14 Bheana virginica. 



Root fibrous, perennial. Stem erect, from one to three feet high, 

 branching above, nearly dichotomous or trichotomous, the upper 

 forks having a flower in the point of their divarication; four sided, 

 membranaceously winged on the angles, smooth, nearly naked, but 

 often garnished with scattered, reddish hairs. Leaves oval-lanceolate, 

 attenuated at either end, sessile, mostly three or five, but often 

 seven-nerved, serrated, the serratures distinctly bristled at their 

 points, and the intervening parts ciliated; smooth and naked beneath, 

 and of a pale green colour; darker green above, also smooth, but 

 covered with distant hairs variously disposed. Peduncles terminal 

 dichotomous. Flowers solitary, terminal and axillary from the forks, 

 sub-sessile, and, in luxuriant specimens sub-corymbose. Petals obo- 

 vate,lake-red, delicately veined with a darker shade of the same hue, 

 the portion of each one which contributed to form the external as- 

 pect of the flower-buds, covered with red hairs. Anthers falcate, 

 orange-yellow, filaments gamboge-yellow. Calix regularly urceolate, 

 differing in shape from the calix of E. mariana ; reddish on 

 one side, and closely covered with fine semi- viscous hairs, or hairs 

 crowned with a gland and emitting a viscous fluid. Segments of the 

 calix acuminate, expanding during florescence, but subsequently re- 

 flexed. The whole plant sometimes very hirsute. The ciliation of 

 the leaves varies considerably, the serratures or little teeth being 

 sometimes only setaceously armed, while at others, the whole mar- 

 gin is closely fringed. Inhabits rich boggy soil, where its luxuriance 

 is proportioned to the moisture and shade. Generally in the open 



