GENTIANACEiE. 67 



three principal groups. The flowers themselves are more than twice 

 the size, and only a few arc open at one time. The calyx- segments 

 are much more slender, and twice as long. The corolla-tube is 

 much longer, and the segments of the limb broader, not tapering 

 towards the apex, but widest in the middle. 



Narrow-leaved Centaury. 



SPECIES III.— ERYTH RiE A CENTAURIUM. Pers. 



Plate DCCCCIX. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Genu, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MLXI. Fig. 1. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 55. 



Chironia Centaurium, Curtis. Sni. Eng. Bot. ed. i. No. 417. 



Stem stout and elongated, or short and slender, slightly flex- 

 uous. Radical leaves obovate or oval, obtuse ; stem-leaves oblong- 

 oval or oblong-elliptical, sub-obtuse ; all 3- to 7-nerved. Plowers 

 in rather compact corymbose or head-like fasciculate cymes, the 

 central flower of each fork of the cyme sessile, the lateral ones 

 shortly stalked and with 2 bracts close to the base of the calyx. 

 Calyx-segments rather short, lanceolate-triangular. Corolla-tube 

 considerably exceeding the calyx-segments, at length usually twice 

 as long ; limb of 5 oval-obtuse segments, shorter than the full- 

 grown tube. Capsule cylindrical, considerably longer than the 

 calyx. Plant wholly glabrous ; the calyx and margins of the leaves 

 not puberulent. 



In fields, meadoAvs, and damp places, especially on chalky 

 soils, and rather partial to the seacoast. Common, and generally 

 distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual (?) or biennial. 

 Late Summer. 



Stem 2 to 18 inches high, single or several from the crown of the 

 root. Leaves very variable in breadth, but generally about twice as 

 long as broad, the broader forms with more numerous nerves than 

 the narrower ones. Elowers pink, rather numerous. Corolla-tube 

 at length J to f inch long ; limb slightly concave, about f inch 

 across. 



A polymorphous species, in some of its forms closely resembling 

 E. latifolia, from which it differs by its larger flowers, longer mature 

 corolla-tube, and much larger and more oval segments of the corolla- 

 limb. In E. latifolia the lateral branches of the corymb are con- 

 siderably, more spreading than in E. Centaurium ; and in stunted 

 specimens of the latter, which are most likely to be mistaken for 

 E. latifolia, they are frequently absent. 



