V [ 879 T
P A R I E T ARI A officinalis.
Pellitory of the Wall.
TETRANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. Char. Cal. four-cleft, inferior. Cor. none.
Stamina elaftic. Seed one, clothed with the
lengthened calyx.
Some flowers female only, whofe calyx remains
unchanged.
Spec. C har. Leaves lanceolate-ovate, without lateral
ribs at the bafe. Segments of the involucrum
ovate. Stem afcending.
Syn . Parietaria officinalis. Linn. Sp. PL 1492. Sm.
FI. B rit. 189. Hudf. 442. W ith, a01. Hull. 226.
Relh. 378. Sihth. 62. Abhot. 218. Curt. Lond.
fa fc. 4. t. 63.
Parietaria. Raii Syn. 158.
A n inhabitant of rubbifh and old walls in {heltered places;
for it is more impatient of cold than many of our wild plants,
and its juicy ftems perifh at the fir ft attack of froft. The
flowers are abundant from June to the end of autumn.
Root perennial. Stem bufhy, afcending, fpreading, angular,
leafy, fmooth, very fhining and generally red. Leaves alternate,
on ftalks, of a lengthened or {harp-ovate figure, obliquely
twifted, entire, a little hairy, pale beneath, the lateral nerves all
fpringing from the main rib confiderably above the bafe of the
leaf, in which this differs from fome foreign fpecies. Flowers
axillary. Each involucrum cut into 7 ovate fegments, and
containing 3 flowers, all producing fertile feeds, though the
central one, having no ftamina, is impregnated by its neighbours.
Stamina curioufiy jointed or wrinkled, flarting back
elaftically when once touched, and fo difcharging the pollen
with great force. Stigma pencilled. Seed ovate, fmooth,
fhining, inverted with the four-cleft calyx, which in the 2
lateral bloffoms is remarkably lengthened out after flowering.
This is reckoned among the emollient herbs by writers on
the Materia Medica, and indeed is of a mucilaginous quality,
though inferior in that refpeft to the Mallow tribe.