t)8 CLASS PENTANDRIA. 



The common species, R. virginiana (formerly Cy- 

 noglossum), is a common, unsightly weed, with very 

 small white flowers ; oblong-lanceolate and acuminate 

 leaves, scabrous on the upper surface ; the flower- 

 branches spreading ; and the pericarps so densely cov- 

 ered with hooked prickles as too readily to adhere to 

 the fleeces of sheep, and become inextricable when 

 attached. 



Our next natural group shall be the Lysimachi^, 

 the genus Lysimachia, or Loose-strife, being the type 

 of comparison, and a genus of which you will hardly 

 fail to meet with some species or other, however lim- 

 ited may be your excursions. The character of the 

 genus is to have a 5-cleft calyx, a rotate, or wheel- 

 shaped corolla, inclining, in some species, to be cam- 

 panulate, with a 5-cleft, sharp pointed border ; and a 

 capsule of 1 cell, with an opening, according to the 

 species, by 5 or 10 valves. In some species the 

 stamens have their filaments of unequal length, and 

 below united into a short tube, so as to appear mona- 

 delphous ; in others, as the L. ciliata, the stamens 

 are equal, disunited, and furnished with the imperfect 

 rudiments of five other filaments, in the form of so 

 many intermediate dentures ; and, in fact, in the L. 

 thyrsiflora of America, the corolla itself is oiten 

 6 to 7 parted, with 6 or 7 perfect stamens, thus 

 making a still nearer approach to the symmetri- 

 cal number 10, indicated in the structure of some of 

 the other species. The most common species, in low 

 grounds, is the L. ciliata, known by its oppositely situ- 

 ated, long petiolated leaves, of a form belwixt cordate 

 an<> ovate, with an acuminated point, and particularly 

 by the row of long hairs, resembling the cilimri or eye 

 lash, arranged on either side the petiole. The flowers 

 come out by pairs, and nod or turn downwards. 



In the same family of the Lysimachije you will 



