Dr. SwARTz's BolanJcal Hijorj' of the Genus Ehrharia, 4.1 



i. 9. a new {pedes, under the name of Ehrharta panicea, dete6lcd in 

 the year 1776 by Sonncrat, at the Cape of Good Hoj^e. 



In the fecond fafciculus of the fame vahiahlc woik, the anthoi 

 enriches the genus JLhrharia with two other fpecies, the IZ. longifora 

 and E, calycina, the hitter of which had, fome time hcfore, appeared 

 in the Linncan Suppl. PLmtarum, p. 108. where it is called jiira ca- 

 penfis. 



But the great external fimilarity of this genus with that of Me/ica, 

 has made me anxious to examine, with the leave ot my highly ef- 

 teemed friend Prof. Thunberg, into feveral of thofc fpecies prefervcd 

 in his mufcum, which we find not only inlilltd in the Suppl. PIatit» 

 under the generic names of Melica and Aira. but even thofc infcrted 

 in the fir ft part of hi? own Prodr. Flora C.)pcnfu% and to my very 

 great fatisfa6f ion, I have had the good fortune to dete(S\ fome poffen"- 

 ing all the characleriftic marks of the genus in queflion. I am happy 

 to acknowledge my high obligations to Prof. Thunberg, by whole 

 generous communications I have thus been able to attain a tolerably 

 complete knowledge of feveral beautiful kinds, which will ftill more 

 help to fettle the limits of this mofl: diftind genus, and become fo 

 many cypreiles round the urn of a man untimely loft for fciencc, 

 whofe name will be preferved by them in the annals of botany. 



Having now had the opportunity of (ludying and comparing fo 

 many fpecies, I venture to offer more accurate charaiflcr* to form 

 the natural and genuine difference of the Ehrharia from other ge- 

 nera of the fame natural order, the character hitherto given in the 

 Suppl. Plant, and in the above-mentioned dilTertation, being rather a 

 fpecific defcription of the only fpecies on which this new genus was 



firfl: founded. 



Habitus generis naturalis. 



Radix fibrofa 1. rarius bulbofa. 



CVw; confertj, fimplices 1. fubdivifi, fubinde ramofi, articulati, fubge- 

 Vql. Vi. G niculati. 



