N. ORD.—LOGANIACE. 434 
GENUS.—SPIGELIA,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.-PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
SPIGELIA MARILANDICA. 
PINK ROOT. 
SYN.—SPIGELIA MARILANDICA, LINN.; S. OPPOSITIFOLIA, STOKES; §&. 
AMERICANA, MONRO; LONICERA MARILANDICA, LINN. 
COM. NAMES.—_MARYLAND PINK ROOT, INDIAN PINE, WORM GRASS, 
PERENNIAL WORM GRASS, SNAKE ROOT, CAROLINA PINK ROOT, 
STAR BLOOM; (FR.) SPIGELIA DE MARYLAND; (GER.) NORDAMERI- 
KANISCHER SPIGELIE. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH ROOT OF SPIGELIA MARILANDICA, LINN. 
Description.—This Southern perennial herb usually grows to a height of from 
1 to 2 feet. Root fibrous, twisted; stems several from the same root, simple, 
4-angled and glabrous. eaves opposite, membranaceous, ovate to ovate-lan- 
ceolate, acuminate, closely sessile by a rounded base, entire, one or two pairs of 
veins basal, the rest more or less pinnate; stipules small, interpetiolar. Lnflores- 
cence in a terminal, sometimes branched, unilateral, scorpioid spike ; flowers showy, 
erect; fedicels single or geminate; 6éracts minute and subulate, or wanting; 
peduncle short and naked. Calyx 5-parted; /obes very slender and _ narrow. 
Corolla scarlet without, yellow within, elongated-tubular, 15-nerved; ¢ude some- 
what clavate; /odes 5, ovate-lanceolate, about one-quarter the length of the tube. 
Stamens 5, inserted above the middle of the corolla-tube ; //aments short, slightly 
exserted; anthers erect, linear-oblong, 2-celled at the base. Ovary superior, 
smooth, compressed; ovules numerous; Placenta peltate, stipitate; style long, the 
lower portion flattened, the upper cylindrical, the two parts articulated, and the 
lower persistent, farther exserted than the stamens; ségma simply the somewhat 
inflated hairy end of the style. Capsule didymous, compressed contrary to the 
partitions, circumcissile above the cupule-like base, the two carpels somewhat 
loculicidally 2-valved. Seeds few, peltate, closely packed, and angled by mutual 
pressure ; embryo short and straight; a/bumen fleshy. 
History and Habitat.—This beautiful plant is indigenous to North America, 
where it extends from Southern New Jersey to Wisconsin, and southward to 
Florida and the borders of Texas; it is, however, rare north of central Virginia. | 
It grows in rich soil on the borders of woods, and blossoms | from May. to July, eo 
according to its station. 
*In honor of Adrian * Spieeet € the = prota eases of Herbaria. 
poe a 
