110 H OUT US JAMATCENSIS. Serpent'* 



This generic name i:- derived from the Greek words for the English name, an East- 

 India species being used against the bite of the ribband snake. 



Gen. char. Calyx a one-leafed perianth, erect, compressed, five toothed, equal., 

 permanent:; corolla one-petaled, fennel-form, border five-cleft; stamens five fi- 

 lameftts, with oblong anthers; the pistil has a bifid germ, a fiiiform style, and two- 

 stigmas ; the pericarp is a two-lobed capsule, seeds numerous. One species has_ 

 been found in Jamaica. 



M1TREOLA. MiTRED. 



Leaves ovate. 



R oots from the lower joints of the stem in bundles, long, filiform, white; stem her- 

 baceous, a foot high, simple or branched, erect, four-cornered at bottom, towards the. 

 upper part roundish, smooth, loose. Leaves petiole*}, opposite, lanceolate-ovate, a- 

 ouminatc, entire, smooth on both sides ; leaflets in the axils of the larger ones. Pe- 

 duncles terminating, diciiotomous, loose; flowers minute, sessile, directed one way, 

 distinct, white, and a solitary flower in the lurks of the peduncles. Calyx minute, . 

 five-parted, with erect segments; corolla tubular, longer than the calyx ; segments of 

 the border ovale, acute, erect, often bent in ; throat viliose, white; filaments from 

 the middle or the tube ; anthers converging under 'the pile of hairs-above the stigmas ; 

 germ two-parted at the base, oblong ; styles two, stigmas roundish, white, pubescent; 

 capsule at the base bifid, one-.celled, two-vaived, the valves opening at the side within 

 longitudinally ; seeds numerous, inserted into two receptacles fastened to each valve. 

 Flowering in Spring, in wet meadows or the banks of rivers. Swariss. This plant has 

 the appearance of the narrow leaved brooklime. The leaves are of a pale green colour 

 like those of the Barbadoes olive. 



SERPENT'S or ADDER'S TONGUE. OPHIOGLOShUM. 



Cl. 24, or. 2. Cryptogamia FHlices. 

 This generic name is formed afthe Greek words for the English one. 



Gen, CHAR. Capsules numerous, connected by a membrane into a distinct spike, 

 .sab-globular, when ripe opening transversely, without any elastic ring, iieedfr- 

 very many, extremely minute. Three. species are natives of Jamaica. 



I. RF.TICULATUM. NF.TTFD. 



Xphatum simplex, folio cordato, Browne, p. 108. 

 From! cordate. 

 The heart-leaved adder's tongue rises commonly to the height of fire or six incites 

 above the root. 



2. FAT MATUM. PALMATfe 



Fronde bheeta pahna-ta, spkatentrali fronde longiori. Browne, p. 108. 



Piond palmate, with the spike at the base. 



Br3vne calls this the smaller adder's tongue, with palmated foliage. 



3 t scAKOrr . 



