near Friar's Goose. On the Gloucestershire side of the river Avon, by the passage at Conham, near Bristol. In a lane leading out of the Newton road from Teignmouth towards Sandy-gate. By the road-side between Star-cross and Exeter, within a mile of the city." With. Bot. Arr.--" On the banks of the Mersey, near Stockport. Elmeton and Duffield, Derbyshire. Plentiful near the Sands at Shaldon. Near Wilmington, between Axminster and Honiton, Devon. Lane by the turnpike road-side near Milbourne St. Andrew's, and in many other places in the hedges of orchards about villages, Dorsetshire. Chester le Street new Bridge, and near Darlington, Durham. In a wood at Purfleet, and in a hedge at Laindon Hills, Essex. Near Linton, Kent. In Leicestershire, but not common. Odiham, Hampshire. Near the church-yard at Iver, Middlesex; and near the Bath at Mansfield, Notts. Between London and Dulwich. Between Storrington and Washington Common; very plentiful at East Bourne, and on the wide beach towards Langley Fort, Sussex. Near Blackpool, Lancashire. Snaith; Shipton; Cottington Moor; and on the banks of the Swale, by Topcliffe; Yorkshire. Banks of the Lune at Kirby Lonsdale, Westmoreland, abundantly. Westleton, Hachestow, &c. Turnpike road-side at Marlesford. Near Bungay. At Beccles, by Rose Hall, and on the Haleswood, Suffolk. Road-side near Burnt-gate turnpike on the Wells, Somersetshire. Hedge by the Bungay road at Haddisco; and under a wall at the entrance to Lower Sheringham, Norfolk. Between Llanamonerch and the new bridge. Nescliffe, on the road to Oswestry. Hedges at Llangadwalader, Isle of Anglesea. In great quantities at Llangattock, near Crickhowel, Brecknockshire. Denbigh Castle, between the church and the town; also on the left of the road as you enter the town of Ruthin from Denbigh. Among the ruins and rubbish of Basingwerk Abbey, and in a lane that leads from Llan Rhaiadr to Pistill Rhaiadr, Montgomeryshire. Burrows about Marino, near Swansea, and plentifully between Cardiff and Llandaff." TURNER and DILLWYN's Bot. Guide.-Road-sides between Dean and Ravelston, near Rosslyn Chapel. Banks of the Esk above Coal-pits: and side of the Mill-lead opposite the old bridge at Musselburgh. Mr. MAUGHAN, in Hook. Fl. Scot.-Behind Burnt-island. Mr. NEILL, in Grev. Fl. Edin.-Fields of Odin, above Rathfarnham, Ireland. Mr. J. T. MACKAY.

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

Root somewhat fleshy, branching, and creeping. Plant nearly or quite smooth, a little succulent. Stem about eighteen inches or two feet high, upright, round, leafy; panicled in the upper part. Leaves sessile, opposite, egg-spear-shaped, inclining to elliptic, pointed, 3-ribbed, entire, combined at the base. Flowers in a roundish terminal panicle, large, flesh coloured, or pale pink, sometimes white; sweet scented, on short, opposite, downy stalks, which are accompanied by spear-shaped pointed bracteas. Calyx somewhat downy, an inch long. Petals inversely-heart-shaped, their claws with four angles, and crowned with a cloven scale.-A variety with double flowers has been found wild at Haughmond Abbey, Shrewsbury, by Dr. EVANS.-At North Glemham, in the road to Swefling, by the Rev. G. CRABB.-Between Cheriton and Bramdean, Hampshire, by Dr. PULTENEY.-In the road to Sittingbourne, Kent, and at Cornforth, Lancashire, by Dr. MARTYN.—And on the banks of the Dodder, near Ball's Bridge and Donnybrook, in Ireland, by Mr. J. T. MACKAY.-This variety is frequently cultivated in gardens.

A curious variety, with combined sheathing upper leaves, and a monopetalous corolla, was found in Northamptonshire by GERARDE; and recently near Liverpool, by Dr. BOSTOCK.

Whole plant bitter. Bruised and agitated with water, it raises a lather like soap, which washes spots out of clothes, (whence called Fuller's-herb). A decoction of it, applied externally, cures the itch. The Germans use it instead of sarsaparilla in syphilitic complaints.-M. ANDRY, of Paris, cures violent gonorrhæas, by giving half an ounce of the inspissated juice daily and with the extract, and a decoction of the leaves and roots, M. JURINE removes ulcers, pains, and emaciations, which have resisted the use of mercury. WITH RING.

:

3

DRABA VERNA. WHITLOW-GRASS. O

I. Russell, Del.

C. Mathews, Sc.

DRA'BA*

Linnean Class and Order. TETRADYNA'MIA+, SILICULO'SA. Natural Order. CRUCI'FERE. Juss.-Rich. by Macgillv. p. 498.-CRUCIFERA. Suborder, PLEURORHI'ZEE. Tribe, ALYSSI'NEE. Dec.-Lind. Syn. pp. 20, 21, and 25.-Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. pp. 14 to 18.-Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 498.; and Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. i. p. 143, and 238.

GEN. CHAR. Calyx squal at the base, somewhat spreading, deciduous. Leaves (sepals) 4, ovate, concave. Petals 4, either cloven, notched, or entire, spreading, with short claws. Filaments 6, simple, awl-shaped. Anthers of 2 roundish lobes. Germen eggshaped. Style very short. Stigma knobbed (capitate), flat. Pouch (silicula) oblong-oval, taterally compressed, entire, tipped with the style or stigma, 2-celled, valves nearly flat, separating from the bottom (fig. 4); partition (fig. 5) membranous, of the same shape and breadth. Seeds many in each cell, small, roundish, not bordered. Cotyledons accumbent (fig. 6).-The entire, oval, laterally compressed pouch, nearly flat valves, and numerous seeds, will distinguish this from other Genera in the same class and order.

