Ch ironia Centaurium. Centaury. 
CHIRONIA Lin. Gem Pl. PentandRia Monogynia. 
Con rotata. Pijlillum declinatum. Stamina tubo corolla infidentia. Anther a 
demum fpirales. Pericarp. 2-loculare 
RaiiSyn. Gen. 18. Herba: fructu sicco singulari flore monopetalcI. 
CHIRONIA Centaurium. 
GENTIANA Centaurium corollis qu'mquefidis infundibuliformibus, caule dichotomo, piftillo fimplici. 
Lin. Syji. Vegetab. p. 122. Sp. Plant, p. 332. FI. Suec. n. 232. 
GENTIANA caule dichotomo 3 floribus infundibuliformibus, ftriatis* quinquefidis. Baller i FUJI. n. 648. 
GENTIANA Centaurium. Scopoli FL Cam. n. 293. 
CENTAURIUM minus Bauh. Pin. 278, 
CENTAURIUM minus vulgare. Parkins. 272. 
CENTAURIUM parvum. Gerard, emac. 547. Saii Syn. p. 286. Small Purple Cento'ry. Badfott 
FI. Angl. ed. 2. p. 102. Lightfoot Fl. Scot. p. 1 52. 
RADIX annua* fibrofa, lignofa, flavefcens. 
¥ROOT annual, fibrous, woody, and of a yellowifli 
I colour. 
CAULIS fpithamaeus, et ultra, ere&us, plerumque, I STALK about feven inches high or more, upright, - 
fimplex, glaber, angulofus. | generally Ample, fmooth, and angular. 
FOLIA oppofita, feflilia, glabra, radicalia oblonga, | LEAVES oppofite, feflile, fmooth, thofe of the root 
apice obtufa, bafi angufhta, caulina ovato- 1 oblong, blunt at the point and narrowed at 
lanceolata, ere£ta, trinervia, fuperioribus fiepe^: the bafe ; thofe of the ftalk narrow, pointed, 
incurvis. ¥ upright, three-ribbed, the uppermofl: often 
I bent inward. 
FLORES rofei, corymbofi, eretti, feffiles. ¥ FLOWERS rofe-coloured, growing in a corymbus, 
I upright, and feflile. 
CALYX: Perianthium monophyllum, quinquefi- ^ CALYX : a Perianthium of one leaf, divided into 
dum, eredum, coroll* fubagglutinatum, per- | five fegments, upright, flightly glued to the 
fiftens, laciniis fubulatis, fubtriangularibus, % corolla, permanent, the fegments tapering to 
membrana connexis. Jig. 1, 2 . auSl. | a point, fomewhat triangular, conne&ed by a 
^ membrane. Jig. 1, 2. magnijied. 
COROLLA monopetala, infundibuliformis, tubus cy- f COROLLA monopetalous, funnel- fhaped, the tube cy- 
lindraceus, ftriatus, tenuiffimus, calyce duplo I lyndrical, flriated, extremely thin, twice the 
longior, limbus quiuquepartitus, roleus, laci- ? length of the calyx, limb divided into five feg- 
fiiis ovatis, patentibus. Jig. 3. | *■ merits, of a rofe-colour, the fegments ovate 
% and fpreading. Jig. 3. 
STAMINA: Filamenta quinque, alba, filiformia, ex | STAMINA : five Filaments, white, thread- fhaped, 
apice tubi enata. Antheras oblong*, in-| fpringing from the top of the tube. An- 
cumbentes, flav*, demum fpiraliter contort*. | theras oblong, incumbent, of a yellow co- 
fig- 4 . 5 . 6. 
lour, finally twilled. Jig. 4, 5, 6. 
PISTILLUM: Germen. oblongum, tubum corollas im- i PISTILLUM : Germen oblong, filling the tube of 
plens. Stylus albus, filiformis, germine | the corolla. Style white, of equal, thick- 
dimidio brevior, declinatus, aliquando bifidus, f nefs throughout, half the 1 length of the ger- 
Stigma craffum, bilobum, villofum, Jig. 7,| men, inclining to one fide, fometimes bifid. 
8, 9. % Stigma thick, compofed of two lips and 
I villous. Jig. 7, 8, 9. 
PERICARPIUM: Capsula oblonga, acuta* nitida, | SEED-VESSEL : a Capsule, of an oblong fhape. 
tubo coroll* obteda, bilocularis, bipartibilis, i 
I 
pointed, fhining, covered by the tube of the 
corolla, divifible into two parts, with a cavity 
SEMINA numerofa, parva, fubrotunda, flavefcentia. 
I SEEDS numerous, fmall, roundifh, of a yellowifh 
•t colour. 
Thofe who have been accuflomed to confider this well-known plant as a Gentiana, will be flartled at feeing it 
here firft announced as a Chironia; but when they come attentively to examine its parts of frudification, they will 
wonder how they could lo readily acquiefce in joining it to a genus with which its flrudure is wholly irrecon- 
cilable. It agrees perfedly with Linnaeus’s charader of the genus Chironia, the eflence of which confifts in its 
twijled Anther a ; and it is worthy of obfervation, that the bloffoms of two of the Chironia' s, not unfrequentlv 
met with in the gardens of the curious, are of the fame colour as the Centaury. Thefe fads have induced me to 
add a new genus to the Englifh Catalogue, whereby this plant fortunately aflumes its proper name*. 
The Centaury grows wild in dry and barren fields, on heaths by the fides of hedges, and fometimes in woods, 
where it ufually acquires a greater height. In the neighbourhood of Charlton and Coombe Woods it is not unfrequent, 
and flowers in July and Auguft. 
A variety, with white flowers, is not uncommon. 
This herbis extremely bitter, with a difagreeable tafle, whence, Baron Haller obferves, the ancients called it 
fel terra, or gall of the earth. From an idea, however, that all bitters are good flom.achic medicines, it has 
acquired no fmall degree of medicinal fame, and is particularly recommended in all weakneffes of the Stomach ; 
alio in the Jaundice, Green-ficknefs, Worms, Agues, Gout, Scurvy, &c. 
It may be given in fubflance to a drachm; in infufion or deco&ion to two ounces ; the extra£lto a fcruple. 
Authors have remarked, that it is a plant very difficult of cultivation. 
* Cen.taury has it name nncwpo, or *,»T<ut e sio» from Chiron the Centaur, “ Centaurea curatus dicitur Chiron, cum Herculis excepti hofmtio 
“ pertractandi arma fagitta excidi flet in pedem : quare aliqui Chironion vocant,” Ptin. l. aj. c. 6. f. 635. 
