Monandria :. 
27 
Order II. Digynia. 
Caeeitriche. Gen. char. — Cal. none ; petals two ; 
stigmas acute ; seeds four, compressed, naked, margi- 
nated on one side. 
Call. Aquatica, Water starwort 5 an annual plant, 
common in the ditches or stagnant waters of Britain 5 
is in flower from April to October, and is easily distin- 
guished by its floating leaves and small white sessile, 
solitary and axillary flowers. Two species, verna and 
autumnalis, have been described, but they are consider- 
ed as only varieties, the latter of which is distinguished 
by all the leaves being uniformly linear. 
Beitum. Gen. char . — -Cal. three- cleft 5 petals none ; 
one seed in a berried calyx. 
Blit. Virgatum, Strawberry -blite. Little heads, sparse, 
and growing from the sides of the stem. This species, 
which is a native of Spain and Tartary, and was first 
introduced into this country in 1759, is now well known 
among the hardy annuals of every garden under the 
name of Strawberry Spinach, a name derived from the 
beautiful red colour of its berries, and the form of its 
leaves. 
Observe — It sometimes happens, that a plant, which, 
from those parts of fructification that determine the 
class, should be arranged in a different class from those 
species with which it agrees in all other respects. To 
mark the anomaly, and at the same time to retain the 
plant in its place among those species with which it is 
naturally allied, Linnaeus has . ingeniously contrived to 
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