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Anagallis Fruticosa. Shrubby 



Pimpernel. 



Clafs and Order. 

 Pentandria Monogynia.' 



Generic CharaRer. 

 Cor. rotata. Cap/, circumfciffa. 



Specific Character and Synonyms, 



ANAGALLIS fruticofa ,- foliis ternis cordato-lanceolatis am- 

 plexicaulibus, caule fruticofo tereti : ramis 

 angulofis. Ventenat. PL Seleft. 18. 



ANAGALLIS grandifiora. Bot. Repof. 367. 



Moll of the known fpecies of Anagallis fo nearly refemble 

 each other, that it is not eafy to find botanical characters that 

 will with fufficient accuracy diftinguifh them, and this has led 

 fome Botanifts to believe that moft of the fuppofed fpecies are 

 mere varieties, deriving their origin from climate, foil, and 

 cultivation. Some have carried this opinion fo far as to fup- 

 pofe that this fplendid plant is the offspring of Anagallis 

 arvenjis, improved by art, a notion however which appears to 

 us fufficiently improbable. 



If there are no very prominent marks of diftinction except 

 that of the fhrubby perennial ftalk, a change which fome other 

 annuals have been known to undergo from climate and other 

 circumftances, yet there are feveral differences, more minute 

 indeed than might be wifhed, but which, when united, may be 

 fufficient to diftinguifh them. Thus in Anagallis arvenfis 

 the leaves and flower-ftalks are ufually oppofite, or if more 

 than two, are generally by fours, rarely if ever three, which is 



the 



