86 The 
BR Ee Sigh ER Bs Agi 
fhort, ferrated, fharp-pointed,. and have no foot- 
ftalks : they are of a yellowith green at firft, and 
grow yellow and wither foon after the ftalk appears. 
The flalks are numerous, flender, ftriated, and 
tolerably upright. 
On the lower part they have feveral of thofe 
fmall, fhort leaves mentioned in defcribing the 
other fpecies ; but their proper leaves ftand only 
at the top of each ftalk, and rife from one point. | 
Thefe are broad, fhort, of a dufky green, 
ferrated, and fharp-pointed: there are fix or 
eight of them on the top of every ftalk, and 
they have no pedicles. ; 
The flowers ftand on very flender footftalks 
rifing from the centre of the tuft of leaves; 
fometimes there is only one flower on each foot- 
flalk, fometimes there are two or more: they 
are {mall and white. 
The feed-veffel is large, and has feveral ridges, 
and the feed is large and brown. 
It is found in the north of England among 
mofs and rufhes in damp grounds; and flowers 
in Auguft. 
C.Bauhine calls it Pyrola alfines flore Europea. 
J. Bauhine, Herba trientalis. Schwenkfeldt, Alfine 
alpina, alpine chickweed. , 
5- Brafilian Wintergreen. 
| Pyrola alfines flore brafiliana. 
The root confifts of a fmall head and a num- 
ber of fhort, white fibres, 
The firft leaves rife in a little tuft, and are 
fmall, fhort, and without footftalks : they juft 
form a defence for the tender fhoot -of the ftalk, 
for which purpofe they feem to be intended by 
nature ; and when that is rifen to a little height 
and ftrength, they decay. 
The ftalk is round, flender, not very upright, 
and of a pale green. 
The leaves ftand in a clufter at its top, rifing 
all from one point : they are large, oblong, broad, 
fharp-pointed, not at all ferrated at the edges, 
and of a pale green. 
The flower is fmall and white; often there is 
but one on the plant, fometimes more: each is 
fupported by a long, flender footftalk, and is di- 
vided into five or more fegments ; for this divi- 
fion is irregular. 
The feed-veffel is large and fhort. 
It is a native of America, but has been met with 
in fome parts of England. Mr. Lawfon is re- 
DT VES WOgN, IL 
1, Single-flowered Wintergreen. 
Pyrola uniflora. 
The root is fmall, and creeps under the fur- 
face, fending up tufts of leaves in fpring in many 
‘places, and ftalks where they have firft rifen ; 
but the leaves decay fo foon that they are rarely 
feen together. 
The ftalks are round, flender, weak, and not 
at all branched. 
The leaves grow regularly, but in a very 
fingular manner: three rife from every joint, and 
they all grow toward its top. 
They are fmall, roundith, a little ferrated, and 
FOREIGN 
corded to have found it near Gifbury in Cleve- 
land; and I have feen it in the hands of one who 
told me he brought it from Snowden-hill. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pyrola alfines flore brafiliana. 
No plants have more perplexed the writers 
on botany than thofe of this genus; particularly 
thefe two laft : but it has been becaufe neither they 
nor any of the others have fallen. frefh into the 
hands of fuch as could beft have difpofed them. 
Mr. Ray feparates the pyrole under two diftinét 
claffes, though he preferves the ufual and received 
name pyrola to all of them : thefe two laft alone 
he places in the prefent clafs of plants, that have 
the flower compofed of a fingle petal, and a fingle 
capfule following it: the common wintergreen and 
the two kinds we have defcribed after it he at= 
ranges among his clafs of pentapetalous flowers. 
Tam fo unwilling to imagine he has been remifs 
in'that ftrictexamination which is neceffary on thefe 
occafions, that I rather think nature may vary a 
little in thefe tender points: the difference be- 
tween a plant whofe flower confilts of five fe- 
parate petals.and one where it confifts of a fingle 
petal divided to the bottom, the fegments uniting 
only at the tips of the bafe, is fo little, that it 
may not ftrictly be obferved in the courfe of na- 
ture, in which we fee greater varieties, Certainly 
I have feen the flower of the common pyrola, 
where the petals uniting at their bafe were anly 
the divifions of one: this I have obferved re- 
peatedly, and not alone; and this is evidently 
the cafe in the two latter fpecies: wherefore I 
have brought them here together. 
As to Linnzus, he, though he regards not 
the continuity or divifion of the parts of a 
flower as any part of claffical character, yet for 
other reafons feparates the pyrola more widely : 
the three firft fpecies here treated of he keeps 
together under the common name Pyrola, but 
the two latter he divides from thofe, and from 
one another, by feparate clafies; the European 
pyrola he defcribes in a diftiné genus among. his 
heptandria, calling its fruit a berry ; though, as 
he allows it to have no juice, we fhall be content 
to retain it here: the other he makes a {pécies 
of cornus, the dogberry, placing it among the te- 
trondria monogynia, calling its fruit a drupe and 
not a capfule, 
If alittle liberty be to be taken in refpe& to 
the characters of plants, I think it fhould be, 
not to feparate, but to keep thofe of the fame 
general form together. 
Sp bebe Calan s: 
of a dark green: they have long footftalks, and 
there ufually rife fome young leaves in their bo- 
foms. 
From the upper clufter of thefe leaves ‘rifes a 
flender, upright, weak pedicle, on which ftands 
the flower. 
This is large, white, and fingle, 
much refembles that of the 
larger than the flower of any other pyrola: it 
confifts of a fingle petal, fo deeply divided into 
five fegments that they appear five diftiné& petals, 
Joined only at their bafes, ; 
The feed-veffel is large and ribbed: 
are fmall. 
a . Ie 
and very 
parnaffia, being 
the feeds 
