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G E U M urbanum.
Common Avens.
Y /
ICOSANDRIA Polygynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. in 10 segments. Pet. 5. Seeds with
a jointed awn. Receptacle columnar.
Spec. Char. Leaves temate. Stipulas rounded and
cut. Flowers erect. Awns of the seeds hooked,
naked.
Syn. Geum urbanum. Linn. Sp. PI. 716. Sm. FI.
Brit. 554. Huds. 2 2 6 . With. 4 7 7 . Hull. 113.
Relh. 1 9 9 . Sibth. 1 6 2 . Abbot. 1 1 4 . Curt. Bond,
fasc. 2. t. 3 6 . Woodv. Suppl, t. 259.
Caryophyllata. Raii Syn. 253.
r R E Q U E N T in woods and about shady dry hedges, flowerin
g from May to A u gust.
T h e root is perennial, fibrous, blackish, astringent and
slightly aromatic. Its qualities would be w e ll worth attention,
had we n o t more powerful exotic medicines o f a similar kind.
Stem upright, 2 feet h igh , round, panicled, leafy, clothed
w ith small deflexed hairs. Leaves tem a te , hairy, lobed and
cut, the leaflets extremely u n eq u a l; for in the radical leaves,
w h ich have lon g stalks, the lateral leaflets are so minute as to
be scarcely observable; in the upper one s, w h ich have no
stalks, they become more properly stipulse. Flowers terminal,
solitary, erect, y e llow , varying occasionally in siz e (see Raii
Syn.), but the petals are generally shorter than the calyx.
Seeds a little hairy, but the awns are naked, o f a brown or
purplish colour, each tipped with a ho ok w h ich hangs to the
coats o f animals.