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P IMP I N E L L A faxifraga.
Common Burnet-Saxifrage,
P E N T A N D R I A Dlgynla.
G en. C har. Involucra none. Fruit ovato-oblong,
ribbed. Petals indexed. Stigmas fbmewhat globular.
S pec. C har. Leaves pinnate : leaflets of the radical
ones roundifh; thofe of the uppermofl: linear.
Syn . Pimpinella faxifraga. Linn. Sp. PL 378. Hudf.
FI. A n . 127. With. Bot. A r r . 313. ed. 3. 311.
Relh. Cant. 124. Sihth. Ox. 102.
P. faxifraga minor, foliis Sanguiforbas. Ran Syn.
213, n. 2 & 3.
A NATIVE of dry gravelly and calcareous foils, flowering
in July and Auguft.
Root perennial, ftrong and woody, highly aromatic and pungent,
to fome perfons not unpleafant, efpecially when dry. Stems
about a foot high, erect, flender, rigid, round, ftriated and
roughifh, varying much in luxuriance, generally branched above.
Leaves on long footftalks, pinnated, veiny, roughifh and rigid ;
the leaflets of the flrft radical ones roundifh or ovate, acutely
ferrated and generally deeply notched, efpecially the terminal
leaflet; the other leaves are compofed of decurrent, linear, often
falcated, fometimes twice pinnatifid leaflets, thofe which grow
high on the ftem being the narroweft and moft Ample, and their
common footftalk more membranous and dilated than in the
reft. Umbels drooping when young, deftitute of general or
partial involucra. Elowers fmall, nearly regular, white, with
long ftamina. Top of the germen very tumid, and reddifh. Styles
fhort. Seeds fmall.
From repeated obfervations made on this plant wild in many
different places, we entirely agree with Dr. Withering, that all
the varieties enumerated in his 3d edition (except P . orientals of
Gouan, which we have never feen in England) really conftitute
but one fpecies. Our flgure is taken from a good intermediate
wild fpecimen. The characters of almoft all the varieties may
be found in it. The botanift will in vain attempt to meet with
the excluflve characters of any one of them in many different
individuals. Such a kind of variety is like the ghoft in Hamlet,
or Mrs. Radcliffe’s myfterious monk of Paluzzi; we can no
fooner fay “ ’tis here,” than the next moment “ ’tis gone.”