: 8 ttifiii

• Mt

siiBii:

‘"TiMlMiiWi#iKll®iiliiliiii!iIIIS^

Ba^pa»B

iiiiili*l|ii«ilii^

iilHli^pi|i®plpiMpillPiBBilli

il9ili#iSlilili*ili^

WSSiSSSwSSSSSSiS^ S^sSS SSSSS^WSffSSSSffSSSi

^*ii« 3 iiiB»!ii^^

IliiliiliiiK

’?£ f '-~:

TA, N. t-

iiiMl

•9ri-:-t;--

jf ^ '■ ^' ’ , i’-r 'Jjk V /i

®iw«t»si!*

-- = 9 ^ , ,: --^- ' - ' .-

. “* - =£ - 3 -?

-

liiiiiiiiiliBiiiliB^^

l 5 Mii=

- 9 ""^

pSSliiBl

”

; 5 - _ :^''

,.,.^--J®i|te^^SiipSi®ifc

1' - ~ i r- ^ <-u <• --

llpWirfiWpffiiiii^^WIWiS

?li 9 Miiis

iSI

;l?5iili|l^i|si#if5|i|ii|^i!i9piii||®iSil^i||^

||'/;^:^lll§lil^lil| 9 ||pjl|lli|^|}|

- ,-,

ifi»iMlMlg iii liMi|iKiili!iil^

ssiiiisiiilisSiiiSSRiS^

k;^fj>_

- ,- 9 r- •-

$i-.;i^ 1 $^??'£?H

2 ---j-®.*'k:-?'^

'l-«p 4 ';ie-f«..i.:.,-

i-* .

1~ . i ' '

)

-I' Ky ’

^r. --d^'

’.'%?y
. -i-m

y^a'^ ,^-t^ -ii^,^,i

‘ .f

',;■ ,' «vx‘ T,^^-v«-’'-^"'

;:^ '■■;ifgi:i^

.. ., •■ s, i. *. I* -V-. ■?, »... V

'7"-'^'*r.rv ■/; 5' ' ■

,

I . •

(-

-( .

i

/

, /

■ 't

\

»

1 .

♦

■ \ •_

' >.■'

ife:-

'■•I

/

v»

V

J.

rs

i

>r

r

EXOTIC BOTANY

ILLUSTRATED,

In T hirty-Five Figures

V

b p

Curious and Elegant Plant si

Explaining

The SEXUAL SYSTEM;

AND

Tending to give fome New Tights

INTO

The VEGETABLE PHILOSOfriY.

B Y

JOHN Hill, m. d.

L 0 N b ON:

Printed at the Expence of the AUTHOR,

MDCCLIX.

OEC 2 7 t920

the Right Honourable

The Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND,

My Lord,

WBfiART
NEW YOJ^K

BOTa

QAi^DE/v

F repeated Obligations demand renew’d Acknow-
ledgments, I fliould be the moft ungrateful of Man-
kind to omit this Opportunity of declaring how much
I owe to Your Lordlhip’s continued Favour; and with
how little Title, beyond the mere Defire not to be
found wholly unworthy of it.

But there is another Source from which this Under-
taking in a Manner claims the Protection of Your Lord^
fhip’s moft refpeCted Name. The Plants which will be
found its belt Recommendation, are new in Europe :
and feveral, indeed the greater Part of thefe, were firft
rais’d in this unfavourable Climate under Your Lord-

ftiip’s

fliip’s immediate CaiX: they were the Produce of Your
own Stoves, and Gardens.

Thefe, if their humble Rank allow’d Senfation, Would
glowwith a new Luftre when they refleded on their Ori-
gin: but what they cannot know, he feels, niy Lord,
moll fenfibly, who gives the World thefe their faint
Reprefentatioiis ; and who can have no Pride fo
great as that of throwing himfelf with them, at Your
Feet. To enjoy Your Lordfliip’s Protection, is to claim
upon a fure Title, in fome Degree at leaft, that of the
World: for all are fenfible there is no Way of attaining
Yours^ but by endeavouring to deferveit.

/ have the Honour to he^

With the highefl kefped and Gratitude^

My Lord,

■#

Your Lordjhips
Mojl Obedient,

And mofl Humble Servant,

J. HILL.

St. jafnes’s-Streei.

1759.

o

I c

X

BOTANY.

INTRODUCTION.

A" A H E following Figures are engraved from Nature. Moft of the Plants
came over dried, as Specimens ; and they were brought to the State
wherein they are reprefented in thefe Defigns, by Maceration in warm
Water. The Method was this.

The Plant was laid in a China Difh, and Water was poured upon it, nearly as
much as the Cavity would hold ; another Difh, fomewhat fmaller, was turn’d down
upon this, and the Edges were cemented with common Pafte fpread upon brown
Paper. This was fet upon a Pot half full of cold Water, and placed over a gentle
Fire. Thus after a little Time the lower Difh heats ; and the Water gradually in
it : A few Minutes then complete the Bufinefs. The Plant, however, rumpled
up in drying, expands and takes the natural Form it had when frefh. Even the
minuted: Parts appear diftindfly.

The Specimen is deftroyed by this Operation, but it fhews itfelf, for the Time,
in full Perfection : I could have wifhed to fave fome of thefe, but they were facri-
liced to the Work ; and I hope their Remembrance will live in the Defigns.

This is the Hiftory of the Asiatic Plants : to which I have added fome few others,
that ferved bed to illudrate the Sexual Svdem : and to fhew the Courfe of Nature
in condruCting Double Flowers. Defcriptions are not needed ; lor the Figures
fhew all the Parts didinCirly ; what thefe cannot exprefs, as the Height of the entire
Plant, the Organs concealed within the Flowers, and the like, are added ; with fuch
other Obfervations as appeared mod curious or ufeful.

The Place whence I received each is fet down: and this gives a general Di-
reCfion as to the Degree of Expofure the Plant will bear. I have not named that
more particularly, becaufe it is not known. Experience will be the bed Guide.
There are many which we nurfe in Green-houfes, that would bear the open
Borders.

The Seeds of thefe Plants came over with the Specimens ; and they are now in
the Ground, in four remote Parts of the Kingdom, where I have Correfpondence
with thofe who have Stoves, and have been mod fuccefsful in raifing tender Spe-’
cies : many mud be expeCfed to fail ; and fome lye long in the Earth ; but the
prefent Seafon has raifed feverai of them, as will be feen in the fucceeding Chap-
ters.

In all thefe Places each Plant will be tried in the Stove, the Green-houfe, and
the open Air. This Way we fhall know what each will bear : and there is no
other.

Mona N DR I A. ( i )

SCARLET C O S T U S.

W HETHER every Plant of Cost us aflumes this glowing Colour, at
a certain Period, I cannot lay : this was from Madagascar ; and tho
leveral Flowers were perledf on it j and the Buds ol many others had
not yet opened, it was, except for a few light Traces of Green toward the Top,
entirely Scarlet. The Snow-white of the Flowers upon this red Ground, give it a
Charadfer of confummate Elegance ; and there is Singularity enough about them
to demand the Attention, alfo of the Philofopher.

The Stalk is round ; jointed as a Reed, a Yard high, and of a Ihining Crim-
fon. The Leaves furround it at their Bafe, forming a filmy Scabbard ; thence
they run out to a confiderable Length; waved at the Edge, lupported by large
Ribs ; and pointed at the End. They were, in this Plant, of a high and pure
Scarlet.

The Flowers are numerous, and moft confpicuous. Their Buds form together
a vafl: Head, which feems compofed of polilh’d Coral. The Rudiment of a Seed
Veflel fupports each Flower : There rifes from the Head of this a Cup divided
into three deep, pointed Segments of a glowing Red on the outfide, and ol a Violet
Blue within. The vaft Flower burfts from its Hollow, and is of an Ermine White-
nefs ; tender, delicate, and finely fcented ; and in Form different from all we
know in Europe.

Three pointed Petals form the lower and the outer Part, and from the midft
of thefe rifes a Ne61:arium, or tubular Body ; larger, and expanded at the Rim :
within this there is yet another feeming Petal fmaller, bent back upon it, and curled
up again ; and facing this a very narrow Part crowned with a yellow Iplit Button,
all the reft being White. This is the f igure of the Flower from Nature. The
Style is fingle and flender ; The Seed Veftel, which follows, is divided into three
Parts, and holds many Seeds ; The Root is tuberous, irregular, fpungy, and white ;
almoft infipid, but with a light fpicy Flavour.

4

The Fragrance of the Flower is delicate ; and ’tis the Bafe alone that has it; the
upper Part is fcentlefs.

No Care would be too much to make this more familiar in our Colledfions ;
and in the native Soil ’tis very hardy ; it loves a black moift Earth, and thrives
belt under Shade. The Roots parted at any Seafon grow readily : The Flowers
open at Night, and melt away under the next Day’s Sun ; but there is a long and
large Succeftion of them.

The modern Syftem, invented by Linn^us, arranges Plants into Clafles, ac-
cording to the Number, Situation, and Proportion of the dufty Buttons in the
Flower, which grow ufually upon flender Filaments, about the young Seed Vefi-
lei. In this there is only one ; the Plant is therefore of the firft Clals, the
Monandria. The Button is fupported on a narrow Petal, inftead of a Filament
in this Flower ; and ’tis the fame in others of the Clals, the Canna is an Inftance.
We lhall Ihew hereafter the Diftindfion between Filament and Petal is flight and
vague: one eafily enlarges to the other, and many double Flowers are formed by
the fwelling of their Filaments.

Coftus Lin.

Coftus Arabicus Authorum.

..xigw.

/

y

7

J

■ V

C*'r/:,rg{c.4i;

2

vy/A//' r I //r//////^//rj.

r

D I A N D R I A.

( 2. )

PROFUSE NYCTANTHES.

T his fweet Ny6Ianthes, which, with us, ftraggles along the bark Bed of
a Stove, a weak, unfightly, and irregular Plant, graces the C H i n e s e
Forefts in a better Form. ’Tis there alfo a weak Shrub, but rifing
among Thickets, it lays the {lender Boughs upon their more robuft Branches, and
carries them to the Height of twelve or fourteen Feet ; grac’d with innumerable
Flowers, and with a glorious Verdure. With us the Leaves are often pale, for the
free Air gives Colour, and our Stoves can but admit a moderate Share of it. There
where it breathes its Perfumes to the Wind, the Leaves have alfo their complete
and glowing Verdure. The Stalks are lightly hairy, and they divide wildly, but
pleafingly, with obtufe Angles. The Leaves are firm in Subftance, and deep ribb’d.
The Flowers are Snow-white, and innumerable. More had fallen from this Spe-
cimen than remain’d upon it, yet the Number was ftill equal to thofe here repre-
fented. It very well deferves therefore the Charadler, Profuse of Bloom ;
and it may difpute the Prize of Fragrance againft all Vegetable Nature.

The Flowers hand in fmall Clufters at the Extremities of the Branches ; each
has its lacerated Cup, with eight narrow and fharp-pointed Divifions, which
grow in Length after the Bloom is fallen. One Petal forms the Body of the
Flower ; This is a {lender Tube, -divided at the Edge naturally into no more than
eight Segments, but no Flower grows more readily luxuriant. In this Specimen,
gather’d in a Hedge, they were, in general nine ; and we fhall fee, in the facceed-
ing Page, how Art can multiply them farther.

Each Segment rifes from the' Head of the Tube, with a bearded Bafe, which
wears off as they grow in Number and in Length ; and is in all States moft confpi-
cuous in the outermoft Divifions. Deep in the Hollow of the Tube lie two Fila-
ments with their Buttons, and one Style rifes up between them, exceeding them
greatly in Length. The two Filaments fhew it to be of the fecond Clafs, the

D I A N D R I A.

It will be worth while to examine this Flower ftridf ly, for the fake of that
which follows. I know no Subject more Curious than fearching Nature in her
Courfe of doubling Flowers : and this is at once a lingular and very glorious
Inftance. In many others the Filaments fwell into Petals, and the Doublenefs
begins from the Bafe of the Flower ; in this the Luxuriance rifes from the Head
of the Tube, and the two fmall Filaments remain unalter’d at its Bottom. This
Flower of nine Petals is an approach to Doublenefs ; and will lead toward the
Knowledge of the other.

