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Show Thea BIRIIAT HSeH DEV iS 1ON BRITISH HERBAL I, BRITISH 1. Common Water-Starwort. § a vulgaris. "ed The root is a great clufter of long and flender eeeaacestaeeeaeaioeeaeaaDTeIDID G4 A § 28 owVi. Plants whofe flower is compofed of two vetats, and is followed by @ SINGLE CAPSULE. } HIS is a clafs extreamly diftinét ; and characterifed by the moft plain and obvious marks, Tt contains but a very {mall number of plants; but one would imagine no fyftem could err fo far from the path of nature as to add any more to it, or to feparate thefe; the green, flender, rife to the furface of the water ufually, as the moft commonplace of its growth is in fhallow ditche he leaves grow in pairs all the way up the , but at the tops in elufters : thofe off the are longifh, narrow, and ofa pale green: they have no footftalks: they are pointed at the ends, and undivided at the edges. The leaves on the top form themfelves into a kind of head: they are fmalleft in the centre, larger all the way outwards, and. fpread in the mannerofaftar, whence the plant hasits name. charaéters by which they are diftinguifhed from all other plants, and allied to one another, being fo ex- e flowers are fmall: theyftandat the joints tremely fingular and ftriking: yet, in the modern methods and fyftems of botany, there is noplace of the ftalks,. where the leaves alfo rife; and there ufually are two of them together : they are whitifh, and the two petals which compofe them are hollow, and converge together: there is a fingle yellow button to each, fupported on a long 1. The feed-veffel is rounded, flat, and marked withfour lines on the furface. Thefeeds ar¢ numerous andfmall. It is commoninourditches, andflowers in May. C. Bauhine calls it Stellaria aquatica) Others, Stellaria aquatica vulgaris. appropriated to thefe ; but they ftand at random among others. Linnzus has placed the water fiarwort in his clafs of monandria, and the enchanter’s night/bad:in his clafs of diandria ; becaufe there is but a fingle thread in the flower of the former, whereas there are two in that of the latter: on thefe minute parts is the attention of that authorfo fixed, that thefe Tem eva are numerous, plants, are feparated by the means of the threads; although they agree with one anotherin the fower and feed-veffel ; and have in both a charaéter which is in common with few others. Thefe are the moft ufeful diftinctive marks: the more confpicuous fuch charatters are, and the fewer plants they unite, the clearer and more familiar will be the method, and ‘the eafier and plainer the ftudents road to the fcience. Mr. Rayincludes thefe plants and thofe which have three petals to the flower, and a fingle capfule for the feed, together in one clafs. He feems in this to have been influenced only by the fmall number there are of plants belonging to each ; but this, as we have obferved, isa happinefs, or thing to be fought, not avoided: we fhould obferve natureftri€tly whereit is found; and not confound her diftinétions, by joining plants where fhe has feparated them fo plainly. Mr. Ray makes the numberof petals a mark of diftinétion for a clafs in other cafes where the feed-veffel is fincle; and there is the fame caufe here. If the pentapetale vafculifere, or thofe which have five petals and a fingle feed-vefiel, be claffically diftinct from the dipetale and ‘ripetale, thofe which have two, and three petals and a fingle feed-veffel ; fo are thefe two kinds, the dipetale, and tripetale, from one another : the reafon is exactly the fame, and he who ufed the character taken from the number of petals as-a claffical mark in one place, fhould not have refufed it in another, 2. Blunt-leaved Water-Starwort,. Stellaria repens foliis obt The root‘is compofed of numerous very flender fibres. The ftalks aré many and weak: they are round i jointed: they rife but a little height in the r, where they are covered; but when the plant grows in THyi Bi Ri BsATL. mud, as is common, with very little water, then they lie fpread every way upon the’ futface’ and, in both cafes, wherever they SPECIES, The leaves are few, and of a faint creén: they grow in pairs, and have no footftalks: d at the end: at the he ftalk there four, or more, in a , but net difp with that 2 of the formerfpecies. 1€ e {mall and white: placed in the bofoms of the leaves, and the pe of which they are compoledftand wider than in Thefeed-veffel is fquare, but flatted: the feeds afte very numerous and minute. It is common in puddles and about the edges of fifh-ponds, and flowers in i C. Bauhine calls it Le fruéiu tetragono, ‘Dillenius, repens. 3. Long leaved Water-Starwort. Stellaria longifolia. The. root confifts of fibres, but; they are not; .as. in, the others,, long and flender 5), they make a very. thick head of fhort ones aloft innumerable, The ftalks: are: numerous, weak,’ and a foot or nore in length, The leayes ftand in pairs onthe ftalks, and in a ftarry tuft at the top: thofe ontheftalks are Jong, narrow, and often curled at the edges, and {plit at the points: the-others are! fharp-pointed, and {pread uponthe furface, in formof ftar. The flowers are very {mall, and yellowith: each is compofed of two narrowpetals, andin the centre there rifes a fhort filament with a yellow button. The feed-veffel is rounded and flat: the feeds are very numerous dnd {mall It is common in fale+water ditches, andfometimes in frefh. I have obferved it abundantly in the ditches on theifle of Shipey. It flowers! in June. Ray callswitStelaria! aquatica faliis longis: te uniffimis. touch they take root at the joints. Pie Bankes Borah ocyMe i, DEMES PON Natives of BRIT ALIN. U- § WATER-STARWORT. Pe 1 Lea ery: "THE flower is compofed of two petals, and has no cup: the feed-veffel is round and comprefted. points, Linnzusplaces this among his monandria digynia ; there being only one thread in each flower, and the ftyles, or filaments, from the rudiment of the capfule being two. This author takes away its ufual-name fellaria, and calls the genus corifpermum , uniting withit. 4 i Alternate-flowered Water Starwort. Stet I, under that name, the rhagroftis, a diftin& genus, as we fhall thew in its place. ‘OREIGN The flowers {tard alternately, and are. coni | pofed each of two flatted and fomewhat hooked petals, in the midft of which rifes a fingle fila~ ment witha large button: The root is compofed of many ‘flender The feed-veffel is royndifh and flatted threads, of a whitifh colour, and véry: tender It is common about the fhores of the Volga; fubftance. and flowers in July. The ftalks are numerous, round, andof a pale Juffieucalls it Corifpermum floribus lateralibus green 4 The leaves are long, narrow, and of a dead } j Nothing is known of the virtues of thele green, undividedat the edges, and fharp at the r. Thofe of which there are one or more {pecies native or wild in. this kingdom. GarksrN' 3 : DIVI- + plants, |
