On waysides and in neglected fields we meet with the very common Red Bartsia (_Bartsia Odontites_) of the order _Scrophulariaceæ_. This is a small, tough plant (see Plate III), from six inches to a foot or more in height, rather downy, with spreading branches. It may be readily recognised by its several one-sided spikes of numerous purple-red flowers, with a bell-shaped, four-pointed calyx, and a corolla that is divided into a longer upper, and a shorter lower, lip. The leaves are long and narrow, with a few teeth; and the fruit is an oblong capsule. The above description applies to the most usual form of this plant, but it is a very variable species, especially as regards the form of the leaves and the branching of the stem.
The Yellow Toadflax (_Linaria vulgaris_), of the same order, is a very pretty plant, from one to three feet high, exceedingly common on banks, hedges, and the borders of fields, bearing dense, terminal racemes of yellow flowers from June to October. Its calyx is small, and deeply divided into five segments; and the corolla, which has a long pointed spur at the base, is closed above by the bright orange 'palate' of the lower lip.
In the order _Verbenaceæ_ we have the common Vervein (_Verbena officinalis_), a common plant in the dry wastes of the South of England, and moderately frequent in some other parts. This is a smooth, erect plant, with long, spreading, wiry, four-angled stems; and small, lilac flowers in long, slender spikes. There are but few leaves towards the top of the plant, and these are narrow and sessile, while the lower leaves are broader, stalked, and coarsely toothed. When the flowers first appear they are close together, but the spike increases in length as the flowering proceeds, so that the lower flowers and fruits become more distant. Each flower has a five-toothed calyx, and an irregular corolla with a short tube and five unequal lobes. The Vervein grows from one to two feet high, and flowers from July to September.
Passing now to the Labiates, we deal first with two species of Calamints (genus _Calamintha_), which are to be distinguished from the other genera of the order by their axillary cymes of flowers, with calyx and corolla both lipped, and the upper lip of the latter erect and flat.