Its calyx is inconspicuous, green, in five obtuse segments. Petal one,
erect, gradually dilated upwards, divided almost down to the base into
five ovate segments, purple, deciduous. Stamens five, proceeding from
the receptacle, erect, shorter than the petal, purplish, thread-shaped,
with roundish anthers. Pistil one, thread-shaped, inclining to one
side, longer than the petal, with a globose embryo, and thick stigma.
Pericarp membranous, globose, of five cells and five compressed valves,
the cells fixed to the column, as in _Ledum_, bursting at the top.
Leaves thick, ovate, evergreen, clustered at the tops of the branches,
as in _Ledum_. Flowers about three, at the extremity of each branch,
each on a simple uncoloured stalk. Is this the same genus with
_Dillenia_ (_Azalea procumbens_, n^o. 3.)? I think not. In that the
calyx and flower-stalks are coloured; two flowers proceed from each bud;
the petal is firm, and cut but half way down; the calyx is half as long
as the petal; the pistil is erect, shorter than the petal; the stamens
are directed inwards, and not attached to the receptacle.
(Notwithstanding these reasons, Linnaeus united the two plants together
in his _Flora Lapponica_, as one genus, under the name of _Azalea_,
quoting two synonyms of Tournefort and Bauhin for this n^o. 40, which
belong to _Rhododendrum ferrugineum_, his own plant being entirely new,
if not a pentandrous variety of that _Rhododendrum_, which is much to be
suspected. The above description, of the fruit especially, is sufficient
to show it cannot belong to the same genus with _Azalea procumbens_,
though perhaps it may accord better with the American _Azaleae_.)
[Illustration]
41. _Campanula_ with a contracted flower. (_C. uniflora._) Differs from
the common blue kind, (_rotundifolia,_) in having the leaves as well as
the flower much contracted at the base, so that the latter is
funnel-shaped. The embryo is oblong, with six sides, rough, with three
orifices near the base of the calyx.
42. _Lychnis_ with a concealed flower. (_L. apetala._) Leaves
pink-like. Flower solitary at the top of the stalk. Calyx ovate,
inflated, closed, with ten black hispid ribs, which branch near the top.
Petals five, oblong, brownish, shaped exactly like the usual claws of a
_Lychnis_, but without any border. Stamens ten. Embryo oblong, inclining
to cylindrical, contracted in the middle, obtuse, blackish. Pistils
five, whitish. The petals, stamens and pistils are all concealed within
the calyx.
43. A small _Aster_, with one solitary white flower. (_Erigeron
uniflorum._) It has the calyx of the _Amellus_, the flower of a daisy,
white with a yellow disk.