350 ERYNGIUM. [CLASS V. order li. 



GENUS XLVJII. ERYN'GTUM.— Linn Eryngo. 



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

 oblong, notched, with a slender abruptly inflexed point, the length 

 of the petal. Fruit obovate, densely clothed with pointed scales, 

 without ridges or vittse. Involucre of several leaves. Floicers 

 blue, upon a scaly receptacle, collected into an oblong compact 

 head. — Name from i^vyyiov, to eructate. 

 1. E. mariti'vium, Linn. (Fig. 413.) Sea Eryngo, Sea Holly. 

 Leaves glaucous, white, the radical ones roundish, heart-shaped, un- 

 divided, plaited spinous, on footstalks, the upper ones embracing the 

 stem, sub-palmate, lobed, rigid, spiny ; involucre of lobed spiny seg- 

 ments, longer than the sub-rotundate heads of flowers, scales of the 

 receptacle three lobed. 



English Botany, t. 718.^ — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 35. — Hooker, 

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



Root very long, round, stout, white, fleshy, of a warm aromatic 

 flavour. The whole plant quite smooth, rigid, of a glaucous pale 

 blueish green colour. Stem roundish, striated, branched, leafy, about 

 a foot high. Leaves beautifully variegated with whitish veins and ribs, 

 and a broadish obtuse margin, the radical ones on footstalks, with a 

 dilated base, roundish, heart or kidney-shaped, undivided, plaited or 

 lobed with deep wide spreading rigid spiny teeth, the stem leaves sessile, 

 embracing the stem, roundish, oblong, simple or divided, with deeply 

 lobed spiny spreading teeth. Involucre of numerous large leafy segments, 

 similar to the leaves, longer than the roundish heads of crowded blue 

 fioivers. Common receptacle conical, scattered over with simple scales, 

 terminating in sharp spines, or mostly three lobed, one scale at the 

 base of each sessile flower. Calyx with a limb of Ave lanceolate single 

 ribbed segments, longer than the corolla. Petals erect, alternating 

 with the segments of the calyx, oblong, deeply cleft at the apex, from 

 its long narrow point being abruptly curved inwards. Stamens alter- 

 nating with the petals. Filaments long, slender, curved inwards, until 

 the ovate yellow an^Aer bursts. Styles as long as the corolla, simple. 

 Stigmas simple, obtuse. Fruit obovate, nearly round, on a transverse 

 section, closed with pointed scales, without ridges or vittai. 

 Habitat. — Sandy sea shores ; frequent. 

 Perennial ; flowering from July to August. 



The compact ovate heads of sessile flowers of this geaus has much 

 the resemblance to those of the compound flowers in class Syngenesia. 

 Upon examination, however, they will be found very diflerent, but 

 resemble those of the genus Dipsacus (page 173). The root of this 

 plant has a warm aromatic flavour, and was once famed as a slimu- 



