Nat. Obd. Primulace^. 



CHICKWEED WINTERGREEN. 



Trientalis Americana. 



^IllS pretty sfiirry-flowered little plant is remarkable for the 

 occurreuce of the number seven in its several parts, 

 and was for some time rep;arde(l bv botanists of the old 



school as the representative of the Class Heptandria. 



The calyx is seven parted; the divisions of the delicate white 

 corolla also seven ; and the stamens seven. The leaves form a 

 whorl at the upper part of the stem, mostly from five to seven, or 

 eight; the leaves are narrow, tapering at both ends, of a delicate 

 light-green, thin in texture, and of a pleasant sub-acid flavour. The 

 star-shaped flowers, few in number, on thread-like stalks, rise from 

 the centre of the whorl of leaves, which thus form an involucre to 

 the pretty delicate starry flowers. This little plant is frequently 

 found at the roots of beech-trees ; it is fond of shade, and in lio:ht 

 vegetable mould forms considerable beds; the roots are white, 

 slender, and fibrous ; it is one of our early May flowers, though, 

 unless the month be warm and genial, will delay its opening some- 

 what later. In old times, when the herbalists gave all kinds of 

 lancit'ul names to the wild plants, they would have bestowed such a 

 name as "Herbe Innocence" upon our modest little forest flower. 



