258 



THE ROSE FAMILY. 



Europe and western Asia, and carried by cultivation into other 

 countries. Abundant in Britain. Fl. the whole season. 



X. SANGUISORB. SANaUISOKBA. 



Herbs, with a perennial stock, annual, erect, or ascending stems, and 

 pinnate leaves. Flowers in dense oval or cylindrical heads, at the 

 ends of long peduncles. Calyx simple, of 4 coloured lobes, the tube 

 enclosed in 2 or 4 bracts. Petals none. Stamens few. Carpels 1 or 

 rarely 2, 1-seeded, enclosed in the dry, oblong tube of the calyx. 



The genus consists but of very few European, North Asiatic, and 

 North American species. They are closely allied to the following one, 

 with which they are popularly included under the name of Burnet, the 

 chief distinction being in the small number of stamens, and the flowers 

 usually hermaphrodite. 



Burnet Sanguisorb. Sanguisorba officinalis, Linn. 

 (Eig. 320.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1312. Great Burnet.) 



A glabrous and erect perennial, at- 

 taining about 2 feet in height. Leaves 

 chiefly radical or from the lower part of 

 the stem, with to 13 ovate or oblong, 

 toothed segments ; the upper part of the 

 stem almost leafless, and divided into 3 

 or 4 long peduncles, each terminated by 

 a single head of flowers, at first globular, 

 then ovoid or oblong, rarely an inch long. 

 Flowers much crowded, and more or 

 less tinged with dark purple. Stamens 

 usually 4. 



In moist meadows, chiefly in moun- 

 tainous districts, almost all over Europe 

 and Russian Asia to the Arctic Circle. 

 In Britain, chiefly in southern Scotland, 

 and in northern and western England ; 

 not recorded from Ireland. Fl. sum- 

 Fig. 320. wier. 



