320 PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Erythema. 
(ER YTHRiE'A. # Cal. five-cleft: Bloss. funnel-shaped; the 
limb short: Anthers, after flowering, spirally twisted : 
Style erect: Summits two : Caps, linear, two-celled. E.) 
(E. centau'rium. Herbaceous, dichotomously panicled: leaves egg- 
spear-shaped : calyx shorter than the tube of the blossom: its 
segments partly combined by a membrane. E.) 
Dicks. H. S.—Curt. 247—(E. Bot. 417. E.)— Woodv. 157 —FI. Dan. 617— 
Kniyh. 8 — Wale .— Sheldr. 82— Fuchs. 387— J. B. iii. 353 2— Matth. 655 
—Dod 336— Lob. Ohs. 218— Ger. Em. 547. 1— Bark. 272. 1— Blackw. 
4<52—Trag. 140— Ger. 437— IB. Ox. v. 26. row 1. 5. 
Blossom sometimes only four-cleft. Huds. and rarely white. Ray. Plant 
ten or twelve inches high; upright, dividing at the top into three flower¬ 
ing branches; and occasionally one or two flowering branches spring 
from the bosom of the leaves on the side of the stem. Flowers forming a 
corymb. Calyx adhering to the tube of the blossom, and that again to 
the germen. Blossom large, funnel-shaped, tube long, yellowish; border 
pinky red, segments lapping over each other. Anthers twisted spirally 
after discharging the pollen. Style cylindrical, cloven at the top, and 
divisible without much force all the way down. Summits two, shaped 
like a horse-shoe,yellowish green. {Radical leaves spreading, three-nerved. 
The Marquis of Blandford is said to have found a variety of this plant 
with perfectly white blossoms, not rare in Warwickshire; and also 
observed near Dudley, by Mr. Bree. Purt. E.) 
Var. 2. Much branched. 
Vaill. 6. 1. 
(Var. 3. Dwarf; hardly one inch high. This grows on barren limestone 
rocks, and has much the appearance of E. pulchella, but, however small, 
it still preserves its dichotomous habit, and its leaves have not the woody 
ribs or nerves evident in E. pulchella. The calyx best distinguishes 
E. pulchella from starved specimens of E. Centaurium. 
Even its odour is said to be so powerfully narcotic as to cause sleep. E.) From one to 
three grains of the leaves infused in boiling water, and taken at bed-time, occasion a copious 
perspiration, increase the secretion by the kidneys, and generally operate more or less on 
the bowels the following day. These properties, judiciously applied, render it capable of 
being essentially serviceable in several diseases, as may be seen in Gataker’s Treatise on 
the Solatium, (1757). But its effects on the nervous system are so uncertain, and some¬ 
times so considerable, that it must ever be administered with the greatest circumspection. 
The leaves externally applied abate inflammation, and assuage pain. The flowers smell like 
musk. Horses, cows, goats, sheep, and swine refuse it. (From considerable experience. 
Surgeon Bromfield contends that its use is prejudicial ; and the rash practice of the ancients, 
from which even Galen and DioscOrides are not exempt, seems to justify the caution of 
Gerard, who says, “ we must not unadvisedly, lightly, or rashly, minister such kinde of 
medicines, as many times there hapneth more danger, by applying of these remedies, then 
of the disease itselfe.” It is prudently discarded from modern practice. According to 
Boethius, the destruction of the Danish invaders of Scotland was occasioned by this plant, 
rather than the Deadly Dwale, under which we have noticed the fact. But we think 
such qualities as “ filling the head with odd imagies and fancies —the 
-- iC insane root. 
That takes the reason prisoner Shaks. 
Enabling mortals to see even supernatural apparitions ; (as admitted under “ Salatrum 
amentiale ” also by Bochart and Salmasius), best accord with the Dwale. E.) 
* (Descriptive of the red colour most predominant in the flowers. E.) 
