MONOECIA— HEXANDRIA. Eriocaulon. 139 



Perennial. May — September. 



Root large, fleshy, white, subdivided below, of a very acrid purga- 

 tive quality. Stems herbaceous, annual, rough, leafy, more or 

 less branched, climbing by tlieir tendrils to the height of several 

 feet. Leaves 3 or 4 inches broad, with 5 angular lobes, rough 

 all over with minute callous tubercles ; if slightly rubbed, in 

 autumn, they exhale a musky scent. Fl. white, with elegant 

 green ribs and veins, on panicled, or imperfectly umbellate, 

 axillary stalks ; all barren on one plant ; fertile on another ; at 

 least for the first 2 or 3 years ; but Miller observed that older 

 roots produced both sorts of blossoms, on the same plant, as is 

 proper to all the other known species of this genus. Berries 

 scarlet, fetid when bruised. Sometimes every Ji lament bears a 

 double anther. 



The true B. alba of Linnaeus, found on the continent, has black 

 fruit, being called alba from its white root, in contradistinction 

 to Tamils, the Black-rooted Bryony. 



MONOECIA HEXANDRIA. 



436. ERIOCAULON. Pipewort. 



Linn. Gen. 40. Juss. 44. Fl. Br. 1009. Br. Pr. 253. Lam.t.bO. 

 Geertn. t. 83. 



Nat. Ord. Ensatcs? Linn. 6. Junci, sect. 1. Juss. 13. Mes- 



tiacecB. Brown Prodr. 243. 

 Common Cat. hemispherical, many-flowered, imbricated ; 



scales obovate, obtuse, equal, permanent. 

 Barr.Ji. in the middle. Cal, none. Cor. of 1 petal; tube 



cylindrical ; limb in 6 or 4 deep segments, in a double 



row. Filam. 6 or 4, occasionally 3, from the segments 



of the limb, and a little longer, thread-shaped, erect. 



Antli. roundish, of 2 oblong cells. 

 Fert.Jl. in the circumference. Cal. none. Pet. 6 or 4, in a 



double row, obovate. Germ. 2- or 3-lobed, superior. 



Style 1, very short. Stigm. 2 or 3, awl-shaped, acute. 



Caps, with 2 or 3 rounded lobes, and as many cells and 



valves, bursting at the angles. Seeds solitary, globular, 



albuminous, with an external cmhrijo. 



