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The BRITISH H E R B A L. 
SIGN II. FOREIGN SPECIES. 
D I V I 
Butterwort with a fhort fpur. 
Pinguicula calcari breviffimo. 
The root confifts of numerous fibres, rifing 
from a fmall head : they are redifh, thick, and 
irregular, and fprcad under the furface. 
The leaves rife in a thick clufter, ten or twelve 
together. 
They are long, and have no footftalks : they 
are broadeft near the bafe, narrower at the point, 
and of a pale green colour and flefhy fubftance. 
The ftalks are flender, naked, and three inches 
high. 
The flowers ftand fingly, one on each, and 
they are fmaU and white, and have a very fhort 
fpur. 
The feed veffel is oval and large. 
It is frequent on the mountains in Germany, 
and flowers in June. 
Ray calls it Prnguicidn fiore alba mnore calcari 
breviffimo. 
G E N U S II. 
TOADFLAX. 
L I N J R I A. 
•-pHE flower confifts of a fingle petal, and has a labiated afpeS : it is formed into an oblong tube, 
with a fpur and a pair of lips, the fpace fhut between them. The upper lip is divided into 
two parts, and turned back at the fides : the lower lip is divided into three parts, and is obtufe ; and 
the piece which (huts up the fpace between the lips, and may be called the palate, is convex: this 
rifes from the lower lip. 1 he cup is formed of a fingle leaf divided into five fegments, and re- 
mains when the flower is fallen. The feed-veffel is roundilh, plain, and, when ripe, divided in a 
regular manner. 
Linnreus places this among his didynamia angioffermia ; feparating it eleven claffes from the pin- 
guiciila, to which it is fo evidently .allied. 
That plant, becaufe there arc only two threads in each flower, he places among the diandria. 
This has its rank with the didynamia ; becaufe it has in each flower four threads, two of which 
are lono-er, and two (horter : it comes under the diftinftion of migiofpmnia, becaufe its feeds arc 
contained in a capfule; thofe of the other divifion of that cl.,fs Handing naked in the cup. 
Linni;us does not allow linaria to conftitute a diftinft genus in this clafs ; but, taking away the 
antient and received name, he makes it a fpccies of antirrhinum, calling all the kinds of toadflax 
fpecies of fnapdragcn. 
Aiitirrhir.um and linaria agree, indeed, as plants of the fame clafs ; each having a flower confifting 
of a fingle petal ; each a capfule for the feeds, and each, to follow this moft ingenious author's more 
minute refearchcs, four threads ; two longer, and two fliorter. 
This brings them all into the fame clafs ; but there is diftinftion enough between them to keep 
them in feparate genera; and this is the more needful to be cbferved, becaufe the fpecies of each arc 
numerous, and the joining them all under one generical name would create difficulty, if it did not 
introduce confufion. 
The difference between toadflax and fnapdragan is this : the flower of toadflax has a long and (harp 
fpur, and the capfule of the feeds is plain, regular in fhape, and divides regularly when ripe ; on 
the 'contrary, the flower of fnafdragon has no fpur, and the ca^.fule is irregularly and Angularly 
conffruftcd at the bottom, and opens' unequally. 
This is a very fufiicient diftinilion of the genera ; Linnajus knew this, for he has mentioned it ; 
and if he had not, there would be no doubt of his having obferved it ; becaufe no author has ex- 
amined the ftrufture of flowers fo accurately, or underftood their feveral parts fo well. His faults 
are not thofe of omiflion : his misfortune, and that of the world, has been that, having formed a 
fyfliem, which did him credit by its novelty, he would not depart from it in favour of even his own 
obfervations. 
This author has not only thus joined the linaria and antirrhinum m one genus, but he comprehends 
under the fame charafter and name alfo, the cymbalaria and elatine; plants which we fliall fliew in the 
fucceeding genera to be fufficiently diftinft, and well entided to their feparate names. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
Common Toadflax. , The firfl: leaves are fmall, flender, pointed, 
and of a yellowifh green : the ftalk foon grows 
up amongft ihefc, and they immediately fade. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, and two 
foot high. 
It 
Linaria vulgaris. 
The root is long, flender, whitifli, hard, and 
furniflied with a few fibres. 
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