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M O N O T R O P A hypopithys.
Yellow Bird's-nejl.
D E C A N D R I A Monogynia.
G e n . C h a r . Calyx none. Petals ten ; the five outer-
moft hollowed at the bafe, and producing honey.
Capfule five-valved. Thefe numbers refpeft the terminal
flow er only.
S p e c . C h a r . Lateral flowers with fix or eight ftamina,
the terminal one with ten.
Sy n . Monotropa hypopithys. Linn. Sp. P i. 555. Hudf.
F I. A n. 175. With. Bot. A r r . 424.
Hypopithys lutea. RaiiSyn. 3 1 7 .
JJE ECH and Fir woods in the midland counties of England
produce this Angular vegetable in abundance, flowering in June.
Mr. WagftafF communicated our prefent fpecimen, gathered
by Mrs. Kett of Seething, in a pine grove at Stoke near Norwich,
in which fpot the Monotropa was difcovered in 1782,
and 'never before in that county.
The root is parafitical, fibrous, and very {lender. Stem thick
and fleftiy, covered, efpecially in the lower part, with fcattered
fcales, which fupply the place of leaves. Every part, as well
as the flowers, is of a pale ftraw-colour, turning brownilh
when arrived at maturity, and then acquiring a fragrant fmell,
generally compared to primrofe roots, but rather refembling
thofe flowers.
The terminal flower, from which Linnaeus, in conformity to
his own principles, takes his generic and claflical characters,
is larger than the reft, and has pretty conftantly ten ftamina,
with other parts in proportion. The lateral ones have from fix
to eight. The corolla is irregular, and deciduous; the ftamina
more permanent.