Draba VERNA. Vernal Dr aba or Whitlow Grass. 
DRABA Lmuti Gen. PL Tetradynamia Siliculosa. 
Rail Synop. Gen. 21. Hems tetrapetals siliqjioss et siliculosje. 
DRABA verni (capis nudis, foliis fubferratis. Lhmxi Syjl. Vegetah. p. +89. Fler. Suec. p. 223. 
DRABA cauliculis nudis, foliis fubhirfutis, fubdcntatis. Haller, hlfl. helv. I. 215. 
BURSA PASTORIS minor loculo oblongo. Bauhin. pin. 108. 2. 
PARONYCHIA vulgaris. Gerard tinae. 624 . Rali Syn. 292: HuJfan FI. Angi. 243- Scepelt Fler. Carmel, n. 792. 
RADIX fibrofa, annua. 
CAULES nudi, palmares, i ad 5 aut plures in folo 
fertili ex eadem radice nafcuntur. 
FOLIA ovato-lanc eolata, bafi anguftiora integra et 
fubferrata, (ferra nili unica aut duo, raro plures) 
fuper terram expanfa, fcabriufcula, hirfuta, pili 
bi-trifurci. 
PEDUNCULI alterni, uniflori. 
CALYX: PERiANTHiuM tetraphyllum, foliolis erettis, 
concavis, gibbis, obtufis, fubhirfutis. fg. 1 . 
COROLLA tetrapetala, petala alba, calyce duplo longi- 
ora, bipartita. 2. 
STAMINA : Filamenta fex incurvata, quorum 4 
longitudine Piflilli 2 breviora ; Anthers 
flava z. fg. 3. 4. 
•PISTILLUM: Germen ovatum, compreflum ; Stylus 
vix ullus; Stigma capitatum, planum. fg. 5. 
PERICARPIUM: Filicula ovata, comprefla, brevi 
mucrone obtufo terminata, bilocularis, bivalvis, 
valvulis plano-concavis; fg. 6. 
SEMINA plura, ovata, fufea, margini Dissepimenti 
affixa, fg. 8. 9. 
¥ ROOT fibrous and annual. 
¥ STALKS naked, about three inches high, one to five 
I and frequently more, if the foil be rich, fpring 
t from the fame root. 
¥ 
I LEAVES of an oval pointed ffiape, narrower at bottom, 
t fome of them entire, and others a little ferrated, 
or indented, (feldom more than one or two in- 
l dentations in a leaf,) lpreading on the ground, 
t roughilh, hirfute, fome of the hairs bifurcate, 
others trifurcate. 
* 
l PEDUNCLES alternate, umflorous. 
CALYX: a Perianthium of four leaves, which are 
upright, hollow, gibbous, obtufe, and fome- 
what hairy. Jig. 1 . 
COROLLA tetrapetalous, the Petals white, twice 
the length of the Calyx, and bipartite, Jig. 2. 
STAMINA: fix Filaments which bend inward, 4 
long the height of the Piftillum, and 2 ffiort ;. 
the Anther.® yellow, fg. 3. 4. 
PISTILLUM : The Germen oval and flat ; Style 
fcarce any ; Stigma a fmall head flat at top. 
I SEED-VESSEL a ffiort oval pod, flat, and terminated 
by a ffiort blunt point, having two Cavities and 
two Valves, the Valves {lightly concave, fg. 6: 
¥ SEEDS feveral, oval, brown, fixed to the edge of the 
I Dissepiment or Partition, fg. 8. 9. 
ON Walls, dry Banks, and in barren Fields, the white bloffoms of this diminutive plant, are very confpicuous 
in the months of March and April, a feafon when any kind of bloflom is viewed with pleafure, as it cannot 
fail to excite the pleafing reflexion that the feafon is approaching when 
“ All that is fweet to fmell , all that can charm 
Or eye or ear , burfs forth on every fde 
And crouds upon the fenfes 
Linmeus informs us that in Smoland a Province of Sweden, they fow their Rye when this plant is in 
bloflom, and that in the night time and in wet weather its flowers droop. 
Galen fays that Paronychia or Whitlow Grafs has its name from its properties, for it heals Whitlows ; but 
Commentators are much in doubt concerning the plant itfelf. From the account of the Antients, it appears 
that it is a different plant from what \ve are now deferibing; fome have fixed on Wall Rue, (Asplenium 
Put a muraria, ) others on a plant refembling Spurge, fuch is the confufion that arifes from imperfect deferiptions. 
