The BRITISH HERBAL. 
135 
1. Long-leaved Sefamum. 
Sejamum foUis ohUnga. 
The root is long, thick, and furnifhcd with 
lii.uvy fibres. 
The firll leaves are long and large: they rife 
in a thick duller, and have fliort footftalks ; and 
their colour is a pale green ; they are broadefl: 
toward the bale, fliarp at the point, and flightly 
indented at the edges. 
The ftalk is thick, firm, upright, and not at 
all branched : it is two foot and a half high, and 
is of a pale green, and ftriated on the furface. 
The leaves are numerous, and of a pale green: 
tiiey are perfeflly like thofe from the root, only 
fmaller and lefs indented, and fometimes not at 
all fo. 
The flowers are large, and white, with a tinge 
of purplifl-i -, fometimes altogether red ; they rile 
from the bofoms of the leaves, and ftand on 
(hort, flender footftalks. 
The feed-velfel is long and large, and contains 
a large quantity of feeds. 
It is a native of Zeylon and Malabar, and is 
fown in fields about Adrianople. 
Burman calls it Digitalis erimtalis fefamum 
diSa. Others, only Sefamum. The flower fome- 
what refcmbles foxglove, whence it has obtained 
the name of oriaUal foxglove ; but the feed-veflcl 
is perfeftly different, and makes it another genus. 
An oil is made from it in Turkey, and is 
famous in many external applications. We ufed 
to have it here, but it is of late negleftcd en- 
tirelv. It is eifeemed good againft headachs, 
and a few drops put into ears for deafnefs. 
2. Various-leaved Sefamum. 
Sefamum foliis variisi 
The root is long, large, and white : it pene- 
trates deep into the ground, and has a few fibres. 
The fiift leaves are oblong, broad, fmall, and 
of a deep green : they have fliort footftalks, and 
are undivided at the edges. 
The flialk is round, firm, upright, and not at 
all branched. 
The leaves grow in pairs, but they are con- 
fiderably different in form on the vartous parts of 
the plant : thofe which grow lowermoft are di- 
vided into three parts, two flrort toward the bafe, 
and one long, which terminates them ; and all 
thefc are indented at the edges. The upper leaves 
are oblong, narrow, and indented ; they are broads 
elt at the bafe, and fmaller all the way to the 
point ; and they have long and flender foot- 
fl:alks. 
The flowers grow in the bofoms of the leaves: 
they are very large, and have feparate flender 
footftalks. 
The feed veflel is long and fquared j and the 
feeds are numerous. 
It is a native of the Eaft Indies, and flowers 
in July. 
Plukenet calls it Sefamum altsrum foliis trifidis. 
GENUS IX. 
R V a L L 1 A. 
THE flower confifts of a fingle petal, and approaches to the labiated form : it confifts of a fliort 
tube, hid within the cup; an open and drooping neck; and, above that, an edge divided into 
five fegments : two of thefe which ftand upward are fomewhat reflex ; the other three point down- 
ward and are more fl:rait ; the cup is formed of a fingle leaf, divided at the edge into five narrow 
ferments ; and the feed-veflel is long, flender, rounded, and pointed at each end. 
LinnEEUS places this among the didynamia angioffermia ; the threads in each flower, as in moft of 
the preceding fpecies, being four, two of which are longer and two fliorter ; and the feeds being thus 
contained in a capfule. 
The firft of tliefe charaffers they enjoy in common with the flowers properly of the labiated kind -, 
thofe having four threads, which are thus of unequal lengths : the other is peculiar, for the feeds of 
all the plants properly of the labiated kind ftand in the bottom of the cup. 
This ftiews, that the particular arrangement of the threads, two long and two (hort, which is one 
of the moft Angular charafters in the method of Linnaeus, is not, nor can be, the proper mark of 
a clafs : though he has made it fo ; becaufe of the numerous plants which have the threads in this 
number and order, fome have the feeds naked, others regularly contained in a capfule. 
LinnEEUS faw this difference, and arranged the plants under two feparate heads, though in the 
fame clafs : but this is the fame error Ray made, in making the regular and irregular monopetalous 
flowers only a fub-diftinflion ; whereas it is truly, and in nature, a claffical charafter. 
Procumbent Ruellia. 
Ruellia frocumhens. 
The root is white, fmall, and thready. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, yellowifli, 
flender, and five or fix inches long: they lie 
every way fpread upon the ground, and fre- 
quently take root at the joints. 
The leaves ftand in pairs, and are fliort and 
broad : they are fliarply fcrrated at the edges. 
obtufe at the end, and of a frefh green: 
The flowers grow at the tops of the ftalks, 
three or four in a little clufter, and are of a pale 
red. 
The feed-veflel is long, and the feeds are nu- 
merous and fmall. 
It is a native of the Eaft Indies and the Ame- 
rican Iflands, and flowers in May. 
Plukenet calls it Genlianella impatiens foliis 
agerati. In Barbadoes they call it Sliapgrafs. 
Tie E N D of /he F 1 F T n CLASS. 
THE 
