Flora Medica

LYTHRACEJE.LYTHRUM.Calyx cylindrical, striated, with 4-6 broad teeth, and thesame number of alternate smaller subulate diverging ones.Petals 4-6, alternate with the erect teeth of the calyx.Stamensin the middle or at the base of the calyx, twice as numerousas the petals or equal to them in number, or even fewer.Style filiform. Stigma capitate. Capsule oblong, enclosed inthe calyx, 2-celled, many-seeded. Placentae thick, adhering tothe dissepiment. Leaves entire. Flowers purpleor white.296. L. Salicaria Linn, sp.pl 64-0. EB. t. 1061. Fl. Land.t. 28. iii.DC.prodr. 82. S. and C. iii. t.wet places in Europe, the West of Asia,146. Ditches andNew Holland, andNorth America.Root woody, branching at the crown. Stems from 2 to 4 feet high,erect, acutely quadrangular, either smooth or downy, leafy, generallysimple. Leaves nearly sessile, lanceolate, acute, entire, various inlength, the upper ones diminished to bracteas ; all mostly opposite but;there are occasionally 3, or even 4, in each whorl ; in which cases thenumber of angles in the stem is likewise increased. Flowers in numerousaxillary whorls, 6 in each, of a variable crimson or purple, composinglong leafy spikes. Six of the calyx-teeth are long and reddish ; theothers minute. Anthers conspicuous, red, with green or yellow pollen.Capsules elliptical, small. The herbage, generally almost smooth andof a dark green, becomes in dry situations hoary and downy, or insome degree hairy, as well as more dwarf in stature. Smith. An astringent,which has been recommended in inveterate cases of diarrhoea.150