The Tube terminates in a thick, unequal, knobbed Circle : and from the
outer Verge of this rife the Eight proper Petals, but when it fwells to more than
the natural Thicknefs, others come up within thefe from different Parts of its Sur-
face, forming the inner Circle. No more appears in this Condition of the Plant.
It is thus a very valuable Article in our Collections ; but in the fully Double
State it exceeds all Price.

^ Nydanthes foliis inferioribus cordatis Obtulis fuperioribus ovatis acutis.— Linn.

Jafmiiiucn Arabicutn Authoruin.

Diandria. ( 3. ) . .

ROSEATE NYCTANTHES.

T his alfo I received from China ; not from their Fields, but Gardens;
where they boaft they can produce it from the other at their Pleafure.
If this be true, they exceed us in Gardening, as much as in fome other
of the Arts. Perhaps it is the firft Shrub of the World for Elegance and Fra-
grance. The Stem is more robuft than in the former, and does not equal two
thirds of its Height : The Leaves are altogether alike, as is alfo the general Form
of the Plant ; but the Flowers differ in their Difpolition: there is only one upon each
Footftalk or Termination of the Branch, but they are numerous on the entire Shrub ;
their Form is not unlike that of a double Rofe ; their Bignefs juft what is here re-
prefented ; they are White in Colour, and they exceed in Fragrance even the Angle
Kind, The Doublenefs arifes from the original Rim of the Tube, and the two
proper Filaments I found perfedf in the Centre of feveral of the Flowers, with
their complete Buttons, The Cup in fome Degree partakes of the Nature of the
Flower ; its pointed Segments fall in filmy Pieces down the Footftalk.

We are led one Step toward the Knowledge of Double Flowers and their
Conftrudfion, by this Shrub ; for here alfo the multiplied Petals rife from the knot-
ted Subftance, which forms the Rim of the Tube in the natural Flower; that be-
comes larger, more exuberant ; and inftead of fending out one or two Rows of
Petals, burfts into many.

If we could learn what Power in Nature occafions this, we ftiould know how
to imitate it in the Works of Art. ’Tis not rank Nourifhment, like that from
Dung, for this extends the entire Plant in Height and Bignefs, which prevents,
not favours the Produdlion of Double Flowers. From the Tulip to this
Shrub ’tis ufiial that thefe are produced on fhorter Plants than the fingle. May
it not be, that Nature, urged by fome Accident in the general Courfe of Growth,
opens fooner into Flowers than otherwife, and fo makes them double ? The great
Caufe appears to me to be a proper Addition of rich, but not rank Nourifhment.

^ In the common Courfe of Nature ; a Plant at a certain Height, that is, at a cer-
tain Diftance from the Root, produces Flowers ; the Bark, inftead of Leaves,
then forming a Cup, and the inner Rind Petals. Now if rich Nourifhment force
the Plant to break into Flowers at a lefs Diftance from the Root, more Food
is carried to them, and more Petals are formed. The original Petal confifts
of two Membranes, and a fpungy Subftance between them ; in this Flower the
innermoft Skin is thrown off, and becomes an entire Petal, and the chill Air forms
another Skin in its Place out of this fpungy Part ; this is afterwards thrown off as

the firft, and fo a fecond Series of Petals is formed ; and by the fame Procefs after-
wards are produced many more.

This is evidently the Formation of the Double Flower in the prefent Inftance
Nor is any to wonder, that in the Place of four or five fingle ones there comes
upon each Footftalk but one of thefe. We fhall Ihew the fame Change prefently
in a common Plant, the Narcissus.

o

Ltnnaus gives no Names to Double Flowers ; the Eftea of Culture.

■'.,'c

BOTANlCAlLa

V. - - ^ >•;. . - ,

■ '-i - . ; .. ■ - ‘ . ■

.V , ■',:

\ >•. .

.1 ,

-i

' (

' 1

, J

%

UBRAnr .
NEW ^V(5I^gr.
^;tanicaL
QAiiumx

4

Triandria.

( '4 )

T Y G E R I X I A.

T H I S I received from China: it is alfo a Native of the A M E R i c A N
Continent ; but if the}^ meant to figure it, who gave the firft Accounts
of a Flos Tigridis, they were very ill Defigners. This deferves all
the Praife theirs had for Elegance ; and will be a fovereign Beauty in our Col*
le6Hons.

The Plant is feven Foot high : the Stalk is thick, firm, jointed, and tinged with
Crimfon. The Leaves are long and flagg)', of a frelh Green, and firm by means
of vaft Ribs ; they furround the Stalk at their Bafe ; and are there Whitilh within.

The Flowers fpread from the Summit in a broad loofe Clufief, extremely Ipe-*
cious, and not lefs fingular : no Eye could mifs admiring them at a Diftance, of
being more charmed on a nearer View. Each has fix Petals : thefe are placed in two
Series, three in each. Thofe of the outer Series are larger, but thole of the inner are
more richly painted. Linn^us errs, who calls the fix Petals of the IxiA equal : this
Plant manifeftly Ihews the contrary. The Colours are a delicate Yellow, and a
full Crimfon, and they are thus difpofed upon the Flower. The three outer Petals
are yellow from their Bafe to three fourths of their Length, and in all that Part
they are Ipotted like the Tyger’s Skin, with Crimfon ; on their Points they have the
the lame Crimfon, but fomewhat paler, throughout the whole Surface. This is the
colouring of the inner Part of thefe Petals ; the Outlide is Yellow, and the Crimfon
Spots are only carried lightly along the Edges. The three inner Petals are more
uniformly marked ; they are Yellow throughout, and are all over fpotted with
this elegant Crimfon.

Three Filaments rife from the Bafe of the Flower with yellow Buttons, them*
felves' of a fine Crimfon ; and they furround a fingle Style, whitilh, and
divided into three Parts at the Head, or Stigma. The Rudiment of the Seed Veflel
hands under the Flower, and is triangular, and filled with many Seeds.

The three Filaments Very diftin(£l:ly Ihew the Plant belongs to the Triandria,
the third Clafs in the Sexual Syftem.

Its natural Habitation is the defart fun-burnt Sand of the Indies ; and it thrived
no where fo well as in the Neighbourhood of the Sea ; , not on the Shore, but at
half a Mile, or a Mile Diftance. Its tuberous Roots lie deep beneath the Surface
twelve or fifteen Inches, and it propagates itfelf fo faft, that there are Leagues
of the Sand covered with it.

Our Gardeners Ihould regard this Particularity of Plants that love fome Influence
of the Sea Salt, tho’ they do not grow upon the abfolute Shore. We have fome
Trefoils, and other English Species, which have the fame Quality; never being
found on the Shore, nor ever far from it. The Influence of Sea Water reaches a
great Way. A little Sea Sand in the Mould wherein thefe Plants are propagated,
would anfwer the Purpofe ; and they would thrive much better, becaufe their
Nourifhment would be more natural.

Ixia foliis enfiformibus, floribus remotis. Llniir

Tetrandria. ( 5 )

AMETHYSTINE CALLICARPA.

W E add here an American to our Asiatic Treafures ; a Shrub
who{e Berries have an Elegance not met with eliewhere in the Vegeta-
ble World. Its Hardinefs is alfo a great Recommendation. We keep
it in Green-houfes, but this cannot be neceflarp; a Native of North America
will certainly bear the free Air in our Climate.

It is a Shrub of moderate Height, with pliant Branches, and large handfome
Leaves. The Flowers grow in a very fingular Manner ; like thofe of what are
called the Verticillate Plants : two Leaves rile oppolite, and from the Bofom of
each Footftalk grows a Tuft of Flowers, which, as they open, fpread in an elegant
duller, furrounding the whole Stalk.

The Flowers are of a pale, but elegant Crimfon ; they have a fmall green Cup,
and each is divided into four Segments, mimicking fo many Petals, fpread widely
open. The Cup has alfo four Divilions, but they are fmall and plain.

Four long and llender Filaments rife from the Bottom of each Flower, with
oval Buttons ; and they furround a lingle Style fixed on the Rudiment of the future
Berry.

Thefe. Berries are the great Beauty of the Plant ; they have a Delicacy and
Elegance in Tin<3: and in Conftru^Iion, which attract every Eye. They duller
round the Stalks at thefe Joints as the Flowers had done, and they are as big as
fmall Peafe ; round and extremely glolfy. Their ripe Colour is a moft delicate
Purple, not deep, but Ihining, exadly that of fome pale Amethyfts; and they
appear covered inftead of the tough Skin which inverts our Berries, with a thin
Ihelly, and as it were pearly Coat ; upon whofe Surface the Colour plays accord-
ing to the Light, as in the Opal, or very fine Mother of Pearl : or as we imitate it
in what are called the Changeable Silks. They have not the Alpe£l: of Berries,
but of Pearls tinged naturally of this Amethyrtine Colour. Thofe to whom I firft
Ihewed fome of them, brought from the native Climate of the Shrub, took them
for Ihelly, and not vegetable Subrtances. Mr. Lee has fince ripened them here to
the fame Perfection. I gave a fmall Shrub, with them perfe6f upon it, lart Year,
to my great Friend and Patron, the Patron of all ufeful Studies, the Lord
Northumberland.

The four Filaments in each , Flower fhew it to be of the fourth Clafs in the
Sexual Syrtem, the Tetrandria; and, like the preceding, having but one

Style rifing from the Rudiment of the Fruit, it is of the firrt Order under that
Clals, the Monogynia.

It has been called S p ho ndylo coccus, and by our Gardeners, generally,
JOHNSONIA. It grows freely from Curings; and in the fecond Year may
be brought into its Place in our Plantations.

Callicarpa. Linn.

X

I

/

ElCTAWtC;A^-

:;/' '

■ ■

■:fe

;.i. ■/..■>:-

vt-

4 -.

-■4:

/ ■ ' f

Pentandria.

( 6 •),

ERMINE AZALEA.

ASA HIS Hedge Shrub of the univerfal Chinese Empire, excels all that we
know in our Gardens. They introduce in their wild Works of Art alfo ;
and it carries an Everlafting Bloom in the Front of thofe ftrange Rocks,
with which they terminate their Views, or ftartle the Stranger’s Eye in their vaft
Gardens. There is a fateny Softnefs in the Flower, unlike all the European
kinds ; and its confiderable Size, and moft extraordinary Painting, gives it new
Charadlers of Beauty.

' The Shrub is nine Foot high, and naturally grows in a loofe open manner, with
diftant Branches, which the Winds play with, in great Wantonnefs, and through
which the frefh Air at all times breathes freely : to this perhaps is owing, in a great
degree, the peculiar Luftre of the Bloom. Our Gardeners know how ellential
this free Courfe of the Air is to the Perfedlion of Fruits : perhaps it is as requifite
to the full Beauty of Flowers. Mildews and Blights affedf thele tender Parts of
Plants as well as the F ruit ; and to render them fully glowing, it may be as need-
ful to prevent the Occafions of fuch Accidents. Nature has done a great deal in
this Plant, and we fee the Confequence : Art may try in others.

The Leaves of this Azalea are of a delicate Green on the upper Part, and
Whitilh underneath. The Wood is firm and white, and the Bark brown. The
Gups from which the Flowers rife are foft and downy ; cut into five Segments*
The Flower itfelf is White, tinged on the Back with a deep Crimfon. The fame
Colour, only brighter, plays on the Edges ; and on the Ermine Whitenefs of the
Body of the Petals it is again ftamp’d in little Spots, as Art difpofes the black Tails
of that Creature in making Habits of the Skins. One Petal forms the Flower,
but it is deeply cut into five Parts, and within rife five elegant and confpicuous
Filaments Crimfon, and crown’d with yellow Buttons. The Style is fingle.

In the wild State it flowers twice in the Seafon, and paints the Hedges Spring
and'Auturnn. In Gardens it blooms throughout the Year; and never drops the
Leaf The Chinese, who attend to the leaft Circumffances, in their Culture of
Plants, manage this Shrub in a peculiar Way, to keep it always blooming. Every
Evening they take off the decay’d Flowers with their Stalks. This prevents the
ripening of Seeds ; and confequently more Flowers follow ; as in our Domeftic
Fowls, if they be permitted to fit, the laying ceafes, but if the Eggs are removed
that Ihould have afforded the )"oung Brood, they lay on.

