CLASS XIII. ORDER II.] AQUILEGIA. 775 



used with advantage as an anthelmintic, but from its violent action it 

 has now fallen out of use. The H. niger is still retained in our 

 materia medica, and used as a drastic cathartic, and has been thought 

 useful in cases of mania, melancholia, &c. ; but from its action being so 

 violent, other less objectionable medicines have been substituted for it. 

 It is frequently cultivated in our gardens, and from its being in bloom 

 about Christmas it has obtained the name of Christmas Rose. 



GENUS XIV. AQUILEGIA.— Linn. Columbine. 



Nat. Ord. Ranuncula'ce^. De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Calyx deciduous, of five coloured petaloid pieces. Petals 

 five, prolonged at the base into a horn-shaped spur. Capsules 

 three to five. — Name from Aquila, an Eagle ; from the supposed 

 resemblance of the spurs to an Eagle's claws. 



1. A, vulga'ris, Linn. (Fig. 877.) Common Columbine. Spur of the 

 petals incurved at the point ; capsules hairy ; stem leafy, many 

 flowered ; leaves biternate, smooth ; leaflets three lobed, crenated ; 

 styles as long as the stamens. 



English Botany, t. 297. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 33.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 3, vol. i. p. 216. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 13. 



Root tuberous. Stem from two to three feet high, erect, roundish, 

 smooth, or slightly downy above, and branched, leafy, or nearly 

 naked. Leaves twice ternate, smooth, or slightly downy, with three- 

 lobed deeply and unequally crenated .leaflets, a cheerful green 

 above, glaucous beneath, the lower and radical leaves on long round 

 footstalks, the upper with broadly dilated ones, and short. Flowers 

 few, in a terminal panicle, pendulous, on downy round peduncles. 

 Calyx of five deciduous ovate oblong petaloid pieces. Petals five, 

 tubular, with an unequal dilated mouth, two lipped, the outer one 

 large, flat, and spreading, the inner very small, the base prolonged into 

 a tapering spur, hooked inwards, the apex terminated in a round gland, 

 which secretes a fluid which is retained in the curved extremity of the 

 tube. Stamens in seven circles of ten each, one opposite the other, 

 the outer circles with slender VmesLYjilaments, each inner row becoming 

 more dilated, the innermost one membranous, and mostly imperfect. 

 Anthers yellow, oblong, of two longitudinal cells. Germens five, ovate 

 oblong, downy, with simple awl-shaped styles, terminating in a simple 

 obtuse stigma. Capsules ovate oblong, membranous follicles. Seeds 

 numerous, ovate, smooth, attached to the inner edge of the vake. 



Habitat. — Woods and plantations ; not unfrequent. 



Perennial ; flowering in June. 



The Columbine is a commonly cultivated border flower, which fre- 

 quently becomes double, and of various colours, from its dark purple 



