HEATH.
Reading edition
CLASS VIII. ORDER I.
Eight Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Empalement. Cup four-leaved; leaflets between egg-shaped and oblong, remaining.
Blossom one petal, bell-shaped, four-cleft, often bellied.
Chives. Threads eight, hair-like, inserted into the receptacle. Tips two-cleft at the end.
Pointal. Seed-bud roundish, above. Shaft thread-shaped, upright, longer than the chives. Summit crowned, four-cornered, four-cleft.
Seed-Vessel. Capsule roundish, less than the cup, covered, four-celled, four-valved; partitions meeting with the sutures.
Seeds numerous, very small.
Obs. There are some species with a double cup.
The figure of the blossom as to egg-shape, tubular, bellied and oblong, differs in different species.
The Tips in some are notched at the end, in others two-horned, crested, bearded, beardless, or pencilled; within the blossom, or without.
ESSENTIAL CHARACTER.
Cup four-leaved. Blossom four-cleft.
Threads inserted into the receptacle.
Tips two-cleft. Capsule four-celled. Partitions from the edge of the valves.