116 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Petals obovate, notched, with a small indexed lobe. Cremocarp 

 v inch long, olive-brown, with the ribs slender and paler; styles 

 reflexed. Plant dark-green, generally glabrous, but sometimes 

 pubescent. 



Common Burnet Saxifrage. 



French, Boiwage Saxifrage. German, Gemeiner Steinpeterlein, or Bibemelle. 



SPECIES II.— PI MPI NELL A MAGNA. Linn. 



Plate DLXXXVI. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XXI. Tab. 1868. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 776. 



Stem stout, angular, furrowed. Radical leaves few, pinnate, 

 with the leaflets ovate, the lower ones subcordate at the base, 

 serrate, crenate-serrate, rarely cut or lobed ; stem-leaves numerous, 

 similar to the radical ones, the uppermost rather more deeply cut, 

 rarely all of them cut or pinnatifid. Cremocarp glabrous. Stylopod 

 globular-conical ; styles longer than the ovary when in flower and 

 about as long as the full-grown fruit. 



On hedge-banks, road-sides, and bushy places. Rather local, 

 but not common in England, except in the West. Very rare in 

 Scotland, and apparently confined to the neighbourhood of Cal- 

 lander, Perthshire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Very like large specimens of P. Saxifraga, but larger in all its 

 parts ; the rootstock much thicker, the stem generally 2 to 4 feet 

 high, stouter and much more angular; the leaflets in 3 or 4 pairs, 

 larger and broader at the base, generally less deeply cut. Umbels 

 and flowers similar, but the latter less distinctly radiant. Cre- 

 mocarp rather larger, the stylopod more tapering, and the styles 

 much longer. Plant of a paler green colour, generally glabrous, 

 but sometimes slightly pubescent, especially on the veins of the 

 leaves. The flowers are usually polygamous, the outer ones perfect, 

 the inner ones male. 



Great Burnet Saxifrage, Anise. 



French, Boucage & I German, Grosser Sldnpeterlein. 



Both this and the former species have much the same properties, ami will be 

 recognized by most people under the name of Aniseed. The Aniseed of medicine and 

 commerce belongs to a foreign species of the same genus : the essential oil distilled 

 therefrom is valued as a carminative and a remedy in flatulence. In the British 

 species the root is very hot and acrid, burning the mouth like pepper. It affords a 

 blue essential oil, which communicates that colour to water or spirit on distillation. 

 The root is sometimes chewed to relieve the toothache, and a decoction of it has the 



