^30 M YAGRU MI 
and therefore perhaps Tournefbrt’s derivation of the 
word, from [/.via., a fly, and aypEvw, to catch, or enfnare, 
may be true, rather than the received one, from p.v?, a 
moufe. But then the word ought to have been fpelt 
Myiagrum. See Myiagrus.] Gold of Pleasure ; in 
botany, a genus of the clafs tetradynamia, order filiculofa, 
natural order of filiquofae, or cruciformes, (cruciferas, 
Generic charadters—Calyx: perianthium four¬ 
leaved ; leaflets ovate-oblong, concave, gaping, coloured, 
deciduous. Corolla : four-petalled, cruciform ; petals 
flat, roundiflr, blunt with narrow claws. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments fix, the length of the calyx ; of which four oppo- 
fite are a little longer; antheras Ample. Piflillum: ger- 
raen ovate ; ftyle filiform, the length of the calyx ; fligma 
blunt. Pericarpium : lilicle obcordate, comprefled a lit¬ 
tle, entire, rigid, terminated at top by the rigid conic 
ftyle, two-val ved ; fome of the cells often empty. Seeds : 
roundifh.— EJfential Charatter. Silicle terminated by a 
conical ftyle, with a cell commonly one-feeded. There 
are ten fpecies. 
i. Myagrum perenne, or perennial gold of pleafure : 
filicles two-jointed, one-feeded; leaves outwardly finuate, 
toothletted. Miller, though he gives this plant Linnasus T s 
epithet of perenne, defcribes it as annual; the lower leaves 
large, jagged, and. hairy ; the ftalks branching out from 
the bottom ; the leaves about four inches long, and two 
broad, hairy, and unequally jagged ; the ftalks termi¬ 
nated by very long loofe fpikes of yellow flo,wers, fuc- 
ceeded by fliort pods with two joints, each including one 
roundiflr feed. But the* M. perenne of Miller, Scopoli, 
Gerard, &c. is probably different from that of Linnaeus. 
Miller fays it is annual, and Gerard that it is biennial. 
Villars mentions a perennial fort which he has feen cul¬ 
tivated, with.an enormous root, of a lower ftature, and 
a fmaller fmooth fruit. Native of Germany ; cultivated 
in 1739 by Mr. Miller, if this be his plant. 
3. Myagrum orientale, or oriental gold of pleafure: 
filicles grooved, even ; leaves oblong, tooth finuate 
This is an annual plant. Native of the Levant. 
3. Myagrum rugofum, or wrinkled gold of pleafure : 
filicles grooved, hairy, wrinkled ; leaves oblong, blunt, 
toothed. This alfo is an annual plant, the lower leaves 
of which are five or fix inches long ; they are hairy and 
fucculent, their bale is eared, and they end in acute points. 
The ftalks are a foot and a half high, brittle and hairy, 
branching out toward the top, and terminated by fliort 
loofe fpikes of fimall pale flowers ; which are fucceeded by 
fmall rough roundifh capfules, comprefled at the top. 
Native of the South of Europe. 
4. Myagrum Hifpanicum, or Spanifh gold of pleafure: 
filicles even, fomewhat fwelling; leaves lyrate. Stem 
rugged, with fcattered reflex hairs. Leaves lyrate, tooth¬ 
ed, petioled, oblong. It is a biennial plant : native of 
Spain. 
5. Myagrum Auftriacum, or Auftrian gold of pleafure: 
filicles roundifli, fmooth; leaves oblong, embracing; root 
creeping. The whole plant is fmooth ; the ftems l'uban- 
gular ; herbaceous, ereift, branchy, leafy, and about a 
foot or a cubit high. Flowers yellow, on corymbofe ter¬ 
minal racemes ftretching gradually to two or. three inches. 
This fpecies grows in clayey ground, and flowers in June* 
Native of Auftria. 
6. Myagrum perfoliatum, or perfoliate gold of plea¬ 
fure ; filicles obcordate, fubfeflile; leaves embracing. 
This has a fmooth branching ftalk upwards of two feet 
high. The lower leaves are five or fix inches long, 
fmooth, fucculent, and a little indented; the upper leaves 
aimoft embrace the ftalks with their bafe. The flowers 
are produced in long loofe fpikes; are yellow and leflile. 
