208 HEPTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Trientalis. 



Herbage smooth. Stcin simple, leafy at the top. Fl. white, 

 on simple axillary stalks. 



1. T. europa,a. European Chlckweed Winter-green. 

 Leaves obovate-oblong ; the lowermost very obtuse. 



T. europsea. Linn. Sp. PI. 488. FL Lapp. ed. 2. 1 09. JVilld. v. 2. 

 282. FL Br. 406. EngL BoL v. 1. <. 15. Hook. ScoL 115. FL 

 Dan. t. 84. Ehrh. Herb. 84. 



Herba Trientalis. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. 536./. 537. 



Alsinanthemos. Rail St/u. 286. ThaL Harcyn. \5. 



Pyrola alsines flora Europaea. Bauh. Pin. 191. Moris, v. 3. 505. 

 excluding sect. 12. ^.10./. 6.; which is copied from Bauhin's 

 cut, Prodr. 100, of a Brasilian specimen. 



Chiclcvveed Winter-green. Pet. H. Brit. t. 62./. 13. 



On turfy heaths, and woody declivities, in mountainous countries. 



In several parts of the north of England, but most plentiful in 

 Scotland. 



Perennial. May, June. 



Root slightly tuberous, somewhat creeping. S/em solitary, simple, 

 erect, roundish, 3 or 4 inches high, almost naked, except at the 

 top, where it is crowned with a tuft of leaves and very elegant 

 white /?ou;ers. Leases crowded, on short stalks, obovate-oblong, 

 more or less blunt, bright green, beautifully veined, entire, or 

 obscurely serrated ; tapering at the base ; a few dispersed ones 

 beneath much smaller and more obtuse. Flower-stalks 1 , 2 or 

 3, among the leaves, not quite so long, erect, capillary, simple, 

 naked. Flowers solitary, sometimes only 5- or 6 -cleft, of a bril- 

 liant white, tinged with pink as they fade. Anth. and stigma 

 often reddish. Seeds dotted, black, with snow-white reticulated 

 tunics, like fine lace. 



Few persons have seen the fruit of this plant, and it was most un- 

 accountably mistaken, even by Linnaeus and Gaertner, though 

 what little is said on the subject by Thalius is correct. 1 have 

 explained the history of this error in Dr. Rees's Cyclopcedia, and 

 the above description will serve to correct that in Fl. Brit. The 

 valves of the ripe capsule become concave externally ; convex 

 and polished within, and have been taken for a permanent co- 

 rolla. But they are opposite to the calyx-leaves, which the seg- 

 ments of the cor. are not. The beautiful tunics of the seeds were 

 supposed to be the skin of a dry berry, and are not faithfully re- 

 presented by Gsertner. 



Mr. Brown has suggested that this plant may probably be a real 

 species of Lysimachia ; nor is there any thing against it but these 

 tunics, and the number of the several parts of fructification. 



