GENTIAN ACE J^.. 69 



remote from the base of the calyx. Calyx-segments lanceolate- 

 'subulate. Corolla-tube at length exceeding the calyx-segments, 

 often one-half or one-third longer ; limb of 5 strapshaped-lanceolate 

 sub-acute segments, one-third to one-fourth the length of the full- 

 grown tube. Capsule cylindrical, slightly exceeding the calyx. 

 Plant glabrous. 



In fields, meadows, and damp sandy places, especially near the 

 sea. Not uncommon in England; apparently rare in Scotland, 

 where Dumfries is the only locality where it is certainly known to 

 occur. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual or biennial. 

 Late Summer and Autumn. 



Stem very variable in height, sometimes little more than 

 1 inch and at others above a foot high, in the larger specimens 

 much branched, and then looking very distinct from all the other 

 British species of Erythrcea. The distant and solitary flowers in the 

 axils of the forks and at the apices of the branches, prevent this 

 form from being confounded with any of the others. There is, how- 

 ever, a condensed form, which has been found by Mr. P. C. Watson 

 in Guernsey, in which the flowers are aggregated as in the preceding 

 species, from the lateral branches being extremely short. In this 

 case the principal difference from E. Centaurium is the long slender 

 calyx-tube, which at length is about J inch long, and the small 

 spreading star-like pink limb of the corolla scarcely J inch across, 

 so that the proportion of the tube to the limb is much greater in 

 this than in any other species. The flowers, even in the condensed 

 state, are more distinctly stalked, and the lateral ones with the 

 bracts not close to the base of the calyx. Possibly, however, even 

 this may prove to be but a sub-species of E. Centaurium. Mr. Ben- 

 tham unites them all, though he is probably unacquainted with 

 E. latifolia, as he only quotes the abbreviate form of E. Centau- 

 rium in Eng. Bot. Sup., and the condensed state of E. pulchella 

 of Eng. Bot. ed. i. to represent it. 



Slender Centaury. 



French, Erythree J^legante. German, Heidliches Tausenidgilldenkraut. 



GENUS II— Q I C E N D I A. Admis. 



Calyx 4- (or rarely 5-) toothed or -partite. Segments not 

 winged. Corolla funnelshaped-salvershaped, persistent and wither- 

 ing ; tube short ; limb 4- (rarely 5-) partite. Stamens 4 (rarely 5), 

 inserted in the throat of the corolla ; anthers exserted, not spirally 

 twisted after the pollen is shed. Style distinct, simple, deciduous ; 



