The BRITISH HERBAL. 
^37 
DIVISION I. BR 
I. Common Water-Starwort. 
Steliaria vulga-ris. 
The root is a great ciufler of long and flender 
fibres. 
7'he ftalks are numerous, green, flender, 
very weak, and a foot or two in length : they 
rife to the furface of the water ufually, as the 
mofl common place ot its growth is in fliallow 
ditches. 
The leaves grow in pairs all the way up the 
ftalks, but at the tops in cluftcrs : thofe on the 
ftaiks are longilh, narrow, and of a pale green ; 
they have no footftalks : they are pointed at the 
ends, and undivided at the edges. , 
The leaves on the top form themfelves into a 
kind of head ; they are fmalleil: in the centre, 
larger all the way outwards, and fpread in the 
manner of a ftar, whence the plant has its name. 
The flowers are fmall : they (land at the joints '■ 
of the ftalks, where the leaves alfo rife ; and 
there ufually ar-e two of them together : they are 
whitifli, and the two petals which compofe them 
are hollow, and converge togccher : there is a 
Tingle yellow button to each, fupported on a , 
long thread. 
. The fced-vefiel is rounded, flat, and marked 
with four lines on the furface. ; 
The feeds are numerous and fmall. 
It is common in our ditches, and flowers in May. 
C. Bauhine calls it Steliaria aqiiatka. Others, 
Steliaria apiatica vulgaris. 
2. Blunt-leaved Water -Starwort. 
Stdlaria repcns foliis obtufis. 
The root is compofed of numerous very flen- . 
der fibres. 
The ftalks are many and weak : they are round 
and jointed: they rife but a little height in the 
water, where they arc covered ; but when the 
plant grows in mud, as is common, with very 
little water, then they iie fpread every way upon: 
the furface ; and, in both cafes, wherever they 
touch they take root at the joints. 
DIVISION "ir.- F o 
1. Alternate-flowered Water Starwort. 
Steliaria floribus alternis. 
The root is compofed of many flender" 
threads, of a whitifli colour, and very tender 
fubftance. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, and of a pale 
green. 
The leaves are long, narrow, and of a dead 
green, undivided at the edges, and fliarp at the 
points. 
ITISH SPECIES. 
The leaves are few, and of a faint green : 
they grow in pairs, and have no footftalks : 
they are ftiort, and rounded at the end : at the 
top of the ftalk there {fand four, or more, in a 
little clufter, but not difpofed with that regularity 
wc fee in thofe of the former fpecies. 
The flowers are fmall and white : they are 
placed in the bofoms of the leaves, and the petals 
of which they are compofed ftand wider than in 
the other. 
The feed-veffel is fquare, but flatteti : the feeds 
are very numerous and minute. 
It is common in puddles and about the edges 
of filTi-ponds, and flowers in April. 
C. Bauhine calls it Lenticula palufiris bifoHa 
fru£tu tctragono. Dillenius, Steliaria minor et 
repens, 
3. Long leaved Water-Starwort, 
Steliaria longijolia. 
The root confifts of fibres, but they ate 
not, as in the others, long and ilender 3 they 
make a very thick head of fhorc ones almoft 
innumerable. 
The ftalks are numerous, weak, and a foot or 
more in length. 
The leaves ftand in pairs on the ftalks, and in 
a ftarry tuft at the top : thofe on the ftalks are 
long, narrow, and often curled at the edges, and 
fplit at tlie points : the others are fliarp-pointedj 
and fpread upon the furface, in form of a ftar. 
The flowers arc very fmall, and yellowifh f 
each is compofed of two narrow petals, and iir 
the centre thcic rifes a fliort filament with a yel- 
low button. 
The feed-veffel is rounded and flat : the feeds 
are very numerous and fmall. 
It is common in falt-water ditches, and fome- 
times in frefti. I have obferved it abundantly in 
the ditches on the ifle of Shipey, 
It flowers in June, 
Ray calls it Steliaria aqtiatica foliis kngis tc 
nuijfimis. 
REIGN SPECIES. 
The flowers ftand alternately, and are com- 
pofed each of two flatted and fomewhat hooked 
petals, in the niidft of which rifes" a Angle fila- 
ment with a large button. 
The feed-veft"cl is roundifh and flatted. 
It is common about the fhores of the Volga-, 
and flowers in July. 
Juflleu calls it Corifpermum floribus lateralibus. 
Nothing is known of the virtueis of thefe 
plants. 
N» 14. 
GENUS 
