Triosteum
(from treis, three, and osteon, a bone; alluding to the three bony seeds, or rather nutlets). Feverwort; Horse Gentian. ORD. Caprifoliaceae. A genus comprising three species of hardy, perennial herbs; one is Himalayan and the others are North American. Flowers dirty white, yellow, or purple, often axillary, solitary or clustered, rarely spicate; calyx tube ovoid, the limb of five persistent lobes; corolla tubular-campanulate, the tube gibbous at base; limb oblique, with unequal, imbricated lobes; stamens five. Drupe two to (rarely) five or six-stoned. Leaves opposite, slightly connate at base, sessile, somewhat panduriform or obovate, entire. T. perfoliatum, the best-known species, thrives in a light, sandy soil with a little leaf mould. It may be multiplied by divisions of the plant, in spring; or by cuttings of the young shoots, inserted under a handlight, in the beginning of summer. T. perfoliatum (perfoliate-leaved). fl. brownish-purple, mostly clustered, sessile. June. fr. orange-colour, 1/2in. long. l. oval, abruptly narrowed below, downy beneath. h. 2ft. to 4ft. North America, 1730. Plant softly hairy. (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 45.)