74 SANGUISORBE^. [part i. 



officinalis). This plant, which is found in great 

 abundance in rich meadows on calcareous soils, 

 has its flowers produced in a close terminal 

 spike. The flowers have no petals, but the 

 calyx, which is four-cleft, is pink, and there are 

 four glossy brown bracts to each flower ; so that, 

 on the whole, the flowers are rather ornamental, 

 notwithstanding their want of petals. There are 

 only four stamens, and two carpels with slender 

 styles and pointed stigmas. The leaves are 

 pinnate, consisting generally of nine leaflets, 

 and each pair of leaflets is furnished with two 

 stipules. The Alchemilla, or Ladies' Mantle, is 

 nearly allied to the Burnet ; but the flowers are 

 in small corymbs, instead of spikes. The 

 flowers have no petals ; but the limb of the 

 calyx is coloured, and divided into eight un- 

 equal segments. There are generally four 

 stamens and only one style, though sometimes 

 there are two. The ovary contains one or two 

 carpels, each containing a single seed, and these 

 when ripe are enclosed in a capsule, formed by 

 the tubular part of the calyx becoming hardened. 

 The leaves are lobed, plaited, and serrated at 

 the margin ; and those of the Alpine species 

 {A. alpina), which is often found wild on the 

 Scotch mountains, are covered with a beauti- 

 ful silky substance of the most brilliant white- 

 ness. 