Thus every Morning there is a Succeflion of Buds, which, when the S,un grows
warm upon them, burfl: at once into thefe noble Flowers : an elegant and wonder-
ful Appearance.

The five Filaments fhew this Shrub to be one of .the Pentandria, the fifth
Clafs in the Sexual Syftem.

The Flower varies amazingly under their Culture in regard to Colour, but they
have not, fo far as I learn, made any Advance towards Doubling it.

Azalea floribus fubfolitarils, calycibus pilofis« Linn,

( 7 )

pE NTANDRIA;

N O S E G A Y P E R I W I N K L E.

W ITH us this new Favourite makes an elegant Appearance; but fo
much inferior to the full Excellence it wears in China, that unlefs I
Ihould dbferve this Figure is from a Specimen fent out of that Countrp,
fome half-inftru6fed Botanift would fay I had exceeded Nature. It has been
- thought, thefe Figures, in general, reprefent very elegant Plants of their feveral
kinds ; but I, and thofe who faw the Specimens with me, muft own they are very
much below Nature ; tho’ they are as like her Works as I could make them.

When K^m PEER brought into Europe the Specimens he had colle^fed
in Japan, the Plants Herman had raifed, the’ from the Seeds ol the fame
Shrubs, appear’d fo unlike to them, that many, at the lirft Sight, thought the
Species different : but thefe Variations went no farther than Colour, Number
of Flowers, and the like Accidents ; the eflential Charadlers were altogether the
fame in thofe colledfed healthy under their native Sky, and fuch as the Stoves
furnifhed ; the Difference was in Beauty, nothing more. Perhaps the Seeds col-
lected with thefe Specimens will yield Plants juft as different, or juft as much in-
ferior to themfelves as thofe of that Inftance ; but the Difference is flight : We fee
thus what the Plants are in their extreme PerfeCHon ; and if we would raife them
to the fame Beauty here, we muft give them Air.

The Name by which I have called this Shrub is a Tranflation of the Chinese
T erm ; they call it fb becaufe each Sprig cover’d with its Clufter of Flowers is a
Nofegay.

The Shrub is four Foot high, and grows naturally with a pleafing Irregularity.
The Bark is tender, and the Wood not hard. The Flowers grow ten, twelve, or
more together at the Summit of each Branch ; and frefh Buds open as the firft
blown Flowers decay, fo that the Nofegay is in part renewed daily, and yet
feems Everlafting.

This is one of the Pentandria, the fifth Clafs : but its five Filaments are
hot confpicuous ; they are lodged in the Tube, and the Flawer muft be torn
open to difeover therh. This Tube fwells toward the Top, and there are five
Prominences on its Surface ; ’tis in this Part the five membranaceous Buttons are
lodged. They form that Swelling, and thefe Prominences ; and they furround the

Embryo of the Fruit; a moft Angular Style fixed on the Rudiment of a double
Pod.

The Shrub is Native of the East-Indies, China, and the CAPEofGooD
Hope; and in all thofe Places it is nurs’d alfb in Gardens : yet ’tis but within thefe
few Years we have known it. Its Figure on the China Skreens, and other
japan’d Works alwa)^s pleas’d the Eye, but it was fuppos’d a mere Piece of FiCfion.
W^e once thought fo of their vaft Hibifeus, but we know other wife now j and we
are in the Way to more Difeoveries.

See Kempf. Amen. Exot. — Article Tfu Tfu

i

f.

/

LUBRAUY

i^EW YOki.
BOTANiCAk
OAkubi*^

}k

f-

y ■;. .

' " St

Pentandria.

( 8 )

P E L O R I A.

I Add to the fifth Clafs a Plant, which ’tis a Cuftom rather to place among
the Monfters : but few have feen it. This Specimen I owe to the Favour
of the Bifhop of Pa N x o p p i d A n, who gather’d it in No r way.

Bp Monfters, among Plants, Naturalifts mean fiich as have been produced bp
the Copulation of two diftindf Kinds. ’Tis not impoflible that the Organs of the
fome different Plants map be fo nearlp like to one another, that fuch a Copulation
map come within the Verge of rational Belief: but I have not pet feen anpinftance
of it in Nature : Neither do I know to what Plant thep would refer for one Part of
the Parentage of this, who fancp it a Mongrel; if it were allow’d, that the com-
mon Linaria, which it muff: be acknowledg’d extremelp to refemble, were the
other.

’Tis thought Veronica and Vervain, have produc’d a Monfter, or a Mon-
grel Plant between them : Nor will I contradiA the Opinion, fince Negatives
admit no Proof. All I can fap is, that I have long cultivated the two Plants in
the fame Border, and near one another, but no middle kind has pet appear’d. ’Tis
not impoflible there map hereafter ; or that which fails with me, map have fuc-
ceeded with another.

The Peloria has a general Refemblance, in its Afpedf, of the Toad-flax ;
but the Flower is altogether different. Even the Clafs is different : nor is the Plant
if I map, judge from a fingle Specimen, fo verp like this Toad-flax as has
been faid.

From a long flender woodp Root there rofe in this three Stalks ; purplilh, weak,
and bent ; whereas our Linaria is ufuallp robuft and upright. The Leaves were
long and narrow, but thep had blunter Ends than in the common Toad-flax,
and thep were paler. The Flowers crown’d the Top of each Stalk in a handfome
Spike. Thep are large, oblong, p'ellow, and in Conftrudfion whollp unlike not the
Linaria alone, but thofe of anp other Plant whatever. The Mouth is regularlp
open’d, and the Tube is long and fwell’d : at its Bafe there are four Horns or Spurs
form’d of the fame Subftance with the Flower, and hollow. Within there are five
regular and perfedb Filaments unlike entirelp thofe of the Linaria, and indeed
of everp thing elfe known. The Rudiment of a Seed Velfel was alfo perfedt in
manp of the Flowers, and there were fome unripe Seeds.

. I have fown thefe, tho’ without much Hope, becaufe thep were plainlp immature :
if thep {hoot we fhall have Opportunities of knowing fomething more of the Plant
than we do at prefent ; or if thefe fail, it will foon be in the Upfal Garden ; where
a Root was fome Years fince fet, but at an ill Seafon, and without Succefs.

Perhaps the Proof of its being or not being a mixt Produ8:ion, map be refer’d
to the Succefs of fairlp ripen’d Seeds. If thefe produce their like, it will give a
fevere Shock to the receiv’d Opinion. Mules produc’d from the Horfe and Afs
do not propagate : and probablp a Law fo univerfal in the Animal Creation is not
broken in the Vegetable.

Peloria. Linn»

Hexandrt A.

{ 9 )

JACOBEAN A M A R Y L L I S.

W E receiv’d firft from South America this Pride and Glory of the
bulbous Clafs. Mine, though of Asiatic Origin, differ’d m nothing
from the ufual Plant, except that the Leaves vvere fomewhat narrower,
and of a lefs firm Subftance. I need not recommend it to the \¥orld. The
‘Hexandrous Clafs comprizes moft of the bulbous Plants ; and they are generally
crown’d with fpecious Flowers : This has enjoy’d the firft Praife hitherto ; and
Fancy is the only JudgCj whether or not the next excels it. ^

The Leaves are fleftiy, but not firm : The Stalk is thick ; and what is very
■finaular, ’tis often white, or tranfparent toward the Ground, though it gives
Nmirifhment to this high-colour’d Flower. The Change which gives that

glowing Colour is made higher. • ■ ^

The Flower burfts from a filmy Scabbard ; and with its Weight often bends
the Stalk. The Difpofition of the Petals, one upright, two fideways, and three
downward, is regular and eflential in the Plant : and the bending of the lower
Petals, by which they embrace the Filaments towards the Bottom, is yet more
fingular.

' The fix Filaments difcover the Plant to be of this hexandrous Clafs; the fixth
in order in the Sexual Syftem : and the Cfiaradfer of that Clafs cannot be more
ftrongly mark’d in any Flower. The Anthera, or Buttons, which crown the
Filaments, are at firft long and white; afterwards ftiorter and yellow. It is a
Change frequent in the Anthera of other Flowers ; but here they are fo large
that ’tis eafy to fee how it is brought about. The Plant will flower upon a Shelf,
and it may therefore be familiarly obferv’d.

The Anthera at their firft Appearance are furrow’d lengthwdfe, and are white. Each
■is compos’d of two Tubes join’d on their inner Part ; and each has a Groove out-
ward along the Middle. If an Anthera be cut tranfverfely, thefe two T ubes are plainly
feen; and they are fill’d with a yellow Powder, the Farina. After a Time they
burft : the Opening begins at one End of each Tube, and in the Groove, As they
fplit farther up, the two Sides turn back, and the Tubes contradl themfelves, and
become fhorter. This makes their change of Shape : the yellow Colour is owing
to the Farina covering them.

The other Parts of Impregnation are as confpicuous in this vaft Flower. The
Stigma or Top of the Style is cover’d with cryftalline Clubs, and open Tubes,
and is always wet with a glutinous clear Humour, ferving to detain and burft the
Grains of Farina.

There are alfo fix Nedlaria in the Bafe • of the Flower, of a very curious and
peculiar Structure, folid at their Bottom, and branch’d upwards in the manner
of white Coral.

Thefe Parts I firft obferv’d in that Species Amaryllis, figur’d in a fmall Work,
entitled. Outlines of Vegetable Generation, publilh’d a few Months fince.
Linn^us overlook’d them. I am happy to find them alfo in this Plant, which
is a Species of the fame Gems : different Obfervations thus confirm each other.

Amariyllis Spatha uniflora, corolla insquali genltalibus declinatis. Linn. Jacobean Lilly vulgo.

t/

i^EW

HEW

aC'TAHlCiya

Hexandria.

( 10 )

DELICATE AMARYLLIS.

T he former Species, obtain’d from Linnaeus, by its uncommon Lurtrd^
the Epithet of Formosissima; Most Beautiful : perhaps this will
make the Title doubtful. Its Profulion in the entire Clufter is a great
Glory 5 and the more elegant, though fainter Colour, entitles it well to the
Addition Delicate. At times it has flower’d iii the European Stoves.* but this
has been (b feldom, and with fb much Variation, from the more or lefs advanta-^
geous Management, th^t they who poflTefs’d the feveral Plants doubted whether
or not they were the fame Speciesj and the good Heister lately thought it fo
glorious and fo wonderful a Sight, that when it burfl; for Flower, he wrote upon
the Garden Gates an Invitation to fuperior Beings, to come down and look upon
it. He thought the Plant that flower’d with him different from what had been
defcrib’d by others, but ’twas only that it blow’d lefs perfe6Ily. This is the
Afpe6f of the Clufter in Perfe«ftion, as it flower’d in China, though ’tis others
wife the fame with his j as his own Root and Leaves here figur’d allb Ihew*

The Stalk is robuft, Upright, arid crown’d at firft with a vrift fingle Bud, con-^
filling of many Flowers in a kind of Scabbard. When this burfts they throw
themfelves naturally into a rounded Form, and play in various Elevations ;
their Colour, which is pale at firft, grows ftronger as they ftand, and the whole
Clufter remains a long time in Perfebliori. The Flower has nothing of that Sin-^
gularity which is lb confpicuous iri the preceding Species j but it is not altogether*
regular, the Petrils not being all of equal Length.

The Charadlers of the fixth Clafs, the Hexandria, are as confpicuoris and evi-*
dent in this as in the laft named Species; and thefe bulbous Plants very happily
Ihew that Diftinblion, which, though as certain in all others, is often oblcur’d by
the Smallnefs of the Parts, or by their Situation in the Depth of the Flower.

