P Y R O L A rosea.
Rose-coloured, Winter-green.
D E CAND RI A Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. deeply five-cleft. Pet. 5 . Caps.
superior, of 5 cells, bursting at the angles. Seeds,
numerous. Anthers with 2 pores.
Spec. Char. Stamens regularly inflexed. Style
straight. Cluster of many drooping flowers. Stalk
straight, quadrangular. Petals rounded, obtuse.
w E are obliged to James Backhouse, Esq. of Darlington for
specimens and drawings of this Pyrola, found, flowering in July,
in Hyndon gill, near Cockfteld, Durham, and not uncommon in
most similar situations in that county. Mr. Backhouse observes
that “ it differs from media, t. 1945, in having a straight style,
only half the length of that species ; a stem without any twist, dark
brown, with four angles, one of which is nearly obsolete; flowers
at least one fifth smaller, and of a light pink. The stigma is
large, and five-lobed. From the figure of P. minor, t. 158, it
differs in having drooping globular flowers, and the petals and
leaves shaped as in media.”
We confess our doubts whether this species has not been confounded,
even by Linnaeus, with P. minor, nor have we perhaps
escaped this error, into which the straight short style may have
led botanists in general, without their examining further. Yet
our t. 158, if the form of the petals and posture of the flowers
be correct, cannot have been taken from the present species.
For the exactness of the present figure we can vouch, and shall
be obliged to any of our correspondents, who have access to the
wild plants, to determine whether the real minor agrees with our
t. 158, or whether it still remains unpublished by us. Our dried
specimens have excited our scruples, but cannot remove them,