ybo
[ io33 3
CHENOPODIUM Bonus Henricus.
Perennial Goofefoot.
PENTANDRIA Digynia.
G en. C har. Cal. 5-cleft, inferior. Cor. none. Seed 1,
lenticular, inverted with the cloted five-tided
calyx.
S pec. C har. Leaves triangular-arrowfhaped, entire.
Spikes compound, leaflets.
Syn . Chenopodium Bonus Henricus. Linn. Sp. PI.
318. Sm. FI. Brit, 272. Hudf. 104. With. 270.
Hull. 56. Relh. 102. Sibth. 87. Abbot. 54.
Curt. Lond. fafc. 3. t. 17.
Blitum perenne, Bonus Henricus didum. Rail
Syn. 156.
-
ERENNIAL, flowering from May to the end of fummer, by
which it is diftinguithed from other Britilh plants of its genus,
which are all annuals, flowering for the moft part late in the
autumn. Perenne would furely have been a much better fpe-
cific name than the old Bonus Henricus, for the retaining which
we can offer no other excufe than its extreme foolithnefs,
which renders it impoffible to be ever forgotten.
This plant frequently occurs in wafte ground about villages,
farm-yards .»«id cottages. Its root is flethy and branched.
Stems fpreading from the bafe, then ere£t, a foot high,
branched below, leafy, ftriated. Leaves alternate, on ftalks,
gradually fmaller upwards, triangular-haftate, or fomewhat
arrow-thaped, acute, entire, clothed with unctuous mealinefs,
efpecially beneath. Spikes numerous, axillary and terminal,
ere£t, denfe, compound, deftitute of the fmall leaves which
in fome fpecies grow among their lobes. ' Flowers mealy,
green, fome of them frequently wanting the ftamina. Calyx
bordered with an abrupt membrane. Styles often 3. Seed
kidney-thaped.
The young herb boiled is a good fubftitute for Spinach, and
is in fome places cultivated for the table.