THE 
BRITISH HERBAL. 
CLASS XL 
Plants whofe flower is compofed of five petals irregularly difpofed \ %vhich 
have a single capsule fucceedi?2g each flowery aftd have the leaves 
placed irregularly on the flalks. 
THE planrs with five petals in the flower, and a Iingle capfule, are very mimerous ; and, 
therefore, the obferving luch fubordinate charafters as nature has placed" bttween them is 
the more neceflary : had there been fewer of them, the whole might have been difpofed: \^ 
oneclafs; and thefe general diftindtions, from tiie ftrudure of the flower, and difpofuion of the 
leaves on the ftalks, would only have fubdivided them : but nothing perplexes the ftudent fo much 
as too great a multiplicity of objefta under the fame head. It is for this reafon I have again fepa- 
rated many ot thofe genera which LinnEEUs. had joined together ; and, for the fame caufe, this- 
aflbrtment of plants is difpofed under three clalTes : nature has turnilhed fufficient grounds for the 
difl:in6tion, and they are fufiiciently obvious; the fcience therefore wiU be rendered more familiar 
by following this method, hi her fieps. 
Linneeus, in this, as in other cafes often before mentioned, feparates the plants belonging to one 
into feveral of his rnoft remote cUffcs : I fhall be content to name this where needful in the accounts 
of the feveral genera, not to fill too many pages with a criticifm, whichj however needful to the 
fervice of the Icicnce, I never make without concern. 
SERIES I. 
Natives of B r i t A i N. 
Thofe of which one or more fpecies are naturally wild in this, kingdom. 
GENU S I. 
VIOLET. 
VIOLA. 
THE flower is compofed of five petals of unequal fze j one is placed fingly, and the other 
four in two pairs : the Angle petal is broad, fhort, obtufe, and nipp'd at the top; and it runs 
out into a fpur behind. The two fide-pctals are oblong and obtufe, and the two others larger and 
broader : this is the ftrufture of the flower. The feed-veflcl is of an oval form, with three flight 
ridges; it is compofed of three valves, and contains only one cell: the cup is fmall, compofed of 
five leaves irregularly difpofed, and remains v.hen the flower is fallen . 
LinnEEUs places this among the pclygamia iiiofwgamia-y an idle, intricate, and unnatural 
clafs s feparating it from the other genera to which it is properly allied. 
