The BRUTY SH) Hop ih Hee 
1. Long-leaved Sefamum. 
Sefainum faliis oblongis. 
The root is long, thick, and furnifhed with 
many fibres. 
The firft leaves are long and large: they rife 
in a thick clufter, and have fhort footftalks; and 
their colour is a pale green: they are broadeft 
toward the bafe, fharp at the point, and flightly 
indented at the edges, 
The ftalk is thick, firm, upright, and not at 
all branched : it is two foot and a half high, and 
is of a pale green, and ftriated on the furface. 
The leaves are numerous, and of a pale green: 
‘they are perfectly like thofe from the root, only 
fmaller and lefS indented, and fometimes not at 
all fo. ‘ 
The flowers are large, and white, with a tinge 
of purplith ; fometitnes altogethet red: they rife 
from the bofoms of the leaves, and ftand on 
fhort, flender footftalks. 
The feed-veffel is long and large, and contains 
a large quantity of feeds. 
It is a native of Zeylon and Malabar, and is 
fown in fields about Adrianople. 
Burman calls it Digitalis orientalis fefamum 
digta. Others, only Sefamum. The flower fome- 
what refembles foxglove, whence it has obtained 
the name of oriental foxglove , but the feed-veffel 
is perfectly different, andmakes it another genus. 
An oil is made from it in Turkey, and is 
famous in many external applications. We ufed 
G BON Usa 
135 
to have it here, but it is of late neglected én- 
tirely. It is efteemed good againft headachs; 
and a few drops put into ears for deafness. : 
2. Various-leaved Sefamum. 
Selamum foliis variis. 
The root is long, large, and White: it pené~ 
trates deep into the ground, and has a few fibres, 
The firft leaves are oblong, broad, fmall, and 
of a deep green: they have fhort footftalks, and 
are undivided at the edges; ’ 
The ftalk is round, firm, 
all branched. . 
The leaves grow in -pairs, but they are con- 
fiderably different in form on the various parts of 
the plant: thofe which grow lowermoft are di- 
vided into three parts, two fhort toward the bafe, 
and one long, which terthinates theth; and all 
thefe are indented at the edges. The upper leaves 
are oblong, narrow, and indented ; they are broad. 
eft at the bafe, and fmaller all the way to the 
point; arid they have long and flender foot- 
ftalks. ; 
The flowers grow in the bofoms of the leaves: 
they are’ very large, and have feparate flender 
footftalks. : 
The feed-veffél is long and fquared; and the 
feeds are numerous, f 
It is a native of the Eaft Indies, 
in July. 
Plukenet calls it Sefamum alterum Solis trifidis. 
upright, and not at 
and flowers 
\ 
IX, 
n ROU Es ly at: 
FIAHE flower confitts of a fingle petal, and approaches to thé labiated form : ‘it confitts of a fhort 
; tube, hid within the cup; an open and drooping neck; and, above that, 
five fegments : two of thefe which ftand upward are fomewhat reflex; the oth 
ward, and are more ftrait: the cup is formed of a fingle leaf, divided at the e 
fegments ; and the feed-vefiel is long; flender; 
contained in a capfule, 
an edge divided into 
er three point down- 
dge into five narrow 
rounded, and pointed at each end, 
Linnzus places this among the didynamia angiofpermia ; the threads in each flower, 
the preceding fpecies, being four, two of which are longer and two fhorter ; 
a8 in moft of 
and the feeds being thus 
The firft of thefe characters they enjoy in common with the flowers properly of the labiated kind ; 
thofe having four threads, which are thus of unequal lengths : 
the other is peculiar, for the feeds of 
all the plants properly of the labiated kind ftand in the bottom of the cup. 
This fhews, that the particular arrangement of the threads, 
two long and two fhort, which is one 
of the moft fingular charaéters in the method of Linnzus, is not, nor can be, the proper mark of 
a clafs: though he has made it fo ; 
becaufe of the numerous plants which have 
the threads in this 
number and order, fome have the feeds naked, others regularly contained in a capfule. 
Linnzeus faw this difference, and arranged the plants under two feparate heads, though in the 
fame clafs: but this is the fame errot Ray made, 
flowers only a fub-diftin@ion ; whereas it is truly, 
Procumbent Ruellia. 
Ruellia procumbens. 
The root is white, fmall, and thready. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, yellowith, 
flender, and five or fix inches long: they lie 
every way fpread upon the ground, and fre- 
quently take root at the joints. 
‘The leaves ftand in pairs, and are fhort and 
broad: they are fharply ferrated at the edges, 
in making the regular and irregular monopetalous 
and in nature, a claffical charaéter, 
obtufe at the end, and of a freth green; 
The flowers grow at the tops of the ftalks, 
three or four in a little clufter, and are of a pale 
red. 
The feed-veffel is long, and the feeds are nu- 
merous and fmall. 
It is a native of the Eaft Indies and the Ame- 
rican Iflands, and flowers in May. 
Plukenet calls it Gentianella impatiens felis 
agerati. In Barbadoes they call it Snapgrafs. 
The END of the FIFTH CLASS, 
THER 
