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Show The BRITISH iMWERBAL. 338 arr but the fituation Linneus places this among the diacia fyngene/ia, making it a kind of rafcus; is confirmed by the general afped of of the flowers is a fufficient diftinétion ; and the difference the plant. lated Alexandrian bay, not laurel: but cuftom has rendered it otherwife; and the name upon the whole is too bad for amendment. It is fir the reader know thefe vulgar names of plants The root is compofed of numerous fibres, thick, with the more proper. long, crooked, entangled one among another, and penetiating to a great depth. 2. Broad-leaved Alexandrian Laurel, #Zody The ftalks are numerous, firm, tough, woody, Hippogloffiumlatifolium frudu folio infidente , branched, and fpreading : theyare fourfeet high, h. and in the whole ufually forma larg The root is compofed of numerous, thick, and and fubftance, firm a of large, are Jeaves The {preading fibres. fine deep green: they are long, but confiderably Theftalks are woody, tough, and of a pale broad, fmall at the bafe, broadeft toward the green colour, but flender, and feldom much middle, and fharp at the point ; and they are branched. marked all the length with large longitudinal 1. Long-leaved Alexandria Hippeglofim fructibus fub foliclis longifolia. veins. Onthe middle of each leaf there grows another fmall one ; and under this rifes the pedicle, which fupports the flower ; fometimes there is only one, fometimes the ftalk fplits, and fupports, ene on each divifion, The footftalk is fender and fhort. The floweris fmall and yellowith. The berries are large, round, and, when ripe, of a fine red. It is common in damp forefts in the warmer parts of Europe, and flowers in June. C. Bauhine calls it Laurus Alexandrina fruétu pediculo ete. Others, Hippogloffxm vulgare, and Hippoglofium mas. Whatis called the female bippogloffumis‘only a variety of this, not a diftinct fpecies, differing only in fize and in the colour of the fruit, which in- clines toorange. The Latin namefhould be tranf- The leaves are broad and fhort: they are of a pale green, and have high ribs running lengthwife; and they terminate in a-fharp point. The flower is fmall and greenith : it grows to the middle of the leaf, and is of a pale, greenifh, BLEOLLGOLGEELOLDELLLIGELOL OOOAORIIHED Ccno tks; akon’ DOr have one feed after every flower, ftanding naked in the cup. Theberry is round, large, and, when ripe, of a fine red. It is a native of the warmer parts of Europein HIS is a clafs plainly diftinguifhable by Nature from all others, but confounded, like too many ofthereft, by the modern fyftems of botany. The two effential requifites to a gene- woods and damp thickets, It flowers in May. C, Bauhine calls. it. Laurus Alexandrina frutiu Both kinds have the credit of being excellent vulneraries; but they are rarely ufed. Thefe fort of medicines in general owedtheir credit to fancy, rather than to any real virtues ; and better oe of furgery has now banithed their ufe. Th END of the NINETEENTH CLASS, moe Plants which have a perfect flower, of a plain and regular firutture and yellow colour. folio infidente. EE ReBoALE: «BRITISH error, the tical charaéter are, that-it be certain, and that it be obvious: the firft. prevents thefe other perplexity ; and there is no where in Nature a charaéter more happily eftablifhed to anfwer purpofés than in the prefent inflance. of his claffical diftincMr. Ray, whofollowed Nature clofely, perceived it; and has foundedone tions upon it. He has therefore kept together thefe plants, fo truly allied, and fo perfectly fepa- claffick charaéters folely to the rated from all others: but thofe who have limited themfelves for the conneéted together by Nature, into threads in the flowers of plants, have thrown the genera, thus to which they have no affinity. many different parts oftheir works, and joined themwith plants fyftem: but whenthat Linneeus led the way to this, compelled by the very foundation of his by Nature in the courfe of his enauthor faw the neceffity of thus feparating plants evidently joined her laws. No plants have fhewn the great quiry, he fhould have given up the method, not violated which are thus, by means of the fingle conftraint his fyftem lays upon Nature equally with thefe, feed, clafied fo eafily and fo regularly. a a% ss eReYe asc cs se ea saeeoeaeCoSa? % a iM te Yo Natives of BRITAIN. in this country. Thole of which one or more fpecies are naturally wild GoiivEed Nj) OU Ss I, VALERIAN. VALE RH N A. ‘and crooked at the bottom, and divided into TAHE floweris formedof a fingle petal, hollowed, fmall, and is divided in an extremely flight five fegments at the edge. The cup is very is fearce perceptible, The feed is naked, mannerinto five fegments: in fome fpecies the divifion’ down, ‘The leaves ftandin pairs. fingle, and of an oblong form, and winged with accurate obfervers have fpoke In fomefpecies the outer fkin of the feed is loofe ; and in thefe lefs from the reft is more than this. of a feed-veflel, fuppofing this fkin a capfule ; but their difference , the threads in the flower being three, Linneus places this genus among the triandria monogynia is obliged to acknowledge vatt variations andthe ftyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. But he very plainly the impropriety of the fyftem in fome ofthe fpecies in this refpect ; fuch indeed as fpeak in the flower, in others there is only one, threads two but are there fpecies fome In . he has eftablithed in 8 |