Villars defcribes the plant as about a foot in height, with 
ftraight ftems and very fpreading branches; the leaves 
fmooth, with a tinge of aft-colour on them; the lower 
ones finuated or waved, the upper ones entire. The 
whole plant is fmooth. The flowers fmall. The filicle 
obcordate, three-celled; the two upper cells, which are 
lateral, are empty, and the lower one, which anfwers to'- 1 
the axis, is filled with a Angle feed. It is difficult to ac¬ 
count for the two empty cells, which form inflated round 
protuberances at the top of the pouch, and have no rudi¬ 
ments of feeds. As the pouch falls oft' entire, perhaps- 
they ferve tofteep it upright in its defcent, that the lharp 
bafe may the better find its way into the ground. This- 
fpecies is reprefented on the Elate, at fig. 10. It is an 
annual plant, native of thefouth of France and Swifler- 
land : Mr. Miller adds Italy. Cultivated in 1658, in the-' 
botanic garden at Oxford. It flowers in June and July. 
7. Myagrum fativum, or cultivated gold of pleafure : fi¬ 
licles obovate, peduncled, many-feeded. This is an an¬ 
nual plant, with an upright ftalk about a foot and a half 
high, fending out two or four fide-branches towards the- 
top, which grow' ereft; they are fmooth and have a fun¬ 
gous pith. The low'er leaves are from three to four inches 
long, of a pale oryellowifli green, and eared at the bafe; 
thole upon the ftalks diminilh in fize all the way up, are. 
entire, and aimoft embrace the ftalk with their bafe. The 
flowers grow in loofe fpikes at* the end of the branches, 
ftanding upon footftalks an inch long ; petals fmall, yel- 
lowift. Silkies oval, bordered, crowmed with the ftyle, 
two-celled ; the cells filled with red feeds. Linnaeus re¬ 
marks, that the capfule or filicle bellies out on each fide ; 
but is ufually, in the wild plant, marked with a cavity 
prefled inwards, which cavity dilappears in the cultivated 
plant. It is cultivated in Germany for the fake of the 
exprefled oil of the feeds, which is there ufed for medici¬ 
nal, culinary, and economical, purpofes. The feeds are- 
a favourite food with geefie : horfes, kine, fheep, and- 
goats eat it. Native of Germany and the fouthern coun¬ 
tries of Europe, in corn-fields: with us it has been found 
near Bridport and Lime in Devonftiire ; and at Heydon- 
in Norfolk. 
Miller found it growing in the corn in Eafthamfted^- 
park, the feat of William Trumbull, efq. Following 
Tournefort he makes two fpecies of this,.under-the names- 
of M. fativum, and M. alylfum. The latter, he fays, dif¬ 
fers from the former, in having a taller ftalk ; the leaves 
are much longer, narrower, and regularly indented on 
their edges, ending in. obtufe points. The fiow'ers are 
larger, but of the. fame form and colour. The capfules 
are much larger, and ftaped like a heart/ 
8. Myagrum paniculatum, or panicled gold of pleafure r 
filicles lens-ftaped, orbiculate, dotted-wrinkled. Root 
fmall, annual, fufiform, white within and without, four 
inches long. Stem erecf, two feet high and more, fome¬ 
what angular and rugged, having one or two alternate 
branches at the upper part; both terminated by a loofe 
longift raceme, with the flowers on round peduncles, 
three or four lines in length. Leaves alternate, fagittate 
or rather eared, embracing, hirfute on both fides, the 
lower four inches long, and an inch wide. Corolla fmall, 
yellow ; petals wider at top and blunt, a little more than 
a line in length. Native of Europe ; introduced in 1787; 
by Mr. Zier. It flowers in July and Auguft. This is 
fliown at fig. 11 and i 3. the fiov/-er at a, the leed- veflel at b. 
9. Myagrum faxatile, or rock gold of pleafure: filicles 
lens-ftaped, obovate, fmooth ; leaves petioled, oblong, 
ferrate, rugged; ftem panicled. Root perennial, long, 
brown. Root-leaves many, fpread out in a ring, oblan- 
ceolate, (orbiculate, or oblong,) gradually attenuated 
into the petiole, blunt, unequally, o bleu rely, and thinly, 
toothed, thickifh, llightly rough, lefs than an inch in 
length, deep green. Stem (lender, fmooth, half a foot or 
a fpan in height, upright, round, hard, Ample, having a 
few fcattered fublinear leaves on it, broadifii at the tip, 
Flowers yellowifli white. 
There feern to be leveral varieties of this fpecies. Lin¬ 
naeus mentions three plants which were lent him, one by 
Allione, and two by Seguier,-on which he does not pofi- 
tively determine whether they are diftimft fpecies, or only 
varieties of this. Villars mentions two varieties. One 
drawn by Plunder at the Grande Chartreufe, with the 
1 lower. 
