CXXIX. 



MERCURIALIS PERENNIS. 



Perennial or Dog's Mercury. 



Class XXII. Dicecia. — Order VII. Ennkandria. 

 Nat. Ord. Euphorbiace-k. 

 Gen. Char. Male Flowers : — Perianth single, tripartite. 

 Stamens nine to twelve. Anthers globose, two-lobed. 

 Female Flowers : — Perianth single, tripartite. Styles 

 two. Capsule two-celled ; cells one -seeded. 



Spec. Char. Stem perfectly simple. Leaves rough. 

 Root creeping, perennial. 



SYNONYMES. 



(Cynocrambe. Ger. Em. 333. Fuchs. 435. Lob. Obs. 132. 



I Cynocrambe vulgaris. Park. Theatr. 296. 

 Latin { Mercurialis perennis, Cynocrambe dicta. Rail Syn. 138. 



I Mercurialis perennis. Lin. Sp. PI. 1465. Eng. Fl. iv. p. 248. 



L Eng. Bot. t. 1872. 

 French .... Mercuriale des bois ; Mercuriale des montagnes. 

 Italian .... Mercorella montana. 



Spanish . . . Mercurial ; Mercurial perruna ; Ortiga muerta. 

 German. . . Wilde Bingelkraut ; Bestandige Bingelkraut. 



Dutch Bilsenkruid. 



Danish. . . . Vild Bingelurt. 

 Swedish. . . Bingeloert. 

 Russ Proleska. 



Description. — The root is perennial, creeping, much 

 branched, whitish, and very fibrous. The stem is erect, sub- 

 cylindrical, brittle, quite simple, and generally naked below, 

 very leafy above, thickened at the joints, slightly winged, and 

 rises about a foot in height. The leaves stand in opposite pairs, 

 on short petioles, with two small stipulae at the base ; they are 

 ovate, acute, serrated, from two to three inches in length, rough 

 and of a deep green colour. The male flowers are produced in 

 slender, erect, lax spikes, from the axils of the upper leaves ; 



