326 PENTANDRIA. TETRAGYNIA. parnassia, 



5z//e 1 -celled, 4- valved; valves bearing incomplete dis- 

 sepiments in the middle. Seeds membranaceously 

 margined. Gen. pi. 523. Nutt. Gen. I. p. 205. 

 Juss. p. 245. Lam. III. t. CCXVI. Gaert. 

 Carp. t. 60. Roe tn. ^ Sckul t. Gen. 1251. Nat. 

 Ord. uncertain. Capparidibus affinis, Juss.\ 



Grass of Parnassus, 



\. P. caroliniana Mich, : radical leaves orbicular-ovate, 

 cordate ; nectaries 3-bristled. JW i c A. F/. 1. p. 184. Pursk 

 i^/.F.p.208. Elliott Sk.\.i^.Zll. Bot.. Mag. t. 1^59. 

 Bo em. & Schult. VI. p. 696. P. americana et ovata 

 Muhh Cat. p. 32 .'' 



Root perennial. Leaves mostly radical, from an inch and a half, 

 to 2 inches or more in length, oval, roundish or subreniform, 

 generally more or less cordate at the base, obtuse, very smooth, 

 entire, 7 — 9 nerved ; petioles 2 — 4 inches long ; stem leaf be- 

 low the middle, solitary, sessile, amplexicaul. Stem 12 — 18 

 inches high, simple, angular, naked, except the single leaf 

 Floivers solitary, terminal, large, yellowish-white. Cahjx 

 deeply Sparted ; segntents ovate, rather obtuse, nerved. Pe- 

 tals broad-ovate, strongly veined, sessile, obtuse. J^ectaries 5, 

 each fringed with 3 subulate processes, terminated by yelliiW 

 pellucid heads. Stamens alternating with the petals ; Jila- 

 ments shorter than the petals ; anthers oblong, incumbent. 

 Style ; stigmas 4, very small. Cafi&ule oblong, acute. Seeds 

 very numerous, attach.ed to the margin of the dissepiments. 



Hab. I;i wet boggy woods and in swamps. Canada to Carolina 

 August — September. 



2. P. pahistris L. : radical leaves cordate ; nectaries 

 many-bristlrd. Willd. Spec. I. p. 1.516. Eng, Dot. t. 82, 

 Pursh FL I. p. 208. M i c h. FL I, p^ 1 84," R o e m. &: 

 Schult. VI. p. 694. 



Hab. In bog-meadows. Pennsylvania to Virginia. Pursh. -f 



I have never seen but one North-American species of Par- 



NAssiA, and I suspect that no i«ther has yet been discovered. 



Mi c hail X gives no habitat of his P. fialustris, nor is it enu= 



merated in Muhlenberg's Catalogue. ■ 



f The Natural Order of Uiis slnt^iilar plant is still unsettled, scarcely, 

 any two Botanists agreeing as to situation : — By 7?. Bro-un and Smit h, 

 it is supposed to be allied to Saxifrara ; Ji da n a o n places it among his 

 CisTi ; and Booker is inclined to re.'lr it to Hypericin^;. V ent sua.'. 

 supposes il to constitute a distinct Order of itself. 



