina equal, ere£t, very long and flender. An-
therae heart-fhaped, vertical. Female flowers on the fame
plant, feffile at the root, in the bofoms of the leaves, often in
pairs. Calyx none. Corolla quite different from that of the
male, being a fort of elliptical {heath, divided unequally, and
more or lefs deeply, into 3 (Dr. Withering fays moftly 4) feg-
ments, invefting the germen, which is very fmall, crowned by
a long taper acute ftyle, and becomes a Angle feed or nut, by
which this plant is effentially different from Plantago. Bergius
firft diftinguifhed them. Linnseus had fome fufpicion that this
fuppofed nut might be no true feed, but a bulb, or rather bud ;
but its having a regular ftyle, and there being no other ftyle or
germen to be found, proves this fufpicion to be erroneous; nor
would it be confirmed even though the germen were proved to
be occafionally transformed into a bulb, as happens in certain
viviparous plants, Polygonum, Feftucat Ike.