Globularia
(from globulos, a small round head; in allusion to the form of the capitate flower). ORD. Selagineae. A genus comprising twelve species of hardy or green-house perennial herbs, shrubs, or sub-shrubs, inhabiting the Mediterranean region, &c. Flowers collected upon a common receptacle, surrounded by a many-leaved involucre. Leaves radical or alternate, coriaceous, obovate-oblong or lanceolate, entire or argutely sparingly toothed. Globularias are pretty plants for the rock garden, in a moist, free soil; they may also be grown in the margins of borders. Propagated by seeds, or by division.
G. Alypum (Alypum).* fl.-heads pale, terminal. August and September. l. lanceolate, three-toothed and entire. Stem shrubby. h. 2ft. South Europe, 1640. Greenhouse shrub. (Fl. Ment. 34.) G. cordifolia (heart-leaved). fl.-heads blue, small, globular, solitary, terminal. Summer. l. petiolate, obovate-cuneate, emarginate. Stem shrubby, prostrate, much branched. Europe, Western Asia, 1633. Hardy sub-shrub. G. longifolia (long-leaved). fl.-heads white, axillary, sub-sessile, solitary. July and August. l. lanceolate, linear, entire. Stem shrubby. h. 3ft. Madeira, 1775. Greenhouse. (B. R. 685.) G. nana (dwarf). fl.-heads bluish, globular, nearly 1/2in. in diameter. Summer. l. radical, fleshy, narrowly obcordate-cuneate. Stem woody, creeping, prostrate. South Europe, 1824. Hardy herb.
G. nudicaulis (naked-stemmed).* fl.-heads blue, larger than those of G. cordifolia. Summer. l. radical, oblong, crenate obtuse. Stems herbaceous. h. 6in. South Europe, 1629. Hardy herb.
G. trichosantna (hairy-flowered). fl.-heads light blue, large. Summer. l., radical ones spathulate, sometimes tridentate; cauline ones linear, mucronate. Stem herbaceous, leafy. h. 6in. to 8in. Asia Minor. Plant glaucescent. Hardy herb.
G. vulgaris (common).* fl.-heads bright blue, dense, terminal; involucre of nine to twelve imbricated leaflets. Summer. l., radical ones spathulate, emarginate, or shortly tridentate; cauline ones small, lanceolate. Stems herbaceous, erect. h. 6in. to 12in. Europe, 1640. Hardy herb. (B. M. 2256.)