E. Láppula, Lehm. Erect, 1–2° high, nutlets rough-granulate or tuberculate on the back, the margins with a double row of slender distinct prickles, or these irregular over most of the back.—Waste and cultivated grounds, from Canada to the Middle Atlantic States. (Nat. from Eu.)
4. E. Redówskii, Lehm., var. occidentàle, Watson. Erect, 1–2° high, at length diffuse; nutlets irregularly and minutely sharp-tuberculate, the margins armed with a single row of stout flattened prickles sometimes confluent at base.—Minn. to Tex., and westward.
4. KRYNÍTZKIA, Fisch. & Meyer.
Calyx 5-parted or deeply cleft, erect or little spreading in fruit. Corolla short, usually with more or less fornicate throat. Nutlets erect and straight, unarmed, attached to the axis either at inner edge of base or ventrally from the base upward.—Ours are very hispid annuals or biennials, with small white flowers in scorpioid spikes. A large western genus. (Dedicated to Prof. J. Krynitzki, of Cracow.)
1. K. crassisépala, Gray. Annual, diffusely much branched, a span high, very rough-hispid; leaves oblanceolate and linear-spatulate; flowers very small, short-pedicelled, mostly bracteate; lobes of the persistent calyx closed over the fruit, the midrib below becoming much thickened and indurated; nutlets ovate, acute, dissimilar, 3 of them muricate-granulate and 1 larger and smooth, attached from the base to the middle.—Plains, Sask. to Kan., Tex. and N. Mex.
5. MERTÉNSIA, Roth. Lungwort.
Corolla trumpet-shaped or bell-funnel-shaped, longer than the deeply 5-cleft or 5-parted calyx, naked, or with 5 small glandular folds or appendages in the open throat. Anthers oblong or arrow-shaped. Style long and thread-form. Nutlets ovoid, fleshy when fresh, smooth or wrinkled, obliquely attached next the base by a prominent internal angle, the scar small.—Smooth or soft-hairy perennial herbs, with pale and entire leaves, and handsome purplish-blue (rarely white) flowers, in loose and short panicled or corymbed raceme-like clusters, only the lower one leafy-bracted; pedicels slender. (Named for Prof. Francis Charles Mertens, a German botanist.)
[*] Corolla trumpet-shaped, with spreading nearly entire limb and naked throat; filaments slender, exserted; hypogynous disk 2-lobed.
1. M. Virgínica, DC. (Virginian Cowslip. Lungwort. Blue Bells.) Very smooth, pale, erect (1–2° high); leaves obovate, veiny, those at the root (4–6´ long) petioled; corolla trumpet-shaped, 1´ long, many times exceeding the calyx, rich purple-blue, rarely white; nutlets dull and roughish.—Alluvial banks, N. Y. to Minn., S. C., and Ark. May. Cultivated for ornament.
[*][*] Corolla with conspicuously 5-lobed limb, and crested throat.