750 



VI N 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VIN 



procumbent ; corolla blue. A hardy annual. Native of 

 Algiers. 



25. Vicia Calcarata. Leaflets linear-lanceolate, obtuse ; 

 stipules forked ; peduncles one-flowered, shorter than the 

 leaf, having a short spur below the flower ; legumes smooth, 

 drooping; corolla pale blue, or red, with bluish veins. The 

 stem is angular, decumbent, and two feet long. It is a 

 hardy annual, flowering in July and August. Native of 

 Barbary. 



Villaria; a genus of the class Dicecia, order Pentandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 five-parted, spreading, permanent ; segments roundish, ob- 

 tuse, concave, coriaceous, thinner at the edge, almost equal, 

 too more interior. Corolla: petals five, oblong, obtuse, flat, 

 spreading, coriaceous, thinner at the edge, twice as long as 

 the calix, permanent. Stamina : filamenta five, awl-shaped, 

 erect, smaller by half than the calix ; antheree roundish, twin. 

 Pistil: germen orbicular, depressed ; style very short; stig- 

 mas capitate. Female. Calix and Corolla : as in the male ; 

 nectary leaflets five, ovate, obtuse, erect, alternate with the 

 petals, and shorter, permanent. Pistil: germen ovate, tur- 

 binate ; style very short, scarcely any ; stigma capitate, sub- 

 trifid. Pericarp : berry subglobular, pointed, with the per- 

 manent style three-celled. Seeds: solitary. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Male. Calix: in five deep segments. Corolla: of 

 five petals. Nectary : none. Germen: orbicular, imperfect. 

 Female. Calix and Petals: like the male. Nectary: of five 

 leaves, alternate with the petals. Style : one. Berry : of 

 three cells. Seeds: solitary. This genus has not yet been 

 accurately ascertained. It consists of such species of Meny- 

 anthes as have the corolla only partially covered with hairs, 

 and the margin of whose segments is thin and inflexed in 

 the bud : the leaves also are simple, and not ternate. 



Vinca; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono^ynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, five- 

 parted, erect, acute, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, salver- 

 shaped ; tube longer than the calix, cylindric below, wider 

 above, marked with five lines, the mouth a pentagon ; border 

 horizontal, five-parted ; segments fastened to the apex of the 

 tube, wider outwards, and obliquely truncate. Stamina: 

 filamenta five, very short, inflexed and retroflexed; antherse 

 inembranaceous, obtuse, erect, curved in, fariniferous on both 

 sides at the edge. Pistil: germina two, roundish, with two 

 roundish little bodies lying by their sides ; style one, common 

 to both, cylindric, length of the stamina; stigma capitate, 

 concave, placed on a flat ring. Pericarp : follicles tw'o, 

 round, long, acuminate, erect, one-valved, opening longitu- 

 dinally. Seeds: numerous, oblong, cylindric, grooved, naked. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: one petalled, contorted. 

 Follicles: two, erect. Seeds: naked. The species are, 



I . Vinca Minor ; Small Periwinkle. Steins procumbent ; 

 haves elliptic-lanceolate, smooth at tlie edge; flowers pe- 

 duncled ; calix-teeth lanceolate. Root erennial, creeping, 

 with branched fibres. The whole plant is smooth and shin- 

 ing; flowers axilldVy, alternate, solitary; cotolia blue, with a 

 white eye, varying to purple and white. Whoever looks into 

 the tube of this flower with any degree of attention, must 

 be struck with the wisdom displayed in its formation. Each 

 anthera is terminated by a membrane which bends over at 

 top, and the membranes of all the antherae closing together, 

 effectually seclude every thing that might injure the sub- 

 jacent parts of the fructification. The filamenta are shaped 

 somewhat like the note of interrogation (?) ; the antherse in 

 structure are very similar to those of the Violet, opening 

 inwardly in the same manner; the style, which in most 

 flowers is broadest at top. is heie the slenderest; they are 



two in number, but so closely united, that without a mag- 

 nifier the division is scarcely to be perceived. Linneus says, 

 the stigmas are two ; but it is most probable that the lowest, 

 which is flat, with a glutinous edge, and forms a kind of ring 

 round the style, is the true stigma : the top is a little elevated 

 above this, and appears like a round white ball, which when 

 magnified is found to consist of a number of hairs diverging 

 from one centre, and affords a very pleasing spectacle in a 

 microscope. It varies much in the colour of its flowers, as 

 pale blue, purple, and white : the flowers also occur double, 

 and the foliage is sometimes variegated, either with white or 

 yellow stripes. At the foot of a sheltered hedge, exposed to 

 the morning sun, it flourishes very much, especially if the 

 soil be moist ; the flowers are there very ornamental in spring, 

 and continue a month or six weeks. Native of Germany, 

 Switzerland, France, Italy, and Britain. It has been noticed 

 in Lordship Lane, near Dulwich, on the west of Hampstead 

 Heath ; in great abundance going from Primrose Hill to 

 Hampstead, in a lane between the Common and Hayes 

 church ; and plentifully below Inglewell church, near Graves- 

 end ; also a mile beyond Bexley on the Dartford road, in 

 Kent ; by the side of the paling of Mistley park ; between 

 Milton, near Swanscomb, and Knockhill; and at the bottom 

 of a lane leading from Eltham to Southend, in the Foot's 

 Cray Road, Essex ; about two miles and a half from Croydon 

 on the way to Coombe, and at Cobham, in Surry; and in 

 various other parts of the kingdom. This, and the next 

 species, are easily propagated by their trailing stalks, which 

 put out roots very freely : if the stalks of the large sort be 

 laid in the ground, they will root very soon, and may be cut 

 off, and transplanted, and when once rooted, they will spread 

 and multiply rapidly, without further attention. 



2. Vinca Major; Great Periwinkle. Stems nearly erect ; 

 leaves ovate, ciliate ; flowers peduncled ; calix-teeth bristle- 

 shaped, elongated. This is larger than the preceding in all 

 its parts ; flowers solitary, alternate, on peduncles half the 

 length of the leaves : they are large, and of a pale blue, with 

 a whitish mouth, varying to white. It has been doubted 

 whether these plants are really wild in England ; they pro- 

 bably escaped originally out of gardens, and increasing so 

 readily, have gradually diffused themselves. They delight 

 to grow under the cover of trees or bushes, and may be made 

 ornamental in large gardens ; if planted on the verges of 

 wildernesses, where they will spread and cover the ground, 

 they will have a good effect in winter, as their leaves con- 

 tinue green all the year; and during great part of the sum- 

 mer, their flowers will add to the variety. The flowers are 

 cooling, emollient, and gently purgative, but they lose the 

 greatest part of these virtues in drying, and as they can only 

 be had fresh in the spring, the best method of using them 

 is in form of a syrup, which, when carefully made, is very 

 pleasant, and contains all the virtues of the flower. It is 

 excellent, mixed with a small quantity of oil, to keep the 

 bowels of children gently open, and may likewise be given 

 with great success against habitual costiveness in grown 

 people ; it is also good in coughs, hoarsenesses, and other 

 disorders of the breast. The seeds, dried and powdered, 

 work gently by stool, increase the urinary discharge, and are 

 excellent in the gravel, and all complaints of the kidneys and 

 bladder. A decoction of the leaves is frequently an in- 

 gredient in clysters, for softening and lubricating the bowels. 

 Native of France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Algiers, and 

 England ; in the latter it occurs oftener than the preceding spe- 

 cies, in moist woods and under hedges. It has been observed 

 between Wandsworth and Putney Common, under Lord Stor- 

 mont's park-pales; and in a field near Beckenbam, in Kent.' 