There is fomething that deferves Notice iri the Scabbard of this Plant ; the
filmy Subftance, which performs the Office of a Cup, and holds the young Flow-
ers, ’till they are ripe for burfting: tho’ the Materials of this, and the Form, pro-
perly fpeaking, are the fame as in the other Kind, yet the Bignels in this makes
a ftriking Difference, and it is more durable, and is not wholly diftitute of Co-
lour. It is perhaps the moft Elegant of its Kind; and is the next Thing in
Degree to the Cup in the Haemanthus, which the Incurious fiippofe a FloWer.
The Term Scabbard, S^atha, is given to this kind of filmy Subftance, flipply-
ing the Place and Office of a Cup ; but there is alfo another apparent Particu-
larity in this Plant, thofe crimfon Threads which lie amorig the Footftalks of
the Flowers rifing from the fame Bale. All who law them wonder’d ; but ’tis
their Colour only which is particular. They are of the Nature of thofe F ilm s
call’d Stipulse in other Plants, and there are the fame Subftances exa£lly, only
White in every common many-flower’d Narciflus.

Amaryllis Spatha multiflora eorollis insbqualibus foliis linguiformibus, Linns

Hexand'riA.

( M )

DOUBLE O RIF LAM ME.

O Riflamme is a Name given, long firice, to a fpecious fingle Tulip, from
its Colours which were fuppofed to imitate thofe of the antient facred
Banner of the French j whofe Tints were Blood and Gold. I do not
know, that before this Year, it has been feen double^ This was the happy Ef-
fect of a regulated Culture ; it was rais’d in England, and is added to the
Plants of this Collection, not alone for its Beauty^ but becaufe it will ferve
very happily to explain the Coufle of Nature in doubling the Bulbous rooted,
Hexandrous Flowers.

The Leaves, the Root, and the whole AfpeCt of the Plant are the fame
with thole of the fingle Tulip from which it fprings 5 but the Stalk is Ihorter.
This confirms the Opinion advanc’d before in fpeakingof the Rofeate NyCtan-
thes, that the Force of Nature burfting into Bloom, at a lefs Growth in Height
than ufual, favours the Doublenefs of Flowers : more Petals being form’d, be-
caufe there is more Nourifhment fent thither.

In this Plate we fee the fingle arid the double Flowxr together, and as the
Parts are all large and confpicuoiis, we fhall trade without great Difficulty how
the Change is made. Double Tulips have hitherto been flighted, becaufe they
were irregularly doubled, and rofeas Chance direCIed : this will perhaps bring
them into repute, and the Gardener rhay have them thus regularly double, if
he w‘ill follow the Method of a proper Culture.

The fingle Tulip confifts of three Parts: the Petals or Leaves which are fix,
the Filaments with their Buttons alfo fix, and a fingle Rudiment of a Seed-vef-
fel. Thefe are confpicuous in the fingle Flower 5 in the Double the fix outer
Petals, and the Rudiment of the Seed-veflfel remain unalter’d, therefore the
Change is not made from them : but the fix Filaments are loft entirely. There-
fore Reafon fays the additional Petals are made out of the Filaments : and this
Experience confirms.

The Doublenefs of a Tulip will be favoured by this Cultute. When the
fingle Tulip is in the Bud, juft before it would have open’d, cut it down.
Water the Root Hightly, Morning and Evening, and at the ufual Seafon take
it up. Plant it again with Marie in the Mould, and the next Year ufe the
fame Caution, many may be thus manag’d at once, for a few only will come
double, as is the Cafe in Anemones and many other Flowers. Of thefe fuch only
asffiew a Tendency to Doublenefs the fecond Year, are to be treated thus, the
following, and fo on for the fucceeding Seafons. This firft Tendency to Dou-
blenefs, is to be feen in the Filaments, they grow broader and more flat.

After this, it comes on thus : the Filaments grow broader and fplit like Forks,
the Button ftadding in the Middle of the Divifion : then, in the fucceeding
Years, the new Petals grow broader, and the Points wear olf ; at Length the
Rudiment of the Button alfo fades away, and there are then fix new Petals like
the fix firft : after this, each Iplits flatwife into two, and they become twelve,
fo that the Flower confifts of eighteen Petals with no Remains of Buttons. This
is the perfe6b double Tulip.

V

flBVV

jjjTftfSlCAJa

NEW

.i;>V*A^S-'-,.:

■(

«

■■■*

Hexandria.

( II )

SANGUINEOUS COLCHICUM.

W E are accuftom’d to the Colchicum in great Variety 5 Angle and dou-
ble, ftrip’d as the Tulip, and teffelated as the Fritillary : but this will
not be the lefs welcome. The Vaftnefs of the Flower, and the Contrail
of Colours, the perfect Blood upon the perfe(Sl Ermine, tho’ it be laid on with
lefs Regularity, will recommend it.

In Autumn, there rife, uncover’d from the Ground, three Flowers, or more
in a duller, accompany’d by no Leaves, fupported by no Stalk, but naked and
defencelefs. The Root below^ is an oblong Bulb, coated with a thick Chelhut-
Ikin. At the Height of an Inch from the Ground, each Bud opens into a
Flower, equally delicate and magnificent, form’d of eighteen Petals, long, wav’d
and pointed: the Ground-colour is white, and the Spots are a bloody Crimfon.

Nothing more is feen, unlefs by opening the Ground. Then we perceive
thefe Flowers rife from the Centre of certain young Leaves which have
been cover’d with them by a Scabbard, yellowilhj rib’d, and dy’d with the
fame Purple. This Scabbard is the outer Skin of the Bulb, next within the
brown Coat ; only growing thinner as it rifes. Within it, is another very de-
licate Membrane, and then the Leaves, perfect at their Tops; but convoluted,
and lefs dillin^l as they are traced downwards. They enclofe all the Way the
Tubes of the feveral Flowers, which are white and hollow.

The Angle Colchicum has fix Filaments and a Style : the Filarrients are in
this double Flower obliterated; they form the inner Petals as in the dohble Tu-
lip, but the Style remains. It is continued down to the Root, in three diftin£l
Bodies.

Deep in the Centre lies the Rudiment of the Seed-veflel, almoft clofe upon
the Head of the Root, regularly form’d, tho’ very minute, and with all its Di-
vifions. This grows and rifes afterwards with the young Leaves about it, and in
the fucceeding Spring, pierces the Surface and ripens a large Seed-veflel with no
apparent previous Flower ; that having blown in Autumn. A Angular and great
Provifion of Nature for the Seeds.

The fix Filaments (Lew this to be one of the Hexandria, the fixth Clals in
the fexual Syftem : but when we recoiled the Flower, the Root, the Leaves, '
and all the Parts of the true Saffron, and fee that, becaufe the Filaments
in that are only three, it becomes one of the Triandria, and is feparated from
this Colchicum, and coupled with the Ixia, this Ihews the fexual Syflem,
tho’ ufeful, is not natural. Whenever a true natural Method fhall be efta-
blilh’d, the Colchicum and Crocus will be plac’d together. They agree in the
Roots, Leaves, and Flowers, for tho’ the Leaves of Colchicum are broad, and
thofe of Crocus narrow, both are grafly. They are alike in the Effentials, and
differ only in thefe leffer Characters.

This Flower was rais’d from Seed fav’d from the common Colchicum, ga-
ther’d from the wild Plant in a Meadow near Calne in Wiltshire.

I M P E-

Colchicum flore pleno audtorum.

Hexandria. ( ^'3 )

IMPERIAL GLORIOSA.

T he Tulip was Gonfider’d before this Flower, the Doublenefs of which
has in it fomething moft extraordinary, becaufe it will explain how
Nature has performed the Wonder. The waved Edges, and the' in-
verted Situation of the Petals in this, are all it has in Reality fo fmgular :
Thefe are from Nature, for in the fingle State of the Plant they have the fame
curl’d and bent Afpeft. The reft is owing to a fimple Procefs : the Double-
nefs is formed juft as in the Tulip, but it is not quite fo perfect. There the
Buttons are entirely loft, here there remain fome Veftiges of them ^ and tho
but lightly, they deform the Flower. We fee a Thoufand double Tulips in
the fame State of Imperfeaion, for one that is like that, reprefented in our
Plate ; and on the fame Principle, in the Gardens of China, doubtlefs a per-
fea Gloriofa might have been found : but the Gentleman who colkaed for
nie, could not have the lame Ad v antage s as if he had undertaken the friendly
Talk in Europe.

Tho’ double, it produces Seeds: For the Rudiment of the Seed-veflel continues
unhurt 5 and it is poflible thefe Remains of Antherx, or the more perfea ones,
in fingle Flowers, near the Plant, may impregnate them.

We have been accuftom’d to receive this Species with fingle Flowers from the
East Indies, I have not heard of it double before this Specimen, but in any
State it is a Plant of vaft Singularity and Elegance. It climbs among the Bulhes
or winds itfelf round Trees. Nature has furnilhed few lb well for fupport-
ing themfelves ; for befides that the fingle Stalk twills itfelf naturally as
our Hops round about whatever is near it, the Leaves all terminate in fine
long twilled Points, a Kind of Tendrils that lay hold alfo on every thing near
them.

Thus the Gloriofa, in the fingle State, covers whole Thickets, Ipreading over
their Tops and falling down again every where before and among the Branches.
In that State, the Flower is made of fix Petals, as the Tulip, and there
rife from the Bafe of it fix Filaments. In this peculiar Form of Doublenefs,
the Filaments have become broad and form’d themfelves into other Petals j and
afterwards have fplit flatwife as in that Flower when fully double j and this in
the fame Manner has Eighteen of them.

The Chinese boaft they produce this Change by Art; and without Exception
they are good Gardeners : but probably the firft came from Nature. We fee
double Ranunculus’s and Anemones rife from Seed with the fingle, and double
Tulips, appear in thofe Beds where only fingle ones were planted. Nature
does fomething in this which does not fail under the Examination of our Senfes,
but we fee the EfiTecR. Probably they who inG6/Wfaw the firft Tendency to
Doublenefs in a Gloriofa, gave the Plant a more careful Culture. If they have
an abfolute Art beyond this, it is one we fhould be very happy to acquire.

This, as the Plants with double Flowers in the preceding Inftances, is lower
than the fingle Kind, it winds among their Rocks, but five Feet is its ufual
Height, the Root is tuberous.

Gloriofa Lin, Superb Lilly vulgo.

M E-

r

t

j

.'i''

I

f'-

I

■i,

\ E ■■" ' _ / ■ ./-■ i.y-^UALW

B ' ■•’ ' ' '■■■'■ '' y-'. r '■■ ' . ■■■■' . ' ■ S^IEW

‘ ■■ . ,"■ ■

■ > . :

■f

Hexandria.

( 14 )

ME T AMORPHOSES of the NARCISSI.

OWEVER fmgular it might appear, that purple Threads crept about
like Worms among the Foot-ftalks of the Amaryllis ; or that from
the Clufter of the profufe Ny 61 anthes rofe, one double Flower ; this
Inftance, by a familiar Example, Ihews, that our Wonder, at one Objedf, is
often owing to our Inattention to others : and that what appears moft ftrange
in foreign Flowers, or foreign Transformations, is found familiarly, tho’ lefs
confpicuouily in thofe of our own growth ; and is tranfa£l:ed daily in our Gar-
dens. The fingle Narciffus, here figured, has the fame Kind of Threads, only
white j and there is the Transformation made twice over.

From the Seeds of the common fmgle Narciffus of our Country Gardens, rofe
the Plant number’d i . in the prefent Plate, and from its Seeds which ripend in
Perfection, was produc’d the other, of which there are two Views j and which,
though rais’d thus from our own Seeds, is called Oriental.

The common wild Narciffus, too mean a Plant, and too well known to need
a Figure here, bears on the Summit of its weak Stalk, one large Flower. The
two Parts of which, called the Nectarium or the Cup, and Petals, are both of
the fame Yellow. We have other common Narciffiis’s which produce many Flow-
ers upon ohe Stalk: thefe are altogether different: The Cup being naturally
of one Colour, and the Petals of another j but the fingle flowered Kind is
always uniform in TinCf.

The Plant i. raifed from the Seeds of that Kind, produced Flowers in a
Luxuriance unknown to the Species in its natural State, yet preferving their
CharaCfer : Three grew upon one Stalk, with thofe fine Stipulse between them;
but the Cup and Petals were as in the original Plant of one Colour.

