130 



The Flora of Wiltshire. 



cucumber, and give that flavour to salads, for which purpose the 

 young leaves are sometimes used, hence the English name " Salad 

 Burnet." It has sometimes been cultivated in an agricultural 

 point of view, especially on a calcareous soil, and it is stated to 

 prove an excellent winter pasture when hardly anything else 

 vegetates. The severest frost never injures this plant, and the 

 oftener it is fed the thicker are its leaves which spring constantly 

 from its root, and their flat circular spread will prevent the growth 

 of weeds. 



P. muricatum (Spach.) muricated Salad Burnet should be looked 

 for in the county. It is likely to have been passed over for P. 

 sanguisorha (Linn.) which it much resembles. The following are 

 some of the prominent differences between the two plants. Fruit 

 of P. muricatum large, strongly winged with its surface pitted, 

 and the elevated margins of the pits dentate. In P. sanguisorha 

 (Linn.) the fruit is small, angular, but scarcely winged, reticulate- 

 rugose but not pitted. The calyx of the former is larger and more 

 spreading, the heads are much heavier, perfecting more seeds. 

 The leaves are generally more coarsely serrated, and the whole 

 plant stronger. 



The Poteria should always be examined with fruit advanced. 



Agrimonia, (Linn.) Agrimonia. 

 Linn. CI. xi. Ord. ii. 



Name. From agros (Gr.) a field, and meno (Gr.) to inhabit, its 

 usual station being in cornfields. 



1. A. Eupatoria (Linn.) Eupator's Agrimony, formerly much 

 reputed for its medicinal properties. The name (Eupatoria) 

 probably refers to Mithridates Eupator, King of Pontus, author of 

 some medicinal commentaries, of great repute among the ancients, 

 and inventor of the famous antidote for poison called " Mithridate." 

 Engl. JBot. t. 1335. St. 59, 4. 



Locality. In bushy places, by roadsides, and on the borders of 

 fields. P. Fl. June, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Common through- 

 out Wilts. It varies considerably in the hairiness of the foliage, 

 in the size of the flowers, and in the form of the ripe calyx. 



