218 DIOECIA— ENNEANDRIA. Mercurialis. 



Annual or perennial, simple or branched herbs, with oppo- 

 site, stalked, simple, undivided leaves, and stalked, 

 green, mostly aggregate, j^owers; their qualities narcotic, 

 fetid, and dangerous. Various parts of the herbage 

 acquire a blue or purplish hue in decay, or in drying. 



I; "M.. pererinis. Perennial Mercury. 



Stem perfectly simple. Leaves rough. Root creeping. 



M. perennis. Lmw.Sjo. Pi. 1465. ^Fi/W. v. 4. 809. H. ^r.lOSS. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 26. t. 1872, Hook. Scot. 289. Curt. Lond.fasc. 2. 

 t. 65. Mill. Illusir. ^ 9 1 . Ft. Dan. t. 400. Bull. Fr. t. 303. 



M. n. 1601. Hall. Hist. V. 2. 27 7. 



M. perennis repens, Cynocrambe dicta. Rail Sijn. 138. 



Cynocrambe. Ger. Em. 333. /. Fuchs. Hist. 444. f. Ic. 250./. 

 Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 635./. 



C. mas et foemina. Camer. Epit. 998, 999./,/. Bauh. Hist. v. 2. 

 979.// 



Dog's Mercury. Petiv. H. Brit. t. 1 . /. 5, 6. 



On banks, and in bushy places, or groves, very common. 



Perennial. April, May. 



Root creeping widely. Herb rough, fetid, very poisonous, though, 

 as appears from the accounts of antient writers, it may be eaten 

 boiled, as a pot-herb, if mixed with mucilaginous plants, and 

 oily substances. Instances are however recorded of the fatal 

 consequences of its use occasionally in this country. The stems 

 are unbranched, square, a foot high, leafy in the upper part. 

 Leaves ovate, acute, serrated, 2 or 3 inches long, with small 

 stipulas. Fl. on axillary stalks, in interrupted, erect spikes; 

 the barren ones most numerous. Supposed Nect. very narrow, 

 rising above the styles. 



2. M. annua. Annual Mercury. 



Stem cross-branching. Leaves smooth. Root fibrous. 



Barren flowers in numerous, spiked, alternate tufts. 

 M. annua. Linn. Sp. PL 1455. IVilld. v. 4. 810. Fl. Br. 1084. 



Engl. Bot.v.8.t.559. Hook. Scot. 200. Curt. Lond.fasc. 5. t.68. 



Bull. Fr.t. 159,235. 

 M. n. 1600. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 276. 

 M. annua glabra vulgaris. Raii Syn. 1 39. 

 M. mas et foemina. Ger. Em. 332. f,f. Fuchs. Hist. 475,476. 



fj. Zc. 269, 270.// Bauh. Hist. V. 2. 077. J, f. Matth. Valgr. 



v. 2. 633, 634.//. Camer. Epit.OOQ, 007 .f,f. Lob. Ic.2o0.f,f. 

 French Mercury. Petiv. H. Brit. t. \.f. 7, 8. 

 In waste or cultivated ground, but not very frequent. 

 Abundant about London, Norwich, and other towns. Found 



