The 
BRIT1SiH | H ER Ave 
63. 
no footftalks: they ate like thofe from, the root, 
but fhorter, of a frefher green, and more pointed : 
they are undivided at the edges, and tend up- 
wards. 
Toward the top the ftalk dividés into feveral 
branches, commonly, but not conftantly, by two 
and two: thefe have fmaller and narrower’ leaves 
on them, and at their tops tufts of flowers; and 
all joining, there is formed by the whole, a very 
large clufter. : 
The flowers are fmall, but of a bright and 
beautiful red: they are flender, hollow, and fpread 
toward the rim, where they are divided into five 
fegments. 
The feed-véfiel is fimple, {mall and long, and 
the feeds are numerous and very minute. 
It is common in dry paftures, and flowers in 
July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Centaurium minus. J. Bau- 
hine, Centaurium minus flore purpureo et albo; 
the flowers being fometimes white; but this is an 
uncommon variety. : 
Tt is an excellent ftomachick: its tafte is bit- 
ter, but not unpleafant, and it promotes an appe- 
tite, ftrengthens the ftomach, and affifts digeftion. 
It may be called the Englifh gentian, 
“Tt is excellent in’ obftruétions of the vifcera, 
in. the jaundice, and againft worms. The beft 
way of giving itis in infufion, to which may be 
added lemon-peel and cardamoms. 
2, Little yellow Marfh-centaury. 
Centaurium paluftre luteum minimum.. 
The root is long, flender, and divided into 
many parts. 
‘The firft leaves are fhort,.and obtufe at the 
end: they have no foottftalks, and they quickly 
grow yellow and fade. 
The ftalks are numerous, flender, and very 
much branched: they are four or five inches 
high, and full of leaves : thefe ftand in. pairs, 
and are fmall, obtufe, and undivided at the 
edges, : 
DIVISTON IL 
Alternate-leaved Centaury. 
Centaurium foliis alternis. 
This differs from aJ] the others in an obvious 
and ftriking particular: their leaves grow in 
pairs ; thofe of this fpecies fingly. 
Its root is long, thick, yellowifh, divided into 
feveral parts, and furnifhed with many fibres. 
The leaves that rife from it are oblong; broad, 
even at the edges, fharp at the points, and have 
no footftalks : they rife in a little tuft, and are 
of a pale green; and they foon grow pale, and 
wither when the ftalks rife. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, upright, 
very much branched, and of a pale yellowith co- 
Jour: they divide generally in a forked manner, 
or, as botanifts call it, dichotomoufly, but not 
univerfally. 
8 
The flowers ftand at the tons of the ftalks and 
branches, and are little, and of a dufky yellow. 
The feed-veffels are ‘long, flender, and full of 
very {mall feeds. 
It‘is found on boggy grounds in fome parts of 
England, but is not common. It flowers in 
June. 
Ray calls it Centaurium paluftre luteum minimum 
nofiras. Jt has the fame bitter tafte with the 
other. 
3. Perfoliate yellow Centaury. 
os i) 
Centaurium luteum perfoliatum. 
The root is fmall, oblong, and divided into 
feveral parts. 
The ftalk is round, flender, upright, and a 
foot and half high; it is {carce at all branched, 
and of a pale yellowith green. 
The leaves are very fingular ; ‘they feem to be 
compofed each of a pair of broad and fhort 
ones, perfectly jointed at their bafes; fo that 
they form one oblong, hollow leaf, of the fhape 
of a boat, through the centre of which the main 
ftalk paffes. No plant is fo perfeSly perfoliate. 
Thefe fingular leaves are tender, of a deep green, 
and fmail, obtufe at the points, and not at all 
indented at the edges: they are finaller toward 
the lower part. of the ftalk, largeft fomewhat 
above the middle, and thence fmaller again to- 
ward the top. . 
The flowers fland in a loofe clufter at the top 
of the ftalk, each on a flender pedicle: they are 
ofa beautiful yellow: they have a tubular bot- 
tom, and are divided at the rim into eight feg- 
ments;.fo deeply that at firft fight they feem to 
confift of fo many petals. 
The feed-yeffel is oblong and flender, and the 
feed fmall. 
It grows in drys. barren, chalky, places, but 
not very common. It varies extreamly in fize; 
whence fome have divided it into a larger and 
{mallerfpecies. It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls, ic Centaurium luteum perfoli- 
atum. 
FF OARBESESS NES SEP Eee Es! 
The leaves ftand alternately, and are of a pale 
green: they are not very numerous, and they 
vary greatly in fhape. Thofe toward the bot- 
tom of the ftalk are like fuch as rife from the root; 
thofe higher up are longer and narrower; and 
there are tufts alfo of very fmall and narrow onés 
in their bofoms, and toward the tops of the 
branches. 
The flowers are fimall, and white: they do not 
ftand in clufters at the tops of the ftalks, as in the 
other fpecies, but all the way up in a kind of ir- 
regular fpikes. 
Its feed-veffels are fmall and cylindrical, and 
the feeds very {mall and numerous. 
It is a native of France and Italy, and fowers 
in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Centaurium minus fpicatum 
album. Others, Centaurium minus album. 
GY N:Uss 
