Dunia near eee: 1 af Se Ne tomasiea\ yet eee Rape Leeann. ae PAN Sires arson, om ; t> ¢ 2g . fared wanders! iat = he Ser aie eed SERENE Sg Sag ost A > basen Hace re ie ieeneaty yl ive it tind Null % oe eae: BS Deke Bo tet 67 a) 7 Moyitiie ay) meta hati tint a pone ny ash a TAG My SCAN RS THE AMERICAN FLORA, OR HISTORY OF PLANTS AND WILD FLOWERS: CONTAINING THEIR SCIENTIFIC AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION, NATURAL HISTORY, CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES, MODE OF CULTURE, PROPAGATION, &C. DESIGNED AS A BOOK OF REFERENCE FOR BOTANISTS, PHYSICIANS, FLORISTS, GARDENERS, STUDENTS, ETC. BY A. B. STRONG, M. D. VOL. IV. IS ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVENTY BEAUTIFUL COLORED, ENGRAVINGS, TAKEN FROM NATURE. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY HULL & SPENCER, 12 ANN STREET. 1855. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by GREEN & SPENCER, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. MAR 1 0 1987 LIBRARIE> ) Cal INDEX TO VOLUME IV. Introduction = - BOTANICAL NAMES. Acacia prensans - Acacia vera - - Amaranthus Hypochondriacus Anemone hortensis - Apocynum Androse mifolium Arbutus unedo - Argemone Mexicana Aster amellus - Azalea ledifolia - Azalea nudiflora - Barosma crenulata Begonia sanguinea - Bigonia radicans Broughtonia coccinea - Cactus cereus - Calandrinia discolor - Campanula macrantha Cassia Marilandica - Chelone obliqua - Coreopsis diversifolia Crocus sativus - Cypripedium insigne - Diplopappus inconus Euphorbia atro-purpurea Fritillaria imperialis Fuchsia globosa - Fumaria cava - Gardenia florida - Gentiana acaulis - Goldfussia anisophylla COMMON NAMES. Prickly Acacia - Gum Arabic Tree = Prince’s Feather - Broad-leaved, Garden Anemone Dog’s Bane - Strawberry Tree - Mexican Argemone Italian Aster - - Purple-flowered Azalea Naked-flowered Azalea Crenulated Bucku Blood-red Begonia = - Ash-leaved Trumpet Flower Crimson Broughtonia - Night-flowering Cactus Tri-colored Calandrinia Giant Bell-flower - American Senna ~ Red-flowered Chelone Tick-seeded Sun-flower Saffron Crocus - Large Ladies’ Slipper Hoary Diplopappus Blood-flowered Spurge Crown Imperial - Balloon-flowered Fuchsia Hollow-rooted Fumitory Cape Jasmine - Large-flowered Gentian Unequal-leaved Goldfussia lil 160 114 177 103 101 Iv. INDEX. 2 BOTANICAL NAMES. COMMON NAMES. Helleborus viridis - - Green Hellebore - Hypericum hircinum - - Feetid St. John’s-wort = - Jambosa vulgaris - - Rose Apple Z - Justicia carnea - - Flesh-colored Justicia —- Kalmia glauca - - - Glaucous Kalmia - Nelumbium speciosum - Chinese Water Lily - Nolana rostrata - - ‘Trailing Nolana - GQnothera Drummondit - Evening Primrose - Opuntia Brasiliensis - - Brazilian Prickly Pear Peonia russi - - Crimson Peony - - Passiflora kermesina - - Crimson Passion-flower Phlox Drummondit - - Mr. Drummond’s Phlox - Primula amena - - - Caucasian Primula - Prinos verticillatus - - Winter Berry - Rhodanthe manglesit - - Mangle’s Rhodanthe - Rhododendron arboreum - Tree Rhododendron - Salpiglossis straminea ~ - Painted Salpiglosis - Sarracenia ruba - - Red Side-Saddle - Saxtfraga ligulata - - Fringed Saxifrage - - Silphium terebinthaceum - Stately Silphium — - Sollya heterophylla ~ - Various-leaved Sollya - Syringia Josikea - - German Lilac - 174 182 170 161 See SS eee COMMON NAMES. Acacia, Prickly - Anemone, Broad-leaved, Garden Apple, Rose - - Argemone, Mexican - Aster, Italian - Azalea, Naked-flowered Azalea, Purple-flowered Bane, Dog’s - - Bell-flower, Giant - Begonia, Blood-red - Broughtonia, Crimson Bucku, Crenulated - Cactus, Night-flowering Oalandrinia, Tri-colored - Cape Jasmine - Chelone, Red-flowered - Crocus, Saffron - Crown-Imperial - - Diplopappus, Hoary - Fuchsia, Balloon-flowered Fumitory, Hollow-rooted Gentian, Large-flowered - Goldfussia, Unequal-leaved Gum Arabic Tree - Hellebore, Green - - Justicia, Flesh-colored Kalmia, Glaucous - Ladies’ Slipper, Large Lilac, German - - Lily, Chinese Water - Nolana, Trailing - Passion-flower, Crimson Peony, Crimson - - Phlox, Mr. Drummond's Prickley Pear, Brazilian INDEX. BOTANICAL NAMES. Acacia prensans - - - Anemone hortensis - - Jamboso vulgaris - - - Spe. Char. Branchlets, two-edged or triquetrous. Leaves, opposite. Pedicels and Calyzes, glabrous. Tur Calyx is a five-parted perianthium, small, and permanent ; the segments are subovate, acute, and rather columnar; the corolla is one-petalled, and salver-funnel-form; the éwbe cylindric, and longer than the calyx; the border is adorned with a flat dirk, the margin upright, and half-five-cleft ; there are ten nectariferous hornlets project- ing outwardly from the corolla, and surrounding it where the border of it is upright ; the stamens have ten awl-shaped filaments, upright- spreading, rather shorter than the corolla, and inserted into the base of the corolla; the anthers are simple; the piséll is a roundish germ ; the style is thread-form, longer than the corolla, and bent down; the sigma obtuse ; the pericarp is a capsule, subglobose, depressed, five- celled, five-valved, and five-partite ; the seeds are numerous. This plant rises with a branching stalk to the height of ten or twelve feet, with very stiff leaves, which are about two inches long and one broad; they are of a lucid green on their upper surface, and of a pale green on their under; they have short foot-stalks, and stand without any kind of order round the branches; between these the Vou. 1v.