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154 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



The whole of this herb is powerfully astringent. The roots have been used in 

 tanning, but other materials have superseded them. They yield a reddish or dull-yellow 

 dye, and the Irish are said to stain their milkpaUs with it, Ln order to give a richer 

 appearance to the milk. 



GENUS FZZJ.— FRAaARIA. Linn. 



Calyx flattisli, or slightly concave, 10-partite. Segments 10, 

 in 2 rows, those of the outer row (or epicalyx of bracts) smaller 

 than those of the inner. Petals 5. Stamens numerous. Carpels 

 numerous. Receptacle convex or conical, fleshy or pulpy, at length 

 separable from the calyx. Achenes dry. 



Herbs with ternate leaves and runners. Stipules adnate to the 

 peduncle. Flowers white, frequently imperfectly dioecious in ter- 

 minal cymes. Receptacle reddish or white, edible. 



The name of this genus of plants comes from the word fragrans, fragi-ant, in 

 allusion to the pleasant perfume of the fruit. Lord Bacon gives the leaves credit for 

 possessing this quality also, and gives the whole genus a high place in his catalogue of 

 " those flowers and plants that do best perfume the air." 



SPECIES I.— PR AG ARIA VESCA. Linn. 

 Plate CCCCXXXVIII. 



Leaves temate ; lateral leaflets generally sessile. Scapes hairy, 

 with the hairs spreading. Pedicels with the hairs ascending or 

 adpressed. Plowers perfect. Calyx spreading or reflexed after 

 flowering. Eruit-receptacle globular or ovoid-conical, broad at 

 the base, bearing carpels throughout. 



In woods and shady hedge-banks. Common, and generally dis- 

 tributed, extending as far North as Orkney. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer. 



Rootstock terminating in a barren tuft, sending out long slender 

 reddish runners, which take root at the nodes, where small leafy 

 tufts are produced. Leaves radical, stalked. Leaflets oval-rhom- 

 boidal, 1 to 3 inches long, unequal at the base, with the lower side 

 most developed ; all somewhat plicate, coarsely and deeply serrate, 

 the serratures with curved sides. Stipules scarious, with a lanceolate 

 free portion. Scapes lateral, generally leafless, 3 inches to 1 foot 

 high, terminating in a corymbose cyme of white flowers. Lowest 

 bract sometimes resembling the leaves, but most frequently reduced 

 to a single leaflet, \Aith a pair of stipules ; upper bracts tripartite 

 from the leaflet, being as small as the stipules. Elowers erect, 

 white, ^ to f inch across. Outer calyx-spgments nearly as long as 



