The prunella is remarkable for the long hairs which garnish the calyx, and, principally, the edges of the bracts. Examined in the microscope, they assume the form of tiny, pointed bamboos; the knots bulge out a little, and the intervals are punctuated. The botanists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are by no means sparing in their eulogiums on the marvellous virtues of our flower, which, by the way, Bock (Tragus) was the first to figure with tolerable accuracy.[62] Tournefort thus dwells upon its medicinal properties:-- "It forms an ingredient in arquebusade water and vulnerary potions. It is ordered in possets and broths, in apozèmes for the spitting of blood, dysentery, hæmorrhages, and the like. It has also been used for ulcers in the mouth, and a remedy against headaches; after being mixed with rose-oil and vinegar, the temples were bathed with it." In the Pharmacopœia of to-day, however, it finds no place. THE SCUTELLARIA. At the first glance, the Scutellaria has no resemblance to the prunella. Yet the classificators have united these plants in one small tribe, under the name of _Scutellarinaceæ_. These are the characters which they give to them: Lower or anterior stamens longer than the superior or posterior; calyx closed at maturity by the approximation of the two lips. The latter character is not nearly so marked in the prunella as in the scutellaria. [Illustration: FIG. 51.--_Scutellaria galericulata._] The two commonest species of scutellaria in England are the _Scutellaria galericulata_ and _Scutellaria minor_. They do not inhabit the same localities. The former, which is at the same time the commonest, grows on the river-banks, and especially delights in the mould accumulated in the hollow trunks of old willows. It is easily known by its tender blue corolla, but especially by its calyx, which, after the fall of the corolla, develops itself in a singular manner. If you compress its sides, it will open so as to disclose, at the bottom of its throat, its seeds, which are white, red, or brown, according to their degrees of maturity. (Fig. 52, _a_.) Now look at these two _jaws_: the upper resembles a small helmet (Lat. _galericula_), or, if you prefer it, a judge's cap. As for the lower, it has exactly the shape of a shield (Lat. _scutum_),--whence its name, _scutellaria_. (Fig. 52, _b_.) Thus, the emblems of military and judicial rank are found united in the calyx of our pretty labiate. [Illustration: FIG. 52.--Calyx of the Scutellaria.]