—44. NAT. ORDER.—BICORNES, 45 buds are formed for the next years’ flowers, at the extremity of the branches ; these buds swell during the autumn and spring monthg, till the beginning of June, when the flowers burst forth from their empale- ments, forming a round bunch, or corymbus, sitting very close to the branch ; they are of a pale blush color, but the out side of the petal a peach color. In its native soil it continues flowering the greatest part of the summer, and is highly ornamental. Kalmia (named by Linneeus in honor of Peter Kalm, professor at Abo, in Sweden; author of Travels in America, in the year 1753.) It it a native of all the northern parts of the United States and Canada, inhabiting boggy meadows, and the borders of mountains and lakes, and damp, stony, rough places. Propagation and Culture. These plants are increased by seeds, layers and suckers. The present one, however, is mostly raised, from seeds, which should be sown in pots or boxes of light sandy mould, in the spring, placing them in an easterly border, or in beds of light mould, in a similar situation. When placed on a gentle hot-bed they succeed better. They must, however, be inured to the full air in summer, being sheltered during winter from frost. When the plants have had two years’ growth, they must be removed into separate pots, to be continued two or more years, when they may be planted out in the open ground in warm situations. Medical Properties and Uses. 'The poisonous qualities of this ele- eant shrub have very much lessened its value, both as an ornament and a medicine. Cattle, horses, sheep, and other domestic animals, have been poisoned by eating freely of the green foliage of this plant. As a medicine it is not recommended for use. It is said to possess similar properties to those of the night-shade tribe. A strong infu- sion, or a decoction from the leaves, or bark of the root, will materi- ally alter the pulse, even given in the most minute doses; it also appears to possess considerable narcotic powers, producing insensi- bility, languor, stupor and delirium. These effects have been pro- duced by accidental use. : NAT. ORDER. Solanacee. NOLANA PROSTRATA. TRAILING NOLANA. Class V. PENTANDRIA. Order I. Monoaynta. Gen. Char. Corolla, plicate in estivation, five lobed. Stamens, five adnate to the tube of the Corolla. Ovaria, one to five, or more crowded, seated on a fleshy annular disk. Stigma, carpitate. Drupe, solitary, or five together. Spe. Char. Stems, prostrate. Leaves, ovate-oblong. Calyx, pyra- midal, with triangularly sagitate segments, furnished with spur- like processes at the base. Tue calyx is a one-leafed perianthium, turbinate at the base, five- parted, five-cornered ; the segments cordate, acute, and permanent ; the corolla is one petalled, bell-shaped, plaited, spreading, and some- what five-lobed, and twice as large as the calyx; the stamens have five awl-shaped filaments, which are erect, equal, and shorter than the corolla; the anthers sagitate ; the pistillum is similar to five roundish germs; the style is among the germs, cylindric, straight, and about the length of the stamens; stigma, capitate; the pericarp, properly none ; the drupes are five in number, decumbent, and three or five-celled ; the seeds are five, with a succulent rind, roundish, with the inner base naked, immersed in the receptacle, two-celled and four-celled, and solitary ; the root is annual, simple, filiform, about three feet long, and blackish ; the stem is from a foot to a foot and a half long, herbaceous, prostrate, roundish, very smooth, and spotted with white dots over its surface ; the branches are alternate, the lower ones about the length of the stalk ; the leaves are alternate, two together, reflex rombovate, quite entire, blunt, somewhat fleshy, an inch long, somewhat papulose, Vou. 1v.— 46, ; NAT. ORDER.—SOLANACER. 47 even, flat, veined, unequal, and alternately larger and smaller. Ac- cording to the account given by Miller, they came out single at some joints, by pairs at others, and frequently three or four at the upper joints; the petioles, ancipital, scarcely shorter than the leaves, smooth, those belonging to the upper leaves, vaguely ciliate; the peduncles, lateral, solitary, spreading a little, an inch long, one-flowered, round, thicker at the top, and hairy ; flowers are inferior. This plant derived its name from nola, a little bell, on account of the bell-shaped form of the corolla. It is a native of Java. Propagation and Culture. ‘These plants may be raised by sow- ing the seeds on a hot-bed in March, or the beginning of April. After they have grown of sufficient size to move, they should be planted out singly into small pots filled with light earth, and placed in a fresh hot- bed for the purpose of bringing them forward. When