| OCR Text |
Show 178 he BRET ISH HERB AE, they'are natural, and the fame fingularity is pre. Meal ferved in the icaves. Thefe ftand in pairs: they are very numer Sy en, fall, oblong, pointed, andin of a rude f{preadThe root is long, large, woody, and fhape refembling thofe of myrtle; and they ing. full of the fame kind of irregular rifings: with The ftem is firm, woody, brittle, and very thofe uponthe ftalks, only fmaller. pale a much branched; and is covered with The flowers growat the tops of the branches, are brown bark. and they are very large and beautiful : they a of and oblong, , The leaves are numerous ofa fine bright yellow colour, and theyhave the the at ferrated pale green: they are delicately threads very long. edges, and obtufe at the ends. The feed-veflel is roundifh, but pointed; and The flowers ftand on flender pedicles rifing the feeds are large and brown. s from the extremitie of the ftalks, and from the The ftyles in the flower of this fpecies are five; bofoms of the upper leaves: they are large and are alfo five. and the cells in the feed-v beautiful ; and the fegments of the cup are roundThis is a fpecies which, like the preceding, has ed and ferrated. troubled fome authors tofind its proper place, or The feed-veffels are large, and pointed at the generical name. The characters are the fame top: the feeds are numerons, large, winged, and withthofe ofall the Saint Febn’s worts which have brown. five ftyles in the flower; and, accordingly, the There are five ftyles in the flower of this beft writers have placed it among them. fpecies; and the cells in the capfule are alfo Magnol calls it Hypericum five afcyrum fi five. cens magno flore. Van Royen, Hypericumfl It is a native of Carolina, and flowers in pentagynis foliis et ramis verrucofis, ‘The older Anguft. writers have followed Clufius, who places it This fpecies has been fo much miftaken by among the ciftus’s, and calls it Myrtociftus authors, that it has been called an Alcea. PlukePennei, from the name of Doétor Penny, its net has named it Alcea floridana quinque capfularis firft obferver; and our gardeners follow thefe lanrinis foliis leviter crenatis; and others have writers, and call it Penny’s ciftus, followed him in this long denomination. Later We fee, by the effect the refemblance of the writers have given it a peculiar name, Lafanthus : thefe have thought thelittle wing that grows to cifius and bypericum has had upontheearlier botaevery feed a markfufficient for eftablifhing a new nifts, how extremely improperit mutt be to feparate them, as Linnzus had done, into various genus; but nature abhors thefe innovations. It g- Bay-leaved Saint John’s wort. feminibus ala Hypericum foliis | is evidently an ypericum, and agrees in flower and feed-veffel with all thofe fpecies of this genus whichhavefive ftyles in the flower, as the oriental, tuifan, and the reft, 10. Penny’s myrtle Ciftus. parts of his writings. Thofe plants which could be confounded with one another by thelefs accurate obfervers, and which the moft juft examination fhews to be fo muchallied to one another, fhould certainly follow one another in the writings of thofe botanifts who form their method upon the laws eftablifhed by nature. The The root is large, woody, and fpreading. The ftem is woody, and covered with a brown bark : it is very muchbranched, brittle, and full of a kind ofwarts, or rough ‘excrefcencies, -refembling feats, and the remains of injuries; but eget oN U *0§ Vv. CHICK WEED. PS) I NE, ‘HE flo wer confifts of five petals, whichare {pread out plain: the feed-veffel is of an: oval fhape, | ye of fix valves, but ‘containing only a fingle cell :“the cup is compofedof five. little, pointed leaves, and remains when the flower is fallen, furrounding the feed-veffel: the feeds are numerous, rounded, and comprefled. Linnzus places this among, the dycandria trigy ; the filaments or threads being ten in each flower, andthe ftyles from the rudiment of the capfule three. This author, > after h e has eftabli b a r dhiee a genus,onthis . foundation, i £ . alter he has eftablifhed the charaéters of the is obliged fo acknowledge that they are not always .conftant, certain, or regulars for that. fome plants are fo luxuriant as to havefive ftyles inftead of three; andthat in others the threads are fo uncertain; frail, and of fhort duration, that they cannot well be numbered. ro T his acknowledgement of a variation in the numberofthe ftyles ftrilkes at the root of the. author's method ; for it mingles a/fnes, which he places amon i the decandria trigynia, with fpergul and ceraftiums , which he arranges among the decandrig pentagynia A. This author’s era fhoul d be printed, if the reader will admit the allufion, as tradefmen write their bills, error epted. H EARSB ACL. 179 th, chickweed, have been given by writers to fo manyplants not at The name andits E nor poffible to be aranged under any one genus, that the reader is defired all belonging toth to keep in memory the charaéters on which the genus given underthis name is here eftablithed : it will prevent a great deal of perplexity, becaufe it will feparate thofe plants, which are d fucceffive genera. aljfines, from the various others which will be here placedin different BR ITISH DEV LS LO Nats Alfine vulgaris. 