T O F I E L D I A paluflris.
Scotti/h Affihodel.
HEX- J N D R I A Trigynm.
Gen. Char. Cal. 3-cleft. Pet. 6. Styles vertical,
fhort. Capfiules 3, fuperior, united at the bafe.
Seeds many. Anther a roundifh.
Spec. Char. Petals obovate, obtufe.
Syn. Tofieldia paluftris. Hudf. 15 7 . With. 3 5 8 .
Anthericum calyculatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 4 4 7. Light/.
1 8 1. t. 8. f . 1. Dick/. H. Sicc. fafic. 13 . 1 1 .
Phalangium fcoticum paluftre minimum, Iridis folio.
Raii Syn. 3 7 3 .
• MORE alpine plant than the laft, though it grows in a fimi-
lar foil, and forms green patches in the black boggy margins of
trickling rills on the highland moors of Scotland, where it is
found abundantly, flowering in Auguft. It has not till lately
been known to grow in England; b u t our wild fpecimen was
fent by Mr. Robfon from the county of Durham.
Root woody, with long whitifh fibres. Leaves equitant,
fword-fhaped, nervous, almoft all radical. Stem 4 to-8 inches
high, nearly naked, Ample, round. Spike eredt, obtufe. Flowers
greenifh-white, on very fhort footftalks. Bradteae folitary,
ovate, concave, fmall, at the bafe of each footftalk. Calyx
fmall, three-cleft. Petals obovate, blunt, concave, equal, permanent.
Stamina oppofite to them, but fcarcely fo long,
awl-fhaped, fmooth. Anther® heart-fhaped, roundifh. German
fuperior, 3-furrowed. Styles vertical, fhort, diftant.
Stigmas blunt. Capfules 3, joined at their bafe, gibbous, but
fcarcely inflated. Seeds numerous, elliptical, tawny.
This is a perfectly diftindt genus from every other Anthericum
as well as from Narthecium. We could much have wifhed to
retain the laft name for it, as Juffieu, Gerard, Villars, Allioni,
and Lamarck (owing as it fhouldfeem to the miftake of Haller)
have done; but nothing can fet afide the prior right of Narthecium
as given to the other genus by Moering. Our Tofieldia
is indeed the original Anthericum of Linnaeus in Gen. PI. ed. 1.
and Hort. Cliff.; but fo many other fpecies have fince been
added to it, and are now univerfally called Anthericum, that, as
they are a good genus by themfelves, it would make too great
a confufion to name them afrefh. If Phalangium were not the
name of an infedt, we fhould have preferred that to Tofieldia.