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Show 82 Dae BROT ss Hey green: they are extremely branched: and as they grow in length, the fhort firft leaves drop off: they grow to eight or nine inches long ; but far the greateft part ofit lie upon the ground, few of themftanding up farther thanthe fpike of flowers. The leaves ftand irregularly on thefe ftalks, and are unlike the firft : thefe are longifh, narrow, andpointed, The flowers ftandin long loofe fpikes, and are of a pale blue. The feed-veftel is flat and large: the feeds are numerous, and fmall. It is common in dry paftures, and flowers in July. C, Bauhine calls it Polgala vulgaris. Others, Polygala minor. No plant varies more thanthis in its afpeé and manner of growth, according to the accidents of place and nourifhment. The flowers, though naturally blue, are often redifh, and often white ftriated more or lefs with blue or red, fometimes white altogether. In this condition, fome authors have deferibed it as a different fpecies, or made one or two more, all fuppofed different. Wehave obferved that the firft leaves are fmall and fhort, and that thefe ufually fall off; but fometimes there grow no others, thefe being continued upon the ftalks their whole length: in this cafe the ftalks generally lie altogether upon the ground, and the plant has been defcribed as a diftinét fpecies under the name of Polygala myrtifolia paluftris humilis © ramotior. Mr. Ray himfelf is not without thefe flips : *tis commonly on damp, poor ground it aflumes this form. In all thefe conditions the fpecies is the fame, and, under proper advantages of fun and nourifhment, would at any time put on its proper face again. Some few years fince, I faw a very remarkable inftance of this. There grows a great deal of m ort on the edge of a {mall bog on Hampftead heath: this, while the bog was wet, to the top, was full of fhort, broad leaves, and fpread upon the ground in numerous branches: afterwards, fome flight trenches were cut through the bog, which drained it a Del veleoweO Neo tha Be R BeAr. xperience here fhews ftrongly what we have oceafion often to affert with equal truth, though lefs authenticated by evidence, that plants which appear very different, are only varieties of one and the fame fpecies, Polygala criftata. The root is long, flender, and fimple. The flalks are numerous, round, hard, and 2. Upright red Milkwort. Polygala purpurea ereffa. Wehave feen what changes the difference of foil make in the common milkwort ; but we here treat ofa fpecies altogether diftin&. No change of place, or accidents of any kind, could reduce this plant to the condition of the common lkwort, or raife that to the ftate of this: its own feeds produce it, and no other. The root is long, flender, and divided into many parts. BARTS Ho leaves, as the cup in the common kind is; and have at the top a double creft that has a feathered afpect: the colour of the flower is a lively purple. It is a native of A‘thiopia, and flowers in May. Burman calls it Polygala fruétefcens foliis linearibus flore majore purpureo. There are feveral {pecies of polygala that are abfolute fhrubs andtrees: thefe we thall treat of in their place: this approaches to them, and may ferve as the laft of the others, and to fhew the gradation. 3. The Sennekka Rattle-fnake Plant. Polygala radice marginata. The root is long, flender, and divided into feveral parts: it fpreads irregularly under the furface, and is of a brown colour: it is very fingular in that there runs an edge or margin of a membranaceous fubftance on each fide all the way along it. The firft fhoots are numerous and full of leaves: thefe are fhort, narrow, and fharppointed. The ftalks are a foot high: they are round, weak, andof apale green. The leaves ftand irregularly on them, and are A Bere BB Aw 83 3 oblong, narrow, of a pale green, and pointed ac the end. The flowers ftand in a long, loofe fpike, and are white or bluith. The feed-veffel is flat, and the eds are numerous, yellowifh, and {mall. It is a native of North America, and has been of late introduced into medicine, under the name of radix fenekka, or the rattle-nake root. The knowledge of its virtues was firft owing to the Indians, who have recourfe to it againit venomous bites, that of the rattle-fnake not excepted, from whichit took its name. It is excellent in pleurefies and quinzies, and all other diforders of that kind. Jt has hadthe fate of many good things, to be talked too hi at firft. Dr. Tenngnt, who introduced it here, recommended it with the warmth natural to the inventor of a new method of cure; and from his faying too much in its praife people came to fuppofe it deferved lefs thanit really does. It is truly a great medicine, though now fallen into difufe. The common milkwort is a