142 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



GENUS IV.— T RIENTALIS. Linn. 



Calyx 5- to 7-partite, free from the ovary. Corolla deciduous, 

 rotate, slightly concave, without any tube, 5- to 7-partite. Stamens 

 5 to 7. Capsule globular, slightly fleshy, opening at the apex by 

 5 valves, which are at length deciduous. Seeds few, amphitropous. 



Herbs with slender rootstocks and erect stems. Lower leaves 

 alternate, few, the ujjper ones larger and arranged in a terminal 

 rosette. Peduncles terminal, 1-flowered; flowers erect, Avhite. 



The origin of the name of this genus of plants seems to be very doubtful. It has 

 undoubtedly something to do with the number three, but all writers are so indefinite 

 as to its origin that we do not venture to fix its derivation. 



SPECIES L— T RIENTALIS EUROPE A. Linn, 



Plate MCXXXES. 



Eekh. Ic. PL Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MLXXXIII. Fig. 1. 

 Billot, Fl. GaU. et Germ. Exsicc. No. 439. 



Leaves elliptical-oblanceolate or clliptical-obovate, nearly entire. 

 Calyx segments linear-strapshaped, acute. 



In fir woods, and on heaths, in hilly districts. Rather rare. Li Eng- 

 land confined to the northern counties, from York and north Lanca,shire. 

 Generally distributed in Scotland, tliough apparently absent from 

 the south-western counties, and also from Caithness, Sutherland, and 

 Orkney, though it reappears m Shetland. 



England, Scotland. Perennial. Summer. 



Rootstock very slender, creeping, white, with an enlargement at the 

 point from which the flowering stem is sent u]) ; the latter wiry, 3 to 

 9 mches high, leafless or with 1 or 2 minute leaves towards the base, 

 terminating in an irregular rosette of spreading leaves. Leaves 1 to 

 3 inches long, varying much in breadth, but usually attenuated more 

 towards the base than the apex; they are slightly convex above, 

 smooth, glabrous, and shining, often tinged with ^Jurplish red late in 

 the year, the lower ones generally obtuse, and those of the rosette 

 acute. Peduncles filiform, produced from the axils of the leaves, 

 rarely more than 2 or 3 on each stem. Flowers erect. Calyx divided 

 nearly to the base into 6 or 7 (rarely 8 or 9) slender spreading seg- 

 ments. Corolla saucershaped-rotate, with as many segments as there 

 are divisions in the calyx, pure white, about | inch across. Capsule 

 about the size of a sweet pea seed, the valves soon fiiUing off, and having 

 the seeds attached to the central placenta. Seeds minute, irregularly 

 hexagonal, depressed, greyi.sh white, thickly and deeply punctate, 



Duckioeed Winter-green. 



French, Tricntale d'Eurojic. German, Europdisclier Liebenstern. 



