NAT. ORDER. 



SpigclUicca;. 



SPIGELIA MARILANDICA. CAROLINA TINK 



Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Corolla, funnel-shaped. Cajjsules, twin, two-celled, 

 many seeded. 



Spe. Char. Stem, four-sided, all the leaves opposite. 



The root is perennial, unequal, simple, sends off many slender 

 fibres, and grows in a horizontal direction ; the ste7ns, several of 

 which rise from the same root, are simple, erect, smooth, obscurely 

 quadrangular, of a purple color, and rise from twelve to twenty, 

 inches in height ; the leaves are ovate, entire, sessile, somewhat undu- 

 lated, of a deep green color, and stand in pairs upon the stem; the 

 flowers are large, funnel-shaped, and terminate the stem in a spike ; 

 the calyx divides into five, long, narrow, pointed, smooth segments; 

 the corolla is monopetalous, consisting of a long tube, gradually 

 swelling towards the middle, of a bright purplish red color, and 

 divided at the mouth into five jiointed segments, which are yellow 

 on the inside; \he^\\ejilaments are the length of the stamens, and 

 crowned with halberd-shaped anthers; the germen is small, ovate, 

 placed above the insertion of the corolla, furnished with joints near 

 its base, supports a round style, which is longer than the corolla, 

 bearded towards the extremity, and supplied with an obtuse stigma; 

 the capsule is double, two-celled, and contains many small angular 

 plano-convex seeds. It is a native of South Carolina, and most of 

 the South-western States, being seldom if ever found north of the 

 potomac. It grows in rich soils on the borders of woods, and flow- 

 ers from May till July. 



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