This native of alpine ftony paftures was firft difcovered by 

 Clusius, and is defcribed but not figured in his account of 

 plants obferved in Hungary, Auftria, and Stiria. 



The original reprefentations of this plant by the older 

 Botanifts, are thofe of Dalechamp, John Bauhin, and 

 Rich ie r nu Belleval. The laft author, though now little 

 known, was ProfefTor of Botany at Montpelier, in the time of 

 Henry IV. of France, and under the royal patronage eftablifhed 

 the firft botanical garden there. He was very induftrious in 

 fearching after new plants, and had defcribed and engraved on 

 copper feveral hundred fpecies, but dying before he could 

 give them to the world, they were long neglecled, and have 

 only within thefe few years been published by Gilibert, in 

 his Demonftrations Botaniques. 



Haller has remarked, that there is more refemblance be- 

 tween C. thyrfoidea^ fpicata, and Cervicaria^ than might be at 

 firft fuppofed : it appears indeed that either the two former 

 have been confounded together, or that xhtjpicala, fometimes 

 grows in a fhorter and more denfe fpike than ufual. Thus 

 Allioni's firft figure of this laft-mentioned fpecies is hardly 

 to be diftinguifhed from our plant, except that the bracl.es are 

 ovate-acuminate, and very little longer than the flower, and 

 the leaves have an undulate margin. But if the character of 

 the bra&es is to be depended upon, it will be doubtful whether 

 fome of the above-quoted figures do not rather belong to 

 fpicaia than to thyrfoidea. That of John Bauhin we fhould 

 have concluded to have been C. Orvicaria, had not Scopoli 

 informed us, that it is not at all unufual for the flowers of 

 ibyrfoidca to grow in diftin£t alternate clutters, as that figure 

 reprefents. 



Jacquin obferves, that when plants of the firft year were 

 removed into the garden and planted in a fhady damp border, 

 they grew two feet high the next fummer, and made a much 

 more elegant appearance than in their native place. 



Introduced in the year 1785, by Dr. William Pitcairn. 

 Our drawing was made feveral years ago, from a fine flowering 

 plant in the late Mr. Curtis's Botanic Garden at Brompton, 

 It is a hardy biennial, propagated by feeds. 



