192 PLANTAGO. [^I.A$S IV. ORDER I. 



the valves. — Name from " f|, out, and ayw, to conduct ; anciently 

 applied to the Eri/t/irre'a Centau' rium , a genus allied to this, and 

 which was supposed to have the property of ejecting poisons from 

 the stomach." 



]. E.fiUfor'ine, Smith, (Fig. 24.3.) least GenllanelUi. Leaves linear, 

 lanceolate, sessile ; stem hranchcd, slender ; flower-stalks long. 



English Botany, t. 23.5.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 212.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 177. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 70. 



Root of numerous small branched fibres. Stem slender, erect, from 

 one to four inclies high, with mostly opposite branches, arising from 

 the base of the small, opposite, lanceolate leaves ; the lower ones largest, 

 spatulate. Flowers small, yellow, solitaiy, on long, slender stalks 

 Calyx of one piece, divided nearly half way down into five acute seg- 

 ments, with membranous edges. Corolla salver- shaped, the tube longer 

 than the calyx, thin and pale, minutely doited, globose, and enlarging 

 with the capsule ; the limb yellow, of four spreading, acute segments, 

 imbricated in the bud, and expanding only on bright sunny days. 

 Stamens alternating with the segments ; the anthers oblong, of two 

 cells, bursting longitudinally. Style slender, terminating in a rather 

 large, capitate stigma. Capsule ovate, compressed, of one cell, opening 

 by two valves, the margins of which are considerably inflexed, so as to 

 apparently divide it into two cells. Seeds small, numerous, attached 

 to the margins of the cells. 



Habitat. — Sandy or turfy bogs, in the South and South-west of 

 England, as Dorsetshire, Cornwall, Devonshire, Sussex, and Guernsey 

 Near Cork, on Dursey Island, and at Glengarifl', in Ireland. 



Annual; flowering in July. 



This plant is nearly allied to the Gentians, from whicli it difi'ers in 

 the number of the stamens, and the divisions of the calyx and corolla. 



GENUS IX. PLANTA'GO. I-inn. Plantain. 



Nat. Ord. Plantagi'ne^. 



Gen. Char. Corolla of one piece, with four reflexed segments. Sta- 

 mens very long. Capsule of two or four cells, membranous, two- 

 or many-seeded, bursting with a transverse incision. — Name from 

 plania, the sole of the foot ; cither on account of the shape of the 

 leaves, or because it grows frequently by road-sides, and is trodden 

 iipon. 



* Leaves ovate. 



1. P.ma'jor, T.inn. (Fig. 244.) greater Plantain. r,cavt's broadly 

 ovate, on longish footstalks ; spike very long, cyUndrical ; cells of 

 the capsule many-seeded. 



