28 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
DIVISION II. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
I. Finger'd-lcaved Vervain-Mallow. 
Alcaa foliis digitatis. 
The root is large, thick, white, and fpread- 
The leaves that rife from it are large, or a 
roundifl-i form, but deeply cut in five places : they 
ftand on long footftalks, and are of a pale green. 
The ftalks are numerous, firm, and woody: 
they rife to fix feet in height, and are of a yel- 
lowifh green, and rough to the touch. 
The leaves on thefc are numerous, and very 
beautifully divided into five parts, in a fingered 
manner : they ftand on rough footftalks, and are 
of a pale green. 
The flowers are numerous and large, and are 
of a very beautiful bright red : the feeds ftand 
in rounded fat cluflers. 
It is a native of Italy, and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhinc calls it Alc^a cannahina. J. Bau- 
hine, Alca:a pent aphy Hi folio five cminabina. 
2. Hairy Vervain Mallow. 
Alcaa hirfuta. 
The root is long, white, and thick, and has 
many fibres. 
The leaves that rife from it are rounded, but 
have three vifible indentings : they ftand on long 
footftalks, and are of a pale green, and hairy. 
The firalks are numerous : they rife from the 
centre of this clufter of leaves; and arc round, 
yellowifli, weak, and ten inches high. 
The leaves ftand irregularly on them, and are 
divided each into three parts, and of a pale green, 
and hairy. 
The flowers are moderately large, and of a 
bright red ^ and they ftand in a rough hairy cup. 
The feeds follow in a flat rounded head. 
It is a native of France and Italy, and flowers 
in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it /liaea hhfiila. J. Bauhine, 
AlCit-a viliofa. 
The virtues of die -vervain mallow are the fame 
with thofe of the common mallozv, but in an infe- 
rior degree. 
There are feveral other plants allied to the mal- 
lo-jj kind in their general appeal ance, but produ- 
cing their feeds in capfules : thefe are diftinguiflied 
by modern writers under the names of fiAa^ ^c. 
and will be treated of in the next clafs. 
SERIES 
II. 
Tboji' of ivhich there are no fpecies Jiatives of Britain. 
GENUS I. 
NOBLE LIVERWORT. 
H E P A r I C A. 
THE flower is compofed of three petals, or of feveral ranges of petals, three in each ; and has a 
three-leaved cup. The feeds ftand in a naked clufter ; and are numerous, oblong, pointed at 
each end, and lightly hairy. When the flower is fingle, there ftands a tuft of numerous filaments in 
the centre : in the double flowers thefe are lefs difl:in{51:ly feen. 
Linnreus places this among the polyandria polygynia. In his firfl; works he makes it a fepara:e ge- 
nus ■ in his latter he confounds it with the anemone \ but their difference is very obvious and 
certain, the anemone having no cup to the flower. There is properly only one fpecies of this plant ; 
but culture has raifed a multitude of varieties of it ; fome of which, that appear the moft diftindt 
from the reft, have been defcribed by authors as if diftind fpecies. 
Suigle Blue Hepatica. 
Hepatica fore fimplid caruleo. 
The root is compofed of a large fleftiy head, 
and a vaft quantity of fibres : thefe laft fo cover 
the tuberous part on all fides, that it appears, 
on taking out of the ground, to be only a tuft 
of fibres. 
From feveral parts of this root rife firft naked 
ftalks fupporting the flowers, and afterwards the 
leaves. As nature has inverted the general order 
in the growth of this plant, it is proper, in the 
dcfcription, wc follow her courfe. 
The footftalks which fupport the flowers are 
fhort,and very flendcr : one flower (lands on each, 
and this is compofed naturally of three, fix, or 
nine petals ; for in the wild plant there is found 
all that variety. -When the petals are only three, 
they ftand in a regular order ; when fix, there is 
a fecond range of three over the firft \ and when 
nine, a third range over that. In the centre there 
is a great tuft of fibres ; and under the flower 
there is a three-leaved cup, which remains when 
that is fallen. The common colour of the flower 
is blue in its natural ftate, fometimes red, and 
fometimes white. 
The 