purge. A handful of the leaves boiled in ale is a dofe fora ftrong man: it works brifkly, and without any ill effect, The root dried and powdered is a fudorifick 5 ten grains is a dofe. The leaves on the firft fhoots are fmall, but not broad: they are nurnerous,fhort, and fharp- pointed. The ftalks are firm, rigid, ereét, and ten inches high. The leaves are numerous, and ftand irregularly : they are narrow, of a deep green, fharppointed, and fmooth. _ The flowers ftand upon the tops of the ftalks in a fhort fpike : they are large and purple, The feed-veffel is flat, large, and full of minute feeds: It is common in hilly paftures, and flowers in July. C. Bauhine calls it Polygala major. hine, Pohgala vulgaris major. J, Bau- T have never feen any variation in the colour of the fower in this fpecies : it is always of the fame ftrong uniform red SPECIES, Plukenet calls it Pohgala Aithiopica angufris hirfutis foliis flore obfolete purpurea ; but the flowers are oftener white than purple, firm; part lie upon the ground, and part ftand erect among them. Theleaves grow often in pairs, but not certainly orregularly fo: they are fmall, fhort, obtufe, moderately broad, of a dead green, and very roughto the touch, The flowers ftand in long crefted feries on the tops of the ftalks, fometimesi n a fingle, fometimes a double feries ; and they are fmall, and purplifh or white. The feed-veffel is minute, and very flat, the feeds are very {mall and yellow. It is a native of ASthiopia, and ‘flower s in June. Few imagine what is in the powerofaccidents inthe place of growth. en. O REIGN 1. Crefted Milkwort, The. little; and then the mi/kwort grew moreerect, and had fewer branches, and long, narrow leaves, Thefe trenches are nowfilled up again-in a great meafure by the fwelling of the bogey earth at their fides, as all trenches in fuch ground will, if not frequently cleaned ; and that part of the milkwort which grows lowett is {preading on the ground, andgetting into the myrtle-leaved {tate Giirkhe _ The root is woody, long, divided, and fpread- The ftem is woody, and divid ed into many branches, The leaves ftand irregularly ; and are long, narrow, of a pale green, undiv ided at the edges, and pointed at the ends, The flowers are large, and very beautiful : they ftand in long fpikes, and each has its fepa- rate long and flender footftalk ; they are de- fended by a broad covering, compofed of three leaves, U="§ XXII. DODDER: COS UT A HE flower confifts of a fingle petal, tubular at-the bafe, and divided into four fegments at the edge: the feed-veflel is a fingle, roundifh capfule, containing two feeds: the cup is divided into four fegments. Linnzus places this. among his /etrandria digynia, there being four threads in every flower, and the rudiment of the capfule giving origin to two ftyles. That author, in his Genera Plantarum, improperly joins the da/el/a with this genus: the bafella haying, as himfelf acknowledges, a finglefeed after every flower, not contained in any capfule, but furrounded in the lower part by a fucculent cup: neither do the other characters of cufcuta agree with this plant. In his Species Plantarum he places themfeparate, making the da/él/a, as it properly is, one ofhis pentandria trigynia, for in that genus thethreads are only five, and the ftyles three, ' Of this Linnzus was fenfible, when he rankedit with cu/cuta, whofe threads are only four, and whofe ftyles two. Wehave given fufficient inftances, that this method ofclaffing plants is frivolous; here is a proof its author thought it fo: why therefore did he endeavour to recommend toothers what he had him{elf found infufficient ? Wehave obferved that the feed of Ja/e//a ftands in a flefhy cup, otherwife uncovered. The reader ( 7 Ff * iT 7 {7 + o Cae will therefore fee plainly] why we do not addit to the genus ofe cu/cuta: it is not» fo much as of this clafs, for it has no & 2. Feathered Milkwort. Pohgala criftis fimbriatis. ing. N BRITS @ Common Dodder. Cufcuta vulgaris. This ftrange plant confifts only of filaments, or long, tough threads, winding themfelves about other herbs, and here and there ornamented with flowers: it has no leaves, and hasbeen fuppofed to have no root; but better obfervation will fhew that to be an error. rft appearance, thoughlittle regarded, is ground, SiPebuea Es. Its root confifts of a fewflender, long, and branched, rédith fibres. Fromthefe rife ten or twelve ftalks, in form of fmall, red threads. Thele rifing in height, lay hold of fome plant that is near them, andclimb upon it: ifthereis none neat, they pine, and the root dies with them; fo the plant fading while {mall, is not at all regarded. When there is a plant in the way, which is ufually the cafe, the young thoots rifing from feeds droppedfromthe old herb as it hangs among |
