Poterium
(the old Greek name, used by Dioscorides, from poterion, a drinking-cup; the foliage of Burnet having been used in the preparation of some medicinal drink).
Burnet. Including Sanguisorba. ORD. Rosaceae. A genus comprising about fifteen or twenty species of greenhouse or hardy, perennial (in one case annual) herbs, decumbent at base, very rarely spiny shrubs, inhabiting the whole of the temperate and warmor regions of the Northern hemisphere. Flowers at the tips of the scapes, densely capitate or spicate, small, bracteate and bibracteolate; calyx tube turbinate, persistent, constricted at throat; lobes four, petal-like, deciduous, imbricated; petals absent. Leaves alternate, impari-pinnate; petioles elongated, with an imbricated sheath at base; leaflets petiolulate, serrated, rarely entire. The herbaceous kinds thrive in any ordinary garden soil, and may be increased by seeds. The shrubs require a light, rich soil, and may be propagated by young cuttings, which will root readily under a glass. See also Burnet.
P. caudatum (tailed). fl. greenish, dioecious, sometimes six-cleft and trigynous; spikes elongated, cylindrical. January to April. l., under surface, as well as the petioles and peduncles, villous. Branches unarmed. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Canary Islands, 1779. Greenhouse shrub. (B. M. 2341.)
P. officinale (officinal). Great Burnet. fl. dark purple; spikes ovate; stamens equalling the glabrous calyx. June to August. l. glabrous; leaflets ovate, rather cordate. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Europe (Britain). Perennial herb. SYN. Sanguisorba officinalis (Sy. En. B. 421.) P. Sanguisorba (Sanguisorba). Common Salad Burnet. fl. greenish or purplish; lower ones of the head male, upper ones female. June and July. l., as well as the stems, glabrous; leaf lets roundish-ovate. h, 1ft. to 2ft. Europe (Britain). Perennial herb (Sy. En. B. 419.)
P. spinosum (spiny). fl. greenish, in oblong spikes. April to August. l., leaflets smoothish, serrated. Branches rather villous, the ultimate ones terminating in spines. h. 2ft. to 3ft. South Europe, 1595. Hardy shrub. (S. F. G. 943.)