Lathraea
(from lathraios, hidden; on account of the species being found as if hidden under trees and shrubs). ORD. Orobanchaceae. A small genus (three species) of half-hardy, leafless, herbaceous plants, one being found mostly in Western Europe, another broadly dispersed over Europe and Asia, and the third a native of Japan. Flowers white, yellowish, bluish, or tinged with pink, short or long-stalked, ebracteolate; racemes densely spike-formed or loose and few-flowered. Scales on the branchlets sterile, shortly imbricated; those on the scapes erect and scattered. For culture, see Orobanche. L. squamaria (scaly).* Toothwort. fl. flesh-coloured or slightly bluish, streaked with purple or dark red, numerous and nodding, in a dense spike, or sometimes shortly stalked; corolla half as long again as the calyx. Early spring. Flowering stems erect, 3in. to 12in. high, with a few fleshy scales. Rootstock fleshy, creeping, covered with close-set thick scales. Asia and Europe (Britain), on roots of trees. Plant pale rose-colour.