308 GENTiANACE^. [Chlora. 



placenlation, which is parallel lo and close upon ihe sutural margins ; dull lusly 

 brown, rugose, scabrous-punctate and cellular. Embryo in the axis of the seed, 

 linear, straight or a little curved. 



This species, which I believe to be the only truly British Vinca, is very com- 

 mon in the Hampshire woods, prefeniiig a chalky soil and the sunny borders of 

 the copses ; it is also generally dispersed over the couutry, as well as a fjreat part 

 of Europe. It is indigenous throughout central Europe, and in Kussia as far N. 

 as Moscow. 



A tbird species of Vinca, V. herbacea, a native of Austria, Hungary and Russia, 

 is sometimes seen in gardens. 



Order L. GENTIANACE^, Juss. 



" Calyx divided, persistent. Corolla usually regular and per- 

 sistent, the limb generally with an imbricated and twisted, rarely 

 with an induplicate aestivation, 4-, mostly 5-, 6-, 8-, or 10-lobed. 

 Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla. Ovary 1 — 2 celled, 

 many- seeded. Styles 1 or 2. Stigmas 1 — 2. Capsule (or berry) 

 generally 2-valved ; the margins of the valves turned inwards and 

 bearing the seeds, where there is one cell ; in the 2-celled genera 

 the margins meet in the axis. Albumen fleshy. — Mostly herba- 

 ceous, generally glabrous plants, icith opposite (rarely alternate) 

 leaves and no stipules, eminently bitter and stomachic." — Br. Fl. 



I. Chlora, Linn. 



" Calyx of 8 deep segments. Corolla nearly rotate. Stamens 

 8. Style 1, deciduous. Stigmas 2, bifid. Capsule 1 - celled, 

 2-valved, many-seeded." — Br. Fl. 



1. C. perfoliata, L. Perfoliate Yellow-wort. Yelloiv Centaury. 

 " Leaves connate-perfoliate ovate glaucous." — Br. Fl. p. 208. 

 E. B. t. 60. 



In woods, pastures, on banks and cliffs by the sea ; very frequent, growing on 

 the nrettest clay or the driest chalk. Fl. June — September. 0. 



E. Med. — Frequent on the slipped land along the shore on either side of Ryde, 

 and amongst brushwood on the sea edge of Quarr copse. In Sandown bay, Luc- 

 combe chine and East-end, frequent. Banks near Cowes. Shanklin, in plenty. 

 Venlnor cove, Mr. Snooke. Roadside between St. Lawrence and Shanklin, Mr. 

 E. Forster,jun. In the field below Uplands on the West side, very abundantly, 

 Dr. Bell-Salter. 



W. Med. — Hedgebank near Tapnell farm. Plentiful on the slipped land of 

 the shore below Burnet wood, &c. Plentiful in many places about Freshwater, 

 and along the cliffs above Alum Bay. Plentiful in Thorness wood, and all over 

 young plantations ascending the hill to Mrs. Nash's at Hampstead. Colwell. 

 Carisbrooke castle. 



A glaucous herb, quite smooth and glabrous throughout. Root annual, whitish, 

 brittle, rigid and tapering, more or less branched with long, slender, fiexuose 

 fibres. Stem in the smaller plants usually solitary and simple or nearly so below, 

 in the larger often two or more and branching sometimes from the base, erect, 

 from about 4, 6, or 8 to 18 or 20 inches high, terete, filled with a loose cellular 

 tissue, firm, rigid, and a little waved, of a pale green and shining, but dulled by 

 a glaucous bloom easily rubbed off. Leaves firm, smooth, fleshy, radical ones 



