PYROLACE^E. 



Nat.syst.ed. 2. p. 219. 



CHIMAPHILA. 



Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens 10. Filaments sigmoid, 

 ciliated and fleshy at the base. Style short, immersed in the 

 ovary, straight. Stigma auriculate, orbicular, 5-lobed. Capsule 

 5-celled, opening from the summit ; the valves bearing the dis- 

 sepiments in the middle, and not united by a connecting web. 



775. C. corymbosa Pursh.fl. am. sept. i. 300. C. umbellata 

 Nutt. gen. i. 274. Pyrola umbellata Linn. sp. pi. 567. Bot. 

 mag. t. 778. Torrey fl. i. 435. Bigelow med. bot. ii. t. 21. 

 Shady woods in northern countries ; North America, Siberia, 

 Europe. (Common names are " Winter Green and Pipsisewa.") 



Rhizoma woody, creeping. Stems ascending, somewhat angular, 

 and marked with the scars of former leaves. Leaves in irregular whorls, 

 of which there are from 1 to 4; evergreen, coriaceous, on very short 

 petioles, cuneate-lanceolate, acute, serrate, smooth, shining, the lower 

 surface somewhat paler. Flowers nodding in a small corymb, the 

 pedicels with linear bractes about their middle. Calyx of 5 roundish 

 acute teeth or segments, much shorter than the corolla. Petals 5, 

 roundish, concave, spreading, cream-coloured, with a tinge of purple at 

 base. Stamens ten, hypogynous ; filaments sigmoid, the lower half 

 fleshy, triangular, dilated, and slightly pubescent at the edges ; the 

 upper half filiform. Anthers 2-celled, each cell opening by a short, 

 round, tubular orifice, which points downwards in the bud, but upwards 

 in the flower. Pollen white. Ovary roundish, depressed, furrowed, 

 obscurely 5-lobed, with a funnel-shaped cavity at top. Style straight, 

 half as long as the ovary, inversely conical, inserted in the cavity of the 

 ovary, and concealed by the stigma. Stigma large, peltate, convex, 

 obscurely 5-rayed. Capsule erect, depressed, 5-celled, 5-valved, the 

 partitions from the middle of the valves. Seeds linear, chaffy, very 

 numerous and minute. Leaves bitter-sweet;' stalk and roots the same 

 with a little pungency. A palliative in strangury and nephritis ; a 

 diuretic in dropsy ; a useful external stimulant ; it also alleviates the 

 ardor urinae in gonorrhoea. The fresh leaves appear to be acrid and to 

 act as vesicants and rubefacients. Its stomachic and tonic properties 

 render it particularly valuable. It has also a popular reputation as a 

 specific against scrophula ; and is believed to be the means used by a 

 notoriously ignorant quack who in London employs North American 

 remedies, as a cure for scrophula in its worst forms. 



375 B B 4 



