L I T 
pin's head. The whole plant is extremely minute, fcarcely 
half an inch high, and the parts of fruftification are fo 
fmall as to require a magnifying-glafs for examination. 
LITHOPHY'TA,/. [from the Greek 7 u 0 or, a {tone, 
anil (pvrov, a plant.] A plant that approaches to the hard- 
liefs of ltone ; the coral kind. 
LITHOSPER'MUM, f. [from the Gr. Atflof, a Hone, 
and o-irepux, a feed; which is of a (tony hardnefs, and 
marbly poliih.] Gromwell; in botany, a genus of the 
clafs pentandria, order monogynia, natural order of af- 
perifolrse, (borraginete, The generic characters are— 
Calyx: perianth five-parted, oblong, ftraight, (harp, per¬ 
manent; divifions awi-fhaped, keeled. Corolla: one-pe- 
talled, funnel-form, length of the calyx; tube cylindric; 
border half-five-cleft, obtufe, upright; throat perforated, 
naked. Stamina: filaments five, very fhort; anthers ob¬ 
long, incumbent, covered. Piftillum : germs four; fcyle 
filiform, length of the ftamens; itigma obtufe, emarginate. 
Pericarpium : none ; calyx grown larger, upright, con¬ 
taining the feeds in its bofom. Seeds four, rather oblong, 
obtufe, gibbous.— EJfential Charad.tr. Calyx five-parted ; 
corolla funnel-form, perforated at the throat, naked. 
Species, i. Lithofpermum officinale, common or offici¬ 
nal gromvvell : feeds fmooth, and even, corollas fcarcely 
longer than the calyx, leaves lanceolate. Root perennial, 
ftrong. Stems ereft, roundiffi, rough with clofe-prefled 
briftles, and clothed with alternate entire leaves, which 
are (lightly revolute on their margin, hairy beneath, rough 
above with minute cartilaginous tubercles. Each of the 
numerous flowering branches terminates in a recurved 
leafy fpike of pale yellowifh flowers; in the feeding-flate 
thele branches become ereft, much elongated, and the 
leaves they bear are confiderably enlarged, being broader 
than thofe on the Item. It is feldom that more than two 
feeds are perfefted in each flower; they are exquifitely 
poliflied, of a grey or yellowifti hue, very hard, but brit¬ 
tle, feeming of a ftony fubftance; whence the generic name, 
and whence alfo the ancient celebrity of thefe feeds as a 
cure for the (tone, without the lead (hadovv of a reafon. 
Gaertner calls them ftony egg-ffiaped nuts, marked on the 
infide with a ftreak and two obfolete lines, imperforate, 
one-celled, valvelefs; feed ovate-beaked, black-brown. 
Native of molt parts of Europe, in dry, gravelly, and 
chalky, foils; with us in general fparingly, but common 
in fome woods. It flowers in May and June. 
2. Lithofpermum arvenfe, corn or baftard gromwell: 
feeds ovate, wrinkled; calycine leaflets lanceolate, corol¬ 
las fcarcely longer than the calyx, leaves lanceolate ffiarp- 
iffi, hifpid. Root annual, fmall, and not much branched ; 
its bark abounding with a deep red dye, which (tains pa¬ 
per, linen, &c. and is eafily communicated to oily fub- 
ftances. Hence the name of bajlard alkanet, fometimes 
given to this plant. Linnaeus, in his Flora Suecica, in¬ 
forms us, that the country girls in the north of Sweden 
life the root to (tain their faces on days of feftivity. Stem 
upright, a foot high or more, round or (lightly angular, 
rough with clofe-prefled hairs, often much branched at top. 
Leaves alternate, lanceolate, entire, rigid, feffile, rough 
with briftly hairs clofe-prefled, (landing out from the edge. 
Flowers folitary, nearly feffile, in the axils of the upper 
leaves; corolla fmall and white, with five dwellings round 
its orifice, exactly as in L. purpuro-casruleum. Very near 
the bottom of the tube ftand the five very (liort minute 
ftamens, on a level with the ftyle, which is about half as 
long as the tube. Seeds brown, rugged ; rather covered 
with hard tubercles than wrinkled ; two, three, or four, 
but generally three, with one abortive; fometimes when 
there are four perfect feeds, there are two others abortive, 
and fix divifions in the calyx. Frequent in corn-fields 
and wafte places, flowering from May to July. 
