Erythr^a. GENTIANACE^, 111 



4. ERYTHRiEA. Reneaulme, ex Endl. gen. 35i3 ; Griseb. Gent. p. 136. CENTAURY. 



[ From the Greek, erijthros, red, which is the prevailing color of the flower in this genus.] 



Calyx tubular, carinate-angular, 5-cleft. Corolla funnclform, withering : limb short, 5-cleft. 

 Anthers at length spirally twisted. Style erect : stigmas 2, roundish. Capsule linear, 

 partly 2-celled, 2-valved. Seeds very small. — Mostly small annuals, with dichotomously 

 branching stems, and flowers in corymbose or fasciculate panicles. 



1. ERYTHRiEA Centaurium, Pers. Common Centaury. 



Leaves ovate - oblong ; flowers nearly or quite sessile, fasciculate - cymose ; calyx rather 

 more than half as long as the tube of the corolla. — Pers. syn. 1. p. 283 ; Beck, hot. p. 242 ; 

 Hook. Brit.fl. (ed. 4.) p. 96 ; Griseb. Gent. p. 140. E. Pickeringii, Oakes in Hovei/'s hort. 

 mag. May, 1641 ? Gentiana Centaurium, Linn.; Engl. bat. ^417. Chironia Centaurium, 

 Willd. sp. 1. p. 1067. : ■- 



Annual. Stem 4-10 inches high, either nearly simple or branching corymbosely (often 

 from the root upward), prominently 4-angled. Leaves in remote or approximate pairs, from 

 half an inch to an inch or more in length and 3-5 lines wide, rather obtuse, 3-nerved. 

 Inflorescence rather open ; the cymes aggregated, and forming a sort of corymb. Calyx with 

 five prominent angles ; the segments subulate. Corolla about half an inch long ; the tube a 

 little contracted above the ovary : limb bright rose-color ; the segments oblong, obtuse, erect- 

 spreading. Stamens exserted : anthers linear-oblong. Style distinct, straight, slightly 2-cleft 

 at the summit : stigmas large, roundish. Capsule somewhat compressed, rather acute ; the 

 margins of the valves inflexed nearly to the centre. Seeds very numerous and minute, 

 roundish, reticulate-pitted. 



Fields near the old French Fort, Oswego (Dr. Aikin) ; Putnam county. August. 



2. Erythr.(Ea Muhlenbergii, Griseb. Muhlenberg's Centaury. 



Stem simple or branching ; leaves ovate-oblong, rather obtuse ; flowers in loose cymes, the 

 dichotomal ones pedicellate ; calyx (after flowering) about two-thirds the length of the corolla. 

 —Griseb. Gent. p. \'^6. E. pulchella, Da?-Zm^i. /. Ces<. p. 126. 



Annual. Stem 2-6 inches high, slender, sharply 4-angled. Leaves 4-6 lines long, 

 3-nerved. Cymes open and rather naked. Flowers about half as large as in the preceding 

 species ; the limb bright purple, rarely 4-parted ; the lobes erect. Capsule with the valves 

 introflexed half way to the centre. 



Wet meadows. Flushing, Long Island. July. A var. of the preceding ' 



