Scrophularia
(so named in reference to its former supposed benefit in cases of scrofula, owing to the resemblance of the roots of some species to scrofulous tumours). Figwort. ORD. Scrophularineae. A genus comprising about 120 species (which number may, according to Bentham and Hooker, be reduced to 100) of mostly hardy, often foetid, annual, biennial, or perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, broadly dispersed over the extra-tropical regions of the Northern hemisphere. Flowers greenish-purple, lurid-purple, or yellow, generally rather small, in paniculate, thyrsoid cymes; calyx deeply five-cleft or five-parted; corolla tube ventricose, globose or oblong; lobes five, short and flat, the four upper ones erect, the lowest spreading; perfect stamens four, the fifth usually rudimentary. Leaves opposite, or the upper ones alternate entire, cut, or dissected, often pellucid-dotted. S. aquatica (Brook or Water Betony, &c.), S. nodosa (Murrain Grass, &c.), and S. Scordonia, are natives of Britain, while S. vernalis has become naturalised. Few of the species have any horticultural value. Only one calls for mention here. It thrives in ordinary garden soil, as a pot plant, in a cool frame, and may be multiplied by seeds. S. chrysantha (golden-flowered).* fl. 1/2in. long, drooping; corolla golden-yellow, ovoid, turgid, contracted at the mouth; cymes densely packed in the upper leaf axils, forming a rounded head 2in. in diameter. March. l. 2in. to 3in. broad, ovate-or orbicular-cordate, lobulate and toothed, convex, wrinkled. h. 6in. to 18in. Caucasus, &c., 1882. A stout, erect biennial. (B. M. 6629.)