120 PENTANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Sibbaldia. 



L. catharticum. Linn. Sp. PI. 401. WiUd. Sp. PL t;. 1 . 1541. FL 

 Br. 344. Engl. Bot. v. 6. t. 382. Curt. Loncl.fasc.3. t.\9. Mart. 

 Rust. t. 135. Hook. Scot. 97. 



h. n. 839. Hall. Hist. v. 1 . 374. 



L. sylvestre catharticum. Rail Stj)i.362. Ger. Em. 560./. 



L. pratense, flosculis exiguis. Bauh. Piri. 2\4. 



Chamselinum subrotundo folio. Barrel. Ic. t. 1 165./. 1. 



Spergula bifolia, lini capitulis. Loes. Pniss. 261. t, 80. 



Alsine verna glabra, flosculis albis, vel potius Linum minimum. 

 . Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 455./ 



In dry pastures. 



Annual. June — August. 



Root very small and tapering. Herb smooth. Stems 1 or more, 

 slender and delicate ; in the former case very straight and up- 

 right ; in the latter curved, and ascending obliquely ; seldom 

 more than a foot high ; all bearing many pairs of upright, ob- 

 tuse, bright green leaves, and a spreading, forked, terminal pa- 

 nicle. The pretty little white tremulous_/o?rers are pendulous 

 before expansion. Calyx-leaves serrated, single-ribbed. Pet. 

 acute, entire. Stigmas capitate. 



This plant is bitter, and powerfully, but, as it seems, not danger- 



- ously, cathartic. Dr. Withering found 2 drams, or more, in a 

 dose, of the dried herb, useful in obstinate rheumatisms, 



181. SIBBALDIA. Sibbaldia. 



Lin/z. Ge». 155. Juss.337. Fl.Br. 345. Lam.t.22\. Gcertn.t.73. 

 Nat. Ord. Senticosa. Linn. 35. Rosacea. Juss. 92. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf; the border in 10 elliptic-lanceolate, 

 veiny, spreading, permanent segments; the 5 innermost 

 largest. Pet. 5, obovate, tapering at the base, inserted 

 into the rim of the calyx, shorter than its smaller seg- 

 ments, to which they are opposite. Filavi. 5, awl-shaped, 

 shorter than the petals, inserted into the rim of the calyx 

 between them. Anth. roundish, incumbent. Germ. 5, oc- 

 casionally 10, ovate, compressed, very short. Strjles la- 

 teral, from about the middle of each germen, as long as 

 the stamens. Stigmas obtuse. Seeds 5, ovate, smooth, 

 rather compressed, in the bottom of the enlarged, some- 

 what hardened, converging calyx. 



Herbaceous, of humble growth. Leaves ternate. Stipiilas 

 attached to the footstalks. Fl. terminal, corymbose. 



1. ^. procumbens. Procumbent Sibbaldia. 

 Leaflets wedge-shaped, with three terminal teeth. 



