9« 
FHE BRITISH HERBAL. 
or cowflip, ten or twelve together, on flender, 
long footftalks, rifiiig from the fame point at the 
top of the main ftalk. 
The feed-vcfi*ei is oblong, and furrowed length- 
wifci and the feeds are numerous and fmall. 
It is a native of Germany, and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Sanicula montana latiJoUa 
'adnata. The common writers, Ciirtufa, and 
Cortufamalhioli. Clufius, Suniucla alpina. 
It is one of the famous wound-herbs of the 
Germans ; but its virtues are not eftablifhed by 
any known experience. 
GENUS IV. 
BEARS EAR. 
AURICULA. 
THE flower cnnfifts of a fingle petal, tubular in the lower part, and divided into five broad 
fegments: the feed-veflel is fingle and oblong, and the cup is very fhort, and divided into 
five fegments : the 'eaves are fiefhy. 
Linnsus places this among the pentandris. momgynia^ the threads in the flower being five, and the 
rudiment of the capfule and its ftyle fingle : but he denies it to be a particular genus. He confiders 
it as a fpecies of cowflip. But from that genus it palpably differs in the Ihortnefs of the cup, and the 
fiefhy fubfl:ance of the leaves. 
He thus takes away its ufual and received name auricula ; a name we have introduced into our 
own language, though we in general pronounce it ill : the proper name of this plant ^ears ear being 
negleded. Our gardeners prefcrve the word auricula j but they fpeak it riculas. 
1. Common yellow Auricula. 
Auricula vulgarh lutea. 
The root is compofed of a great many thick 
fibres, which fpread every way, and penetrate 
deep. 
The leaves rife in a little clufler fix or eight 
together. 
They are broad, oblong, of a whitifli colour, 
jighrly ferrated at the edges, and of a thick, 
flelhy fubflance. 
The flalk is round, thick, four or five inches 
high, and naked. 
The flowers are large, open, and beautiful : 
they ftand in a little clufler at the top of the 
fl:alk, each having its own feparate footflalic. 
Their colour is yellow; but in this there is great 
variety. In nature it is of all the degrees of yel- 
low, from the decpefl; to the paleft, and to abfo- 
lute white ; and culture introduces variegations 
of many more kinds. 
It is a native of Switzerland, and other of the 
northern parts of Europe, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Sajiicula Alpina lutea. J. 
Bauhine, Auricula urfi flore iuteo. 
Many of the auriculas defcribed as diftlnfl fpe- 
cies by authors, are no other than varieties of 
this plant rifing from culture : but Linnfcus is 
rafh in making all thofe we fee of that kind. 
There are three diftirnfl and original fpecies of 
this genus ; from thefe three, culture has raifed 
all that amazing and beautilul variety we fee in 
gardens; but not from this one. 
2. Narrow-leaved red Auricula. 
Auricula avguJlifGlia Jlore ruhente. 
The root is compofed of numerous, long, and 
flender fibres. 
The leaves rife in a fmall tuft ten or twelve to- 
gether, and have no footfl:alks; they are long, 
narrow, of a deep green, more or lels covered 
with a greyifh dufV, fharp-pointcd, and ferrated 
at the edges. 
The ftaik is three inches high, thick, naked, 
round, and of a pale colour. 
The flowers ftand in a clufl:er at the top, and 
are large, and of a bright red: each has its fepa- 
rate long footftalk, and they fland very up- 
right. 
The feed-vefl"el is oblong, and the feed mi- 
nute. 
It is a native of the Apennines. I have fpeci- 
mens of it collected in its wild Itate there, which 
ftiew it a perfectly difl:in6i: fpecies ; as is alfo the 
next to be defcribed. There is no judging by 
what one fees in gardens, where the accidents 
occafioning varieties are endlefs ; but in thefe col- 
leifled wild there is no error. 
C. Bauhine calls this Sanicula Alpina anguftifo- 
lia. J. Bauhine, Auricula urfi angufiifolia colors 
ruhente. Wc, Red. auricula. 
3. Round-leaved red Auricula. 
Auricula foliis fubrotundis Jlore rubente. 
The root confifl:s of a fmall head, and a great 
multitude of fibres. 
The leaves are numerous and ere(51: : they 
ftand on a kind of footftalks ; but thofe rite rather 
a continuation of the bafe of the leaf, than any 
thing regularly demanding that name : they are 
fhort, broad, roundifh, and of a pale green : 
they are obtufe, and fliarply ferrated, and of a 
thick, flefliy fubfl:ance. 
The ftalk rites in the centre, and is thick, 
firm, upright, naked, and about four inches 
high. 
The flowers are large, and of a beautiful red : 
they ftand in a tuft at the top of the ftalk, each 
having its feparate and proper footftalk. 
The feed veftel is oblong, and the feed is 
fmall. 
It 
