1-24 FAMILIAR WILD 



the former, neither in stalke nor leafe, neither in forme or 

 height, but only in the colour of the flower, which is white 

 as the other is red." The stamens are live in number; 

 their anthers have a curious way of twisting themselves 

 round after they have shed their pollen. This spiral twist 

 is a very marked feature in the genus ; though a point too 

 small to show in our illustration, it may be readily nated 

 in the living plant. It is one of the distinctive points 

 between the plants of this genus and those of gentiaua, 

 many of the plants of which greatly resemble the centaury 

 in general structure. The style is single, but terminates 

 in two stigmas. Almost all the plants of the order 

 Gentianacefe possess eminently bitter and medicinal quali- 

 ties, and the centaury is no exception. It is, indeed, so 

 bitter that the old herbalists call itfel terra, or earth-gall, 

 and the Anglo-Saxon name is equivalent in meaning to 

 this. As this bitterness had a healing and tonic effect 

 attributed to it, we sometimes find the centaury called the 

 Febrifuga ; Culpepper, we see, says of it, " 'Tis very whole- 

 some, but not very toothsome." 



