ACHILLEA*.

Linnean Class and Order.

PE'RFLUAT.

SYNGENESIA, POLYGA'MIA SU

Natural Order. COMPO'SITE. Tribe, CORYMBI FERE. Juss.— Lind. Syn. pp. 140 & 142; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. pp. 197 & 199.-SYNANTHE'REÆ. Tribe, CORYMBIʼFERÆ. Rich. by Macgillv. pp. 454 & 455.

GEN. CHAR. Involucrum (common calyx) egg-shaped, imbricated (tiled), with several egg-shaped, pointed, converging scales (bractea). Corolla compound, radiant; florets of the disk all perfect (with both stamens and a pistil), tubular, with 5 equal spreading segments; those of the ray from 5 to 10, strap-shaped, but peculiarly short and rounded, broader than long, inversely-heartshaped, with a small intermediate lobe or tooth. Filaments five, in the tubular florets only, hair-like, very short. Anthers forming a cylindrical tube. Germen (ovarium) in all the florets small, inversely-egg-shaped. Style thread-shaped, as long as the stamens. Stigmas spreading, blunt. Seed in all the florets inversely-eggshaped, blunt, without any border or crown. Receptacle narrow, slightly elevated, beset with spear-shaped, chaffy, pointed, deciduous scales, as tall as the florets of the disk.-Distinguished by the eggshaped, imbricated involucrum; the nearly flat, chaffy receptacle; the few (from 5 to 10) roundish, inversely-heart-shaped florets of ray; and the want of pappus to the seeds.

the

Four species British.

ACHILLE'A PTA'RMICA. Sneeze-wort. Goose-tongue. SPEC. CHAR. Leaves strap-spear-shaped, pointed, equal, and sharply serrated, smooth.

Eng. Bot. t. 757.-Curt. Fl. Lond. t. 343.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 908.-Eng. Fl. v. iii. p. 460.-With. (7th edit.) v. iii. p. 956.-Lind. Syn. p. 151.-Hook. Br. Fl. p. 367.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 260.-Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 187.-Relh, Fl. Cant. p. 351.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. ii. p. 400.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 248.Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 182.-Walk. Fl. of Oxf. p. 248.-Ptarmica, Ray's Syn. p. 183.-Johnson's Gerarde, 606.

LOCALITIES.-In wet hedges and thickets, moist meadows and pastures, and about the banks of rivers, and ditches.-Frequent.

Perennial.-Flowers in July, August, and September.

Root creeping, somewhat jointed, and sending out many long fibres. Stem upright, from one to three feet high, slightly angular, smooth, hollow, leafy, with small axillary rudiments of branches;

Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. A tubular Floret of the Disk, highly magnified.Fig. 3. Same, natural size.-Fig. 4. Stamens and Pistil, highly magnified.Fig. 5. A strap-shaped Floret of the Ray, highly magnified.-Fig. 6. Same, natural size. Fig. 7. The chaffy Receptacle.-Fig. 8. A Seed.

* From ACHILLES, the famous Grecian hero, who is reported to have studied plants under Chiron, and to have extracted vulnerary virtues from this herb.

+ The second order of the Linnean class SYNGENE SIA, comprehending all those compound flowers in which the florets of the disk have, each of them, five stamens and a pistil, and the florets of the ray a pistil only, and all producing perfect seed.

shaped, or slightly spear-shaped, pointed, two or three inches long, smooth on both sides, and somewhat shining, of a deep green colour, closely, very minutely and sharply serrated, with bristly teeth. Flowers white in the disk as well as in the ray, larger than in most of the genus, and with a greater number of ligulate (strap-shaped) florets. Calyx rather hemispherical. Seeds compressed, dilated at the edges (having a kind of wing on each side), but not crowned at the top.

The whole plant, and especially the root, has a pungent, biting taste, and when chewed in the mouth, like Pellitory of Spain, it promotes a flow of saliva, and is found serviceable in the cure of the tooth-ache. In the Spring, the young tender shoots are put into salads to correct the coldness of other herbs. The dried powder of the leaves snuffed up the nostrils excites sneezing, hence it has acquired the name of Sneeze-wort. Horses, cows, sheep, goats, and swine eat it. A variety with double flowers is not uncommon in gardens, where it is known by the name of Double Ptarmica, or Batchelors' Buttons. In this variety the leaves are truly spear-shaped, with deeper serratures; and all the florets, except a few in the very centre of the disk, are strap-shaped.— MERRETT, in his Pinax, published in 1666, mentions the double-flowered Ptarmica as having been found wild near Chilmark, in Wiltshire.-Mr. T. LAWSON observed it in one of the little Islands called Small Holme, in the great Lake of Winander-mere, previous to 1724 : and it has been since found at Ripton, by Mr. J. WHITELOCKE, Nurseryman at Fulham.

The natural order COMPO'SITE (see Prenanthes muralis, p. 27) is divided into three principal tribes, CoRYMBIFERE, CYNAROCEPHALE, and CiCHORACE E. Our present plant belongs to the first of these, namely, Corymbifere. This tribe comprehends all those Compósite in which the florets of the disk are floscular (tubular), and which have the stigma not articulated with the style. It contains the following British Genera.