The Seeds of this Plant i. produced the other, 2. and here the Flowers a-
gain, inftead of three, were only one upon each Stalk ; but vaftly large and
delicately doubled. The Leaves differ’d alfo, for they were fhorter in the
double Flower, and the Stalk was lower. We fee therefore, to bear one or
many Flowers upon a Stalk, tho’ it has been efteemed a Mark of great Di-
ftin^iion, may be the CharaCfer of a mere Variety ; and we are led by this
toward believing the boldefl: Thing that ever was faid of Varieties, Linnaeus’s
ReduCfion of the Primrofe and Cowflip to one Species 5 the Oxlip being a mid-
dle Stage between them.

The Manner in which the Doublenefs is produc’d in this Plant, is different
make all the others which have been named j for the Structure of the Flower
is alfo different. We have feen the Filaments produce the Doublenefs of the
Tulip, Colchicum, and fuperb Lilly, all of this Clafs; and here they affift in
the Change : but there is alfo a peculiar Part, the Nedlarium in the fingle Flow-
er. This is naturally indented at the Edges j and in the double Flower it forms
many of the inner Petals. Thofe Indentings are carry’d down to the Bafe, and
make fo many diftindl Parts ; and the reft of the Addition is made from the Fi-
laments, which, juft as in the Tulip, fpread into Breadth and fplit flatwife,
each forming two or more Petals.

The Change from a fingle Flower to a Clufter together, is not peculiar to
the Garden in thefe Inftances, or to the fmgle field Plant we have nam’d j the
Solomon’s Seal, in our Woods, has fometimes fingle, fometimes clufter’d

Flowers, from each joint of the Stalk 5 and fo have many others.

■ R H U-

Nareiffi Yariantesv

Enneandria^

( t5 )

RHUBARB.

W E received many Plants under the Name of Rhubarb into our Gardens,
for Men were curious to know, to what Species that ineftimable Root
belonged. They often were deceived, for thofe were ignorant who
undertook to gather it 5 but among many Errors, ’tis plain enough there came
alfo Truth. This Specimen was from the North of China, wild upon the
Hills, where a great deal of Rhubarb is taken up for Commerce. I received it
from one too careful to make Miftakes 5 and who had Opportunities of know-
ing. The Seeds came with it, and the Plants which rife from them, I think,
will (hew, that the Species, now called Rhubarb, in our beft Gardens, is fo. The
Difference between that and the prefent Figure, is no more than would natu-
rally rife from Culture, and a different Climate.

Altho’ the Flowers are trifling, there is fufficient Beauty in the Whole. The
Leaves have a bold and elegant Wave upon their Edges j and the Stature of the
Plant, together with their Difpofition, the colouring of the Stalk, and fre-
quent Purple of the Ribs in the lower Leaves, make it extreamly well worth
Culture ; elpecially as it requires little Care, and lives in full Expofrire.

The Plant is a Yard high, and its Clufter of Leaves even without a Stalk,
have fufficient Elegance. The Flowers are pale, they have no Cup, and one
fmall Petal forms them clofe at the Bafe, and cut into fix Segments.

They err’d who plac’d it with the Docks ; though its Flowers, Seeds, and
whole Habit, naturally might have juftified the Miftake in Times when
the prefent Diftindlions of Plants were not fufficiently known. The certain
Chara 61 ;ers of the fexual Syftem plainly feparate it. Perhaps a natural Me-
thod will fome Time change the Face of Things again. The Filaments in the
Flower are nine, and this invariably, according to the Laws of the prefent Sy-
ftem, place it in the ninth Clafs, the Enneandria. As the laft named Species
were referr’d to the Hexandria for their fix Filaments, the Plants of the two
intermediate Claffes, the Heptandria and 0 (ftandria, are chara6fer’d by Seven
and by Eight: the prefent has its Place in the fucceeding Divifion for its Num-
ber 5 and differs from the Dock-kinds, whofe exterior Form it wears, becaufe
they have but fix. Yet it agrees in other Characters, nearly related to this
Claffic-mark, with thofe refembling Plants. The Heads of the Styles are three,
as in the Docks 5 and tho’ the neceffary Diftribution of Linnseus feparates it
three Claffes, yet the Advance, from fix to nine Filaments, being but a regular
or proportional Gradation, perhaps Nature does not allow fo valt a Diftance of
thefe Genera.

When we fhall be able to attain a truly natural Order for Plants, probably
this, and the Dock, which rife by a third in N^umber of thefe Parts, over one a-
ther, will be brought together ; as the Crocus and the Colchicum before-nam’d,
whofe Proportion of the Parts is double. Something there is in Nature, which
authorizes this Opinion : and how ftrange fbever it might feem to a young Bota-
nift, there is much more Difference between two Plants with fix and with feven
Filaments, than between thofe which have fix and nine, or three and fix, thefe
being proportional Variations 5 the other abfolute Differences.

P O I N-

Rheum Foliis Subvillofis Petiolis .ffiqualibus. Lin,

•V

3

/>- .\ < f

.. J, *

- '■■yi

9

/

(

i

■

i"

I

k

i

i:

i ■ . . ■■ ' , • . ■ ^ r . \ ■ . ■ - ■ ' ■■••

' ■ '■ , / . ■

' ' ' . " V

7, ' 7 _ , ^ y ' . 7' ‘ ^ ^ ' ' • ■- , '■

‘ . . ' ' ' ^ ^ . ' • '.y^ ■■ ' ■ ' ’ ■ ' . y ■

/

' >T

i-

«

Decandria.

( I6 )

P O I N C ! A N A.

T here needs no Epithet of Diftin£bion with this Name, fince it is the
only Plant of its Kind j and unlike every Thing befide in Nature.
Thefe are a Colle<£hion of vegetable Beauties, and it is hard to fay,
which of them demands Preference : but this is certainly inferior to none.

We have heard of it from the East-Indies, and in the West-India Iflands*
and Seeds fent thence have produced often Plants in our Stoves, but they have
not flower’d ; they rarely made the Attempt, and when they Ihew’d Bud, they
perilh’d in the Effort. This flower’d in the Year 1758, at Sion House, under
the Eye of Lord Northumberland, whofe Stoves are better proportion’d for
this Service, than any I have feen ; and who has been fo happy in his Attention
to this Science, as to enrich Europe with more new Plants than could have
been expected in the Time, and in the prefent State of Botany 5 fo much hav-
ing been attempted every where,

Lafl Year it flower’d in ftjch Perfeftion, as this Figure reprefents, and made
an Effort to ripen one Seed-veffel. ’Tis now in the full Bud again, and having
more Strength at the Root, will probably accomplifh it. I do not defpair of
feeing the fame Hand that rais’d the Plant to flower in Britain, produce from
Seeds ripen’d here a new Succeffion.

^ ' 1 - V

This was from China Seed, and there appear’d fbme Difference in the Plant,
but the effential Characters are all the fame 5 and the Variation is no more
than accidental.

No Plant declares its Clafs more evidently than the Poinciana. ’Tis coun-
ted in the Filaments ; and thefe are wonderfully long and diftinCt ; if all Plants
fhew’d them thus, nothing would be fo eafy as the fexual Syftem. They are ten,
and the Clafs is therefore the Degandria, the Tenth in the Linnseum Me-
thod.

Every thing confpiresto Beauty in this Plant; the Leaves are elegant in Form
and Colour; and the Difpofition of the Flowers in a long, loofe Spike, fufficient-
ly near to make one Body, and yet feparate enough to fhew each diftinCHy;
The very Cups, as the Flower opens, became colour’d, and make a Part of it ;
nor is any Thing more elegant than the Manner wherein thofe long and mume-
rous Filaments are lodged within the Bud till the Flower opens. A fifth Petal
in the Flower, and a fifth Leaf of the Cup, different in Form and colouring.
From the others, add to the Singularity and graceful Wildnefs of the Whole ;
and the Colour is in the higheft Degree rich and glowing. Art imitates it poor-
ly. The Filaments in particular are as dillinguifhable for Colour as for Form ;
the Crimfbn of thefe is ill imitated by our beft Tinds. The Form of fuch a
duller, crown’d with their Antherse, ftruck all who faw the Plant in earlier
Times of Botany, and they nam’d it Peacock’s Crest from the imagin’d Re-
femblance.

SNOWY

Poinciana Linnseus, Crifta Pavonis Anthorum.

ICOSANDRIA.

( 17 )

SNOWY MESPILUS.

T he common Hawthorn of our Hedges would be allowed a Shrub of
Elegance, were not the Eye tired with its Familiarity ; that is a
Mespilus according to the received DiftinStions, and this Native of
our North- America another j exceeding by many Degrees that Beauty we have
allowed the common Kind. The Lord Northumberland, whofe honoured
Name I have fo frequent Caufe to mention in the prefent Work, gave this
among the Reft to the European Botany. His Lordftiip raifed the Shrub from
the Fruit fent from New Tork, and it has now ftood fome Years the common
Plantation in his Garden 5 flowering in vaft Profufion every Summer. Thofe
who have feen the fair Shrub in this State, will not alk why I call it Snowy :
the pure White of the ftreaming Spikes of Flowers, which hang from all its
Branches, give full Caufe : and there is Ibmthing in the ftarry Difpofition,
and wav’d Form of the Petals, which calls to Mind the falling Snow in a par-
ticular Manner.

It is a Shrub of Ten Feet high; thick fet with elegant green Leaves, inden-
ted with a wonderful Regularity at their Edges : and the deep fhining Bark is
no fmall additional Grace. The Characters of the Mespilus are ftrongly and
particularly infcribed upon the Flower ; altho’ the Length and Waving of the
Petals, the firft obvious Marks, appear very Angular. The Cup has flve Di-
vifions; and the Petals anfwer to theLiNN^AN CharaCIer in Number, for they
are five, but by no Means in Form. Subrotunda et concava, roundifti and
hollowed, was an Exprelfion very proper in defcribing the Petals of the com-
mon Kind, but by no Means applicable to thefe, which are oblong and undu-
lated. The generical Characters do not reft upon fuch flight DiftinCtions ;
and we may fee by this ’tis better not to admit them, for they fubjeCt theCharaCte-
rifticks to Uncertainty. One is enough that is fixed and invariable, and the
Dependence Ihould be alone on that.

The numerous Filaments are inferred into the Cup, and this declares the
Clafs of the Plant to be the Icosandria, They are too many for any of the
Claffes eftablilhed by the Number of thefe Parts ; and they are regularly pro-
portioned ; therefore the Place of their Infertion alone determines it.

This Shrub may be made a very agreeable Article in Clumps and fmall Plan-
tations, but as the Value of it will depend upon the frefh Green of the Leaves
and the pure Colour of the Flowers, it muft have a free Air; and be kept from
the Shade of larger T rees. In this Cafe the Leaves will retain their Verdure in full
Perfeaion ; and the Flowers, tho’ they do not hold upon the Boughs quite fo
long, will have much more Beauty ; for Shade turns them yellowifn foon after
they are opened, and without a free Courfe of the Air the Leaves on the lower
Part of the Plant foon wither. It would be ridiculous to trim it up to a Head;
for one great Article of its Beauty is the wild Freedom of its Growth, and na-
tural pendent Pofition of its Flowers among the loole and diftant Branches.

SUN-

Y'OK'S

um^ARv

NEW

ICOSANDRIA.' , ( i8 )

SUN-BRIGHT MESEMBRYANTHEMUM,

I F Singularity or Elegance alone can recommend a Plant to Notice, none can dis-
pute the double Claim of this ; for it has both. The untutor’d African
admires it in his Defart : and the more we have Knowledge, the greater we
muft own its Claim to that Diftindfion. Its general Form, the Manner of its
Growth, the Peculiarity of its Leaves ; and above all, its glowing Flowers com-
mand our Eftimation. One farther Claim it has to our Regard : tho’ a Native
of very lultry Regions, it bears the chill Air of Europe, better than moll
Plants from the fame burning Quarter. There is never more Need of Shelter,
than a Green-houfe will afford j and with good Management, it will live many
Months in a common Border,

The Stalks have little Strength or Firmnelsj they naturally throw themfelves
every Way upon the Ground, and the Plant, forms a Kind of circular Tuft
wherein the green and flelhy Leaves make a plealing Variety with the Crimfoii
Stalks, before the Flowers difclofe their fuperior Beauty. The Leaves are thick'
and juicy, almoft rounded in the Circumference, and lharp at the Point. They
are green all the Year j and as the ftraggling Branches hang from the rough
Rocks, or cover the burnt Sands, they cannot but command that univerfal At-
tention which is paid them. With us a fmall Pot of Earth feeds the Plant, and
they fall over its Edges very beautifully.

