Flora Medica

Annual. Steins herbaceous, 4-sided, glabrous, the angles slightlywinged branches : few, opposite, diffuse. Leaves opposite, decussate,linear-lanceolate, tapering at the base, and embracing the stem with theshort petioles, smooth, 3-nerved, much paler below. Flowers 6 or 8together, in axillary whorls, sessile, white, each furnished with a linearspathulate bractea. Calyx o-cleft, divisions acute, margined, reflexedat the point, permanent, and closely embracing the base of the maturecapsule. Corolla tubular, 5-cleft ; divisions obtuse, spreading, obliqueat the base. After withering, the corolla remains closely investing thecapsule until it bursts. Stamens 5 filaments attached to the middle,-of the tube, and furnished at the base with a small projection whichrests on the stigma, and closes the tube. Anthers linear-oblong, erect,subsagittate, 2-celled. Ovary superior; style short; stigma capitate.Capsule 2-valved, 1-celled, the margins inflexed, and bearing the numerous,small, round, brownish seeds. W. and A. The whole plant issomewhat bitter, though much less so than many of its natural allies.Like them it isemployed by the natives of India as a stomachic, and isadministered in decoction or powder. Thus used it is also said to actas a laxative. Wight.ERYTHRvEA.Calyx 5-parted, equal. Corolla hypocrateriform with a cylindricaltube, withering over the capsule. Stamens 5; anthers becomingspiral. Stigmas bilamellate. Capsule 1-celled or half2-celled.1099. E. Centaurium Pers. syn. i. 283. Smith Eng. Fl. i. 320.Chironia Centaurium Eng. Bot. t. 417- Woodv. t. 157.Gentiana Centaurium Linn. sp. 332. Dry gravelly pastures inEurope.Root small, tapering. Stem about a foot high, leafy, sometimesbranched at the upper part, and, when very luxuriant, from the basealso. Radical leaves obovate, numerous, depressed ; the rest acute,ovate, or elliptic-lanceolate ; all 3-ribbed, bright green. Flowers nearlysessile, from the forks and terminations of a corymbose, more or lessdense, repeatedly subdivided, leafy or bracteated, panicle. Bracteasopposite, awl-shaped. Calyx slender, partly membranous, sometimesmore than half as long as the pale greenish tube of the corolla, whoselimb is of a most exquisite and brilliant pink, rarely white ; expandedonly in sunshine, and closing as soon as gathered. Anthers yellow,spiral, with 3 convolutions, after bursting. Style rather oblique, if notcurved or deflexed. Capsule slender, brown, invested closely with thepermanent dilated tube of the corolla. Smith. This wild plant possessesall the essential properties of the gentian of the shops, and although notused professionally is a very valuable native medicine. In the placeswhere itgrowsit is carefully collected for use in rustic pharmacy.CHLORA.Sepals 8. Corolla rotate, with 6-8 segments withering roundthe capsule. Stigma bilamellate. Anthers not altering. Capsule1-celled, with spongy placentae. Seeds angular.1100. C. perfoliata Linn. syst.nat. ed. 12. ii. 267. Eng. Bot.521