The VEGETABLE SYSTEM. 
35 
on the upper fide ; and paler underneath. The Flowers are fmall and 
white. 
It will be obferved, that we retain the received trivial Latin names 
of all the Species in the margin ; but the reader will be juft enough to 
underftand, that we retain them as convenient, rather than good ones; 
and though we ufe them, we by no means approve them. They are 
a kind of fimple, fhort notices of Plants, which though they might 
eafily have been better, as in this inftance (for why (hould this Species 
be called American, more than the former ?) yet will ferve the purpofe 
as they are. They are appellations in which the Botanic world, at pre- 
fent, feem to be agreed ; and they ferve here inftead of a multitude of 
Synonyma, often as bad as themfelves ; for they make a kind of cata- 
logue, to which every modern book is an Index. 
It is the more neceflary for us to retain them, becaufe we often 
find it neceflary in compliance with the natural characters of a Plant, 
to change its Genus j but this, by the help of the trivial key, is always 
to be underftood by thofe who chufe to confult other Authors, without 
confufion. 
4. ARROWED SHEEP ROT. 
Plate 10. Fig. 2. 
Chara&er of the Species. Hydrocotyle Afiatica. 
The Leaves are arrowed with a Kidney-fhaped Bafe ; and 
many rife together at a Joint. 
Fig. 2. a b. 
This is a perennial, native of the Eaft Indies, a low Plant, but very 
leafy, and therefore exceedingly confpicuous on the ground ; flowering 
in May. The Stalks are weak and tender ; the Leaves are of a very 
fine and frefh green. The Flowers are white and inconfiderable. 
Authors were by no means agreed to what Genus to refer this 
Plant for fome time. Herman * underftood it to be a kind of Corn 
Sallad, (I am afraid it would have proved a fatal one ;) and Plukenet *j- 
thought it of the family of Crowfoots. 
* 
E 2 
Par. Bat. 238. 
f Aim. 314. 
5. LINEAR 
