43 6 
Clafs Pentandria. Ord. Monogynia. Un. Gen. Plant. 255. 
* 
E/T. Gen. Ch. Cor. rotata. Pijlillum declinatum. Starn. tub 

corollas infidentia. 
Sp. Ch 
*. 
r » 
Anther a demum fpirales. 
Pericarp. 2-loculare. 
Gentiana corollis qirinquefidis infundibuliformibus, caule 
dichotomo, piftillo fimplici. L. Syft. Veg. 268. 
TH E 
the ftalk 
.0 
reel: 
with few brancl 
ly, fibrous, and of a yellowifh 
fmooth 
g 
r, and ufually 
ppofite, feflile, 
rifes from fix to ten inches in height : the leaves 
fmooth, oblong, ribbed, obtufely pointed : the flowers 
produced in a corymbus or bunch, and are of a pink or rofe colour : 
the calyx is divided into five narrow erect permanent fegments : the 
corolla is funnel-fhaped 
the 
be of which is cylindr 
g 
than the calyx, and divided at the limb into five egg-fhapecj feg- 
ments : the filaments are five, white, (lender, fhorter than the 
corolla, and furnifhed with yellow oblong antherse, which finally 
become twilled : the germen is oblong, green, fupplied with a fimple 
ftyle, which is crowned with a clubbed ftigma. It grows in woods 
and paflures, and flowers in July. 
As the botanical defcription of this plant correfponds exa&ly with 
that of the g 
we have followed feveral refpectable bo 
fts, and f eparated it from the gentians, with which it was originally 
clafied by L 
« 
The active parts of th 
and rectified fp 
are diffolved readily both by 
the herb, after infufion in fufficient quan 
titles of either menftruum, remaining infipid. Water takes up along 
with the bitter a large quantity of an infipid mucilaginous fubftance, 
feems to diflblve little more than the pure 
whei 
b 
rectified 
part 
Hence on infpiiTating the two fol 
to the fame 
• 
.confidences, the watery extrad proves much lefs bitter than the fp 
ntuous, and its quantity above four times greater."* 
oblerved by Mr. Curtis, that Centaurium thus aflumes 
Chiron the Centaur. See Plin. L. 
Lewis, M. M. 
25- c. 6. p. 635 
Centaury 
