CLASSIC. ORDER I. I SANGUISOHBA^ 



203 



greeu, somelimcs with a reddish or purple liue. Flouers solii<irv, ses- 

 sile, at the base of the footstalks, small, '• having two small tubulate 

 bracteas at the base." Limb of the cali/x of four ovate, acute, green, 

 spreading segments. Corolla wanting. Stamens small, placed oppo- 

 site to the segments of the calyx. Sti/le short, with a capitate stigma- 

 Capsule crowned by the persistent limb of the calyx. 



Habitat. — Ponds and marshy places, very rare. In a pool at Bux- 

 ted, Sussex — Mr. Bm-rer. Abundant in a bog on Petersfield Heathy 

 Hampshire — Miss Riehnan and J. Barton, Esq. 



Annual ; flowering in July. 



GENUS XVI. SAXGUISOR'BA. Li.nn. Burnet. 

 Xat. Ord. Ros.v'cEiE. 

 Gen. Char. Perianth superior, of four coloured lobes, with two or 

 four scales at the base. Nuts one or two, surrounded by the dry 

 persistent tube of the perianth. Seed suspended. — Name from 

 sanguis, blood, and sorbeo, to absorb ; from the astringent proper- 

 ties which the plant possesses, and its power of stopping the 

 haemorrhage from wounds. 

 1. S. officinalis, Linn. (Fig. 250.) great Burnet. Spike ovate. 

 English Botany, t. 1312. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 218. — Liudley, 

 Synopsis, p. 103. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 73. 



Root large, thick, woody. The whole plant rjuite smooth. Stem 

 erect, from one to two feet high or more, branched, especially above. 

 Leaves pinnate, with a terminal leaflet ; the rest opposite, sometimes 

 alternate, each ovate, cordate at the base, strongly serrated, gi-een above, 

 paler beneath, with a strongish midrib and numerous branching veins' 

 at the base of almost every footstalk is a small toothed stipule, larger in 

 some, smaller or entirely wanting in otliers ; the radical leaves with long 

 stalks, those of the stem much shorter. Inflorescence a terminal, dense, 

 ovate spike, of a dark dull purple hue, on long naked stalks. Spikes 

 generally about an inch long, but very various in size, the upper flowers 

 expanding first. Perianth single; the limb of four dark-red or purple? 

 ovate, spreading segments ; its tube investing the germen, and having 

 at its base a gi-eenish, four-scaled, ciliated bractea. Nuts one, or rarely 

 two, enclosed in the lube, and crowned by the persistent limb of the 

 perianth. 



Habitat. — Rather moist limestone or clayey countries, especially iu 

 the North of England. Less frequent in the Lowlands of Scotland. 

 Perennial; flowei-ing in June and July. 



This plant does not appear to possess either the medicinal or agricuL 

 tural properties for which at one time it was thought valuable ; it is 

 bitter and somewhat astriiig-eut, and not a food much relished by cattle. 



