514 ENNEANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Mercurialis. 
III.—Cam. Epit. 999. B. ; 998. F.—Fuchs. 444— J. B. ii. 979. I— Trag. 
191— Louie, i. 136. 3— Pet. 1. 6— Bod. 659. 1— Lob. Obs. 132. 1. and Ic . i. 
260. 1— Ger. Em. 333. 1 —Park. 296. 2—Pet. 1. 5 — J. B. ii. 979. 2— H. 
Ox. v. 34. 3. 4 —Matth. 1299. 
( Root creeping. Plant about a foot high; foliage chiefly on the upper part. 
Leaves egg-shaped* acute* serrated. E.) Barren spikes longer than the 
leaves. Fertile spikes shorter. Woodw. Barren Jlowers in spikes* from 
the bosom of the upper leaves. Fertile Jlowers on fruit-stalks* generally 
solitary. Anthers two upon each filament. Flouwrs yellowish green. 
(Smith observes that the minute petals or nectaries are peculiar to the 
fertile flowers. E.) 
(Perennial Mercury. Dog’s Mercury. Welsh: Clais yr hudd ; 
Civliom yr asgwrn. E.) Woods* hedge-banks. Barren and fertile 
plants rarely intermixed* each sort usually growing in large patches* 
whence it is probable that this plant* which propagates itself so much by 
roots* seldom produces perfect seeds. Woodward. P. April—May.* 
M. an'nua. Stem branching; leaves smooth ; flowers in spikes. 
Barren plant.— Curt. 336. 2—Cam. Epit. 996— Fuchs. 475— J. B. ii. 977. 2. 
E. Bot. 559. E.)— Trag. 190 —Ger. 262. I—Bod. 658. 1— Lob. Obs. 131. 
1. and Ic. i. 259. 1— Ger. Em. 332. 1— Park. 295— Pet. 1. 8— H. Ox. 
v. 34. row 1. 1— Blackw. 164. 4. S$c. — Ionic, i. 136. 2— Gars. 382— Matth. 
1297. 
Fertile plant.— Curt. 336. 1— Fuchs. 473— J. B. ii. 977. 3— Trag. 190— 
Blackw. 162. 2. and 3. 1— Cam. Epit. 997— Bod. 658. 2— Lob. Obs. 131. 
2. and Ic. i. 259. 2— Ger. Em. 332. 2— Pet. 1. 7— H. Ox.v. 34— row 1. 2 
—Ger. 262. 2—Gars. 382— Matth. 1298. 
( Plant glabrous* fetid, dark green. Root fibrous. Stem a foot high* more or 
less branched. Leaves ovate* acute* serrate. Flowers green* in axillary 
racemes. Fruit minutely prickly. Grev. E.) Barren spikes much shorter 
than the fertile ones. Robs. Some barren plants bear a few fertile flowers. 
Calyx smooth in the barren* hairy in the fertile flowers. Stamens some¬ 
times sixteen or more. 
Annual Mercury. French Mercury. Welsh: Clais yr hudd blyned- 
dawl. E.) Waste places and dunghills about towns and villages. Near 
Norwich* and at Lowestoft. Mr. Woodward. Near Sunderland. Mr. 
Robson. (In a cornfield between the alms-house of Cefn-coch* Anglesey. 
Welsh. Bot. Frequent about London. E.) A. Aug.—Sept.t 
* This species is noxious to sheep, and deleterious to man. Ray relates the case of 
a man, his wife, and three children, who experienced alarming effects from eating it fried 
with bacon. Sheep and goats eat it ; cows and horses refuse it. In drying, it turns blue. 
Linn. Steeped in water it affords a fine deep blue colour, but which unfortunately is 
destructible both by acids and alkalies. St. (In the Isle of Skye it is called Lus-glen - 
bracadale, and used medicinally. Though a plant of slender pretensions, as an early 
harbinger of spring its appearance is ever acceptable. E.) 
f The whole plant is mucilaginous, and was formerly much employed as an emollient* but 
is now disregarded. (The French prepare an aperient syrup from the juice. E.) The 
small Old Gentlewoman Moth and Phalcena meticulosa feed upon it. Linn. (Megachile 
(Apis) centuncularis constructs its cells with the leaves, though not with those of this 
plant only, vid. fig. of this curious insect in Curt. Brit. Entom. copied in Mag. Nat. Hist. 
I. 273. E.) The seeds taste like those of hemp. St. (By some authors it has been 
deemed poisonous, possessing the deleterious qualities of the last species, though in a les- 