This Flower leads us a Step more forward, in the fexual Syftem, than we have
hitherto advanced : thofe we have nam’d already, fhewed the Character of their
feveral Clafles, folely in the Number of their Filaments, the Clafs being named
thence 5 and this Diftin£l:ion holds as far as twelve. Thofe which have twelve
Filaments, being Dodecandria. The laft Plant was of the Decandrous Tribe,
and Nature offers not one Plant, whofe Filaments are eleven : at leaft, none
fuch has yet been difcover’d.

After twelve we do not count the Number : but are guided by the Arrange-
ment of the Filaments, their Proportion, or their Place of Infertion.

Here we enter on the Divifions form’d by the Infertion of the Filaments : this
Plant belongs to the twelfth Clafs, the name of which is Icofandria. This
might feem to mean, that the Flower had juft twenty Filaments, but the Ac-
count is not the Article of Diftin£Iion: Icofandria is an adopted Term, and the
Chara6fer of the Clafs is not compris’d in lefs than thefe three Marks : the Flower
has a hollow Cup form’d of one Piece 5 the Petals or Segments of the Flow;er,
are fixed to the Side of the Cup; and the Filaments, which are numerous, are
inferted either on the Side of the Cup, or to the Flower itfelf ; not to the Re-
ceptacle or Head of the Stalk whence the Flower rifes, for that is the Chara<^fer
of a diftin^l: Clafs, the Polyandria of which we ftiall fpeak hereafter.

This is one of the moft complex Diftin^fions of the Linnsean Syftem, and
fhould be well fixed in the Memory : the prefent Flower is a yery proper Inftance,
tho’ the great Author of the Syftem once himfelf miftook it.

CO M-

Mefembryanthemum foliis fubulatis ferai-teretibus glabris internodio longioribus. Lin.

POLYANDRIA.

( 19 )

COMPLEAT ANEMONE.

A nemones are too familiar for Defcription : and after what has .
been laid relating to the Icosandrous Clals, there need lew Words |
to explain the Charaaer of the Polyandria, to which this belongs. |
The Filaments are numerous, as in the Plants of that Divifion, but they rife ^
from the Receptacle, or Head of the Stalk 5 not from the Edges of the Cup, |
or Body of the Flower. |

Science or Hiftory demand no more on this Head : therefore we have Oppor- j
tunity under a favourable Inftance, to trace that great Article, the Progrefr {
fion of Nature, in forming the Doublenefs of Flowers, in a new Courfo. We j
have feen foveral Ways in which that Change is brought about in various ^
Kinds 5 and this will add one more : for tho’ the Method be the fame in its )
Original, it differs greatly, as the Effe£t is wrought from various Parts of ,
Flowers.

In the Tulip, we fee the Filaments fpread into Petals, and form the Dou-
blenefs of the Flower, and from the vaft Number of Filaments in the Ane-
mone, when fingle, and the Multitude of new Petals in the double One, it j
would be natural to fuppofe they had alfo the fame Origin in this : But it is ;
much otherwife. We open here into a new Courfe of Nature ; and the Don- |
blenefs of this Flower, and of fome others of like Kind, is form’d from Parts |
we have not yet feen ferve that Purpofe. That this new Courfe of Nature |
may be the more clearly underftood, I have given the Flower of the natural I
wild Anemone, Native of j^gypt, and other Parts of the Eaft, with thofe |
focceffive Forms it wears from a different Culture. |

The Structure of the common natural, or fingle Anemone is this. ; |

At the Summit of the Stalk, there is a flight flefhy fwelling of a paler Co- I
lour : this is called the Receptacle of the Flower; and its feveral Parts rife from I
that Receptacle in the following Order. F irft, the Body of the F lower, compofed 1
of fix Petals in two Series, three outer and three inner, as in the Tulip : the |
three outer ferve as a Cup, the three inner being more delicate. Next within i
thefe, rife from the fame Receptacle, a Multitude of Filaments crowned with |
large yellow Buttons. The Infertion of thefe on the Receptacle, fhews the |
Plant to be, of the Polyandrous Clafs ; not of the Icofandrous. Above thefe |
Filaments, the Receptacle runs up into a conic Form; and is cover’d all the
Way with naked Rudiments of Seeds.

When the Flower becomes, by Culture, femi-double, the three inner Petals f
form that Doublenefs, each fpliting flatwife (as the new Petals of a Tulip) in- i
to two, or into three; and thus the Flower, inftead of fix, has nine or twelve Pe-
tals. But in the compleat double Anemone, the Change is much more wonder- ,
ful. The outer Petals remain as in the femi-double Flower; the Filaments are ^
converted into peculiar oblong Subftances, acquiring a fine Colour; and every ‘
Rudiment of a Seed upon the Surface of the Receptacle, forms an additional
Petal. Thefe make the inner Clufter, and perfe6I the Doublenefs of the Flower.

In other Kinds, we may promote Doublenefs by the Ufe of fuch Manures
as peculiarly fwell the flefliy Subftance of the Stalk whence the Filaments rife.

In this we are to enlarge the Pith or central Subftance : for from that rife the
Rudiments of Seeds. Such a Manure, and a Length of Time before the Plant
is fuffer’d to flower, will produce this elegant Change.

Anemone foliis radicalibas ternato decompofitis involucro foliofo, Linnseus.

■ V- -

i

€

:i

.

i

>

^esv VORl^

. .

■ .V'

. ^ v’

('• '. •

!_•• _ ■•

! '■ ’■; y :. '

. /

.'v-

/

MBW

POLYANDRIA. ( 20 )

HEROIC PIONY.

T his elegant Flower, which has fo much the Afpe6l of a Child of
Culture, came into my Hands the Produce of abfolutely Savage-nature.
Greece, and fbme Parts of the northern Europe, produce that fimpie
MalePiony, from which our Gardeners have, in the Courfe of many Ages, rais’d
the vaft double Flower of the fame Name : but that, with fome little loofe and
cafual Variegation in the Petals, has been their utmoft Reach. Here we behold it,
ftrip’d like a Carnation and proliferous ; one flowering from the Centre of the
other : and this from Ample Nature. Perhaps it is the utmoft Inftance that
has been, or can be produc’d of her Luxuriance. I have nam’d it Heroic, as it
tranfcends common Nature j and reminds us of what is called the heroic Style
in Painting.

The Country whence it came was Africa 5 a Quarter of the Globe from
whence we have not before receiv’d this Plant : but tho’ an African, it is not
an Inhabitant of the parch’d Sands. Some few Miles up the River Senegal
there is a large Extent of Grafs-land, like the richeft of our Meadows,: that
River rolls its rapid Current through it, and, on the Banks, grow innumera-
ble Pionies, drooping their double and luxuriant Heads toward the Water.
This was one of them : the Leaves are in nothing different from the common
Piony, nor the Flower, except irl Elegance.-

We fee double Flowers in our own Meadows : the Lady-fmock and theMarfh-
marygold are Inftances. So far Europe mimicks the Garden Culture in her Wild-
nefs j but the Luxuriance of a vaft proliferous Flower, in abfolute free Nature,
demands a warmer Sun j and feems to claim a Place as Angular as that where
it was found; an European Meadow under an African Heat. Gardeners
produce, or more properly Nature, exuberant under their Afliftance, fends up
fometimes proliferous Anemones, Ranunculus’s, Rofes, and fome other Kinds :
but even our extream Art has never (hewn a Flower of this enormous Size,
fo well fed, that another could rife from its Centre.

Proliferous Flowers, in general, have been fuppos’d to arife from a Continuation
of the Style of one into another Flower ; it is the Doilrine of the Linn^ean
School ; but it is not univerlal in the School of Nature. The Ranunculus is
render’d proliferous by a Continuation of the Receptacle into a Stalk, or more
properly by the Stalk afluming the Place of a Receptacle of Seeds, and pulhing
itfelf farther. In this, if the Encreafe depended on the Stigmata, for there is no
Style, there muft two of thefe Secondary Flowers have rifen from the Centre
of the Fir ft, for the Piony has two Rudiments of CapAiles. But there was
Nothing of it in the prefent Inftance.

The Summit of the natural Stalk form’d a proper Receptacle, as is ufual in
this Flower ; but inftead of a double Rudiment of a Seed-veflTel rifing from the
Head of this, the Receptacle became Amply extended in Length, the P etals oc-
cupy ’d fb much of it as is ufual, and that which grew out farther, was cover’d
with the fame green Rind as the proper Stalk ; and was to all Intents and Pur-
pofes a real Stalk, fupporting on its Head another Flower.

The claffical Character of the Piony cannot be read in the double Flower :
but in the Single, a Multitude of Filaments growing from a Receptacle, not
from a Cup or Petal, ftiew it one of the P olyandria.

'BOH E A

POLYANDRIA.

( 21 )

B O H E A T E A.

W E have long queftion’d whether the Green and Bohea Tea were, or were
not the Produce of the fame Shrub : moft thought they were ; their
Difference being attributed only to the State of Growth wherein the
Leaves were gather’d ; and the various Method of curing them. I think it is
otherwife. Certainly I have received among my China Plants, two Specimens
under the Name of Tea, which differ obvioufly in Leaf and Flower. That
which I figure here, has fhorter and darker Leaves, and in each Flower fix Pe-
tals : this, from the Colour of the Leaf, I fancy to be the Bohea. The other
has longer and paler Leaves, and in every Flower nine Petals ; that I fuppofe
to be the Green. Whether this be the Cafe, muft be found by more Experi-
ence : and if they really be the Produce of two diftin£l: Shrubs, we are yet to
learn whether the Difference be as Species, or only as Varieties. One Thing,
befide the Difference of Form and Colour of the Leaf, feem’d, in the Courfe
of thefe Experiments, to fhew that they were really the two Kinds I have con-
jefifur’d. The Water in which this Specimen was macerated, had the Colour
and the Tafte of genuine Bohea Tea ; and that which was us’d for the other,
had as palpably the proper Afperit of Green Tea j only made very ftrong 5 and
perhaps, colour’d a little from the Bark.

^ I -

Befide, the greater Diftinrifions, there was fbmething in the Colour of the An-
therae or Buttons. They were Orange-colour’d in the One, and of a pale Yel-
low in the other. I fpeak of fuch as were burft, for there were fome unripe
ones which were white. f

The Clafs to which this and the other belong, is very evident. They have
a vaft Multitude of Filaments, and thefe rife from the Receptacle : therefore
the Shrub is of the Polyandrous Tribe. 1

The Cup is fmall 5 the Filaments are Innumerable : the Seed-veffel, when per-
fect, conlifts of three Parts, in each of which is a fingle Seed. We have la- :
mented often, that the Seeds do not come over perfe^, and found enough to i
grow when planted here, as many other of the China Seeds freely enough do ; j
and it has been fuppos’d, the People of that Country, who are celebrated for ^
their Cunning, took fome Meafures to prevent this before they fuffer’d the '
Seeds to be exported. But it is all eafily refolv’d into the common State of
Nature.

Many Seeds, with us, will not grow, if they be not fown foon after Ripenefs :
even the Acorn, which one would think, at firft Sight, durable 5 loofes its
Power of Vegetation in a very moderate Time. The Fad is this : thofe Seeds
which are moft fubje6l: to a Fermentation in their own Subftance, fooneft loofe
the Power of Growth ; and this is one of them.

Perhaps a better Method of preferving the Seeds may anfwer the Purpofe ;
and if that can be done, I believe it will be now effe£l:ed. A Nobleman, whofe
Regard to Botany I have had frequent Caufe to mention in this Work, has
contriv’d a Method, which will, I think, fucceed.

