202 ISNARDIA. [CLASS iv. ORDEB i. 



Habitat. Alpine and mountainous districts in the North of England. 

 Plentiful in Scotland. Brandon Mountain, County of Kerry, aiid Ben 

 Bulben, County of Sligo, Ireland. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



Few of our native plants are more elegant than this, and none sur- 

 pass it in the beauty of its foliage, especially in the splendid silvery 

 appearance of its under side. 



3. A. arven'sis, Sm. (Fig. 258.) Field Lady's Mantle, or Parsley 

 Piert. Leaves in three deep and irregularly cut lobes, pubescent. 



English Botany, t. 1011. English Flora, vol. i. p. 225. Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 103. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 73. 



Root small, fibrous. Stems numerous, more or less prostrate, much 

 branched, very leafy, and from four to six inches long, round, and 

 clothed with soft spreading hairs. Leaves alternate, on short stalks, 

 downy, in three deep lobes, each of which is irregularly cut. Stipules 

 large, irregularly cut. Inflorescence small axillary clusters of pale- 

 green, hairy flowers. Stamens varying in number from one to four. 



Habitat. Sandy or gravelly situations on the lops of old walls, &c, 

 frequent. 



Annual ; flowering during the summer months. 



GENUS XV. ISNAR'DIA. LINN. Isnardia. 

 Nat. Ord. ONAGRA'RIE.E. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx superior, the limb of four lobes, persistent. Petals 

 four, or wanting. Stigma capitate. Capsule obovate, with four 

 angles, four valves, four cells, and many-seeded. Named after 

 Antoine d'lsnard, a Botanist and Professor at Paris, in the begin- 

 ning of the last century. 



1. /. palus'tris, Linn. (Fig. 259.) Marsh Isnardia. Stem procum- 

 bent, rooting, smooth ; leaves opposite, ovate, acute, tapering at 

 the base into the footstalk ; flowers axillary, solitary, sessile, with- 

 out petals. 



Hooker, in English Botany, Supplement, t. 2595. English Flora, 

 vol. i. p. 223. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 109. Hooker, British Flora, vol. 

 j. p. 73. 



Root with long, creeping underground stems, putting out numerous 

 branched fibres from the lower joints of the prostrate stem. Stem 

 round, and, as well as all other parts of the plant, quite smooth, with 

 opposite branches, reddish above, darker below. Leaves opposite, entire 

 ovate, acute, tapering at the base into a short footstalk, which is reddish, 

 and terminates in the leaf in a branched midrib, somewhat succulent, 



