196 CENTUNCUIUS—EPIMEDIDM. [class IV. ORDER i. 



This plant, frequeutly called Star of the Earth, varies greatly in size 

 and hairiness. We have specimens with leaves not an inch long, and 

 other specimens with them more than four ; the scapes varying in the 

 same proportion; and the spike varies from small and ovate, with few 

 flowers, or cylindrical, two inches long, and closely imhricated. 



GENUS X. CENTUN'CULUS. Linn, Chafweed 



Nat. Ord. PaiMULA'cEiE. 



Gen. Char. Corolla of one piece, the tuhe swelling, the limh four- 

 cleft. Stamens short. Capsule of one cell, many-seeded, bursting 

 with a transverse incision. — " Name, it appears, anciently given to 

 Pimpernel, a genus allied to this; and derived, according toTheis, 

 from cento, a covering, because it was a little weed that covered 

 the cultivated fields." — Hook. 



1. C. min'imus, Linn. (Fig. 251.) small Chaffweed, or Bastard Pim- 

 pernel. Flowers sessile ; corolla without glands at the base. — Sm. 



English Botany, t. 531. — English Flora, vol. i. p, 217. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 183. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 71. 



Root small, fibrous. Stem erect, from one to two inches high, sim- 

 ple or branched at the base, slightly angular, smooth, and leafy. Leaves 

 opposite below, alternate above, ovate, sessile, entire, smooth, and 

 spreading. Flowers very minute, sessile at the base of the leaf, solitary, 

 of short duration, and expanding only in the brilliant sunshine. Calyx 

 with four lanceolate, acute segments. Corolla, white or pale pink, 

 shorter than the calyx, withering and remaining upon the capsule ; its 

 tube almost globular ; the limb in four ovate, acute, spreading seg- 

 ments. Capsule globose, crowned by the persistent style, bursting all 

 round with a transverse incision, and containing numerous angular 

 seeds, fixed upon a central receptacle. 



Habitat. — Moist sandy or gravelly places, about London ; in Kent, 

 Norfolk, Suffolk; the Lowlands of Scotland; marshes at GlengarifF, on 

 the Ross Islands, County of Donegal, coast near Coleraiue, Ireland, 

 but not common. 



Annual ; flowering in June and July. 



This is one of the least of our flowering plants, seldom exceeding 

 two inches in height, and very slender. It is nearly allied to Ana(jallis. 



GENUS XI. EPIME'DIUM. Linn. Barrcntvort. 



Nat. Onl. Beiujeri'de.e. 



Gen. Chau, Calyx of four pieces, deciduous. Petals four, inferior, 



