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Medeola virginiana. Indian Cucumber, 



♦##♦♦♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ $ ♦ ft * * * ■ '♦ 



C7<?/} #»J Order, 

 Hexandria Trigynia, 



Generic Character. 



Cat. o. Cor. infera, hexapetalo-partita, regularis, fubaequahs, 

 cernua, laciniis lanceolato-oblongis, revoluto-reflexis. Shtuso* 

 Stig. 3, tereti-linearia, crafiiufcula, germine flaminibufque 

 longiora, divergentia. Bacca trilocularis, trifperma. G. 



Obs. Planta perennis t herbacea ; radix repens ftagellis tuberofa-nodofis ; 

 caulis annuus, ereclus, teres, land gojjypind decidud veftitus ; folia in ver- 

 ticilios fubbinos incequales difpoftta, elliptico-ianceolata dcorfum angujlata x 

 nervoja ; flores pauci, parvuli, pedicellati, aggrcgatim terminates, jubher- 

 baceo-pallefcentes, inodori ; pedicelii erecli, uaiflori. Sola haclenus nobis 

 innotejcens jpecies ; exchdenda" enim captnfes. G. 



Specific Char abler and Synonyms. 



MEDEOLA virginiana. Linn. Sp. PL cd. 2. 1. 483. Mill 



Ditt.cd. 8. n. 3. Hort. Kew. 1. 489. (virginica.) 



Walt. Flor. Carol. 126. n. 158. Michaux blor. 



Bor. Amer. 1. 214. Barton ElelH. of Botan. 266. 



A pp. Exp I. 25. xiv. tab.ptcl. xiv ; bene. IVitld. 



Sp. PL 2. 270. 

 MEDEOLA foliis flellatis lanceolatis, fYu&u baccato. Gron. 



Virgin, ed. 1. 39. ed. 2. 55. 

 LILIUM f. Martagon pulillum floribus minutiflimis herbaceis, 



Pluk. Aim. 401. tab. 328-/4. 



Leaves whorled, 6 — 8 in the lower, 3 in the upper whorl; 

 Jlcm fcarcely a foot high, the thicknefs of a duck-quill. Com- 

 mon in molt parts of the United States of North-America ; 

 where it grows in wettifh woods; and is known, according to 

 Mr. Barton (by whom a good coloured plate of it is given 

 in the « Elements of Botany,") by the appellation of " Indian 

 Cucumber;' from the tafte of the root, which is eaten by the 

 Indians. Cultivated by Miller in 1768, who has however 

 given an erroneous defcription of the root. Hardy. Blooms 

 about June. Should be planted in bog earth. 



Our drawing was made from a plant lent us by Meiirs, 

 Loddiges, Nurferymen, at Hackney ; by them it was kept 

 in fmall garden pots. Flowered about June. G. 



