238 HEXANDfelA. TRIGYNIA. 



Nos. 2 and 3 are indig-enous to Europe as well as Ame- 

 rica; there is also 1 species at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and 2 of doubtful genus in Peru. 



351. ^GYROMIA.j Medeola. L. (Indian Cu- 

 cumber.) 



Corolla 6-parted, involute. Calix none. Fila- 

 ments and anthers distinct. Stifles none; stigmas 

 3, filiform and divaricate, united at the base. 

 Berry 3-celled, cells 5 or 6-seeded. Seeds com- 

 pressed, 3-sided. 



Root an oblong fleshy tuber; stem simple, erect; leaves 

 verticillated; flowers terminal aggreg-ate. 



Species. 1. G. virghnca. Called " Indian Cucumbei'" 

 from a far fetched idea of resemblance either in the form 

 or flavour of the root. Germ and berry always many-seed- 

 ed, the latter dark purple when ripe; stigmas long, fili- 

 form, horizontally divaricated, almost imperceptibly glan- 

 dular, and grooved on the upper side. Stem with a single 

 sheath near the base, deciduouslylanuginous. Leaves ver- 

 ticillated in the middle of the stem, 6 to 9, elliptic-lanceo- 

 late, acuminate; at the summit of the stem in 3s, vei-y 

 rarely and then unequally in 4s, oval-lanceolate. Flowers 

 aggregated from 3 to 6. 



^. * picta. Floral leaves in 5s or 6s, oval acute, crim- 

 son-red near the base; flowers numerous, 9 to 12;ierries 

 tuberous, many-seeded, (12 to 15.) — Hab. On the shady 

 banks of Laurel creek, near Morgantown, North Carolina. 

 I have given it merely as a variety, not being in posses- 

 sion of satisfactory specimens, seeing it merely in fruit. 



A North American genus, confining Medeola to the 2 

 African species which are said to have a berry of 3 seeds. 

 The present genus, with a berry of 3 cells and many 

 seeds, approaches consequently to Trillium and Paris. 



f From ywfof, a circle, in reference to its verticillated leaves; 

 a habit which lead the celebrated A. L. Jiissieu justly to doubt of 

 its genuine afllinity with the 2 African species oi Medeola upon 

 which the genus has been evidently founded, having a berry 

 containing 3 cordate seeds. Changes of names, though doubtless 

 unwelcome, must in these cases continue to be adopted, so long 

 as we shall be inclined to prefer truth to error. Michaux has 

 long ago asserted that the Medeola asparagoides did not belong 

 to the same genus as M. invginicaf without^ however, pointing' 

 oul a distinction. 