Thea. LInnasus,

GREEN

3

NEW

botanical

oarobn

r

' i '

■ )

-j

k

r ■■

!

c 5 ';.. .

,■ v';,' ■■■■ ; . . :■ ,-: ■ .. ■,' •• / .a

' ' /■ \l. r . .V

./i;' '■ SV;/"'; - V -. ' / ’ ' ?^Ew, vor£’"

■ SOTANiCAi,

, ■.../■■;■. QAnum ^

■■■ ■. ' . -

POLYANDRIA.

( 2.2 )

green tea.

I F there were no Value in this Shrub, as Tea, its Beauty is fufficient to re-
commend it to our Notice ; and I am in no doubt, but a few Years more
will add it to our Collections. We admire the double bloffom’d Cherry,
and fome other Trees, whofe Flowers refemble thofe which cover the Greens
Tea Shrub, but they are inferior to thefe : no Whitenefs can excel that which
we fee in them ; and their Difpofition in little Tufts and elegant loofe Clufters
upon the Summits of the tendereft Branches, give the whole Plant a lingular
Beauty.

Why I have call’d this the Green Tea, has been laid in the preceding Chap-
ter : perhaps it is an Error, but there is Appearance of Truth on its Side^
Certainly it is Tea ; and the AfpeCl: dilfers from that of the more dufky Plant
preceding. Linnaeus, faw in various Parcels of Tea, Flowers with fix, and
others with nine Petals ; and queftions whether they belong’d to the fame Spe-
cies, or to two diftinCt ones. Thefe Specimens fhewed the fame Variety of
Flowers, and Ihewed them growing on Boughs, whofe Leaves were alfo dif-
ferent: the Eye here feems to have anlwer’d that Queftion and the Talle
confirm’d its Judgment, yet more Proof is wanted ; for he were very ralh who
Ihould found an abfolute Diftin(^ion upon one Specimen.

’Tis certain the Chinese gather the Bohea and the Green Tea at different
Periods of Growth: and they have many other Particularities relating to an Ar-
ticle of fuch Importance. But tho’ the Accounts of thefe led Europeans to
believe the fame Shrub produc’d both 5 they did not fairly induce that Opinion.
It may be true, that Bohea Tea is gather’d at one Period of Growth 5 and
Green Tea at another : and yet it may be true alfo, that they are feparate
Shrubs which produce them. The Time of gathering would make fome Dif-
ference if they were the Leaves of the fame Species j but this does not prove
that they are fo : nor has any Writer of fufficient Accuracy for the Obfervatiod
faid it.

The Flowers have not at all the Tafte or Flavour of the Leaf. They are
harlh, rough, and very plealant : the Buds, before they open, have indeed a
high and very fine Flavour, like that of the fineft Green Tea, but more de-
licate.

> We are not to wonder, that the Seeds brought over into Europe do not
grow j for it is an Obfervation of the honeft Kampfer, who had feen the Culture
of the Shrub in Japan, that even there, not above two in ten fucceeded when
they were fown for railing the Plant for Ufe. He attributes this to an oily
Matter in them, which grows quickly rancid. How philofophical this Solu-
tion may be, I lhall not take upon me to determine ; but Doubtlels it is ow-
ing to Ibme Change wrought in the Subftance of the Seed itfelf, that it is lb
apt to fail. If any Thing can prevent this, and preferve it during fo long d
Voyage, probably it will be now found.

F R A-

Thea. Linnseus.

Monadelphia.

( ^3 )

FRAGRANT HIBISCUS.

T his robuft Plant has every Thing except Colour to recommend it to the
Notice of thofe who value the Exotic Botany : but Nature, to make
amends for what fhe has with-held in that Refpeif, has given it Fra-
grance ; an Article of Value deny’d to all the others. This is not in its Flower,
oratbeft, it is but faintly perceiv’d there; but is perfect in the Seeds : they have
the Sweetnefs of Mulk without that Faintnefs, which attends the animal Per-
fume. This was feldom perceiv’d more delicately than in the Seeds which ac-
company’d the Specimen from which this Figure is taken : and they preferv’d
their vegetative Power as ftrongly as their Scent ; for fcarce any of them fail’d.
They have added a Multitude of the Plants to our Collections.

' All that coiild well be given a Plant in Form, Nature has beftow’d on this :
the whole Out-line of the Figure is in the common Growth of the Plant, great
and graceful ; the Parts are all great, and the AfpeCt is at once wild and noble.
The Form of the Leaf, pentangular in the upper Part, and toward the Ground
heptangular, rough, ferrated, and with irregular Points, is much above any of
the four elegant flower’d Kinds which follow ; and tho’ the Bloom has only a
pale Y ellow for its Colour, except the fmall Variation in the Eye, the Difpo-
fition of the Petals makes great amends, for fcarce any Kind has them fo beau-
tifully waved.

It has the double Cup of all the Hibifci : the outer one has eight Leaves, and
the inner one is entire at the Bafe, but divided upwards into five Segments.
T he Plant is a Yard high, and from thefe Cups burft out, at leaft, as many Flow-
ers as there are Leaves, in a continu’d long Succeffion.

The Filaments appear in a peculiar Form, and conftitute theCharaCfer of Clafs;
which we have not before had Occafion to name, and which will be feen yet
more diftinCHy in the following Plant. Their Number has no Place in this pe-
culiar Character, it is their Arrangement. They are united in their Bafes, fo
as to form one regular Column, or tubular Body, thro’ the Hollow of which,
runs a Style, whofe five Heads, or Stigmata, fhew themfelves beyond the Ex-
tremity of the Tube. The whole under Part of the Filaments, indeed, in a
Manner, their whole Bodies are thus united into one uniform Subftance; but
their extream Points are loofe, and feem fo many fhort Filaments themfelves,
rifing from the Head of the Tube, and fupporting their Antherse. This Uni-
on of the Filaments conftitutes the CharaCfer of the Clafs. As they form only
one Body, the Term is Monadelphia. The common Mallow, and all its Kind,
have the fame Conformation, and are of the fame Clafs. We (hall illuftrate
this in fome fucceeding Inftances; and fiiall afterwards have Opportunity to Ihew
what are thofe Clafles whofe Conftitution depends upon this Kind of Union in
the Filaments, but where they form more than one Body.

This Plant is a Native of the East and West Indies, of the Brasils, and
of Surinam, and is well known in Egypt ; it is a wild Plant alfo in China,
whence this came.

Hibifcus foliis fub-peltato-cordatis feptemangularibus ferratis hifpidis. Linnaus.

Abelmofch Authorum.

flew

'libraOT

■••i

■ *■ '■

1

tSi'- '

Monadelphia.

( *4 )

CRIMSON HIBISCUS.

are ftill within the Limits of the Monadelphous Clafsj and we have
m/w here a Plant, which, befide its peculiar Beauty, has the accidental
^ Merit of fhewing the Character of that Clafs very ciiftinclly. The Co-
lumn into which the Filaments unite in all the Moiladelphous Plants is in fome
Ihort, and bury’d in the Flower : in that Cafe only, the fearching Eye of the
Botanift difcovers it. Here it runs out a vaft Length from the Petals 5 and he
muft have no Eye, nor no Attention, who does not look on it as fomething
Angular. The Ends of the Filaments are loofe in this as in the other ; but
their whole Length befide, forms together this long and flerider Colurtin.

The Chinese have four Plants of the Hlblfcus Kind, which they cultivate in
their Gardens 5 and to which we give the very improper Name of Cfiina Ro-
ses. Two are Angle, and two double. I was fo happy to receive Specimens of
them all ; and they follow here : this being the fir ft of therri. They are diftin-
guiftied by their Leaves, and tho’ call’d four, they are properly no more than
two Species, and their two Varieties from Culture : this, and its double State,
are diftinguifti’d by having Ample Leaves 5 the other two, by their being pal-
mated, or broad like a Hand and divided, tho’ not deeply, in the Manner of
Fingers. We have begun to get them into our Collections, and probably the
Seeds of thefe will add to the Number : there are feveral robuft Plants of the
palmated Kind at Mr. Lee’s, rais’d from the Seed that came over with theft;
Specimens, and it is probable fome are the Angle, fome the double Kind;

Tbis Sbrub is twelve Feet high, and naturally luxuriant in Branches 5 the
Leaves are of a very delicate Green, and their Shape is not unhandfome. The
Flowers are vaft, and in their Colour baffle the faint TinCls of Art; it is a full
and very perfeCt Crimfori, and as the Light plays varioufly upon it^ the fine
TinCf gives a thoufand elegant Shades. This Account came with the Specimen;
and he who wrote it* cannot be fufpeCfed of Want either of Accuracy or
Truth : we Ihould have been happy if his Obfervations had extended farther;

This is a Hedge-fflrub in China; and they admit it fometimes into the wild
Parts of their Gardens, but it is in the following State they plant it in the
moft confpicuous Places. The Seafbn of flowering returns twice in the Year,
when wild ; the Beginning of Summer and late in Autumn ; but by their eafy
Management of it in Gardens* taking off the Flowers, without fuffering any to
remain for Seed, they keep it in full Bloom all the Summer. The Colour of the
Flower upon the dry d Specimen, confirms the Account of its Luftre wheii
frefli; and perhaps the double Kind, tho' full of Beauty in its Way, is hardly

fuperior to it.

The Seeds which came with this ha.ve not yet fflown their Shoot, tho’ fowri
with the others.

D O U-

liibifcus foliis ovatls aeuminatis ferratis glabris caule Arbareof £#innxus.

&ngle China Rofe*

MoNADELPHIx\.

( )

DOUBLE CRIMSON HIBISCUS.

T his elegant Shrub owes its Beauty, as well as Singularity, to the Form
and Fullnefs of the Bloom; for Nature has retrench’d fomething from
the high Cfimfon which the Flower fhews in its Angle State. This is
a Produce of the Gardener’s Art from the preceding Plant ; and, as in fome
other Inftances, the Ceiinese Gardeners tell us, they can bring on the Change
at Pleafure : but till they name the Means, we have a Right to doubt.

The Shrub which yields thefe double FlowCts, is fcarce of half the Heighth
of that which has them Angle. It forms a thicker Head, and the weak Bran-
ches are thus fupported in a Length, they would not otherwife bear. It Bow-
ers all the Year, for no Seed ripens on it : and they are careful to preferve the
Strength of the Plant, by adding Manure to the Earth about its Roots, and
frequently croping the Flowers, and the extream Branches.

■ The Specimen I received, came fo perfect, that I had an eafy and very fa-
vourable Opportunity of tracing the Courfe of Nature in doubling the Flower :
this was an Article of the more CurioAty, becaufe the Monadelphous Tribe have
the Parts on which Doublenefs depends, arrang’d in a peculiar Manner.

On comparing together the Angle and the double Flower, I could perceive that
the Ave outer Petals of the Double were the fame with thofe of which the Angle
Flower was compofed entirely ; only they are, in this, fraaller and more curl’d.
On laying open the double Flower, its whole Length, I could perceive that the
Tube or Column, which Hands naked in the Centre of the Angle Flower, was
continu’d along the Middle of this, tho’ in a very unequal Manner, and bury’d
by the Exuberant new Petals.

The Conftrudlion of the double Flower in this, was therefore inftituted by
Nature on the fame Principle, and from the fame Parts with that of the Tulip,
Colchicum, and Gloriofa ; namely, from the Filaments only : as thofe Fila-
ments were in thefe Plants loofe ; the new Petals took their Origination from
the Bafe of the Flower ; but in this Species, thofe Parts being united into a long
Tube, the additional Petals rofe from the Surface of that Tube at different
Heights.

This explains the peculiar Shape of the Flower of this HibifcUs, which is
not as the Generality of others round ; but conic, oblong, and growing Anal-
ler to the Top from a broad Bafe. The extream Length of the tubular Conge-
ries of Filaments in the Angle Flower, occafions this; for it is the very Body of
that Tube which breaks off into Petals and Alls up the Flower. The largeft of
thefe are thofe neareft the Bafe, and they are the moft perfedt : the others^
as they rife higher, are fmaller, and they are more wav’d and curl’d. The An-
thera^ were quite obliterated in the new Petals of this Flower, for the Double-
nefs was perfect ; but in the double Hibifcus following, I could perceive fbme
Remains of them.

