CL. II.] 'i. CIllC^A LUTETIANA. 3i9 



tia.) Fl Dan, 210. Engl Bot 1056. Sturm DeutscJt. 

 Flor.Heft.^S. 



JJUnity. 



Ray was completely mistaken when he placed Circaa along 

 with Callitriche, Stratiotes^ and Hydrocharis, {Ray Syn. 

 p. ^9.) Linnaeus also shewed no great insight into its affi- 

 nities, when he placed Circcea along with Boerhaavia and 

 Valeriana, among the Aggregatae, (Ord. Nat, 48.) Adanson 

 first perceived its true relations, when he placed the plant 

 among the Oenagrae, (Famill. des Plantes, p. 85.) Later bo- 

 tanists have followed Adanson more readily, since we have 

 become acquainted with a Mexican plant which is very like 

 the Circcea, namely Lopezia, Cav. in which we find only a 

 different numerical proportion. Ditmaria, too, (Erisma 

 Mudg.) lays claim to a still greater resemblance. The num- 

 bers 2, 4, 8, prevail in this family ; and although CEnothera 

 and Epilohium are removed from Circcea by different propor- 

 tions, yet Gaura and Haloragis furnish intermediate mem- 

 bers of the series ; and Escallonia, Sm., although the num- 

 ber 5 prevails in it, opens its capsule exactly like the Circcea. 



Uses. 



The name Circaa was given to the plant by Lohelius, because 

 superstition regarded it as a charm ; hence, too, the English 

 name Enchanter's Night-shade. The well known witch 

 Circe is understood to have made use of this charm, and Ge- 

 rard affirms, that the Mandragora had been confounded 

 with this plant. At present no other use of it is known, ex- 

 cept that in America a yellow dye is procured from the root. 



4. 



Salvia Brasiliensis. 



S. calyce ampliato colorato tridentato corollam exccdcntc, fo- 

 iiis ovatis serratis acuminatit? glabris basi cuneatis. 



