RENTIANACEiE. 302 



Gr. vi, voi, a pig, and x.vufMi, a bean ; because the fruit, resembling a bean ? 

 while poisonous to other animals, may be eaten by pigs? with safety. Coarse, 

 weed-like herbs, native in Eastern countries. Lvs. simple, large. 



H. NIGER. 



Stem branching, erect, very leafy ; haves sinuate, clasping; flowers sessile. 

 A tall, well known, foetid weed, growing about the rubbish of old houses, 

 roadsides, &c. The whole plant is hairy, viscid, and of a sea-green hue, 

 emitting a foetid odor. Stem 2 feet high, round. Leaves large, oblong, cut 

 into acute, sinuate lobes. Flowers in terjiiinal, one-sided spikes; the corolla 

 straw-color, finely reticulated with dark purple veins. The whole plant is 

 reputed poisonous, but has long been regarded as an excellent medicine in 

 nervous diseases, coughs, convulsions, ttc. Jl. Bien. Common Henbane. 



ORDER CI I. GENTIANACE^. The Gentian Tribe. 



Cal. — Sepals 4—5 — 10, uniled at base, persistent. [in aestivation. 



Cor. — Usually regular, limb divided into as many lobes as there are sepals, mostly twisted 

 Sta. — Issuing I'roni the tube of the corolla, as many as its lobes and alternate with them. 

 Ova. — 1-celled, souieliines rendered apparently 2-celled by the introflexed placentje. 

 Sty. — Uniled into ], or wanting. Stigma 1 — 2. 

 Fr. — Capsule many seeded. Seeds small. Embryo s\Ta.ig}it, with fleshy albumen. 



A large and interesting order of herbaceous (seldom shrubby) plants, found in every 

 region of the globe. Juice colorless. Leaves almost always opposite, entire and smooth. 

 Flowers conspicuous. 



Properties. An intensely bitter principle, called gentianine, pervades the whole order 

 without exception, residing in every part, rendering them tonic and febrifugal. The 

 gentian of the shops is most commonly the product of Gentiana lutea, but almost any 

 of our species may be substituted for it. (Dr. Gray.) In the other genera of the order, the 

 buck-bean (Menyanthes tritbliala), Villarsia nymphoides, Sabbatia angularis, Frasera 

 Walleri, &c.,' are valued in medicine for the same properties. Many are cultivated for 

 ornament. 



Conspectus of the Genera. 



I Cor. ventricose. . Gentiana. 1 



f Cor. funnel or I Lvs. simple. | Cor. funnel-form. Erythrtea. 6 



J bell-form. . . . | Leaves trifoliate Menyanthes. 8 



i I Aerial. Stig. spiral. Sabbatia. 3 



15— 12-merous. [ Corolla rotate ( Floating aquatics. Litnnantkemuin. 7 



i Petals ( Leaves minute, opposite. Centaurelta. 5 



( Cor. without j entire. I liCaves large, (whorled). Frasera. 4 



I horns ( Petals fringed Crossopetalum. 1 



fe [telramerous. .( Corolla with 4 horns at base Ualenia. 2 



1. GENTIA'NA. 

 Caljx 4 — 5-cleft; corolla campanulate, tubular at base, 

 border 4 — 5-cleft; stamens 4 — 5, included ; capsule 2-valved, 

 1-celled, many-seeded. 



From Gcntius, king of Illyria, who is said by Pliny to have first discovered 

 the tonic virtues of this genus of plants. Herbaceous. Cor. with spreading, 

 erect or converging lobes, almost always blue. 



« Corolla 5— 10-cleft. 



1. G. SAPONA'ria. L.? S. Andrewsii. Grisebach. 



Leaves oval-lanceolate, 3-nerved, acute ; floxccrs in whorled heads, sessile ; 

 corollas ventricose, clavate-campanulate, closed at top, 10-clefl, the inner 

 segments plicate and fringed, equaling the exterior. A handsome plant, 

 conspicuous in meadows and by brook-sides. Stem 12 — 18 inches high, 

 simple, erect, smooth, with opposite, smooth leaves, scabrous on the margin, 



