The BRITISH HERBAL. 
343 
GENUS IIL 
SEA-L AVENDER. 
LIMON lUM. 
THE flower is compofed of four petals : thefe nre oblong, narrow at the bottom, and broad at 
the top ; and they unite fo as to form an oblong, flender tube. The cup to each flower is 
fmall, formed of a fingle leaf, tubular, and wide at the mouth : it is not divided, but is folded at 
the edge. There is befides this a common or general cup, ferving to many flowers, and containing 
a long feries of them. This is of an imbricated form. The feed after every flower is finglej 
naked, and contained in the cup. 
Linnsus places this among penCandria p^itagynia ; the threads in the flower being five, and the 
ftyles from the rudiment of the feed the fame in number. 
This author confounds the fea lavender with thrift. He takes away the generical name Imoniumi 
and makes all thefe plants fpecies of Jiatke : but there is an abfolute and efTential diftinftion in the 
general cup, which fupports that in the form and univcrfal afpeit. Thus Nature confirms her ob- 
vious differences, and thus this author has confounded them ; not heedlefsly, for he names this very 
difference, acknowledging, that while the common cup ol the limonium contains a great number of 
flowers in a long feries, and is fimple, and of an oblong form ; that of Jiatics is triple, and com- 
prehends them in a round cluiler. This we fliall explain at large in its place, treating o'i Jlatice. 
We have in this plant an inftance alfo of Linnsus's error in feparating the naturally-allied genera 
of the prefent clafs, the valerian and valerianella being placed among the irigynia^ and this and the 
fiatice among \ht fentagynia. But this is little to what we fhail have occafion to obferve in the fuc- 
ceeding genera. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
I. Common Sea-Lavender, 
Limonium vulgare. 
The root is long, thick, divided, and fpread- 
ing. 
The leaves rife in a large tuft : they are 
oblong, and confiderably broad : they have ihort 
footftaiks, and arc of a deep, dufky, bluifh green. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, and di- 
vided into many branches : it is of a pale green, 
and has no leaves. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the branches 
in fevcral long feries, principally on one fide ; 
and they are fmall and purple. 
The iced is fingle, fmall, roundifh, and brown. 
It is common in fait marfhes, and about our 
coatls. It flowers in June, 
C. Bauhine calls it Limonium marilimum majus- 
Others, Limofiium vulgare. 
The roots of this plant are powerfully aflrin- 
gent : they may be given in decodion, or in 
powder ; and they flop loofenefTes. 
The feeds are good in the diabetes. 
2. Dwarf Sea-Lavender. 
Limonium foliis fejfdibus farvum. 
The root is long, fiender, of a rcdifh colour, 
and furniflicd with feveral fibres. 
The leaves rife in aclufler ; and are fmall, and 
of a pale bluifli green : ihey are oblong, nar- 
row, and fliarp-pointed ; and they have no foot- 
ftalks, but rife tfom the root immediately by a 
narrow bafe. 
The ftalks are numerous, flender, and divided 
into feveral tiranchec : they are ufually naked, 
as in the other ; but fometimes there grows a leaf 
or two near their bafe, refembling thofe from the 
root. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a very pale 
flefhy purple : they ftand in many long feries on 
the tops of the branches. 
It is common on our fait marfhes, and flowers 
in May. 
Some have confounded it with the former as a 
variety ; but its leaves fpeak it a perfeiflly diflindt 
fpecies, 
Ray calls it Limonium minus. Others, Limo- 
nium po.rvum. 
3- Sea-Lavender, with umbellated flowers^ 
Limonium jloribus umbellatis. 
The root is long, thick, of a dufky brown, 
and furnidied with many fibres. 
The leaves rife in a large tuft ; and they are 
long, narrow, fharp-pointed, of a deep green, 
and placed on fliort, red footfi:aIks. 
The ftalks are numerous, tall, thick, and di- 
vided toward the top into numerous branches: 
the height of the plant is a foot and half, and its 
tops fpread two feet in breadth. 
The flowers are fmall and purple : they ftand 
at diftances from one another, and form a kind of 
u mbcl. 
It is common about our fouthern coafts, and 
flowers in July, 
Ray calls it Limonimn Anglicum minus caulibus 
r amofioribus., jloribus in fpicis rarius fills. Minus 
is an iil term, for it often grows very large. 
D I V I - 
