bo 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
and are formed as it were of three fmaller joined 
together. 
The ftalks are numerous, flender, and branched. 
They are too weak to fupport themfelves with- 
out lielp, but will climb to the height of ten feet. 
The leaves ifand irregularly, and are of the 
fame form witli thofe irom the root : they have 
three points, or are formed of three parts, and 
are of a pale green. 
The flowers ftand on long footftalks, and are 
large, and of a beautiful blue i they are divided 
into five pointed fegments at the edge. 
The feed-ve/Tel is large, and the feeds are 
biackifli. 
It is a native of the Eaft, and flowers in July 
and Auguft. The flowers open principally in an 
evening, and fade when the fun has power. 
C. Bauhine calls it Convohulus c^ruleus hede- 
receo angulofo folia. 
10. Feather-leaved Bindweed. 
Convolvulus foliis pe7inatis. 
The root is fmall, divided into two or three 
parts, and furniihed with long, fpreading fibres. 
The firft leaves are numerous, and extreamly 
beautiful : they ftand on long, purplifii foot- 
ftalks, and are large, of a fine deep green, 
and compofcd of ten or twelve pairs of Jong feg- 
ments, extreamly narrow, and placed nearly op- 
pofite to one another, with an odd one, ufually 
forked, at the end; together with thefe, there 
rife a couple of broad, plain, hard leaves from 
the feed, which remain a long time; and fome- 
times the fValk rifes immediately between thefc, 
without any other radical leaves. 
The ftalks are flender, tough, and weak : they 
climb on any thing to the height of fcveral feet : 
the leaves fland irregularly on them, and have 
long, tender footftalks : they in all things re- 
femble thofe from the root, and are extreamly 
beautiful. 
1 he flowers are large, and of a very bri£!;hc 
red : they grow in htcle cluflrers, and are di- 
vided into five fegments at the edge: they have 
fomcthing of the afpetft of the flowers of jclfamy, 
and have thence given, among fome writers, a 
name to the plant. 
The feeds arc contained in fhort capfulcs, one 
after every flower. 
It is a native of the Eafl Indies, and of fome 
parts of South America. 
Columna calls it Convolvulus pennatus exoticus 
rarior. C- Bauhine, Jajminum milltfdn fclio. 
Many call it quamaclit, an Indian name. Lin- 
nsus feparates this and fome others from the rell 
of the bindweeds, under the name of Ipcnid'a, 
but with fo little foundation in nature, that when 
he has given the charafters, he adds, *' tliefe 
plants are really fpecies of Convolvulus." Why 
therefore did he permit the other nominal geniis 
to remain ? He has alfo feparated thefe, under 
the name of ipomcea^ in his Sped^\ Plantarum, his 
laft publilhed work. 
GENUS III. 
GENTIAN. 
G E N 1- I A N A. 
THE flower confifl:s of a fingle petal, which is of a tubular lhape, and divided into fegments ac 
the edge: it fliands in a cup, formed of a fingle leaf divided into five parts : the feeds arc 
contained in afingic capfule, which is large, and lightly fplit at the top. 
Einn^us places this among his pentandria digynia, the threads in the flower being five ; and the 
rudiment of the fruit, though fingle in itfelf, having two fligmata. If this author had regarded 
the body of the rudiment, rather than thefe lefler parts, it would have brought his method nearer to 
nature. This would then have been placed among the monogynia], the rudiment being really fino-le, 
and giving the firil notice of the fingle capfule fucceeding each flower, to which the clafs owes its 
origin, 
This author includes fmall centaury in this genus : but they differ fuf5iciently in many refpecfls, 
though the flowers are nearly the fame. 
DIVISION I. BR 
I. Marfh-gentian. 
Gentiana palujiris angujtifolia. 
The root confiflrs of feveral thick, long fibres, 
with ocher fmaller ones growing to them. The 
large fibres are yellow, tough, and of a bitter 
tafte; fometimes they grow to a fmall head, 
fometimes they are only joined at the top to one 
another. 
The flalk is flender, firm, upright, but not 
altogether ftraitj frequently bowing from joint to 
joint. 
The leaves are long, narrow, and of a duflcy 
green : they grow two at a joint oppofite to 
3 
ITISH SPECIES. 
one another, and have no footflalks : they are 
undivided at the edge, and fharp at the point. 
The flowers (land at the tops of the fl:alks, 
and are very large and beautiful : they are long, 
hollow, irregularly divided into five fegments at 
the edge, and of a very deep blue. 
The fced-vefl*el is long and flender, and the 
feeds are fmall. 
It is found in many parts of England on 
boggy ground, and flowers in Augufl. 
C. Bauhine calls it Ge^itiana palujiris angnfiifo- 
Ha. Others call it Pneumonantbe. We, in Eng- 
lifli, ALir/Jj-gentian, or Calathian violet. This 
laft is an antiquated and improper name. 
2. Woolly- 
