238 WEXANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. 
~ - Nos. 2 and 3 are indigenous to Europe as well as Ame- 
fica; there is also 1 species at the Cape of Good Hope, 
~ and 2 of doubtful genus in Peru. 
$51. *GYROMIA.} Mepzoua. L. (Indian Cu- 
cumber.) : 
Corolla 6-parted, revolute. Calia none, Fila- 
ments and anthers distinct. Styles none; stigmas — 
8, filiform and divaricate, united at the base, 
Berry 3-celled, cells 5 or 6-seeded, Seeds come 
pressed, 3-sided. 
_ Root an oblong fleshy tuber; stem simple, erect; leaves _ 
_-yerticillated; flowers terminal aggregate. 
- Spectss. 1. G. virginica. Called “ Indian Cucumber” 
from a far fetched idea of resemblance either in the form 
or flavour of the root. Germ and berry always many-sced- 
ed, the latter dark purple when ripe; stigmas long, fili-. 
form, horizontally divaricated, almost imperceptibly glan- 
dular, and grooved on the upper side. Stem with a single 
sheath near the base, deciduously lanuginous. Leaves vel- 
_ ticillated in the middle of the stem, 6to 9, elliptic-lanceo- 
*, acuminate; at the summit of the stem in 3s, veTy 
__- rarely and then unequally in 4s, oval-lanceolate. Flowers 
eit ed from 3 to 6. — gai 
_. B.* pictas Floral leaves in 5s or 6s, oval acute, crim- 
_ son-red near the base; flowers numerous, 9 to 12; berries — 
tuberous, many-seeded, (12 to 15.)—Has. On the shady 
_ banks of Laurel creek, near Morgantown, North Carolina. 
_ have given it merely as a variety, not being’ in poss¢s- 
__ sion of satisfactory specimens, seeing it merely in fruit. 
i A North Ameriean genus, confining Medesla to the 
African species which are said to have a berry of 3 seeds- 
The present genus, with a berry of 3 cells and many 
seeds, approaches consequently to Trillium and Paris. 
to the same genus as Jf. virginica, without, however, pointing — 2 
