/ /y
A D O X A Mofchatellina.
Tuberous Mofchatell.
O C T A ND R 1A Tetragynia.
G en. Char. Cal. 2 or 3-cleft, partly inferior. Cor.
4 or 5_c^eft, fuperior. Capf. of 4 or 3 cells, inverted
with the calyx.
Spec. Char.............
S yn. Adoxa Mofchatellina. Linn. Sp. P I. 5 2 7 . Hudf.
1 7 2 . With. $ 86. R ett. 16 3 . Stott. 1 3 1 . Curt.
Land. fa C . 2. t. 2 6. Dickf. H . Sice. fa je . 5. 7.
Mofchatellina foliis Fumarias bulbofae. Rati Syn. 267.
N o T unfrequent in groves, thickets, and fhady lanes, flow-
ering m April or May. The generic name Adoxa (inglorious)
admirably exprefles the modeft appearance of this little humble
plant, as it emerges from its wintry bed of withered leaves, and,
fcarcely daring to lift up its head, welcomes the botanifl on
his nrft excurfions in the fpring. When young, and moift with
dew, it has a faint mulky fmell, which gave rife to its original
name. &
The root is perennial, formed of flelhy white imbricated 4
feales, from whofe interfaces the fibres are produced, as well
as runners which terminate in frefh roots. Herb of a pale
green, fucculent, fmooth and pellucid. Stem ere£f, 3 or 4
inches high, angular, bearing two oppofite leaves, and a little
head of five feffile whitifh-green flowers, four of them lateral,
one terminal and vertical. The leaves are all ternate, wedge-
fhaped and lobed, their fegments more or lefs elliptical, entire,
One or two grow from the root on long foot-ftalks ; thofe on
the Item are more Ample, and on fhorter ftalks. The lateral
flowers have 10 ftamina, the corolla in 5 fegments, and the
calyx in 3, fometimes 4 or 5 ; but the terminal flower having
but 8 ftamina, a quadrifid corolla, and generally bifid calyx,
made Linnaeus (according to a principle of his own) refer the
genus to the 8th clafs. It is allied to Chryfofplenium, fee our
*• 54- The ftyles are 4 in the terminal.flower, 5 (rarely 6) in
the others. We have never found the ripe fruit. It is de-
feribed as a capfule of 4 cells, inverted with the flefhy calyx,
fo as to referable a berry. One of the beft deferiptions of the
Adoxa is from Mr. Lyons’s manuferipts, in the Flora Canta-
Irigienfs.
4t>3.