I I 2 
THE BRITISH HERBAL. 
It is fingiilar, that a ftrufture and form in the capfule of this plant, which could' ftrike the com^ 
mon obferver fo ftrongly as to obtain a peculiar :namc, cxpreffing an imaginary refemblance of the 
head of an animal, fhould not have appeared to this curious and nice obferver of the moll minute 
differences, a mark fufficient for a generical diftinflion. . 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
Common, fmall Snapdragon. 
Antirrhinum vtdgare minus. 
The root is long, flender, white, crooked, 
hard, and turnifhed with a few fibres. 
The firft leaves are long and narrow: they rife 
in a fmall tuft, and have no footftalks : they are 
undivided at the edges, of a pale ycllowilh green, 
and quickly fade when the ftaik rifes. 
The ftalk is round, branched, eight or ten 
inches high, and of a pale green colour. 
The leaves ftand irregularly, and are not very 
numerous : they have no footrLftlks, and they are 
obiong, narrow, and of a pale green. 
The flowers rife from the bofoms of the leaves 
DIVISION II. 
I. Great purple Snapdragon. 
Antiyrhimm fwpureum mrjiis. 
The root confifts of a great tuft of fibres, 
rifing from a fmall head. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, fmooth, firm, 
upright, and two foot and a half high ; fome- 
times they are branched, fometimes fingle. 
The leaves are numerous and large : they are 
of a pale green, and are long and broad, not at 
all divided or indented at the edges, and of a 
fiefiiy, thick fubflance. 
The flowers grow in long, loofe fpikes at the 
tops of the (lalks and branches : they are very 
large, and of a beautiful red, fometimes white, 
and have the fpace between the two lips perfedly 
filled up by a prominent palate. 
The feed -veiTci is large, and the feeds are nu- 
merous and fmall. 
It is a native of the fouth of France. The 
flowers, in the wild fl:ate, vary in colour from 
the deepefl: purple to the palefl; fiefh colour, and 
even to white. 
J. Bauhine calls it Antirrhinum vulgare. C 
Bauhine, Antirrhinum majus aitertm folio lonpore. 
Others, Antirrhinum furpureim. 
2. Great-flowered yellow Snapdragon, 
Antirrhinum fiore magna fiavo. 
The root is long and large, divided into many 
parts, and furniflied with a great quantity of 
fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, thick, firm, 
upright, and a yard high ; fometimes branched, 
but more ufualiy fmgle. 
The leaves are large, of a pale green, and 
hairy : they are broader in proportion to their 
length than in the former fpecies, and have foot- 
ftalks. 
The flowers Hand at the top of the ftalk in 4 
ail the way up the flalks : they are fmall, and of 
a mixed colour, part red, and part whitifh. 
The feed-veflTel is large ; and, to a fanciful 
imagination, may eafily be fuppofed to rcprefeni 
the head of a calf. 
It is common in cornfields, efpecially where 
the foil is poor and fandy : It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Antirrhinum arve?ife minus. 
It is the only fpecies of fnapdragon we have 
properly wild in England. We frequently fee 
the gre^J purple fnapdragon upon walls; but that 
is owing CO feeds flying up with the wind out of 
gardens : for it grows naturally in warmer climates. 
This fmall fnapdragon pofTeffes the virtues of 
toadflax, but in a very inferior degree. 
thick, fliorr fpike, and are very large, and of a 
beautiful yellow. 
The feed-veflii is large, and the feeds are fmall 
and round. 
It is a native of the fouth of Trance, and 
flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls It Antirrhinum lutco fiore. 
Camerariiis, Antirrhinum fiore luteo majori. Lin- 
nsEus fets this down only as a variety of the 
preceding fpecies ; but he errs in this. If 
the colour of the flower were the only diffe- 
rence, we fliould agree with him in making it 
no more than a variety, but the leaves di^er as 
much as the reft of the plant, and the ex- 
traordinary bigncfs of the flower is an ad- 
ditional circumftancc : this difference of fize 
would not be regarded in a flower, fingly as a 
mark of a different fpecies, any more than a va- 
riation in colour; but when other circumtlances 
efliablifli the diflinction thefe fupport it. 
3. Variegated-flowered Snapdragon. 
Antirrhinum florihus variegatis. 
The root is fmall, crooked, and woody. 
The fl:alks are numerous, round, flender, and 
a foot and half high : they are feldom branched, 
and are of a pale whitifh green. 
The leaves fland irregularly, and have no foot- 
ftalks : they are long, narrow, fmooth, and of a 
pale green, not at all indented at the edge^, fharp- 
pointed, and more like the leaves of common 
toadflax than any of the fnapdragons. 
The flowers grow all the way up the ftalks, 
rifing from the bofoms of the leaves ; and they 
are placed on longifli, flender footftalks ; they 
are very beautifully coloured ; the body of the 
flower being of a fnow white, and the edges of a 
gold yellow. 
It is a native of Italy, and flowers in July. 
7 Dillenius 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
