128" ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Graceful thy foliage and tty hue, 

 In softest shades of gi-een and blue, 

 Attracting still a closer view, 

 They fix the admiring eye." 



The green parts of the herb partake of the aromatic character of the flowers, when 

 rubbed or chewed. The flowers infused in boiling water give it a very fine flavour, 

 which rises in distillation. Gerarde tells us : " It is reported that the floures boiled 

 in wine and drunke, do take away the fits of a quartaine ague, and make the heart 

 merrie. The distilled water of the floures dropped into the eies, taketh away the buruing 

 and itching thereof, and cleareth the &ij,'ht." 



SPECIES III.— SPIR-ffiA FILIPENDULA. Linn. 

 Plate CCCCXVL 



Herbaceous. B.oot-fibres with ovoid tubercular enlargements. 

 Leaves pinnate, with very numerous pairs of unequal leaflets ; 

 larger leaflets oblong or strap-shaped, pinnatifid, with the segments 

 frequently toothed, the smaller ones merely toothed (sometimes the 

 large ones are opposite each other, and alternate with the small 

 ones ; more frequently each small one is placed opposite a large one, 

 and the arrangement of each kind is alternate); all glabrous beneath. 

 Stipules of the radical leaves wholly adnate, oblanceolate, those of 

 the stem-leaves half-oblong, cordate, dentate. Flowers in a com- 

 2:)ound corymbose cyme, with the lower branches ascending, not 

 much overtopping the interior ones. Petals with the lamina 

 obovate. Follicles 6 to 12, downy, straight. 



In dry pastures and among bushes, especially in calcareous and 

 trap districts. Not uncommon in England, becoming rarer towards 

 the Xorth-west. Scarce in Scotland, where it is confined to the 

 East coast, though extending as far North as Forfarshire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Rootstock emitting numerous fibres with clavate or bead-like 

 enlargements. Stem erect, 1 to 3 feet high, deeply striated, green 

 or purplish. Radical leaves numerous, with veiy many piunse ; 

 larger leaflets ^ inch long, the alternate small ones i to J: inch, the 

 terminal one trifid but not equalling 3 of the larger leaflets as 

 its lateral divisions are smaller tlian the central. Cyme more 

 evidently corymbose than in S. Ulmaria, the lower branches 1^ to 

 5 inches long. Flowers 5 to | inch across, cream-white, frequently 

 tinged with reddish on the outside. Calyx-segments ovate, blunt, 

 reflexed in flower. Stamens shorter than the petals, which are 

 attenuated into short but conspicuous claws. Follicles not con- 



