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Show The. Be RT: Th BRITISH HERBAL, “hg r confifts of a , and that its fruit is a clufter of five capfules } cre) ftonecrop and woodforrel. s a plant | ufually i confounded fe with vith the the houfeleek feleek that t will il naturally rally follow follow it,it, though thoug in a ice, nus; and this is the only one with which nature has given it any al DH rVES BO NN’: tT. BRILTSE Wall Pennywort. ice tuberofa. The root is roundifh, tuberous, and furnifhed with manyfibres from the bottom. The leaves are numerous, andrife in a thick, regular clufter. FP BICL ES: They are fmall, greenifh, and dented at the rim. Thecapfules are oblong, fwelled, and pointed , andthey cc 2 numerous fmall feeds. It is a native of England, but not comn I have feen it on walls near Shepon Mallet in They are fupported on foot- ftalks of three inches long, afid thefe inferted, not at, one fide, but in the centre, the leaf fpreading every way into roundnefs from them. Thefe leaves are of a bluifh green, prettily notched round the edges, and of a waterytafte. The ftalk is eight inches high, andis round, and tolerably ‘firm. Toward the top it divides into two or three branches, and on thefe hang numerous flowers in long fpikes. have the female parts double. One fhould fimile at the perplexity that rifes from this unfubftantial method, but that it has mifled fo many. Whatisanauthor to do, who has fet up a fyftem dependent on complex, as well as minute parts, when one portion of the fame object, as in this inftance, determines the plant to one affortment, and another to another. It is to this we owe thofe frequent exceptions the author has himfelf made to his generical characters ; and the manyothers , thofe who thall obferve nature heedfully, muft make for him. DAV TS TORN BRT TiS Hes Small Periwinkle. Pervinca minor. Theroot is long, tough, flender, andfull of fibres. The ftalks are long, but weak. They are tough, but want firmnefs; fo that they lie upon the ground, and frequently take root at the joints : hence, when the plant has ftood any time we commonly fee a thick tuft ofit. The leaves ftand in pairs: they are oblong, broad, even at the edges, pointed at the ends, and It is cooling and diuretick, but is not much soP Bre have no footftalks. They are of a firm ftubftance, and deep green colour. The flowersftand on long footftalks, whichrife from! the bofoms ofthe leaves: they arelarge, and of a beautiful blue. The feed -vefféls are tharp-pointed, two follow every flower, and there are in them many large, oblong feeds, It is a native of our woods, but not common, It flowers in June. C. Bauhine calls it Clematis daphnoides minor. Others, fimply, Clematis daphnoides, or Vinca pervinca. ufed, Vas TON Ditavi TS abOANi eT: 21, F,QcR: E.dsGoN;ii 8iP-B CIE SIL FO REIGN Great Periwinkle. Pervinca major. Yellow Navelwort. Cotyledon flore aureo. The root is thick, and often tuberous, and has numerous fibres. The firft leaves rife in a large clufter, and are of an oval figure, broadeft at the top, and dented at the edges. “Chey are of a bluith green colour, of a flefhy fubftance, and ofaninfipid tafte. The ftalk is round, fmooth, greenifh or purplifh, erect, and but little branched. Its leaves ftand irregularly: they have no foot- ftalks, but join the ftalk by a broad bafe: they are of the fame fhape with thofe from the root, but fomewhat narrower and moreindented. The flowers are very numerous and beautiful. They ftand in clufters on flender footftalks, and are tubular, divided into four fharp fegments at the edge, and of a beautiful yellow. The capfulesarefmall, and pointed. As the fegments of the flower are four, thefe alfo are four ; GEN and the threads, which are ten in the common kind, are only eight in this. Linnaeus, how ever, ranks it in the fame genus with the other, acknowledging this variation. Itis a proof t however he has taught others to confider the number ofthreads conftituting the claffical, as well as generical chara¢ters ofplants, himfelf knew y well they were not fufficiently determin for that purpofe. Thofe who love needlefs diftinétions may make two genera of thefe two fpecies, and give a new name to the laft; but they who ftudy plants for ufe will hold fuch diftin@ions veryflightly. The root is a great tuft of fibres, The ftalks are numerous, firm, woody, and tolerably erect. The leaves ftand in pairs, and are placed on fhort footftalks; they are broader than thofe of the fmall kind in proportion to their length, and are more ofan oval figure ; they are even at the edges, and broad at the bafe, and pointed at the ends. The flowers ftand on long footftalks, rifing from the bofoms of the leaves, and are large and blue. This f{pecies is a native of Egypt and the Eaft E Indies. Van Royencalls it Cotyledon fohis laciniatis floribus quadrifidis. N SPECIES. The feeds follow in two long capfules, pointed at the ends. It is frequent in the woods of Germany, and flowers in July. C. Bauhine calls it Clematis daphnoides Major. Others, Vinca pervinca major. Some have fuppofedthis a variety of the preceding {pecies, imagining that it only differed in fize; but they fhould have obferved the footftalks and form of the leaves, and they would have found that the fize of the plants, though the moft obvious, is not the moft effential mark oftheir diftin@tion. U § Il. SENGREEN, AIZ 0 OW, They ufe it in Egypt as a diuretick, giving the juice in a large quantity againft the gravel, U ys Il, PERIWINKLE. PERIEVIN GCA, Ae flawer sow confifts of a fingle petal shich 4 HE : the lower part, growing nl which is of a tubular formin ; wider upwards, andat the rim is divided into five fegments, The feeds are contained in longcapfule ig 8 s, two of which follow every flower. Linnzus places this among the pentandria monogyni a, becaufe there are in each flowerfive threads, and but a fingle filament from two rudiments of capfules. His general rule for the arrangement of plants 1 according to thefe parts, is from the divifion of the ftyles, or number rifing from the rudiment s, which he calls germina: this ftyle ferves to receive the duft from the buttons on the threads, and to convey it to the rudiments. The ftyle in periwinkleis fingle indeed, but the rudiments, which are the effential parts, that being but fubfervient to them, are two; therefore, as himfelf acknowledges, this genus more juftly belongs to the digynig, or thofe which have ALLE flower is large, andconfifts of a fingle petal lightly dividedinto ten fegments. The feeds are contained in capfules, a great number of which fucceed every flower. The leaves growin d clufters in the manner of thefe of houfeleek ; which the plant in its general form greatly refembles. Noauthor has feparated this, perfectly fingularas it is, or allowedit a diftin& genus: it has been : a fpecies of houfeleek, thoughit belongs to a feparate clafs, kes it a {pecies of /empei 4m , thoughhe has eftablifhed, in the generical character, um has a flower confifting of twelve petals, whereas the fower of this plant has bug ‘his refers it plainly and neceffarily to the prefent clafs, and renders a new name necef. fary for it; but, to avoid perplexity, I have given it one that has always been fuppofed to belong, though in an undetermined manner, to the houfeleek kind: it is very well applicable to this plant 5 the leaves continuingall j r frefh and green. OF this genus there is but one known fpec Sengreen. Aizoon. long, flender, and edged with rife from it are flefhy, oblong, grow in natural clufters, but ina veryfingular manner. Theclufters are of a roundifh form, as in the commonhoufeleek, but have not that open divifion: they are rather globular. In winter they are of a greyifh green, andftandfe. parate, as in other plants of this kind; but toward {pring they afflume another form: they have a multitude of long, fine, and flender hairs growp |
