C 1558 ] 



Spermacoce strigosa. Cross-wort 

 Button-Weed. 



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Claps and Order. 

 Tetrandria Monogynia. 

 Generic Character. 

 Cor. l-petala infundibuliformis. Sem. 2, 2-dentata. 



Specific Cbaracler and Synonyms. 



SPERMACOCE Jlrigofa; foliis bra£teifque oblongo-ovatis hif- 



pidis,petiolis amplexicaulibus,ftipulisereclis ciliatis, floribus 



capitatis, ftaminibus exfertis. 

 SPERMACOCE jlrigofa. Herbar. Bankf. 

 CRUCIANELLA hijpida. Mill. DiB. 4. Ed. Martin. 7. 

 RUBEOLA americana hirfuta Parietarise foliis, floribus um- 



bellatis purpureis. Ex Houjloni Mjf. in Mujeo Bankjiano affer- 



vatis. p. 186. 



This plant was found in the Ifland of Cuba, by Mr. John 

 Fraser, and feeds of it were brought to this country and 

 cultivated at the nurfery in Sloane-Square, where our drawing was 

 niade lafb year. The fame fpecies was found by Dr. Houston 

 m Vera Cruz, who fent feeds to Mr. Philip Miller, by 

 whom it was inferted in the eighth edition of his Dictionary, 

 under the genus Crucian el la. 



SpERMAcocEy?ng-0/tf, though not very fhowy, is by far the 

 "andfomeft fpecies of the genus that we have feen ; and no 

 figure of it, as we believe, has been before publiflied. 



The Englifh name of Button-Weed, applied to this genus, 

 does not at all accord with our fpecies ; but the globular white 

 heads of Spermacoce verticillata, not very unlike the double 

 flowers of Ranunculus aconiiifolius, called by Gerard 

 Batchelor's Buttons, probably fuggefted the appellation. 



Being a native of the Well-Indies, is too tender to be pre- 

 served through the winter without a hot-houfe, but may be 

 Seated as a tender annual, and raifed by fowing the feeds on a 

 «ot-bed early in the fpring ; it mult however be brought very 

 forward in order to ripen feeds in this country. 



