226 
Th BRITISH HERBAL. 
DialeVede St ONT 
1. Perennial Pearlwort. 
Alfinella perennis foliis anguftiffimis. 
The root is compofed of feveral long, flender 
fibres, rifing from a little head. \ 
The leaves rife in a thick tuft: they are very 
fmall, but their number makes them fufficiently 
confpicuous : they are long, and extremely nar- 
tow, and they terminate in a fharp point: their 
colour is a very ftrong green} deep, but not at all 
dufky. 
~The ftalks are numerous, fmall, flender, and ° 
an inch and a half high: they are partly procum- 
bent, partly raifed from the ground, and very 
much branched : theit colour is a paler green than 
that of the leaves, and they are jointed at {mall 
diftances. 
Af every joint there grow two little leaves: 
they are fhorter than thofe from the root, and 
‘bronder. 
The flowers ftand in great numbers on the tops 
of the ftalks and branches : they are very fmall, 
_and of a faint greenifh white ; and the petals fall 
fo very quickly after opening, that they are rarely 
found entire, 
“The feed-veffel is roundifh, green, and full of 
‘very minute feeds. 
It is common in garden-walks, and other 
places where it is not choaked by large weeds 5 it 
fpreads naturally into large tufts, and flowers in 
May. 
Dillenius calis it Afinella mufcofo flore repens. 
Ray has unhappily placed it among the plants 
with five leaved flowers 5 but he calls it Saxifraga 
graminea pufilla fore parvo tetrapetalo. Others» 
Saxifraga Anglica alfinefolia. 
2. Annual Pearlwort. 
Affinella annua foliis brevioribys. 
The root is long, flender, and white. 
~The leaves rife from it in a {mall clufter, and 
fpread themfelves upon the ground in the man- 
ner of the rays of a ftar: they are oblong, fome- 
what broad, and of a dufky green. 
The ftalks are numerous, upright, and very 
much branched: they are of a pale green, and 
about an inch high. 
The leaves on thefe are placed two at-each 
joint and they are very {mali, narrow, 
fharp-pointed, and of a faint green. 
The flowers are very numerous: they ftand at 
the tops of che ftalks and branches, and on fingle 
pedicles rifing from the bofoms of the leaves : 
they are fmall and white. 
The feed-veffel is little and round, and is ful] 
of very minute feeds, 
oblong, 
It is common in garden -walks, 
the ftones of fteps in old houfes, 
May. 
_ itis known at fight from the other, by being 
in feparate {mall plants, not running into great 
complex tufts. 
Plot calls it Saxifraga Anglica alinefclia annua. 
Plukenet, Aine Soxifraga Sraminifolia flofculis 
tetrapetalis herbidis € mufcofiss but the flowers 
and between 
It flowers in 
BRITISH 
§ PoE C I Beast 
are much more diftin@ than thofe of the other, 
and whiter. 
3- Thick-leaved Pearlwort, 
AYfinella foliis craffis. 
The root is compofed of numerous, 
crooked, and very long fibres. 
The leaves rife in a large tuft; and they are 
oblong, but fomewhat broad, thick, fiefhy, 
fharp-pointed, and of a bright green, 
The ftalks are numerous, and very much 
branched : they are an inch and half high, and 
of a pale green. 
The leaves on thefe are alfo fomewhat thick 
and flefhy ; but they are fhort and broad, thouch 
very fmall. ‘ a 
The flowers grow at the tops of the ftalks, ang 
their petals are broad, and tounded at the end, 
The feed-veffel is roundifh, and full of minute 
yellow feeds. 
This was firft found in the north of England; 
but it is common in many other places, paffing 
unobferved among the others, though really 74 
certainly a diftinét fpecies, Tt flowers in April: 
Ray galls it Sexifraga kaminea pufilla Solis bre. 
vioribus craffioribus & fucculentioribys. Tt was frft 
obferved in Northumberland by Mr, Lawfon; 
flendet,, 
4. Slender, upright Pearlwort, 
AYjinella ereéa flore majore, 
The root is compofed of numerous fmall fibres, 
The firft leaves are numerous, oblong, and 
} fharp-pointed : they have no footftalks, and they 
are of a beautiful green, 
The ftalk rifes in the centre of thefe,-and js 
round, upright, flender, and of a pale colour. 
The leaves on the ftalk are like thofe from the 
root, broadeft at the bafe, and Narrower to the 
point: they ftand in pairs, and are placed at 
confiderable diftances, fo that fpaces of the naked 
glofly ftalks are feen: the whole plant is not more 
than two or three inches high. 
The flowers are large, and {now-white, and 
one of them ftands on the top of every ftalk : 
fometimes alfo there rife fhoots from the bofoms 
of the leaves, each of which has on its top in the 
fame manner a fingle flower. 
The feed-veffel is roundi 
ct aa dith, and full of very 
It is frequent in dry paftures, and flowers early 
in fpring: there is abundance of it ip Hyde- 
park, where it makes a very pretty appear- 
ance. 
Ray calls it Ajfne tetrapetalos caryopbylloides 
quibufdam bolofeum minimum, Dillenius, Ajfnella 
Soliis caryophylleis. Magnol, Aine verna glabra. 
The virtues of thefe little plants are! not fup- 
ported upon the authority of experience, but very 
confiderable ones are attributed to them, 
They are faid to be powerful diuretics, and 
good againft the gravel and ftone, taken in the 
form of an exprefied juice, or ina ftrong infu- 
fion. The opinion of diffolyents of the ftone is at 
this time over; but, while it remained in credit, 
and 
