LY’THRUM. mv 
tliat it varies, though feldom, with alternate leaves. Na¬ 
tive of Auftria, Siletia, and Siberia. Introduced in 1776, 
by Jof. Nic. de Jacquin, M.D. It flowers from June to 
September. 
3. Lythrum fruticofum, orfhrubby willow-herb: leaves 
oppofite, lubtomentofe underneath ; flowers ten-ftamened; 
corolla thorter than the calyx ; calyx flrorter than the ge¬ 
nitals. This is a (limb, with a lacerated bark. Leaves 
feflile, lanceolate, quite entire. Flowers folitary, pedun- 
cled, fubterminating. Native of China. 
4.. Lythrum verticillatum, or whorled w'illow-herb: 
leaves oppofite, tomentol'e underneath, fubpetioled ; flowei ’3 
in whorls, lateral. This riles with a ftiff branching ftalk 
a foot and a half high. Leaves oblong. Flowers in 
whorls, pale purple, appearing in July. Native of Vir¬ 
ginia. 
5. Lythrum petiolatum, or footftalk-leaved willow- 
herb : leaves oppofite, linear, petioled; flowers twelve- 
itamened. This rifes with an upright woolly ftalk near 
two feet high. Flowersaxillary, folitary, fmall, pale pur¬ 
ple ; appearing in July. Native of Virginia. 
6. Lythrum lineare, or linear-leaved willow-herb: leaves 
oppofite, linear; flowers oppofite, fix-ftamened. Stalks 
flender, about a foot high. Flowers white ; calyx ftreaked, 
cyt into fix parts at top. It flowers in June; and is a 
native of Virginia. 
7. Lythrum Parfonfia, or Parfons’s willow-herb : leaves 
oppofite, oval; flowers alternate, fix-ftamened, feflile; 
Item diffufed. Roots filiform. Stem proftrate or creep¬ 
ing, branched, round, flender, feldom exceeding ten or 
fourteen inches in length: flowers pale red. Native of 
Jamaica and Hifpaniola ; flowering the whole year. Dr. 
Browne, fuppofing it to be a new genus, named it Par- 
fcnfia , after Dr. Parfons, who publilhed a treatiie on the 
"feeds of vegetables, and many other curious remarks on 
different parts of natural hiftory. Juffieu keeps it fepa- 
rate from Lythrum, under the name which Browne had 
given it; the calyx being ventricofe, and only fix-toothed ; 
Itamens only fix, fhort lo as not to ltand out of the co¬ 
rolla ; capfule fmall, membranaceous, covered by the ca¬ 
lyx, containing few feeds, fattened to a central receptacle. 
The flowers are axillary, alternate, and folitary. 
8. Lythrum melanium : leaves oppofite, ovate » flowers 
alternate, moftly ten-ftamened ; ftem proftrate. This is 
a weakly plant, with a flender ftem a foot high, well fup- 
plied with branches towards the top ; and having a dif- 
agreeable fharp fmell, approaching much to that of Guinea 
ben weed, but more fubtile, and lefs perceptible when 
placed clofe to the nofe 5 hence the trivial name. The 
leaves and flowers are much like thofe of the preceding, 
as well as the dilpofition and make of the capfule; but 
that plant does not branch fo much, r.or has it any thing 
of this fmell. Native of Jamaica, in the cane-pieces. 
If Parfonfia fhould be feparated from Lythrum, this will 
accompany it. v 
9. Lythrum cordifolium, or heart-leaved willow-herb : 
leaves oppofite, fubfeffile, cordate, acute, rugged ; racemes 
terminating and axillary: flowers ten-ftamened. Native 
of Hifpaniola. 
10. Lythrum ciliatum, or ciliated willow-herb: leaves 
oppofite," petioled, ovate, fmooth, ciliated ; racemes ter¬ 
minating; flowers moftly pointing one way, ten-ftamened 
Native of Jamaica. 
11. Lythrum cuphea, or clammy wiilow-lierb: leaves 
oppofite, petioled, ovate-oblong, fomewhat rugged; flowers 
twelve-liamened. Root fibrous, annual. It has a deli¬ 
cate flender ftalk, round, upright, ten inches or a foot in 
height, pubefcent, purple. The whole plant is extremely 
vifcid all over. Leaves quite entire. Flowers lateral, on 
very fhort peduncles, folitary, decumbent. It differs from 
Lythrum in having a fix-toothed unequal calyx ; fix (or 
five) unequal petals ; and a one-celled capfule without 
valves, burfting by the enlargement of the receptacle ; 
hence JulTieu, Gasrtner, and others, following Browne, 
have made it a diftinft genus under the name of Cuphea. 