3. Lithofpermum incanum, or hoary gromwell : feeds 
rough; fpikes terminating, compound, contrafted ; leaves 
linear, villofe. This is a (hrubby fpecies, found in Teau- 
tea and Savage iflands. 
LIT 823 
4.. Lithofpermum Virginianum, or Virginian gromwell; 
corollas longer than the calyx, acute, rough-haired on 
the outfide, leaves ovate, acute, hifpid, nerved. Root 
perennial. Stems feveral, very hairy, about a foot and 
a half high. Flowers in (hort reflexed fpikes at the ends 
of the branches; corolla white, longer than the calyx, the 
fegments ending in acute points. Linnaeus remarks, that 
the dots fcattered over the leaves are excavated, and that 
the wider of thefe have a bridle ilfuing from them. Na¬ 
tive of Virginia and Maryland ; it flowers here in June, 
and the feeds ripen in autumn. Cultivated by Mr. Mil¬ 
ler in 1759. 
5. Lithofpermum tinftorum,or dyers’ gromwell: feeds 
fmooth and even; fpike folitary, terminating, directed one 
way; braftes lanceolate; leaves linear-lanceolate, blunt. 
Root fufiform, two inches long, annual. Stems feveral, 
a finger’s length, quite Ample, (haggy with hairs, as is the 
whole plant; the lateral ones decumbent, the middle one 
ereft. Leaves feffile; thofe next the root near two inches 
long, narrowed towards the bafe; thofe on the Item an 
inch long, and blunt. 
It differs from L. apulutn, to which it is very nearly 
allied, in having a laxer ftem, longer blunt leaves, a foli¬ 
tary fpike terminating the ftem, and as long if not longer 
than it, narrower blue corollas, and feeds twice as big. 
Native of Egypt. 
6. Lithofpermum orientale, yellow gromwell, or bu- 
glofs : flowering branches lateral, braftes cordate embrac¬ 
ing. Stem barren, upright, with fewer hairs. Leaves 
lanceolate, narrower at the bafe, quite entire, blunt, with 
dewy hairs on each fide. It is a perennial plant, with 
long trailing branches; the under leaves are long, broad, 
and hairy, diminifhing as they approach the top. The 
flowers are about the fame fize with thofe of common 
buglofs; there is a fucceffion of them great part of the 
year. Native of the Levant. Cultivated in 1713, in 
the botanic garden at Chelfea; it flowers in May and 
June. 
7. Lithofpermum purpuro-cseruleum, or creeping grom¬ 
well : feeds fmooth and even ; corollas twice as long as 
the calyx ; leaves lanceolate, fomewhat hairy. The long 
woody perennial root produces many round hairy leafy 
(lems, moft of which are procumbent, and throw out 
roots 5 the flowering ones only are perfectly ereft, and 
from twelve to eighteen inches high. The beautiful 
flowers appear in April or May, (landing ereft in a fort 
of double leafy fpike, with the extremities a little curved 
downwards before flowering ; corolla firft purple, then 
blue, with a pale reddiih tube. Native of moft of the 
temperate parts of Europe. Found in the weft of 
England, as in Somerfetfliire near Taunton; near Den¬ 
bigh, in Wales; Mr. Latham difcovered it in a chalky foil 
near Greenhithe in Kent. 
8. Lithofpermum tenuiflorum, or thin-leaved grom¬ 
well : corollas filiform, leaves linear-lanceolate, (trigofe. 
This is an annual plant-, a hand or a fpan in height, like 
the fecond fpecies in miniature. Native of Egypt. 
9. Lithofpermum fruticofum, or (hrubby gromwell a 
(hrubby, leaves linear, hifpid, ftamens equalling the co¬ 
rolla. Root perennial, running deep into the ground. 
Stem upright, (hrubby, from two to three feet high, pretty 
clolely fet with hairs. The flowers are produced in (hort 
reflex fpikes; corollas reddiih purple, changing to a deep 
purple; the two upper fegments are turned back. Native 
of the South of Europe and the Levant. Cultivated in 
1683, by Mr. James Sutherland; it flowers in May and 
June. 
10. Lithofpermum callofum, or hard gromwell: leaves 
lanceolate-linear, callous, warted, hifpid; ftem fuffruti- 
cole, hifpid. Stem a long fpan in height, with a white 
bark, villofe at bottom, hifpid at top; branches the height 
of the ftem, once or twice divided at top. It varies with 
the branches more or lefs ereft. 
11. Lithofpermum ciliatum, or hairy gromwell; leaves- 
G Vfrlt . 
