384 



difficulty attending this investigation, than by giving the characters of 

 these plants and their varieties, with other essential particulars, as I 

 find them in Grisebach's elaborate * Genera et Species Gentianearum.' 

 I had intended to give the whole of the synonymes, but finding that 

 by so doing I should considerably lengthen my paper, I determined 

 on quoting merely the references to original authorities and the very 

 few British works. 



I may here remark that T have endeavoured to render all these trans- 

 lations as literal as possible, without any attempt at elegance of diction. 



Section IV. — Amarella, Gaud. Calyx entire, forming a tube. Corolla destitute 

 of the inteiinediate fold and glands, salver-shaped, internally furnished with a fringed 

 crown, (one species excepted). Stigmata two, distinct. Anthers free. Capsule gene- 

 rally sessile. Testa wingless. Eoot annual. Style none. 



-j- Stem erect, branched, branches many-flowered. 



43. Gentiana Amarella, L. Stem slender : radical leaves oval-spathulate, upper 

 ones ovate-lanceolate, sessile : lobes of the calyx lanceolate, subequal, shorter than the 

 tube of the corolla : crowned corolla half an inch long, tube cylindrical : linear-oblong 

 ovary and capsule sessile ! — From a living plant. 



G. Amarella, Lin. Sp. PL i. 334 ; * also of the Swedish botanical writers, of the 

 Linnsean herbarium (according to Dickson), and of Smith's specimens collected 

 near Upsal with Linnaeus by Ehrhart. Dried specimens, Dicks. Dried PL 5. 



p. uliginosa, W. ! Stem short, subsimple, few-flowered : leaves lanceolate : lobes 

 of the calyx rather unequal, about as long as the tube of the corolla: corolla slen- 

 der, generally 4-cleft, 4 lines long. This appears confined to the north of Ger- 

 many. Height, 1 to 4 inches. 



y. axillaris, Schm. Stem a foot or less in height, straight : upper leaves very acumi- 

 nate : cymes axillary, densely flowered, subsessile. Transitions to var. b. are 

 frequently met with. 



S. pyramidalis, W. herb. Stem straight, much branched, the branches forming a py- 

 ramid : cymes axillary, the lower ones on long peduncles, spreading. 



Description. — a. Stem slender, rather straight, 6 to 18 inches high, 

 with upright branches, or somewhat simple. Leaves an inch long, 

 shorter than the intemodes, their margins appearing serrulated under 

 a lens. Cyme raceme-like, sometimes few-flowered, occasionally com- 

 pound and forming a slender thyi'sus. Lobes of the calyx obtuse, as 

 long as the tube, scarcely half so long as the tube of the corolla. Co- 

 rolla blue ; its tube obconical ; the lobes elliptic-lanceolate, about 

 half the length of the tube. Stamina about as long as the tube. 



* The learned author observes, in a foot-note, that " The synonymes of the older 

 writers had better be devoted to eternal oblivion." 



