PENTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Erythra?a. 319 

 117. ERYTHRiEA. Centaury. 



Renealm. Spec. 77. " Borckh. in Roem. Archiv. v. 1. 28." Br.Pr. 



45 1 . hook. Scot. 62. 

 Chironia. Curt. Lond.fasc. 4.22. Fl.Br.2a7. Fl. Greec. v.3.3l. 

 Centaurium minus. Tourn. t. 48. 



Nat. Ord. Rotacece. Linn. 20. Gentiaiia. Juss. 46. See 

 n. 134, 135. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf, in 5 deep, erect, acute, awl-shaped 

 segments, sometimes united below by a membranous 

 border, permanent. Cor. of 1 petal, salver-shaped ; tube 

 nearly cylindrical, slender, longer than the calyx ; limb 

 in 5 deep, ovate or lanceolate, equal, spreading segments, 

 about half the length of the tube, withering. Filam. 

 thread-shaped, equal, inserted into the tube, alternate with 

 the segments of the limb, and much shorter. Anth. ob- 

 long, incumbent, twisting spii'ally as the pollen ripens. 

 Germen elliptic-oblong, or nearly linear, compressed. 

 Style terminal, cylindrical, prominent, on a level with the 

 stamens, straight, and generally erect. Stigmas 2, round- 

 ish, spreading till after impregnation. Caps, elliptic-ob- 

 long, nearly linear, acute at each • end, compressed, im- 

 perfectly 2-celled, of 2 valves with inflexed margins. 

 Seeds numerous, roundish, in 4 rows, placed alternately 

 on the inflexed margins of the valves. 



Herbaceous, annual, almost perfectly smooth, vei'y bitter. 

 Stem erect, square, either simple or very much branched, 

 in the same species. Leaves opposite, sessile, ribbed, un- 

 divided, entire. Inflor. simple, spiked, forked, or corym- 

 bose. Fl. rose-coloured, or yellow. 



A very natural genus, well distinguished from Chironia by 

 the above characters ; particularly the long tube and 

 short limb ; straight style ; 2 stigmas ; and almost linear 

 ca]:)sule, destitute of a separate partition, or receptacle. 

 The annual root and whole habit differ also from Chi- 

 7-onia, which is shrubby. The name Erythrcsa, alluding 

 to the red colour of most of the flowers, is justly retained 

 for its priority of date, and fortunately is unexceptionable. 

 Chironia however, alluding to the botanical Centaur, 

 would more properly have belonged to the Ccntanrium 

 mimis, the type of our present TLrythrcea ; though from 

 the first appropriated to an African genus, from which it 

 can by no means be removed. 