their flowers open in summer, which is mostly in July, they should have a large share of air admitted, especially when the weather is warm, to pre- vent their fallmg away without producing seeds. Under this manage- ment the plants often continue flowering until the early frosts destroy them, and ripe seeds are produced in the beginning of the autumn. Medical Properties and Uses. At first sight, this family would seem to offer a strong exception to the general uniformity of structure and property, containing as it does (in the natural order) the Night- shade and Henbane, and the wholesome Potato and Tomato; but a little inquiry will explain this apparent anomaly. The tubes of the Potato are well known to be perfectly wholesome when cooked, that acrid and narcotic property which they possess being wholly dissipat- ed by heat. This is the case with other underground succulent stems in equally dangerous families. The leaves and roots possess both poisonous properties, and are but little used in medicine. In the time of Salmond they were recommended for costiveness, but great caution was necessary lest they took too much. NAT. ORDER. Nymphiacee. NELUMBIUM SPECIOSUM. CHINESE WATER LILY. Class Potyanpria. Order Pontyeynta. Gen. Char. Calyx, four, five, and six leaved, large and colored. Corolla, numerous. petals, often fifteen. Stamens, often seventy. Prisiillum, ovate. Spe. Chor. Style, none. Stigma, orbiculate, flat, peltate, sessile, ragged, crenate, permanent. Pericarpiwm, a hard berry, fleshy, rude, narrowed at the neck. Cells, from ten to fifteen. Trunk of the roof horizontal, fleshy, white, sending out many fibres from the under surface ; petioles long, risimg beyond the surface of the water, scabrous with acute tubercles ; leaves large, one or two feet in diameter, exactly peltate in the centre, orbicular entire, gla- brous, under surface palest, margins somewhat waved; peduncles, longer than the petioles, erect, and scabrous ; flowers large, emulating Paonia and Papaver, white and red; fruit resembling an instrument once used in play by the French, by the very antique name Lotos, (D. C.) It was known in early history, and was said to be a native of India, but is found in great abundance in all parts of China. This plant was well known to the Greeks, and is said by Herodo- tus, Theophrastus, and others, to be a native of Egypt, but no modern traveler has observed it growing in that country. There can, how- ever, be no doubt of its having actually existed there, either naturally or cultivated, since the terms in which it is described by those au- thors are too clear and decisive to be mistaken, and their accounts are confirmed by ancient Egyptian sculptures and mosaics, which are still preserved, and testify that from the earliest times, it as well as the Vou. 1v.—-48. ’ ie os ALOT 2 DpOCCCOAMIP?E NAT. ORDER.—NYMPHIACE. 49 proper Lotos, has obtained a religious reverence. It is remarkable that neither Herodotus nor Theophrastus, the most ancient writers by which it is described, have attributed any sacred character to it, but speak of it as only used as food by the Egyptians. Both root and seeds are esculent, sapid and wholesome. They are accounted cool- ing and strengthening, and to be of service in extreme thirst, diarrheea, tenesmus, vomiting and too great internal heat. In China it is called Lienwha, and the seeds and slices of the hairy root, with the kernels of apricots and walnuts, and alternate layers of ice were frequently presented to the British Ambassador and his suite at breakfasts given by some of the principal Mandarins. The roots are laid up by the Chinese in salt and vinegar for winter use. Sir George Staunton re- marks that the leaf, besides its common uses, has from its structure, growing entirely round the stalk, the advantage of defending the flower and fruit arising from its centre from contact with the water, which might injure them. He also remarks that the stem never fails to ascend in the water, let the depth be ever so great, unless in a case of sudden inundation, until it attains the surface, when its leaf expands, rests upon it and often rises above it. Many varieties of this plant are distinguished by the Chinese ; one of them with pure-white flow- ers, and another having about an hundred petals white or rose-colored. From the root of the Welumbo, Sir George Staunton says, the Egyp- tians are supposed to have prepared their Colocasia, but as the plant is no longer to be found wild in that country, from which circumstance some naturalists infer that 1t never was indigenous there, but culti- vated by the inhabitants with extreme care. The ancient Romans made repeated efforts to raise it from seeds brought out of Egypt. Dr. Patrick Browne is of the opinion that the ancients confounded two plants under the name of Lotos or Egyptian-bean, and that under these titles they described the upper parts of the /Velumbiwm and the roots of Caladium Colocasia, now commonly called Coccos, in Jamaica. Thunberg says that it is considered as a sacred plant in Japan, and pleasing to their deities, and that the images of their idols were often