Melampyrum
(from Melampuron, an old Greek name used by Theophrastus, from melas, black, and pyros, wheat; alluding to the colour of the seeds of European field species, as they appear mixed with grain). Cow Wheat. ORD. Scrophularineae. A genus comprising about six species of hardy, erect, annual herbs, found in Europe and Western Asia, one being broadly dispersed over Asia and North America. Flowers sub-sessile in the axils, or in dense terminal spikes; corolla yellow, violet, or variegated. Leaves opposite, narrow. The two species described below are the handsomest, but, in addition to these, M. pratense, the common Cow Wheat, and M. sylvatica, are found in Britain. Melampyrums, being more or less parasitic, are not easily grown under artificial conditions. Seeds should be sown annually, in spring, in the open border; if amongst short grass, &c., success is more likely to be attained. M. arvense (field). fl. spiked; corolla erect; tube rosy, curved, puberulous; throat yellow; lips dark pink; bracts rose-purple, leafy. July and August. l. lanceolate, quite entire, or the upper toothed at the base. Stem 1ft. to 2ft. high, obtusely quadrigonous, stout, erect, branched, scaberulous. Europe (Britain), Western Asia. (Sy. En. B. 1001.) M. cristatum (crested). fl. densely spiked; corolla tube yellow, tipped with purple, bent. September and October. l. spreading, narrow linear-lanceolate. Stem 6in. to 18in. high, rigid, erect, obtusely four-angled. Europe (Britain), Siberia. (Sy. En. B. 1000.)