FENTANDRIA. DIGTNIA. ISr 



(which are always mucronate) are nearly equal and ele- 

 g-antly appioxiniate. Leaflets from 2 to 7 or 8 inches 

 long; not more than 2 to 4 lines wide, attenuated at both 

 extremities. Involucre of few or many leaves (6 to 12) 

 according to the magnitude of the plant, segments acu- 

 minated, entire or laciniate. Flowers white; petals cor- 

 dately inflected. CaUx obsolete. Styles long, persistent 

 and deflected, having capitate stigmas (after the manner 

 of the genus?) Fruit small, oval, laterally compressed, 

 so as to produce a narrow commissure. Seed partly ovate, 

 with 5 equal ridges and 4 intermediate grooves. 



This plant is unquestionably the S. lo7ijifoUuTn of Pursh, 

 Flor. Am. 1. p. 194. and also S. tenuifolkim of Muh- 

 lenberg's Catalogue, as I have examined a specimen 

 which he had so named. 



Of this genus there are 9 genuine species in Europe 

 (1 in Greece with yellow flowers); 7 at the Cape of Good 

 Hope; 2 in Japan, and 1 in China, 1 or 2 in North Africa. 

 Few of them probably accord with tiie European and 

 North American part of the genus. 



S72. SISON. X. (Hone-wort.) 



**f Fndt ovate, solid, (seed) dorsal ly tricos- 



tate, intervals convex, contracted at the sides 



^laterally compressed); commissure excavated. 



involucrum few-leaved or none." SPRENGEii. 



Involucrum 3 or 4 leaved or wanting; umbellets slender, 



few flowered, involucell about 4-leaved. Leaves ternate 



or pseudo-pinnate, often with the ultimate segments trifid. 



S p E 01 Es. 1.5. pusiUum. Lig^isticum pusilhim. Persoon*s 



Synopsis, 1. p. 315. JEthusa divaricata? Sv . Probably a 



Bunium? 2. trifoliatum. 3. marginatum. Slum ri^dius? 



273. *ERIGENIA.t 



Ca/ixnone. CoroMa uniform. Pef a^s obovate, 

 spreading, entire. Styles persistent, subulate, 

 very long. Fruit oval, somewhat laterally com- 



t From 'apiye^tiXy a name of Jurora, the harbinger of day 

 or of the spring, as derived from «««^j or «Jf > the spring, and 

 y/yy «/«.««/, I exist y or come forth. This plant is so called ia 

 allusion to its early appearance in the spring; being the first 

 conspicuous flowering plant in the United States, bloommg often 

 amidst tlie snow, about the 12th or 15th of March. 



