ClAJSIV. ORDER I.J EPIMEDIUM. 197 



with a large inflated nectary at the base. Pod oblong, two-valved, 

 one-celled, many-seeded. " Name of obscure origin ; applied by 

 Dioscorides to some plant which grew plentifully in Media." 

 Hook. 



1. E. alpi'num, Linn. (Fig. 252.) alpine Barrenwort. Root- leaves 

 none; stem-leaf twice ternate. 



English Botany, t. 438. English Flora, vol. i. p. 219. Lindlcy, 

 Synopsis, p. 14. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 71. 



Root slender, somewhat creeping. Stems erect, about a foot high, 

 round, smooth, tender, each bearing a twice or thrice compound leaf. 

 Leaflets from one to two inches long, heart-shaped, extremely delicate, 

 veiny, smooth above, glaucous, and somewhat hairy beneath; the mar- 

 gins ciliated, and more or less finely serrated; the lateral leaflets 

 obliquely heart-shaped, the stalk of each swollen at its insertion. In- 

 florescence an irregular branched panicle, arising from the swollen base 

 of the leaf, elegantly drooping, and bearing a number of very beautiful 

 and singular flowers ; their footstalks with glandular hairs, and having 

 at the base one or two small scales. Calyx of four inferior, ovate, con- 

 cave, green pieces, falling away as the flower expands. Corolla of four 

 dark, blood-red, ovate, concave, spreading petals, each having at its 

 base a curious, large, yellow, inflated, membranous nectary. Anthers 

 very curious, formed of two oblong parallel cells, each opening from 

 the bottom to the top by an elastic valve, which, bursting at the bot- 

 tom, rolls upwards, and allows the discharge of the pollen. Pod 

 oblong, pointed, of one cell, formed by two valves, and containing 

 numerous seeds. 



Habitat. Subalpine woods and mountain thickets ; very rare. 

 Bingley Woods, about six miles from North Bierley, and Fountain's 

 Abbey, Yorkshire. On Carrock Fell and Skiddaw, Cumberland. About 

 the ruins of Mugdoch Castle, near Glasgow. Hunters' Tryste, near 

 Edinburgh, 



Perennial ; flowering in May and June. 



The singular flowers of this remarkable and pretty plant will richly 

 repay ihe student for a careful investigation of their curious structure. 

 The sepals of the calyx, the petals of the corolla, the nectaries, and 

 stamens, are all inserted opposite each other, and not alternate, as is 

 found to be the arrangement of most flowers. It is a doubtful natu- 

 ralised plant, and perhaps ought not to be admitted into the list of the 

 British Flora. It is cultivated in the flower-garden, and will grow in 

 any situation, but flourishes best in the shade : its pale-green, delicate, 

 pendent leaves, trembling with each circling breeze, and its rather large, 

 graceful panicle of singular-looking flowers, give it an extremely 

 pleasing and interesting appearance. 