Vox.. XIII, No. 950. 
It is a native of Brafil and Jamaica; and flowers in July 
and Auguft. 
- is. Lythrum trifiorum, or three-flowered willow-herb: 
very fmooth ; leaves oppofite, lanceolate, entire; pedun¬ 
cles axillary, oppofite; head three-flowered. Root pe¬ 
rennial. Eafily diftinguifhed from the reft by its filiform 
peduncles, terminated by two lanceolate channelled 
fpreading braftes, longer than the flower; and between 
thefe three regular flowers, on fhort pedicels, blue and 
fmall. Juflieu doubts whether this, which is the Nefaea 
of Commerfon, really belongs to this genus. According 
to him, the leaves are oppofite; the peduncles oppofite, ax¬ 
illary, three-flowered; the calyx ventricofe, with from eight 
to ten teeth ; the corolla four or five petalled, with from 
eight to ten Itamens, and the fruit two-celled. Native of 
America. 
13. Lythrum pemphis, or globular willow-herb: 
flirubby ; hirfute; leaves oppofite, oblong, entire; flowers 
axillary, peduncled, folitary; capfule cut round hori¬ 
zontally, one-celled. This is a hoary flirub. Leaves ap¬ 
proximating, at the tops of the branches. It appears to 
be of a different genus, on account of its one-celled cir- 
cumcifed fruit; but, if one difference be deemed fuffi- 
cient to conftitute a leparate genus, genera will be mul¬ 
tiplied too much ; and natural genera ought as much as 
pollible to be kept entire. Forfter has given it under the 
name of pemphis, from a bubble, which the glo¬ 
bular germ reprefents. According to him, the capfule 
is one-celled and fix-valved, the feeds angular, comprefled, 
fattened to a fhort three-toothed receptacle at the bottom 
of the capfule; in other refpefts the characters agree with 
thofe of Lythrum ; and in his Florula he has given it un¬ 
der Linnaeus’s name. Found by Koenig on the coaft of 
Ceylon, and by Forfter in the ifland of Teautea in the 
South Sea. 
14.. Lythrum racemofum, or branched willow-herb: 
diffufed ; leaves oppofite, petioled, ovate; racemes termi¬ 
nating ; flowers, oppofite. 
15. Lythrum dipetalum, or two-petalled willow-herh: 
hifjpid-vifcid ; leaves in threes, or oppofite, feflile, ovate ; 
flowers axillary, nodding, two-petalled. Both thefe were 
found in South America by Mutis, 
16. Lythrum hyflopifolia, or hyfl’op-leaved willow- 
herb: leaves alternate, linear; flowers fix-ftamened. 
Root annual; (Miller fays perennial.) Stems proftrate, 
fimple, or branched only near the root, rod-like. Flowers 
axillary, folitary, fubfeffile, fmall, blue; (Linnceus fays 
purple, white at the bafe; Miller, light purple.) Seopoli 
fays, the ftem is half a foot long; the branches angular; 
the calyx cylindric, ftreaked, fmooth, twelve-toothed ; 
the teeth alternately fmaller and upright; the capfule 
four-celled, four-grooved, blunt, incloled in the calyx, 
rufefcent, cylindric; the feeds roundifli, as many as fifty- 
fix in one cell. The fruiting calyxes are prefled to the 
fcape. Pollich remarks, that, though the flowers are fo¬ 
litary, yet that fometimes there are two together fitting 
clofe in the axil of a leaf; that the calyx is fix-toothed* 
and that the teeth are fnort-pointed, fpreading, and red an 
the tip. Mr. Miller fays that the Items are a foot, and 
Monf. Villars that they are two feet, long. The latter re¬ 
marks that the leaves are very bitter. Krocker affirms, 
that the Items are fubereft, not properly decumbent, and 
that they are a foot or more in length, quadrangular, with 
fimple fubereft brachiate branches from the bale. Leaves 
glaucous-green, fmooth, on very fhort petioles or feflile, 
an inch long and two lines wide. Flowers one, or two 
alternate ; petals five or fix, rofe-coloured. Part of this 
defcription is from Halleh Native of many parts of Eu¬ 
rope, as Germany, SwifferlandJ Aultria, France, Italy,’ 
England, in wet meadows, watery places, and efpecialiy 
where water ftagnates in winter; but it does not feem to 
be very common any where. With us it is found on 
Hounflow heath ; between Staines and Laleham ; on Hil¬ 
ton, Hinton, and Teverfham, moors, and at Oakington, 
in Cambridgefhire j on the Banbury-road from Oxford, 
10 I> near 
