JULY. 295 
IcOSANDRIA. PENTAGYNIA. 
CALYCIFLOR2. RosacEZ. 
SPIRASA. (Meapow-sweet, or Dropwort.) 
Generic Character. Calyx below the fruit, five-cleft. Peta/s 
five. Stamens numerous, inserted with the petals on a disk, 
adhering to the calyx. 
Sprr#a Unmarra. Meadow-sweet, Queen of the Meadows. 
A lovely plant, quite deserving both its pretty names. The 
small flowers are of a yellowish white, or cream colour, very 
numerous, and in a large loose bunch resembling a feather, 
which moves gracefully with the slightest puff of wind. 
The smell is very sweet ; but it contams so much Prussic 
acid, that it has been known to produce fatal effects on 
persons who have remained long with much of it in a close 
atmosphere. The leaves are handsome, much divided, the 
terminal one three-lobed, cut at the edges, and very white 
underneath. Stems from three to four feet high. It is 
tolerably common in meadows and on the banks of ponds 
and ditches. A more uncommon species, the 
Sprrza Finrpenputa, Common Dropwort, is found in 
dry pastures in a chalky or gravelly soil. Stem a foot high, 
leaves more divided than the last, and deeply cut at the 
