s 
“the BRiGISH) HERE a 
179 
The name affine, and its Englith, 
chickweed, have been given by writers to fo many plants not at 
all belonging to this, nor poffible to be aranged under any one genus, that the reader is defired 
to keep in memory the characters on which the genus given under this name is here eftablifhed : 
will prevent a great deal of perplexity, becaufe it will feparate thofe plants, 
it 
which are diftin@lly called ° 
alfines, from the various others which will be here placed in different fucceffive genera. 
DIV IS tO NA 
i. Common Chickweed. 
Alfine vulgaris. 
The root is fmall, white, flender, and fur- 
nifhed with many fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, green, juicy, 
and eight inches in length: fome of them trail 
upon the ground, and others rife up. 
The leaves are numerous: they are placed in 
pairs, and have long footftalks: they are broad, 
and of a figure fomewhat approaching to oval : 
their colour is a frefh green, and their fubftance 
foft and tender. 
The flowers are numerous, fmall, and white: 
they are placed on footrftalks rifing from the bo. 
foms of the leaves, principally toward the upper 
part of the ftalks; and they have the petals 
divided pretty deeply at their ends. } 
The feed-veffel is fmall and oval: the feeds 
are brown. 
It is common every where about gardens, and 
where ground has been dug, and flowers the 
whole fummer. 
C. Bauhine calls it /ine media. J. Bauhine, 
Alfine vulgaris five morfus galline. Others, Aline 
media, or Alfine minor. Our Englith names are 
Common chickweed, Middle chickweed, and Lefer 
chickweed : of thefe the firft is the moft proper. 
The plant varies extremely in fize and form 
according to the degree of nourifhment, 
2. Great water Chickweed 
Alfine perennis major. 
The root is long, flender, and creeping: it 
runs under the furface, and fends out many tufts 
of fibres in different places, and numerous ftalks. 
Thefe are round, upright, flender, of a pale 
green, and a foot or more in height: they are 
rarely at all branched. 
The leaves ftand in pairs at diftances from one 
another ; and they are large, oblong, and of a 
beautiful pale green. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the ftalks 
on flender pedicles, and are fmall and white: 
the petals are divided fo deeply that they appear 
to confift each of ten rather than five. 
The feed-veffel is fmall and roundifh; and the 
feeds are numerous. 
June. 
C, Bauhine calls it Aine altifima nemorum. 
J. Bauhine, Aline major repens perennis. We 
Great marfb chickweed. 
3. Narrow-leaved water Chickweed. 
Alfine aquatica foliis anguftoribus. 
The root is compofed of many threads, ; 
The ftalks are numerous, fquare, eight inches 
It is common in watery places, and flowers in 
BRITISH SPECIES, 
high, and of a pale green: they ftand tolerably 
erect, and fend out a few branches, ; 
The leaves are oblong and narrow : they ftand 
in pairs, and have no footftalks : they are thin 
tender, and of a pale green; broadeft in the 
middle, undivided at the edges, and obtufe at 
the ends. 
The flowers are fmall and white : they do not. 
grow on the tops of the ftalks, but from the bo- 
foms of the leaves, fometimes ftanding on fingle 
and feparate footftalks, and fometimes on the 
fummits of little fhoots rifing from thence : they 
are compofed of five petals, divided fo deeply 
that there appear to be ten of them, 9 
The feed-veffel is fmall, and the feeds are nu- 
merous and minute. \ 
It is common in damp parts of woods ; and 
flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Aline aquatica media; and 
J.Bauhine,; Aine longifolia uliginofis proveniens 
locis. Our people call it Tender marfh chickweed, 
and Fountain chickweed. 
4. Broad-leaved mountain Chickweed. 
AYfine latifolia flore profunde feéto. 
The root is fmall, white, and jointed. 
The ftalk is ufually fingle, and tolerably up- 
right: it is fquare, of a pale green; and not at 
all hairy ; and it fends out no branches, but at 
the top divides into feveral parts. 
The leaves are placed in pairs with great regu- 
larity: they have long footftalks, and they are 
large and oblong: they are broadeft at the bafe, 
waved along the edges, and terminate in a fharp 
point. 
The flowers are large and white: they ftand at 
the tops of thofe branches into which the ftall 
divides at the top; and they are moderately large, 
and of a {now white: each is compofed only of 
five petals, but they are divided to the bafe fo 
that there appear ten; and thefe are long, very 
narrow, and fomewhat curled. ( 
The feed-veffel is oval, and the feeds are {mall 
and brown. ; 
It is found in our northern counties in damp 
woods ; and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Alfine montana latifolia flore 
Jaciniato. Columna, Alfine hederacea montana 
maxima. 
5. Small branched Chickweed. 
Alfine minor ramofa. 
The root is fmall and long, furnified with 
many fibres, and penetrates deep. — 
The ftalks are extremely numerous, and flen- 
der: they are four inches high, and of a pale 
green; and they are fo much branched that a 
fingle plant-of it forms a thick buthy tuft. 
3 The 
