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86 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
fhort, ferrated, tharp-pointed, and have no foot- 
ftaiks : they are of a yellowifli green at firft, and 
grow yellow and wither foon after the ftalk appears. 
The ftalks are numerous, (lender, flriated, and 
tolerably upright. 
On the lower part they have feveral of thofe 
fmall, fhort leaves mentioned in defcribing the 
other fpccies ; but their proper leaves ftand only 
at the top of each ftalk, and rife from one point- 
Thcfe are broad, fhort, of a duftiy green, 
ferrated, and fharp-pointed : there are fix or 
eight of them on the top of every llalk, and 
they have no pedicles. 
The flowers ftand on very flender footftalks 
rifing from the centre of the tuft of leaves ■, 
fomctimes there is only one flower on each foot- 
flalk, fometimes there are two or more: they 
are fmall and white. 
The feed-veffcl is large, and has feveral ridges, 
and the feed is large and brown. 
It is found in the north of England among 
mofs and ruflies in damp grounds ; and flowers 
in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pynla alfmls flore Europe. 
J, Bauhine, Heria trienlalis. Schwenkfeldt, Jlfine 
alfina, alpine chickweed. 
5. Brafilian Wintergreen. 
Pynla alfmes fm hmftliana. | 
The root confifts of a fmall head and a num- 
ber of fhort, white fibres. 
The firft leaves rife in a little tuft, and are 
fmall, fhort, and without footftalks : they jufl- 
form a defence for the tender (hoot of the ftalk, 
for which piirrnfr rh.j- fe.m to be intended by 
nature ; and when that is rifen to a little height 
and ftrength, they decay. 
The ftalk is round, ftender, no: very upright, 
and of a pale green. 
The leaves ftand in a clufter at its top, nfing 
all from one point : they are large, oblong, broad, 
fliarp-pointed, not at all ferrated at the edges, 
and of a pale green. 
The flower is fmall and white often there is 
but one on the plant, fometimes more : each is 
fupported by a long, ftender footftalk, and is di- 
vided into five or more fegments ; for this divi- 
fion is irregular. 
The feed-vcfi'el is large and (hort. 
It is a native of America, but has been met with 
in fome parts of England. Mr. Lawfon is re- 
corded to have found it near Gifbury in Cleve- 
land i and 1 have fecn it in the hands of one who 
told me he brought it from Snowdcn-hill. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pyrcia alfmcs fore brafiliam. 
No plants have more perplexed the writers 
on botany than thofe of this genus ; particularly 
thcfe two laft : but it has been becaufe neither they 
nor any of the others have fallen frefli into the 
hands of fuch as could beft have difpofed them. 
Mr. Ray feparares the fyrolx under two diftinft 
claffes, though he preferves the ufual and received 
name pyoia to all of them : thcfe two laft alone 
he places in the prefent clafs of plants, that have 
the flower compofed of a fingle petal, and a fingle 
capfule following it : the common winlergreen and 
the two kinds we have defcribed after it he ar- 
ranges among his clafs of pentapetalous flowers. 
I am fo unwilling to imagine he has been remifs 
in'thatftrifl examination which isneceffary on thefe 
occafions, that 1 rather think nature may vary a 
little in thefe tender points : the difference be- 
tween a plant whofe flower confifts of five fe- 
parate petals and one where it confifts of a finglc 
petal divided to the bottom, the fegments uniting 
only at the tips of the bafe, is fo little, that it 
may not ftri(5lly be obierved in the courfe of na- 
ture, in which we fee greater varieties. Certainly 
1 have feen the flower of the common pyrola^ 
where the petals uniting at their bafe were only 
the divifions of one : this I have obferved re- 
peatedly, and not alone ; and this is evidently 
the cafe in the two latter fpecies : wherefore i 
have brought them here together: 
As ro T.inn^ns. hp, though he regards not 
the continuity or divifion of the parts of a 
flower as any part of claflical charadler, yet for 
other reafons feparates the pyrola more widely : 
the three firft fpecies here treated of he keeps 
together under the common name pyrola, but 
the two latter he divides from thofe, and from 
one another, by feparate cL-iffes ; the Europeart 
pyrola he defcribes in a diftind: genus among his 
heptandria, calling its fruit a berry ; though, as 
he allows it to have no juice, we (hall be content 
to retain it here : the other he makes a fpecies 
of cornus^ the dogherry, placing it among the fe- 
trandria monogynia^ calling its fruit a drupe and 
not a capfule. 
If a little liberty be to be taken in refped to 
the charailers of plants, I think it fhould be, 
not to feparate, but to keep thofe of the fame 
general form together. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
DIVISION II. 
I. Single-flowered Wintergreen. 
Pyrola uniflora. 
The root is fmall, and creeps under the fur- 
face, fending up tufts of leaves in fpring in many 
places, and ftalks where they have firft rifen ; 
but the leaves decay fo foon that they are rarely 
feen together. 
The ftalks are round, flender, weak, and not 
at all branched. 
The leaves grow regularly, but in a very 
fingular manner: three rife from every joint, and 
they all grow toward its top. 
They are fmall, rqundifli, a little ferrated, and 
of a dark green : they have long footftalks, and 
there ufually rife fome young leaves in their bo- 
foms. 
From the upper clufter of thefe leaves rifcs a 
flender, upright, weak pedicle, on which ftands 
the flower. 
This is large, white, and fingle, and very 
much refembles that of the parnaflia, being 
larger than the flower of any other pyrola: it 
confifts of a fingle petal, fo deeply divided into 
five fegments that they appear five diftinft petals, 
joined only at their bafes. 
The feed-veffel is large and ribbed : the feeds 
are fmall. 
If 
