LYSIMA'CHIA *.

Linnean Class and Order. PENTA'NDRIA†, MONOGYNIA. Natural Order. PRIMULA CEA, Vent.-Lindl. Syn. p. 182.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 225.-Rich. by Macgilliv. p. 431.— Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 529.-Mack. Fl. Hib. p. 192.-Hook. Brit. Fl. (4th edit.) p. 415.-LYSIMACHIE, sect. 1. Juss. Gen. Pl. p. 95.Sm. Gr. of Bot. p. 95.-SYRINGALES; subord. PRIMULOSÆ; Sect. PRIMULINA; type, PRIMULACEA: subty. PRIMULIDÆ; Burn. Outl. of Bot, v. ii. pp. 900, 958, 1020, 1024, & 1025.-ROTACEE, Linn.

GEN. CHAR. Calyx (fig. 1.) inferior, of 1 sepal, in 5 deep, spreading, acute segments, permanent. Corolla (figs. 2 & 9.) of 1 petal, wheel-shaped, tube none; limb (border) widely expanded, in 5, deep, egg-shaped segments. Filaments (fig. 4.) 5, awlshaped, not distinctly hairy, inserted into the base of the corolla, and opposite to its segments. Anthers oblong, notched at each end. Germen (see fig. 5.) roundish. Style (see fig. 5.) threadshaped, the length of the stamens (see fig. 4). Štigma blunt. Capsule (fig. 7.) globular, pointed, of 1 cell, and 10 valves, sometimes cohering in pairs. Seeds (fig 8.) numerous, angular, covering a large, central, globular, unconnected, pitted receptacle.-In some species the stamens are united at the base.

The 5-parted calyx; the wheel-shaped corolla; and the globose, 1-celled capsule, with 5 or 10 valves; will distinguish this from other genera, with a monopetalous, inferior corolla, in the same

class and order.

Four species British. LYSIMA CHIA

NE'MORUM.

Pimpernel. Wood Moneywort.

Wood Loosestrife. Yellow

SPEC. CHAR. Leaves egg-shaped, acute. Stem procumbent. Peduncles solitary, 1-flowered. Stamens smooth.

Engl. Bot. t. 527.-Curt. Fl. Lond. t. 328.-Curt. Brit. Entom. v. iv. t. 164.Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 211.-Huds. Fl. Angì. (2nd ed.) p. 86.—Willd. Sp. Pl. v. i. pt. II. p. 820.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. i. p. 228.; Engl. Fl. v. i. p. 278.-With. (7th ed.) v. ii. p. 295.-Lindl. Syn. p. 184.-Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 89.-Macr. Man. Brit. Bot. p. 189.-Lightf. Fl. Scot. v. i. p. 138.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 74.-Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 45.-Davies' Welsh Bot. p. 21.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. i. p. 121.—Relh. Fl. Cant. (3rd ed.) p. 86.-IIook. Fl. Scot. p. 72.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 49.-Fl. Devon. pp. 36 & 142.-Johnst. Fl. of Berw. v. i. p. 56 —Winch's Fl, of Northumb. and Durh. p. 13.-Walker's Fl. of Oxf. p. 54.-Jacob's West Devon and Cornwall Flora.Perry's Pl. Varvic. Sel. p. 17.-Dick, Fl. Abred, p. 28.-Mack. Catal. of Plants of Irel. p. 22.; Fl. Hibern. p. 194.-Numularia sylvatica, Gesner Hort. Germ. fide, GRAY.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii, p. 300.—Anagallis lutea, Ray's Syn. p. 282. -Johnson's Gerarde, p. 618.

LOCALITIES.-In woods, and shady, rather watery, places; frequent.

Fig. 1. Calyx.-Fig. 2. Corolla.-Fig. 3. One of the Segments of the Corolla.Fig. 4. Stamens and Pistil.-Fig. 5. A single Stamen, magnified.-Fig. 6. Germen, Style, and Stigma.—Fig. 7. Capsule, with the permanent Calyx.-Fig. 8. A Seed.Fig. 9. A back view of the Corolla.

So named in honour of king LYSIMACHUS, according to some; according to others, from Lucis, Gr. a dissolving; and mache, Gr. strife; being supposed to create a peaceable disposition in men. PLINY says it tames restive horses. The English name (Loosestrife) expresses the same idea.

Perennial.-Flowers from May to September.

Root composed of many branching, whitish fibres. Stems branched, leafy, square, smooth, red and pellucid, from 6 to 18 inches or more long, trailing on the ground, and throwing out roots from the lower joints; often pendant from banks and rocks. Leaves opposite, on short, broadish petioles; egg-shaped, pointed, entire, veiny, of a bright shining yellowish-green, rather succulent. Peduncles (flower-stalks) solitary, axillary, single-flowered, round, slender, smooth, longer than the leaves, bent, or twisted, after flowering. Calyx of 1 sepal, divided almost to the base into five narrow, awl-shaped, smooth, single ribbed, segments. Corolla divided beyond the middle into five segments, which are fringed with minute glandular hairs. Stamens yellow, quite smooth, rather thickest in the middle (see fig. 5). Capsule globular, of 10 narrow valves, united in pairs. Seeds angular.

An elegant plant, and not unfrequent in most parts of Britain, France, and Germany, in moist woods, and wet shady places. It is found in several places about Oxford; as on the north side of Shotover Hill; also in Stow Wood; Bagley Wood; and Headington Wick Copse; generally, however, near the margins of springs and small rivulets, whose banks it enlivens, in the Summer months, with its glossy green leaves, and its delicate and bright yellow flowers, which, when fully expanded, somewhat resemble those of the common Pimpernell, (t. 29.), and hence the older Botanists considered it as an Anagallis.

THE SPIRIT OF BEAUTY *.

"Go forth to the woods, and tread the green dell,

For the Spirit of Beauty is there;

You will see her fair form in the snow-drop's white bell,

You will hear her sweet voice in the air.

I have been to the woods, I have trod the green dell,
And the Spirit of Beauty was there;

I saw her fair form in the snow-drop's white bell,
I heard her soft voice in the air.

Wherever I roved, over vale, wood, or hill,
The Spirit of Beauty would follow me still;
She danced in the aspen, she sighed in the gale,
She wept in the shower, she blushed in the vale;
Her mantle was thrown o'er the misty brake,
Her splendour shone on the sparkling lake ;
I felt her breath in the breezes of even,
Her robe floated over the blue of heaven.
Wherever I roved, over vale, wood, or hill,
The Spirit of beauty would follow me still.
Not the buz of an insect, or carol of bird,
Not an echo nor sound in the valley was heard,
Not a wild-brier rose its fragrance breathed,
Not an elm its clustering foliage wreathed,
Not a violet opened its leaves of blue,
Not a plant or flower in the valley grew,
Not an ivy caressing the rock or the wall,

But the Spirit of Beauty was over them all!"

American Monthly Magazine.

See The Gardener's Gazette," for November 17, 1838.