68 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
able ; toads are, however, said to enjoy it, and to seek for it. The berries are black 
and poisonous ; their juice, with alum, yields a black dye. It is supposed by some tha- 
the root has properties which render it valuable in medicine, but it should be administ 
tered with the greatest caution if at all, 
Tring V.—PHONIE. 
Sepals imbricated, persistent, sometimes foliaceous. Petals 
large. Carpels surrounded by a disk. Follicles 2 to 5, many 
seeded. Herbs or shrubs with radical and alternate leaves twice 
or thrice ternately pinnate. 
GENUS XV—PAONIA. Linn. 
Sepals 5, unequal, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 5 to 10, very 
large, without a distinct claw or nectariferous pore. Carpels 2 to 5, 
surrounded by a more or less developed fleshy disk. Follicles often 
woolly, containing numerous large brightly-coloured seeds. 
Large perennial herbs or shrubs, with solitary, showy flowers. 
SPECIES I—PAHIONTIA CORALLINA. Retz. 
Piatt L.* 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. IV. Ran. Tab. CX XVIII. Fig. 4745. 
Stem simple, herbaceous. Leaflets oval or elliptical, entire. 
Petals broadly obovate. Stigmas recurved. Follicles diverging 
when ripe. 
Naturalized on the rocky cliffs of Steep Holmes Island, at the 
mouth of the river Severn, and said to have once been abundant 
there ; but it is now become very scarce. It is also reported from 
a few other places,—as near the ‘‘ Rocks,” Bath, and at Kildale 
Woods, Cleveland, Yorkshire, “ probably on the site of an old 
garden.”—(Sup. to Fl. of Yorkshire.) 
[England.] Perennial. Summer. 
Rootstock producing thickened, fleshy, sessile or stalked carrot- 
shaped tubers. Stem 1 to 2 feet high, 1-flowered. Leaves stalked, 
ternate, the divisions again ternate or pinnate, with 2 pairs of 
* The Plate is FE. B. 1513, unaltered. 
