CLASS V. ORDER I. I ERYTHR^A. 267 



from the swollen and increasing size of the leech, we supposed he was 

 making a very hearty meal at the expence of the vivifying blood of the 

 poor animal. We watched them some time ; but the frog, what with 

 exhaustion from the loss of blood, the exertion it had made, and the 

 flight which it appeared to be in, leaped upon a leaf of the Villarsia, a 

 bark which being unable to sustain such a cargo, sunk, and its 

 burden disappeared. 



GENUS XVIII. ERYTHR^'A.— Renealm. Centaury. 



Nat. Ord. Gentian'KjE. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla funnel-sliaped, its limb short. 



Anthers after bursting spirally twisted. Style erect. Stigmas 



two. Capsule linear, of two cells, with the margin of the valves 



turned inwards. — Name from i^v^^o,;, red, the colour of the flowers 



in most of the species. 



1. E. Centau'rium, Pers. (Fig. 338). common Centaury. Stem 



somewhat branched ; leaves ovate oblong ; flowers nearly -sessile, in 



fasciculated corymbs. Calyx half as long as the tube of the corolla. 



The segments of the corolla oval. 



English Flora, vol. i. p. 321. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 109. 

 — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 178 — Chironia Centaiirium. — English Botany, 

 t. 417. — Oentiana Centaurium. Linn. 



Root tapering, with branched fibres. Stem erect, simple, or mostly 

 with short branches, from eight to eighteen inches high, smooth, square. 

 Leaves opposite, smooth, sessile, the radical ones bright green, some- 

 times on short broad footstalks, spreading, mostly broader than those 

 of the stem, all ovate oblong, with three main ribs, in luxuriant speci- 

 mens, the lower ones have five, and the upper ones in distant pairs are 

 narrower, and become somewhat lanceolate. Injlorescence a branched, 

 more or less dense fasciculated corymb. Flowers numerous, nearly 

 sessile, each little pedicle having a narrow bractea, and sometimes 

 round, the base of the calyx there are several small awl-shaped 

 scales. Calyx in five deep linear segments, with a pale narrow mem- 

 branous margin, about half the length of the tube of the corolla. 

 Corolla salver-shaped. The tube long, pale, with numerous slender 

 veins. The limb a beautiful pink, of five ovate segments, spreading 

 only in the sunshine, closed in the dark, and cloudy weather, and im- 

 mediately after gathering the plant. Stamens inserted around the 

 contracted orifice of the tube. The filaments slender, threadshaped, 

 about half as long as the limb of the corolla. Anthers oblong, of two 

 cells, becoming spirally twisted after the escape of the pollen. Pistil 



