CLASS V. ORDER 11.] SANICUIA. 349 



GENUS XLVII. SANI'CULA.— Linn. Sanicle. 



Gen. Char. Calyx with a five toothed leafy margin. Petals erect, 



obovate, notched, with a slender indexed point, as long as the 



petal. Fruit sub-globose, densely clothed with hooked prickles, 



without ridges^ but with many vittce. General involucra lobed, 



partial, of many lanceolate segments. — Name from sano, to heal ; 



from its supposed virtues " to make whole and sound all inward 



wounds and outward hurts." 



I. ^. Europce'a, Linn. (Fig. 412.) Wood Sanicle. Lower leaves 



palmated with the lobes trifid, cut or serrated, perfect ; flowers sessile, 



those with stamens only on short footstalks. 



English Botany, t. 98. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 36. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 126.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 127. 



Root of numerous strong branched somewhat fleshy fibres. Stem 

 erect, simple, or slightly branched, from ten to eighteen inches high, 

 round, smooth, channeled, almost naked. Leaves almost all radical, 

 on long smooth channeled footstalks, dilated and sheathing at the base, 

 a bright shining green, paler on the under side, divided into five or 

 seven almost separate segments, each of which is mostly three-cleft, 

 irregularly cut, and sharply serrated, each serrature pointed with a 

 sharp bristle, and sometimes the margins arc ciliated, leaves of the 

 stem alternate, frequently absent. General umbel of numerous un- 

 equal radii, partial umbels small, those on the shorter pedicles bearing 

 flowers on short footstalks containing stamens only, while those on the 

 longer pedicles bear flowers, nearly sessile and perfect, containing 

 stamens and pistils. General involucre of several lobed leafy segments, 

 the partial of numerous lanceolate ones. Flowers very small, white 

 or pinkish, numerous, crowded in small round umbels. Calyx of five 

 lanceolate leafy segments, bristle pointed. Petals rather longer than 

 the calyx, obovate, erect, with a crenated margin, apparently caused 

 by the mid-rib, which is lengthened out into a long bristle-like point, 

 and then closely curved inwards, giving the petal the appearance of 

 being notched at the extremity. Stamens on long slender filaments, 

 curved inwards before the bursting of the ovate two celled anthers. 

 Style recurved, about as long as the petals. Stiyma small, obtuse. 

 Fruit sub-globose, densely clothed with hooked rigid bristles. 

 Habitat. — Shady woods and humid situations ; frequent. 

 Perennial ; flowering in May and June. 



Sanicle, formerly much extolled for its sanative properties, is slightly 

 astringent, with a bitterish acrid taste ; but its virtues are so limited, 

 that it is not now thought worthy of a place even in the catalogue 

 of the remedial plants of our country dames. 



