WATER MOUSE-EAR EXAMINED. 65 



EDWARD. 



It is the first, Monogynia, for I see only one 

 pistil, which has remained in the calyx. 



MOTHER. 



Very well. " The calyx is a cup, with five ob- 

 " long sharp divisions. The blossom is of one petal ; 

 " the border has five blunt divisions, very slightly 

 " notched at the ends ; the mouth, or upper part, 

 " of the tube is closed with five small projecting 

 <6 parts, called Valves: the stamens are placed in 

 " the neck of the tube, and the filaments are very 

 "short; the anthers small, and covered by the 

 " valves. The style is as long as the tube of the 

 "blossom. There is no seed-vessel, but the cup 

 " enlarges as the seeds ripen, and contains them 

 " within it. In this species, Myoso'tis palus'tris, 

 " the leaves are spear-shaped, the seeds smooth, 

 " and the calyx funnel-shaped, with straight and 

 " close-pressed hairs." 



EDWARD. 



I think I shall always know Mouse-ear, when I 

 see it, by the little valves in the middle of the 

 blossom. 



MOTHER. 



These do form one of the principal characters of 



the genus : but you must attend besides to the other 



circumstances that I have mentioned; for there 



are other genera of the same class and order, which 



F 



