L I N N JE A borealis.
T w o -flow e r e d Linncea.
D I D T N A M I A Angiofpermia.
CrEN. Char. Calyx double; that of the fruit 2,-leaved;
that of the flower in 5 divifions, fuperior. Cor.
bell-fliaped. Berry dry, 3 -celled.
S pec. Char.
S yn. Linnaeaborealis. Linn. Sp. PI. 880. Fl. Suec.iig*
t. 1. FI.[Lapp. ed. 2 . 214. t. 1 i . f 4 . Ait. Hort. Kew~
d. 1. 3 5 8 . Oed. in FI. Dan. t. 3 . I^amarck FI. Franc.
■n. 9 4 6 . Hall. Helvet. n. 2 9 9 . Hoffm. FI. Germ,
2 2 1 . Tranf. of Linn. Sac. v. 3 . 3 3 3 . JFtth. 5 5 6 .
F o r this moft intereftang addition to the Britifh Flora we
■ are indebted toProfeflor James Beattie jun. of Aberdeen, who
-difcove-red it in an old fir wood at Mearns in that neighbourhood,
and communicated wild fpecimens, along with an accurate
coloured drawing, to the Linnsean Society, June 2d,
1795- F°r the diflection of the flower only, which is a little
magnified, we have been obliged to have recourfe to a garden
fpecimen. The Linruea grows in dry flony molly woods,
■ flowering in May or June ; and, as it has been found in Sweden,
Germany, Switzerland, and the fouth of France, it feems
wonderful that it fhould not long ago have been obferved in
Britain. This difcovery, and fome others we have of late had the
pleafure of announcing, may encourage our domeltic botanifts
to truft that the ardour and accuracy, in which they eminently
excel thofe of moll other nations, has not yet received its full
reward, and that further acquifitions ft ill remain to be made.
Root fibrous. Stems trailing, creeping, perennial, woody,
round, leafy, a little branched, very long ; the younger fhoots
flightly hairy. Leaves oppofite, on footftalks, roundifh or ovate,
veiny, crenate in the.forepart, paler beneath, with a few fluttered
hairs above. Flowering branches erect, 3 or 4 inches
high, with a pair or two of leaves near the bottom, naked
above, terminating in 2 equal flower-ftalks with a pair of fmall
leaves at their bafe, and each bearing one drooping flower accompanied
by two fmall lanceolate bradese. Outer calyx of
2, often 4, roundifh concave leaves, clofely embracing the
germen, which is roundifh and crowned by the inner calyx,
which confiftsof-5 deep equal lanceolate fegments, furrounding
the tube of the flower. Corolla bell-fhaped with a tapering pale
tube, and 5 equal fegments, ftained, efpecially on the infide,
with red and fome yellow. Stamina 4, 2 of them half as long
again as the others. Style thread-fhaped, afcending. Stigma
capitate, rough. Fruit a dry berry, with 3 cells, each containing
1 or 2 feeds. The flower-ftalks, bradese, germen and calyces
are clothed with glandular vifcid hairs. The flowers are faici
in the Flora Suecica to be very fragrant at night, fmeiling like the
Meadow-fweet. Linnaeus, in Critica Botanica p. 80, has traced
a pretty fanciful analogy between his own early fate and this
little northern plant, long overlooked, depreffed, abject, flowering
early,” and, we may now add, more honoured in its name
than any other.