19G CENTUNCULUS— EriMEDIDM [iLASS iv. ORDER 1. 



This plant, frequently called Star of the Earth, vaiies greatly in size 

 and hairiness. We have specimens with leaves not an inch lonp, and 

 other specimens with them more than fonr ; the scapes varying in the 

 s3,nie proportion; and the spike varies from small and ovate, with few 

 flowers, or cylindrical, two inches long, and closely imbricated. 



GENUS X. CENTUN'CULUS. Linn. Chafwecd. 



Nat. Ord. Pkuiula'ce.e. 



Gen.Char. Corolla of one piece, the tube swelling, the limb four- 

 cleft. Stamens short. Capsule of one cell, many-seeded, bursting 

 with a transverse incision. — " Name, it appears, anciently given to 

 Pimpernel, a genus allied to this ; and derived, according toTheis, 

 from cento, a covering, because it was a little weed that covered 

 the cultivated fields." — Hook. 



1. C. min'imns, Linn. (Fig. 251.) small Chaffirced, or Bastard Pim- 

 ■perncl. Flowers sessile ; corolla without glands at the base. — Sm. 



English Botany, t. 531.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 217. — Lindlcy, 

 Synopsis, p. 183. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 71. 



Root small, fibrous. Stem erect, from one to two inches high, sim- 

 ple or branched at the base, slightly angular, smooth, and leafy. Leaves 

 opposite below, alternate above, ovate, sessile, entire, smooth, and 

 spreading. Flowers very minute, sessile at the base of the leaf, solitary, 

 of short duration, and expanding only in the brilliant sunshine. Cah/x 

 with four lanceolate, acute segments. Corolla white or pale pink, 

 shorter than the calyx, withering and remaining upon the capsule; its 

 tube almost globular ; the limb in four ovate, acute, spreading seg- 

 ments. Capsule globose, crowned by the persistent style, bursting all 

 round with a, transverse incision, and containing numerous angular 

 seeds, fixed upon a central receptacle. 



Habitat. — Moist sandy or gravelly places, about London ; in Kent, 

 Norfolk, Suffolk; the Lowlands of Scotland ; marshes at GlengarifT, on 

 the Ross Islands, County of Donegal, coast near Colerainc, Ireland, 

 but not common. 



Annual ; flowering in June and July. 



This is one of the least of our flowering plants, seldom exceeding 

 (wo inches in height, and very slender. It is nearly allied to Anar/alli'^. 



GENUS XI. EPIMK'DIUM. Linn. Barremmrt. 



Nat. Old. I?EIll!Eni'DE.T.. 



Gen. Char. Calyx of four pieces, deciduous. Petals four, inferior, 



