Exacum.} GENTIANEAL . 185 



1. V. minor, Linn. Lesser Periwinkle. Stems procumbent ; 

 leaves elliptic-lanceolate, smooth-edged ; flowers stalked ; seg- 

 ments of the calyx lanceolate. Br. Fl. 1. p. 98. E. Fl. v. i. 

 p. 338. E. Bot. t. 917. 



Hedge-banks and woods. Woods at Castle-hyde, County of Cork ; 

 Mr. J. Drummond. Woods near Chapelizod, scarcely indigenous. 

 Fl. May, June. %. Stems round, of a woody texture, trailing. Leaves 

 of a dark shining green. Flowers solitary, an inch wide, violet blue ; 

 rarely white. 



2. V. major. Linn. Greater Periwinkle. Stems ascending ; 

 leaves ovate, fringed ; flowers stalked ; segments of the calyx 

 bristle-shaped, elongated. Br. Fl. 1. p. 98. E. Fl. v. i. p. 

 339. E. Bot. t. 514. 



In hedges, woods and old Church-yards, often planted. Fl. May. 

 %. Twice the size of the former in all its parts. Flowers generally 

 of a pale blue. Corolla often fringed with coarse hairs. 



ORD. 51. GENTIANE^E. Juss. Gentian Family. 



Calyx monophyllous, divided, persistent. Corolla monopeta- 

 lous, hypogynous, often regular, marcescent or deciduous ; the 

 limb divided, equal, the lobes agreeing in number with the seg- 

 ments of the calyx, generally 5, sometimes 4 8, with an im- 

 bricated aestivation. Stamens situated upon the corolla, equal 

 in number to the segments and alternating with them, some 

 rarely abortive. Ovary 1, 1 2-celled, many-seeded. Style 1, 

 or 2, more or less connate : stigmas 1 2. Capsule sometimes 

 a berry, many-seeded, 1 2-celled, often 2-valved, with the 

 margins of the valves introflexed, and in the 1-celled pericarps 

 bearing the seeds, in the 2-celled ones they are inserted upon a 

 central placenta. Seeds small. Embryo straight, in the axis 

 of a soft, fleshy albumen : radicle directed to the hilum. Herbs, 

 or rarely shrubs, generally glabrous, with opposite, entire, exsti- 

 pulate leaves. Flowers terminal-Qr axillary, 



1. EXACUM. Linn. Gentianella. 



Calyx 4-cleft. Corolla 4-cleft, salver-shaped, marcescent, the 

 tube swelling. Anthers opening longitudinally. Stigma en- 

 tire. Capsule 1-celled, 2-valved. Seeds attached to two sutural 

 receptacles, which at length separate with the opening of the 

 two valved-capsule. Name, e^, out, and a^w, to conduct, an- 

 ciently applied to the Erythrea Centaurium, a genus allied 

 to this, and which was supposed to have the property of 

 ejecting poison from the stomach. 



Tetrandria. Monogynia. 



L E. Jiliforme, Sm. Least GentianeUa. Leaves linear- 



z 



