310 GENTiANACE^-E. [Gentiiina. 



culate, calyx half as long as the tube of the opening corolla." — 

 Br. Fl. p. 266. Gentiana, E. B. t. 417. 



i3. Flowers white. 



In dry pastures, woods and bushy heathy places ; veiy common. FL. June — 

 August. 0. 



B- Found occasionally in various places. Near Thorlev, &c. Pastures on the 

 S. of Newport, B. T. W. 



Capsule pale yellowish brown, about 4 lines in length, narrow-oblong or sub- 

 linear, obtuse, apiculate with the base of the style and bluntly prismatic, with a 

 deep furrow along the marginal suture of the much-inflexed valves, greatly 

 (nearly twice) longer than the calyx, closely sheathed in the dry persistent corolla, 

 which prevents the separation of the valves to their base. Seeds very numerous 

 and minute, pale brown and pellucid (in the aggregate coffee-coloured), of a 

 roundish more or less angular shape, covered with sharp wrinkle-like ridges form- 

 ing a coarse kind of network, the interstices appearing finely dotted under a high 

 magnifier. 



2. E. pulchella, Hook. Dwarf Centaury. Stem forked va- 

 riously branched or (more rarely) simple winged, leaves ovato- 

 oblong 5-nerved, flowers pedicellate, calyx nearly as long as the 

 tube of the corolla. Br. Fl. p. 266. Chironia, E. B. t. 458. 

 Fl. Dan. x. t. 1637. 



In dry sandy or gravelly fields, pastures and waste places ; not unfrequent, but 

 I think probably a variety of the preceding. Fl. July — Octolier. ©. 



-E. Med.— At Ryde, Isle of Wight, Mr. S. Woods in Bot. Guide. [St. Helens 

 spit ; above White-clifFbay ; very frequent about Bembridge : A. G. More, Esq. 

 —Bdrs.'] 



W. Med. — Above the shore to the W. of Yarmouth. Freshwater village, Rev. 

 G. E. Smith. 



It: is very doubtful whether this be really distinct from E. Centaurium ; I find 

 the relative length of the calyx and corolla to vary on the same plant, and I fear 

 the other characters have no greater permanency. 



3. E. littoralis, Hook. Dtvarf Tufted Centaury. " Stem sim- 

 ple or branched, radical leaves crowded spathulate, cauline ones 

 oblong linear obtuse, flowers sessile capitato -paniculate, calyx as 

 long as the tube of the opening corolla deeply cleft." — Br. Fl. p. 

 267. E. linarifoUa, Pers. Chironia Uttoralis, E. B. t. 2305. 



On sandy shores and banks by the sea; perhaps not unfrequent, but very doubt- 

 fully distinct from the two foregoing species. Fl. June — August. 0. 



W. Med. — Mum. bay, between Groves's hotel and the sea. Dr. Martin!!.' 

 Headen hill, within 20 yards of Mr. Ward's cottage. Miss G. Kilderbee .'.'.'— I am 

 not certain that the specimens from this station were not a broad-leaved variety of 

 E. pulchella. Sea-banks near Compton, B. T. W. 



III. Gentiana, Linn. Gentian. 



" Calyx 4- — 5 cleft. Corolla subcampanulate, funnel- or salver- 

 shaped, tubular at the base, destitute of nectariferous glands. 

 Stamens 5. Styles persistent, often combined. Capsule of 1 cell, 

 2-valved."— Br. Fl. 



Flowers usually blue or purple, more rarely white or yellow ; handsome. The 

 far greater number of the species inhabit lofty mountain regions ; a smaller pro- 

 portion are limited to hilly situations, whilst a few are found in low and even 

 marshy places at the sea-level in colder latitudes. 