1. EUPATO'RIUM

2. CHRYSO'COMA

3. CONY/ZY

4. INULA

5. LIMBA'RDA

6. PULICA'RIA

7. A'STER

8. ERIGERON

9. SOLIDA'GO 10. ANTENNA'RIA 11. GNAPHA'LIUM

12. FILA'GO 13. SENE'CIO

14. DOR NICUM

15. TUSSILA'GO

16. PETASITES
17. CINERA'RIA
18. BE'LLIS

19. CHRYSANTHEMUM
20. PY/RETHRUM, t. 20
21. MATRICA'RIA

22. ARTEMI'SIA

23. TANACETUM, t. 24
24. DIO'TIS

25. MARUTA
26. A'NTHEMIS

27. ACHILLE'A, t. 36

28. X 'NTHIUM

29. BI'DENS.

SAPONA'RIA*.

Linnean Class and Order. DECA'NDRIA †, DIGY'NIA.

Natural Order. CARYOPHY'LLEE, Juss. Tribe, SILE'NEÆ.Lindl. Syn. pp. 43 & 44.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 156.CARYOPHY'LLEE. Tribe, DIA'NTHEE.--Rich. by Macgillv. pp. 507 & 508.

GEN. CHAR. Calyx inferior, of one leaf (monosepalous), tubular, 5-toothed, naked at the base, permanent. Corolla of five petals, with narrow angular claws the length of the calyx; limb flat, dilated towards the extremity, blunt. Filaments ten, awl-shaped, as long as the calyx, attached alternately to the claws of the petals; five of them later than the rest. Anthers oblong, blunt, incumbent. Germen somewhat stalked, nearly cylindrical. Styles two, upright, parallel, as long as the stamens. Stigmas pointed, downy. Capsule oblong, concealed in the calyx, 1-celled, opening with four teeth. Seeds numerous, small, roundish-kidney-shaped, rather rough, attached horizontally to a central, unconnected, columnar receptacle.This genus differs from that of Dianthus, in not having any scales or bractea at the base of the calyx; and it is distinguished from the other genera in the same class and order, by a corolla of five petals, a tubular, 1-leaved calyx, and an oblong, 1-celled, many-seeded capsule.

One species British.

SAPONARIA OFFICINA'LIS. Common Soapwort. SPEC. CHAR. Leaves, egg-spear-shaped. smooth.

Calyx cylindrical,

Eng. Bot. t. 1060.-Curt. Fl. Lond.-Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 251.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 459.-Eng. Fl. v. ii. p. 284.-With. (7th ed.) v.ii. p. 537- Lind. Syn. p. 45.-Hook. Br. Fl. p. 199.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 642.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 138.-Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 94.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. i. p. 208.-Relh. Fl. Cant. (3rd ed.) p. 173.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 134.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 95.— Sm. Pl. of S. Kent, p. 25.-Mack. Catal. p. 43.-Walk. Fl. of Oxf. p. 120.— Lychnis Saponária dicta, Ray's Syn. p. 339.-Saponária, John. Ger. 444.

LOCALITIES. In meadows, by river sides, on hedge-banks, &c.-Not common.-Stanton Harcourt, Oxon. Dr. SIBTHORP, in Fl. Oxon.-Near Marston. Rev. R. WALKER, in Fl. Oxf.-Hedge-bank at Dunnington, opposite Mr. GOULD'S, Warwickshire.-Banks of the Severn, above and below Bridgenorth. Mr. PURTON, in Mid. Fl.-Naturalized in a hedge at the S. W. corner of a field that was formerly a garden, about a quarter of a mile from Rugby, in Warwickshire, on the road to Barby. July 10, 1831. W. B.-At Bromham and Starnbrook. Rev. C. ABBOT, in Fl. Bedf.-Barnwell. Paper-Mills. Granchester. Madingley. Shelford. Hinton. Comberton, near the church; and Whittlesford. Rev. R. RELHAN, in Fl. Cant.-Near old Windsor. Mr. GOTоBED, in Mavor's Surv. of Berks.-At Lyminge and Sibton. Mr. HUTCHINSON, in Rev. G. E. Sm. Pl. S. Kent." On Blackheath. Near Morden College, Kent. In Norfolk. Near Hanley, Worcestershire. On the brink of the river below Preston, Lancashire. Somerton and Beverstone, Gloucestershire. Usemire and Howtown, Ullswater; and Akeback Bridge, by Pooley. In a hedge in Aspatria village, Cumberland. St. Levan, Tresco Island, Scilly. Between the Halfway House and Gad's Hill, in the way to Rochester. Banks of Tyne,

Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. A Petal.-Fig. 3. The 10 Stamens, and 2 Pistils.Fig. 4. Germen, Styles, and Stigmas.-Fig. 5. A Capsule.-Fig. 6. A Seed.

*From sapo, Lat. soap; the leaves being used as a substitute for that article in washing.

+ The tenth class in the Linnean Artificial System; it comprehends all those plants which have perfect flowers with ten distinct stamens.