9/ [ 5 3 ° 1
P E N T A N D R I A Monogynia.
G en. C har. Cor. wheel-fhaped. Cap/, burfting all
round. Stamina hairy.
Spec. C har. Leaves roundilh, fomewhat pointed, on
foot-ftalks. Stem creeping. Stigma acute.
Syn . Anagallis tenella. Linn. Syfi. Feg. ed. 14 . 196.
With. 239. Relh. 86. Sibth. 7 5 . Curt. Land,
fafc. 3 . t. 15 .
Lytimachia tenella. Linn. Sp. Pi. 2,11. Hudf. 87.
Dickf. H. Sicc.fafc. 2. 12.
Nummularia minor, flore purpurafcente. Ran
Syn. 283.
T H I S moft elegant little plant was fent us from Stafford-
fhire by the Rev. T . Gifborne. It is not unfrequent on wet
bogs throughout thefe kingdoms, flowering in July and Au-
guft.
Root perennial. Stems fpreading in every direction clofe
to the ground, and taking root as they advance ; they are Sender,
angular, fmooth, clothed with oppofite, fmall, roundilh,
or ovate, entire, fmooth leaves, on Ihortilh foot-ftalks. Flowers
ere£t, on very long, axillary, folitary ftalks. Calyx-leaves
lanceolate, acute. Corolla of an elegant rofe-colour, deeply
divided, but with a tubular bafe, fo as to be rather funnel-
Ihaped. Stamina clothed with numerous, curioufly jointed,
hairs. Antherae roundilh. Style long, tapering into a Ample
acute ftigma. Capfule cut round, not often perfected. Linnaeus
had not feen the fruit when, in his Species Plantarum, he
reduced this plant to the genus Lyftmachia, with which it agrees
indeed in habit, but the ftamina, capfule and feeds are thofe of
an Anagallis. It bears a very conliderable affinity to the Cen-
tunculus, but the ftamina of that are fmooth.