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' 
"DESCRIPTION oF tus LOPEZIA, » 
ROOT annual. 
STALK five or fix feet iets, Mes feretot alifiot: to the ii. 
fquare, of a deep red colour, fmooth towards the bottom, 
flightly hairy above: Branches like the ftalk. 
_ LEAVES alternate, ovate, pointed, toothed on the edges, 
more fo on the larger leaves, flightly befet with foft 
hairs; veins “prominent on the under fide, ufually 
running parallel to each other and . unbranched: Leaf 3 
2 fialks Wraity. 89" © F 
FLOWERS numerous, ee ie’ alee of the leaves, growing 
irregularly on hairy leafy” racemi, ftanding on long 
{lender peduncles, which hang down’as the feed-veffels 
are produced® in this and fome others of its charaéters, 
the plant fhews fome affinity to the Circea: 
CALYX: a Perianthium of four leaves, fitting on the Ccbade 
leaves narrow, concave, réddith, with green tips, the 
lowermoft one widely feparated from the others, and — 
| placed immediately under the Ne€tary, fig. 1. ‘ 
COROLLA four Petals of a pale red colour, forming in their 
mode of growth the upper half of a circle, the two 
- uppermoft linear, of a deeper colour near the apex, . 
jointed below the middle, with a fmall green gland | 
on each joint, ftanding on fhort round foot-ftalks, — 
which are hairy when magnified, the two fide Petals 
nearly orbicular with long narrow claws, the part be- | 
tween the bafe of the Petal and the claw. of a deeper 
red or crimfon, fig. 2. 
NECTARY fituated below the Petals, perfe€lly white, fome- 
what ovate, the fides folding.together, before the flower 
~~ fully expands, nearly upright, embracing and contain- 
ing within it the Piftillum and Stamen, on touching it 
ever fo flightly with the point of a pin, ‘while in this 
ftate, it fuddenly fprings back and quits the Piftillum, 
- the lower elaftic part of it is then bent in the form 
-reprefented in a magnified view of the flower on the 
plate, fig. 4. this curious phcenomenon has not been 
noticed by CAVANILLE. 
STAMEN : Filament one, tapering and very flender jut Felon 
_' the Anthera, arifing from the fame part as (and placed 
oppofite to the bafe of) the Nettary the lower part of - 
it broader, fomewhat flefhy, cartilaginous, and of the _ 
fame nature as the inferior part of the Neétary, witha _ 
: groove as that has on the infide, fo that before the 
Aywer 
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