70 4 The root is finall, white,‘flender, and furnifhed with many fibres. The ftalks are numerous, round, green, } and eight inches in length: fome of them trail upon the ground, and others rife up. The leaves are numerous: they are placed in pairs, and have long footftalks: they are broad, and of a figure fomewhat approaching to oval : their colour is a frefh green, and their fubftance foft and tender. The flowers are numerous, fmall, and white: they are placed on footftalks ri from the bofoms of the leaves, principally toward the upper part of the ftalks; and they have the petals divided pretty deeply at their ends. The feed-veffel is fmall and oval: the feeds are brown. It is common every where about gardens, and where ground has been dug, and flowers the whole fummer. C. Bauhine calls it A/fine media. J. Bauhine, Alfine vulg, morfus galline. Others, Alfine media, or Alfine miner. Our Englifh names are Common chickweed, Middle chickweed, and Leffer chickweed : of thefe the firft is the moft proper. 4. Broad-leaved mountain Chickweed. ine latifolia flore profundefeffo. The root is fmall, white, andjointed. The ftalk is ufually fingle, and tolerably upright: it is fquare, of a pale green, andnot at all hairy ; and it fends out no branches, but at the top divides into feveral parts. The leaves are placed in pairs with great regularity: they have long footftalks, and theyare large and oblong: they are broadeft at the bafe, andterminate in a fharp waved along the ed point. Theflowers are large and white :gthey ftand at The plant varies extremely in fize and form according tothe degree of nourifhment. 2, Great water Chickweed Lperennis major. if a 4 ol Y The: root is long, flender, and creeping: it runs under the furfa and fends out many tufts es in differen es, and numerous ftall the tops of thofe branches into which the ftalk Thefe are round, upright, flender, of green, and a foot or more in‘h all branched. 1e leaves dtandjin pai another ; and theya beautiful p: e The flowers ftand at the tops ofthe ‘ftalks on flender,. -S PeBrGwe E's: high, and of a pale green: they ftand tolerably ereét, and fend out a fe anches, The leaves are oblong and narrow: theyftand in pairs, and have no footftalks: they are thin, tender, and of a pale green; broadeft in the middle, undivided at the edges, and obtufe at the ends. The flowers are fmall and w they do not growonthe tops of the ftalks, but from the bofoms of the leaves, fometimes ftanding on fingle and feparate footftalks, and fometimes on the fummits of little fhoots rifing from thence: they are compofed of five petals, divided fo deeply that there appear to be ten of them, The feed-veffel is fmall, and the feeds are numerous and minute. It is common in damp parts of woods; and flowers in July. C. Bauhine calls it J. Bauhine, A/fne lon: locis.. Our people cal it Tender marfb chickweed, and Fo in chickweed. 1. Common Chickweed. Hypericum frutefcens foliis rugofis, Thefe foreign fpecies of Saint John’s wort, in general, poffefs the fame virtues with our own kind. They are all efteemed vulnerary andbalfamick. The coris is celebrated alfo as a diuretick and / deobftruent. BRITILE&EH pedicles, and are fmall and wh divides at the top; and they are moderatelylarge, and of a {now whi 1 is compofed only of five petals, but they are divided to the bafe fo that there appear ten; and thefe are long, very narrow, and fomewhat curled. The feed-veffel is oval, and the feeds arefmall and brown. Ic is found ‘in our northern counties in damp the petals are divided fo deeply that they appear woods ;and flowers in July. ro confift each of ten rather than five. C. Bauhinecalls it A//ine mont The feed-vefiel is fmall and roundifh; andthe | Columna, Alfine h laciniato. feeds are n It is commonin watery places, and flowers in June C.B J..Bav Great #1 ter Chickweed. wht ny threads, re, eight inches The root is {mall 5 and pe res, are extremely num : they four inches high een; ahd they are fo ingle plant of it for 3 n ifolia flore 2 montana |
