( 296 .) 
CENTU'NCULUS* *. 
Linnean Class and Order. Tetra'ndria f, Monogy'niA. 
Natural Order. Primula'ce^e, Vent. — Lindl. Syn. p. 182; 
Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 225. — Rich, by Macgilliv. p. 431. — ■ 
Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 529. — Mack. FI. Hib. p. 192. — Hook. Brit. FI. 
(4th ed.) p. 415. — Lysimachia?, sect. 1. Juss. Gen. PI. p. 95. — 
Sm. Gr. of Bot. p. 95. — Syringales ; subord. Primulosae ; sect. 
Primulinas ; type, Primulacea: ; subty. Primulidas ; Burn. Out. 
of Bot. v. ii. pp. 900, 958, 1020, 1024, & 1025. — Rotace^e, Linn. 
Gen. Char. Calyx (fig. 1.) inferior, in 4 deep, spear-shaped, 
acute, spreading segments, permanent. Corolla (figs. 2 & 3.) 
shorter than the calyx, of 1 sepal, tubular, withering ; tube almost 
globular ; limb in 4 egg-shaped, flat segments. Filaments (see 
figs. 3 & 4.) 4, short, equal, smooth, in the mouth of the tube. 
JIntliers roundish, of 2 cells. Germen (fig. 5.) globose, in the tube 
of the corolla. Style cylindrical, upright, as long as the stamens, 
permanent. Stigma simple. Capsule (see figs. 6 & 7.) globose, 
of 1 cell, opening by a transverse incision. Seeds (fig. 8.) numer- 
ous, minute, angular, covering the large, central, globose, pitted 
receptacle f placenta J. 
Distinguished from other genera, in the same class and order, 
by the inferior, tubular, 4-parted corolla ; the short stamens ; and 
the 1-celled, many-seeded capsule, bursting all round transversely. 
One species British. 
CENTU'NCULUS MI'NIMUS. Small Chaff-weed. Bastard 
Pimpernel. 
Spec. Char. Flowers sessile. Corolla without glands at the base. 
Engl. Bot. t. 531. — Curt. FI. Lond. t. 185. — Linn. Sp. PI. p. 169. — Huds. FI. 
Angl. (2nded.) p. 63. — Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. p. I. p. 653. — Sin. FI. Brit. v. i. p. 185 ; 
Engl. FI. v. i. p. 217. — With. (7th ed.) v. ii. p. 234. — Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 
298. — Lindl. Syn. p. 183. — Hook. Brit. FI. p. 68. — Lightf. FI. Scot. v. i. p. 119. — 
Abbot’s FI. Bedf. p. 30. — Davies’ Welsh Bot. p. 17. — Relh. FI. Cant. (3rd edit.) 
p. 64. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 54. — Fl. Devon, pp. 29 & 142. — Rev. G. E. Smith’s 
PI. of S. Kent, p. 9.— Walker’s Fl. of Oxf. p. 41. — Maereight’s Manual of British 
Botany, p. 189. — Mack. Catal. of PI. of Irel. p. 19; Fl. Hibern. p. 192. — Centun- 
culus, Dill, in Ray’s Syn. opposite p. 1. — Blackst. Spec. Bot. p. 13. — Anagalli- 
dastrum exiguum, foliis lanceolatis alternis, flore albo fugaci et vix 
conspicuo, Mich. Gen. p. 14. t. 18. f. 2. 
Localities — In moist sandy or gravelly places ; not common. — Bedfordsh. 
Boggy ground on Ampthill Moor; Rev. C. Abbot. — Bucks; On Gerard’s 
Cross Common, near Bulstrode, in great plenty, with Radiola millegrana : 
Mr. Gotoeed. — Cambridgesh. Gamlingay Bogs: Rev. R. Relhan. — Cumber- 
land ; Ravenglass: N. B.G. — Devon; Bovey Heathfield ; and Petitor Mary- 
church : Rev. A. Neck. — Dorset; Poole, and Wareham Heaths, particularly 
where the soil has been laid bare by cutting turf ; near the road-side about mid- 
way between Wimbourne and Poole : Dr. Pvlteney. — Essex ; Bogs on Epping 
Forest near Highbeech ; Mr. E. Foster, jun. — Kent; About Chiselhurst: 
Dii.lenius. On Ashford Common, with Littorella lacustris : Curtis. Upon 
Fig. 1. Calyx. — Figs. 2 & 3. Corolla. — Fig. 4. A Stamen. — Fig. 5. Germen. — 
Fig. 6 & 7. Capsule. — Fig. 8. A Seed. — All, except figs. 5 & 6, more or less 
magnified. — 
* A name, it appears, anciently given to the Pimpernel, a genus allied to this ; 
and derived, according to Theis, from cento, a covering, because it was a little 
weed that covered the cultivated fields. Sir W. J. Hooker. 
+ See folio 114, note t. 
