182 CUCUEBITACE.E. — POETULACE.E. [Moiltia. 



Style dilated upwards, 3- or 5-cleft and angled, with as many greenish, wedge- or 

 fan-shaped, deeply channelled, papillosely hispid, wavy stigmas. Ovary globose, 

 preen and glabrous. Fruit (berry) globular, as large as moderately sized peas, 

 dull scarlet when ripe, smooth aiid succulent, with an abominably nauseous and 

 fcetid viscid juice, 3-celled. Seeds in form and colour somewhat like those of 

 hemp but smaller, roundish ovoid, smooth, subcorapressed, with a shallow border 

 all around, mottled brown and gray, their number uncertain., commonly 6 or 7, 

 sometimes but 2 or 3. 



This is the sole British representative amongst the very few European plants of 

 the order CucurbilaceaB. Another species (B. alba) indigenous to the North and 

 East of Europe, as our dioica to the South and West, differs in being almost con- 

 stantly monoecious, in having black berries, the pistillate flowers racemose on a 

 much elongated couimon peduncle, and their calyx scarcely shorter than the 

 corolla. 



The leaves of Bryony exhale a transient musky odour in warm damp weather, 

 on dewy evenings or after a shower, as I have repeatedly experienced. The plant 

 is called Mandrake in this island, probably in consequence of the roots having 

 been formerly sold to the ignorant, by quacks, under that name, as endowed with 

 virtues similar to the mandrakes mentioned in Sciipiure, of which nothing is 

 known but by conjecture. Farriers are said to give the root to horses, for the pur- 

 pose of inducing a sleek coat, and mixed with their food it is alleged to promote 

 the fattening of pigs, — eEFects precisely those resulting from the administration of 

 crude sulpburet of antimony to both those animals. On the human subject it acts 

 as a drastic hydragogue purgative, the use of which is now discontinued in regu- 

 lar medical practice. Though the present species is an exception to the monoe- 

 cious character of the genus, it is stated to assume occasionally with age the epi- 

 cene structure appropriate to the rest of its kind. The red-berried Bryony is 

 found wild in most parts of England, becoming rare in the North, and particu- 

 larly in the extreme western and maritime counties, as Devon and Cornwall. It 

 is scarcely indigenous to Scotland, and quite unknown as a native of Ireland. 



The Rev. Charles Hardy, of South Hayling, informed me that in 1848 a root 

 of Bryony was dug up in Hayling Island which weighed 47 fts., by a person who 

 made use of a decoction of it with success against the scab in sheep. 



Order XXX. POETULACE^, Juss. 



" Sepals 2. Petals inserted into the base of the calyx (some- 

 what hypogjnous), mostly 5, usually distinct, sometimes wanting. 

 Stamens of uncertain number, opposite the petals when of the 

 same number. Ovary superior, 1-celled. Style 1 or 0. Stigmas 

 several. Capsule opening transversely or by 3 valves. Seeds 

 numerous on a central receptacle. Albumen farinaceous, sur- 

 rounded by the curved embryo. — Succulent herbs or shrubs." — 

 Br. Fl. 



I. MoNTiA, Linn. Blinks. 



" Corolla of 5 irregular petals, somewhat hypogynous, united at 

 the base into one split up in front. Stamens 3, inserted upon the 

 corolla and opposite to its smaller segments. Stigmas 3, almost 

 sessile. Capsule 3-valved, 3-seeded." — Br. Fl. 



1. M. fontana, L. Water Blinks. Water Chickweed. Br. Fl. 

 p. 143. E. B. t. 1306. 