A numerous herbaceous Genus; its pubescence forked or starry. Leaves undivided. Flowers white or yellow, without bracteas. SMITH.

Five species British.

DRA'BA VE'RNA, Common Whitlow-grass. Nailwort.
SPEC. CHAR.

Stalks radical, naked.

Petals deeply cloven.

Leaves spear-shaped, somewhat toothed, hairy.

Eng. Bot. t. 586.-Curt. Fl. Lond. t. 49.-Sm. Br. Fl. v. ii. p. 677.-Eng. Fl. v. iii. p. 158.-With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p. 755.--Hook. Br. Fl. p. 299.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 697.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 198.-Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 141.— Purt. Midl. Fl. v. i. p. 300.-Relh. Fl. Cant. (3rd ed.) p. 260.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 196.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 141.-Walk. Fl. of Oxf. p. 183.-Eróphila Vulgáris, Lind. Syn. p. 26.-Paronychia Vulgáris, Ray's Syn. p. 292.-Johnson's Gerarde, 624.

LOCALITIES. On walls, rocks, banks, and dry waste ground. Common. Annual.-Flowers in February, March, and April.

Root fibrous. Stem none. Leaves several, arranged in a starlike form, close to the ground, oblong-spear-shaped, entire, or slightly toothed, hairy, hairs either simple or forked. Flower-stalks

Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. A Petal.-Fig. 3. Stamens.-Fig. 4. A Pouch, with the 2 valves opening from the base, and showing the seeds and the partition. Fig. 5. The 2 valves removed, showing the thin membranous partition or placenta, and the attachment of the seeds to its sides.-Fig. 6. A Seed, showing the 2 Cotyledons, with the radicle lying upon their edges, (pleurorhizeæ). All, except figs. 4 and 5, more or less magnified.

From drabe, Gr. acrid, as are the leaves of many of this tribe. HOOKER. + From tetra, Gr. four, and dumamis, Gr. power. The 15th class of the Linnean Artificial System, comprehending all those perfect plants which have cruciform flowers with 4 long and 2 short stamens; the 2 shorter ones standing directly opposite to each other.-This class is a truly natural one, and corresponds entirely with the crucifera of JUSSIEU.-LINNEUs divides it into 2 orders: 1. SILICULO'SA, in which the fruit is a silicula, pouch or roundish pod, fig. 4. 2. SILIQUO'sa, in which the fruit is a siliqua, or long pod.

less, hairy when young, smooth after flowering, terminating in a small corymbose head of minute, white, inodorous flowers, which elongates into a fruit-bearing raceme or cluster. Petals twice the length of the calyx, cloven half way down (bifid), fig. 2. Silicula (pods) rather distant, oval, compressed, smooth, crowned with the permanent sessile stigma.

This is one of our earliest flowering plants, enlivening the tops of walls, rocks, and barren uncultivated places, with its little white blossoms, at a time when there are very few other flowers to attract our attention; and though it is insignificant in itself, yet it excites in us the pleasing reflection that the season is approaching, when

"All that is sweet to smell, all that can charm

Or eye or ear, bursts forth on every side,

And crouds upon the senses."

LINNEUS, in his Tour in Lapland, informs us that the Drába Vérna in Smoland, is called Rye Flower, because as soon as the husbandman sees it in bloom, he is accustomed to sow his Lent corn. He observes also, that the flowers hang down in the night, and in rainy weather. In some countries abundance of this little plant is supposed to prognosticate dearness of corn; which may have some foundation, as a wet season produces a great crop of this little weed. It may be used as salad. Goats, sheep, and horses eat it; cows are not fond of it; swine refuse it.

The Order CRUCIFERA, to which this plant belongs, is one of the largest and most natural families in the vegetable kingdom: in the plants composing it, the Calyx consists of 4 Sepals, (fig. 1.) which are mostly deciduous, and often prominent at the base. The Corolla is composed of 4 Petals, (fig. 2.) which are alternate with the sepals, and represent a cross. The Stamens are six in number, (fig. 3.) of which 2 are shorter, opposite and solitary, and sometimes furnished with a lateral tooth, or an interior scale: and 4 longer in opposite pairs, generally distinct, but sometimes connate, or furnished with a tooth an the inside. The Nectaries are various green glands, situated upon the receptacle between the petals and the stamens and the germen. The Germen or Ovary is superior: the Style short or wanting and the Stigma is 2-lobed, and permanent. The Fruit is either a long, strap-shaped, often more or less quadrangular, or sometimes cylindrical Pod, containing many seeds, when it is termed a Siliqua; or it is a short roundish pod or pouch, containing one, or very few seeds, when it is called a Silicula, (fig. 4.); it is of 2 valves, and mostly of 2 cells, with a parallel partition (placenta), which projects more or less at the summit. The valves separate at the base. In a few instances the fruit is of one valve, jointed, and not bursting. The Seeds are attached in a single row by a little stalk, called a funiculus, to each side of the placentæ (fig. 5.), and are generally pendulous, they have no Albumen. The Cotyledons and the Radical are applied to each other in different ways, and afford characters on which M. DECANDOLLE has founded his suborders of this very natural family— these will be explained hereafter.

Those who wish for particular information on the Crucifera will do well to peruse with attention, a very masterly account of this order in PROFESSOR LINDLEY'S Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, pp. 14 to 18.