DIANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. C har. Cor. of a petals. Cal. of 2 leaves,
fuperior. Cap/, of 2 cells. Seeds folitary.
S pec. C har. Stem afcending. Leaves heart-fhaped,
ferrated, thining. Calyx membranous.
Syn. Circaea alpina. Linn. Sp. PI, 12. Sm. FI.
B rit. 14. IJudf. 10. W ith. 11. D ickf.H . Sicc.
fa fc. 8. 2.
C. racemofa, var. 2. H ull. 7.
C h i e f l y confined to mountainous ftony thady places
in Weftmoreland, Cumberland, Lancathire, and fome parts
of Scotland, flowering in July and Auguft. It differs from
the common kind in being much lower and lefs upright, its
leaves heart-fhaped, deeply and fharply toothed, of a bright
and very {hining green. The flowers are more elegant and
vivid in hue, their calyx more coloured and membranous,
and the clufters generally more plentiful.
It appears to us, that all the difficulty of diftinguifhing the
two fpecies of Circa a has arifen from authors having taken
for the lutetiana a plant that grows frequently in deep woods
in the North, and is figured in FI. Dan. t. 256 as C. alpina,
of which it is in faft a variety. It indeed nearly approaches
C. lutetiana in fize, uprightnefs, and fewnefs of branches, but
differs in its paler more fhining green, ferrated leaves, and
generally more membranous footftalks. The flowers, from
their fhady fituation, are indeed paler than thofe of C. alpina
generally appear.
We have repeatedly found the alpina continue in a garden
permanently diftinft from the genuine lutetiana of the fouth
of England. \PuH tfhed iy J iff Sower-hy.Ihm.den.