298 DIOECIA ENNEANDRIA. Mercurialis. 



cylindrical. Stigmas four, simple, spreading. E. B. 

 1910. G. E. 1486. 



Watery flaces, hanks of rivers. 



Tree. March. 



Footstalks only half as long as the leaves. Ls. trowel-shaped, 



deep green. Catk. drooping. Germ, lengthened out, slender, 



egg-shaped. 



Wood not apt to splinter : for gun-stocks. Bai-k to support the 

 nets of fishermen. The red berry-like substances on the leaves, 

 occasioned by an insect. Grows rapidly ; bears cropping. Inner 

 bark has been converted into bread, in Kamtschatka. Paper 

 may be made of the cotton-down of the seeds. Roots dissolve 

 into a jelly-like kind of substance, formerly used for bringing 

 on a callus in fractured bones. 



DIOECIA ENNEANDRIA. 



MERCURIA'LIS. Mercury. 



M. perennis. Perennial Rough 31. Stem perfectly 

 simple. Leaves rough. Root creeping. E. B. 1872, 

 C. 2. 65. Cynocrambe. G. E. 333. 



Banks, bushy places, groves. 



Per. April. 



Stems one foot high. Ls. rough, opposite, stalked, egg-shaped, 



saw-toothed, dark green. Supposed nect. very nan-ow, rising 



above the styles. Stamen-bearing spikes longer than the leaves. 



Caps, rough, haiiy. Fl. gi-een. 



Fetid, very poisonous. Sir H. Sloane, in Raii Syn. Has been 

 recommended as a pot-heib : its vi:-ulence diminished by boiling-. 

 In drying, turns blue : steeped in water, affords a fine, deep blue, 

 not fixable. Lightfoot mentions that the infusion has been taken 

 to bring on a salivation : the experiment dangerous with so poison- 

 ous a plant. 



M. annua. Annual Smooth M. Stem with branches 

 crossing. Leaves oblong, smooth. Root fibrous. Bar- 

 ren flowers in numerous, spiked, alternate tufts. E. B. 

 559. C. 5. 68. M. mas et foemina. G. E. 332. 



PFaste, or cultivated ground. * * ? 



An. August. 



Plant darkish, fleshy, shining green, fetid. Ls. egg-shaped, acute, 



saw-toothed. Pistil-bearing flowers axillary, on simple footstalks, 



about two together, sometimes wBth a stamen-bearing^. Caps. 



double, prickly. 



