IfMRtyoaTH TlOrtTUS JAMA IC EN SIS. 4Q 



featfimocks, an 1 has also been made into good hnen cloth. Were due attention pai ] 

 such valuable objects in Jamaica, the fibres of penguin might be obtained in great 



idmnaance from the most barren lands. 



2. BRACTgATA. BRACTED. 



Leaves serrate, spiny; brades ovate-lanceolate; scape elongated j vacerae- 

 compressed ; rae< males sub-divide .1 ; flowers peduncled. 

 This species was found in Jamaica by Swartz. The bractes are membranaceous^ 

 very entire, scarlet. 



See Pine Apple Silk Grass: 



Penny - Ro y ai. Sec M int. 



PENNYWORTH, WATER, HYDROCOTYLE, 



Ci 5, QR. 2. P.entandria monogynia. Nat. or. I7mbel!a/<e. 



This generic name is derived from t.vo Greek words signifying water and a cop, be* 

 cause it grows in water, with hollow leaves containing water- 



Gen. char. Calyx umbel simple, involucre Commonly four-leaved, small; peri- 

 anth scarcely any ; universal corolla uniform in figure not in situation ; florets all 

 fertile; proper corolla firo-petaled ; petals ovate, acute, spreading, entire; sta- 

 mens live filaments, awl -shaped', shorter than the corolla, with ^ry small anthers ; 

 the pistil has an upright compressed germ, orbicular, inferior, and peltate; styles 

 two, awl-shaped^erj short; stigmas sin. pie ; there is no pericarp ; fruit orbicu- 

 late, compressed, transversely bipartite ; seeds two, semi-orbiculale, compressed. 

 Two species are indigenous to Jamaica. 



1. UMBELLATA, I'MBEt.LTTX 



CofylaioTi aquatica. Sloac, v. 1, p. 2 12. Foliis orbicularis pdtatis 

 crenatis, umbeltis multijlvris. Browne, p. 185. 



Roots filiform, capillary, branched, whitish ; leaves radical, peltate, orbiculate, 

 crenate-gasheu, smooth, veined, on smooth robrefpetibles 1 , from two to five inches, 

 and often, in watery places, a foot long. Peduncles alio radical, the length of the 

 petioles, round; flowers in umbels, hermaphrodite; involucre scaly, with ovate minute 

 1. diets ; umbel simple, pedicels numerous, erect, one flowered; corolla acnt,-reflex, 

 white; styles contiguous fit, the base, the length of the petals;; fruit roundish, com- 

 pressed, striated. S'xo It grows in most marshes and standing waters in Jamaica ; 

 .the root is reckoned aperitive and deobstrueut, but, as Browne observes, the umbelli- 

 ferous plants are deservedly suspected, and seldom used. It is Called sheep'' s bane : d 

 u'hite-rct, because it ki'Hs .sheep who eat it. Barbara' calls itvavef irort, and saVs ,: It. 

 hath a small round root, under the surface of the earth ; at thejornSs are a grtat many 

 small hairy blackish fibres, by wnich the plant is nourished ; and from the same [daces 

 are sent up the leaves and flowers, upon pretty long foot-stalks. The leaves are roi;:i 1, 

 thick, sinuatcd on the edges, smooth, above an inch diameter, and very green, the 

 foot-staik entering in their very centre. The flowers stand close together round their 

 VjQL.II. G~. faot-staUC* 



