2o o [ **73 ]
T 0RDY L 1UM maximum.
Great Hart-voort.
PENTANDRIA Digynia.
G e n . C h a r . Invol. long and undivided. Corolk
radiant. Flowers ail hermaphrodite. Fruit nearly
orbicular, flattened, notched in the margin.
S p e c . C h a r . Umbels denfe. Leaflets lanceolate,
deeply ferrated. Stem rough with briflles b e n t
downwards.
S y n . Tordylium maximum. Linn. Sp. PI. pÉ
Sm. FI. Brit. 2,95. W ith . 286. Hu ll. 60. Sibth. 94.
D i l l , in R aii Syn. 206.
O u r wild fpecimen of this rare plant was gathered o n the
north fide of Oxford, the only fpot in Britain known to produce
i t ; but having been obferved there for above a cen tu ry
paft, it cannot but be confidered as a native. Morifon clearly
mentions its growing about London ; but if Petiver’s a u th o rity
be of any weight, the Ifleworth plant muft be T. opidnalt,
The botanifts of his time appear to have found both fp e cie s j
and though it is wonderful any one could confound them, yet
Dillenius, in his edition of Rayls Synopjis, either h a s d o n e fe,
oral l e a f t has ftrangely obfcured their hiftory. T r u f t i n g t o
the faithful Ray in his ad edition for T. officinale, I could
not but admit both fpecies into the Flora Britannica.
T. maximum has a tapering annual root, and flowers from
June to Auguft. Stem eredt, 3 or 4 feet high, branched,
leafy, furrowed, rough with minute rigid briflles p o in tin g
downwards. Leaves pinnate, rough ; the leaflets of the lower-
moft broad, lobed and notched; of the reft lanceolate, narrow,
coarfely but regularly ferrated. Umbels on long folitary
rough ftalks, oppofite to the leaves. General and partial in-
volucra briftle-fhaped, rough. Central partial umbels nearly
feflile. Flowers white or rofe-coloured. Outer petals largett-
Seed all over briftly, with a circular thick pale or reddifli edge?
rugged, but not fo beautifully notched as in fome other fpecies.
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