586 PYROLA. [CLASS X. ORDER I. 



petals, toothed above, plain, and slightly united at the base, smaller 

 than the calyx, and of the same colour as the rest of the plant. Sta- 

 mens in the lateral flowers eight, in the terminal one ten. Filaments 

 erect, linear, shorter than the corolla, and alternately smaller, with 

 small glands at the base between them. Anthers kidney-shaped, of 

 one cell, two lipped. Style short, erect, cylindrical. Stigmas large, 

 funnel -shaped, with a thick fleshy border. Capsule ovate, four or five 

 furrowed, four or five celled, with as many valves. Seeds numerous, 

 attached to a central placenta, small, rarely perfected, enveloped in a 

 reticulated arillus. 



Habitat. Amongst the decayed roots and leaves in woods and 

 plantations, especially of fir or beech ; not very common in England ; 

 less frequent in Scotland ; St. Catherine's Woods, County of Dublin, 

 and Moore Abbey, County of Kildare, Ireland. Dr. Wade. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



The variety (3. hirsuta is remarkable in having the inner surface of 

 the petals, the stamens, and pistils, and frequently the calyx and 

 bractea hairy, while the stem amongst the flowers is downy. It does 

 not appear otherwise to differ from the common slate of the plant, but 

 is much rarer. 



GENUS II. PYR'OLA. LINN. Winter-green. 

 Nat. Ord. MONO'TROPEJE. Ntnr. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx five-cleft, persistent. Petals five, slightly united 

 at the base. Style longer than the stamens. Filaments awl- 

 shaped, with two-celled anthers, appendiculated at the base. 

 Capsule superior, of five cells, dehiscing at the angles at the base. 

 Seeds numerous, invested with a winged arillus. Named from 

 Pyrus, a pear ; from the fancied resemblance of its leaves to those 

 of the Pear-tree. 



* PYROL.E. GENUINE. Koch. Filaments ascending at the base, awl- 

 shaped ; valves of the capsules united with woolly hairs ; leaves 

 with netted veins, as prominent on the upper as the under side. 

 1. P. rolundifo'lia, Linn. (Fig. 660 ) Round-leaved Winter-green. 

 Flowers drooping, racemed ; leaves obovate, rotundate, slightly cre- 

 nated ; style much longer than the ascending stamens, bent down at 

 the base, curved upwards at the extremity ; calyx segments lanceolate, 

 acuminate, about half as long as the corolla. 



English Botany, t. 21 3. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 255. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 192. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 175. 



Root fibrous, with creeping underground scaly stems. Leaves four 

 or five at the base of the stem, obovate, or more frequently orbicular, 

 with the margin more or less distinctly crenated, and often slightly 



