WOOD LOOSESTRIFE.— Z?/smacMa 



nemorum. 



Class Pentandria. Order Monogynia. Nat. Orel. Pemu- 



LACE^. — PeIMROSE TrIBE. 



This flower, whicli is called also Yellow Pim- 

 pernel, is very frequent in woods and copses, 

 and other shady places, from May till July. 

 The stems are weak, and trail over the ground, 

 and the foliage is of a remarkably light and 

 delicate green hue. It belongs to a genus of 

 plants once greatly valued, because of the 

 absurd notion entertained by the ancients, 

 that, when put upon the yokes of restive 

 oxen, they rendered them Q-entle and sub mis- 

 sive. Linnaeus says, that the genus was named 

 from Lysimachus, King of Sicily, who first 

 used it for this purpose ; and the Enghsh 

 word Loosestrife is a translation of its old 

 Greek name. The Wood species was called 

 in Gerarde's time Serpentaria ; because, as he 

 says, " If serpents be wounded they do heal 

 themselves with this herb." The Loosestrifes 

 have, however, notwithstanding their reputa- 

 tion, little beyond their beauty to recommend 

 them to our regard ; but they are all pretty 

 yellow flowers, some of them much more con- 

 spicuous than the little wood species, and often 

 very ornamental to the sides of streams and 