This Shrub agrees with the Rofeate NycStanthes, in being fmaller than that
which bears the Angle Flower ; conArming that Syftem.

Double China Rofe. Vulgo.

M U-

\

<

LIBRARY
NEW V<^RK
B0TAN5CAL,
(iAKORN.

NEW YORK
iSOr-ANICAJl.

MoNADELPlilA.

t )

MUTABLE HIBISCUS.

T he Monadelphia abound in Beauty as the Hexandrla do, and they are
Clafles worthy of a particular Regard from all who ftudy vegetable Na»
ture. This Plant, and the fucceeding double One, its Offspring,
would be fufficient Proof of it, had not the preceding Three laid in their Claim
befide. The Leaf, the Flower, the general Growth in this Species are all
elegant ; and there is, befide, a Variety in the Colouring of the Bloom ac-
cording to its Age, which has a moft roniantick, as well as fmgular Appear-
ance. We fee in European Plants, Flowers differently colour’d, thoUgh the
Species be the fame : thus we have bltie Campanulas and white ones, and a vaff
Variety befide : we alfo fee in fome of our Garden Plants, a Change of Colour
on the fame Stem, but this is flight in Comparifon of the peculiar and ftriking
Variation feen in the Flowefs of this Etibifcus : they vary every Hour as they
Hand upon the Shrub j and the name Mutable was given it for this Reafon.

At the firfl: opening they are Very pale ; the Tin6f is Crihifon, but it is fd
watery in that State of the Flower, that it amounts, at the, utmdft, to nothing
more than what we call a Flelh-colour i it is that Sort of Blulh we fee upon
fome of the natutally white Hyacinths, and on the Bloffoms of the double
Bramble. When it has flood to be fully open, it glows with a ftronger Tin£l j
from this Time jt becomes more and more red, till it approaches to Decays and
then there is feen -it in a Colour deeper than ever, but lefs elegants

’Tis common to lee a Shrub, of twelve Feet high, fpread out intd a Head of
near as much Diameter, and cover’d in a Manner with thefe vafl; Flowers, as
thick and frequent as the Leaves j fome almdfl white,, and others in all the De-
grees of Colouring, from the lighteft Blufh, to that dbfcure Crimfoil in which
they fade and perifli. >

The whole Shrub is beautiful, the Leaves are large and of a downy Soft-
nefs like Velvet : the extream Branches have the fame foft coverirlg ; and the
innumerable Buds, on thefe, appear a great Article of its Beauty : they have
the double Cup, as all the Hibifci, and they have this ting’d varioufly with
Brown, or Red mix’d with a delicate Green.

The Chara£lers of thisFldwef ate the fame as in the preceding, and they
are exprefs’d with fufficient Plainnefs. The numerous Buttons hang Upon very
fhort, loofe Ends of Filaments, whofe Bodies grow together, into a Tube or
Column, thicker arid fhorter than in the Angle Kind lafl nam’d, bUt pierc’d iii
the fame Manner by a Style, whofe Ave Heads are rio ill Grace in the Angle
Flower. Jt fhews the Clafs to be the Monadelphia.

This is a Weed in China. Jt grows in wafte Grounds, and over-runs whole
Acres. They admit it Ibmetimes into the remote and wild Parts of their Gar-
dens : but ’tis the following State of it, which they admire and cultivate.

D O U-

'ttibifcus foliis cordate- QuInQuaflgularibus^ obfoletc fetratis, caule arboro. Linn. ^

Palmated Cfeina Rofe. Vulgo^

Monadelphia.

( ^7 )

DOUBLE MUTABLE HIBISCUS

T his is the shrub the Chinese value, at that extream Rate We are
told j and is, what was firft and originally called, by our People, the
China Rose, tho’ the double Crimfon was firft feen in Europe;

The Chinese plant it every where before their Doors, and about their Pa-
villions 5 they raife it in Pots of their own Porcelain, and nurfe it as our Flo-
rifts do their Auriculas and Carnations. They give its Figure upon all their or-
namental Works, Paper, Varnifti, and their peculiar Ware. Every Place, and
every Thing is full of it among them.

Thofe who faw the fmall Sprig which came over to me, loaded with three
Flowefs and as many Buds, varied with fuch a wonderful Elegance of Co-
louring, could not wonder at the Eftimation wherein thefe People hold it. ’Tis
certain, we have Nothing that comes near it. The Shape, the Colour, and
the Dilpofition of the Flower, exceed whatever we are able to raife of any
Kind : and additionally to this, it is larger than almoft any other Flower. It
covers the whole Shrub which produces it for many Months in a wonderful Pro-
fufion ; and it has all the Change of Colour juft nam’d in the fingle Kind.

The Shrub is fmaller than in that Plant, but yet is of fufficient Stature :
Nature feems to have been tareful when flie beftowed Rich Elegance upon the
FldWerSj not to have rais’d them above the Level of the Eyes which fliould be-
hold them.

Having the fame happy Opportunity of examining together the fingle and
double Flower in this, as in the preceding Species, it was not difficult for me
to difcover the Courfe wherein Nature had proceeded to form the additional Pe-
tals* It was the fame exa6Hy, as in that. The Body of the Column loft itfelf in
the double Flower in the Bafes of a vaft Multiplicity of Petals : but as that
Part in the fingle Bloom of this Species is not long as in the other, the Flowef,
when double, does not acquire any Thing of that Form; but is as Rofes, and
other of the large double Flowers nearly globular.

When the Bud burfts, to let this vaft Flower forth, the .firft Appearance
fhews it nearly white : ’tis greenihi toward the Bottom, that is, the Edges of
the feveral Divifions are ting’d a little with that Colour, which ffiews as fingular
and beautiful irt them, as we fometimes fee it in the. fine Anemones. The Bo-
dy of the Flower refembles a white and very thin Silk, glofty and wonderfully
delicate ; and the extream Part, form’d of the Edges of the Petals, has a Line
of a Straw’s Bread, or fomewhat more of Crimfon.

As the Flower opens, this Colour fpreads down the feveral Petals, and be-
comes ftronger, fo that a moderately open’d Flower, is white and red, mix’d
in an equal Quantity, and forming a moft pleafing Variety.

From this Time, the Red fpreads farther, and becomes more glowing ; till
in the laft Stage of all, which borders on Decay, the whole Body of the Flower
is Crimfon.

I

As the Shrub is cover’d thick with Flowers, and ffiews them at .once in
all thefe Varieties of Colouring, and in athoufand Gradations between, all ele-
gant, there cannot be conceiv’d in vegetable Nature, a Sight more pleafing, or
more wonderful.

Double palmated China Rofe. Vulgo.

o 7

/

gOTANiCAJ-1

aAH>.!^5SH •■ ;•,

V

iU8RAR\-

^^T-nmCAr.

POLYADELPHIA. iS )

BLOOD STAIND HYPERICUM.

T he Lord Northumberland, born to improve as well as patronize
the Science, added this elegant Plant to the European Botany. This
Nobleman firft rais’d it here from Seeds obtain’d from China, a very
few Years fmce j and from his Store, all the curious Gardens now are ftocked
with it. Tho’ a Native of the East, it bears the open Air with us, and flowers
all Summer : our Winters are too Iharp for its longer Continuance in that State,
but in any Part of Europe, a few Degrees more South, it will doubtlefs live
and flower all the Year. With us only the Superficies dies in Winter j the
Root remains, and fends up a new Shrub early the following Spring.

’Tis a Yard high : firm in the Stem, and varioufly branch’d : it forms a fine
wild Shrub for Clumps in Gardens, and its Flowers have an uncommon Beau-
ty ; both in the Bud, and when full blown.

The Buds are very large, and tho’ their general Colour is yellow, they are
always ftain’d in irregular Streaks and oblong Blotches, with an abfolute Blood-
red.

When the Flower opens, the whole inner Surface is a. fine Yellow ; but be- .
hind, this ftaining of the Bud preferves itfelf in all its Luftre: and as the Flow-
ers droop or bend accidentally, or as the Winds move them, thefe Crimfon Stains
are feen upon the Back, and make a fine Variety.

The Stem is cover’d with a brown, rough Bark, and often from its Ridges _
has a fquare Afpe 61 : ; the Leaves are firm, and tho’ there be fome Stilfnefs in
the Manner of their Growth, it is fingular, and upon the Whole not unplea-
fing. They are not pierc’d with thofe fmall Holes which we fee in the Leaves of
common Hypericum, when held up to the Light.

The Filaments are numerous in this Flower, but they, are collected by Na-
ture into five feparate Clufters : this ftiews the Clafs to which the Plant belongs,
the PoLYADELPHiA. The Number of thefe Arrangements, into which the Fila-
ments are join’d, is not elfential, only it muft be more than two. This Difpo-
fition of the Filaments is not eafily feen in the entire Flower, becaufe thofe of
each Arrangement cohere only at their Bafes 5 but if they be pull’d out of the
Flower, they come away always in thefe five Clufters ; and the Bafe of each
Clufter is fomething more than an Union of fo many Filaments 5 it is a folid,
oblong, fleihy Subftance, from which they take their Rife.

Nature has been very fparing of the Polyadelphous Plants j befides the Hy-.
pericums and Afcyrums, we know only the Cocoa and the Orange Kind.

Among the Hypericums, fome have five Styles, fome three, and others two.
This has been fuppofed to have only, one : but the Summit of that one is
plainly divided into five 5 and the Body of the Style is form’d of the Continua-
tions of thefe five diftin^t Parts ; only cover’d by one flight Membrane, and ter-
minating in five Cells in the Seed-veflfel.

L E-

It is difcover’d, fince Linnaeas publifli’d his Species, therefore it has not yet been nam’d, except by Gardeners.
maybe call’d Hypericum Pentagynum Stylis Involutis.

Syngenesia.

( 19 )

L E P I A.

I Have the good Fortune here to add a new Genius to the prefent Stores of
Botany : and Men will wondeP that I have not follow’d the Cuftom of the
modern Writers, and nam’d it from my Patrc>nj or from fome Friend who
could return the, Complimenti But in this, I thinkj the Antients were more
wife. A Name is ufeful when it conveys fome Idea of the Plant : I have there-
fore call’d this Lepia. The Scales of the Cup are its moft bhvious Diftin6lion
from all others ; and that Word expreffes it. I have comply ’d fo far with
Cuftom, as to deduce it from the Greek 5 but in the commoii Practice of
naming Plants from Men, the Folly is extream, and the Flattery fulfome. All
laugh to hear a Tulip call’d the King of Prussia, or an Auricula Prince Fer-
dinand. Why is the Ridicule lefs to name other Plants Mitchella, or Mille-
ria j Catefbgea, or Collinfonia The Botanift that can’t preferve his Name by
better Marks, does not deferve that it ftiould be remember’d.

Singularity is the beft Claim this Plant has to our Regard ; for it cannot boaft
much Beauty. A Specimen of it came with my other China Plants and Seeds,
but the prefent Figure is" taken from a Plant produc’d from thofe Seeds in Eng-
land. Mr. Lee, of Hammersmith, a very excellent Gardener, rais’d it:

The Height is near three Feet ; the Afpe£t of the Plant, rough and inelegant.
The Stalk is firm, and the Leaves are hard. The Flowers are very numerous
and confiderably large, and they are very lafting. In this Plant the firft Flower
attain’d a Perfeftion, none of the Reft reach’d ^ and remain’d on the Plant feveral
Weeks.

The radiated Syngeriefious Plants, to which this belongs, are different from
all others. Each Flower confifts of many tubular Flofucles, or little Flowers
in the difk, and many flat ones at the Verge making the Rays ; but the Cha-
racter of the Clafs is taken from a lefler Mark. The Filaments in each little Flow-
er are five, and their Buttons unite into one Body. In fome they ftand out far
beyond the Flower j in this they are lefs confpicuous.

In the midft of theft five Filaments is a Style^ divided into two Parts at the
Top, and in the Bofom of each Ray is alfo a Style j but there are no Filaments.

The Flower of the Lepia is conftruCfed thus t the Cup is long and hard,
and is compos’d of broad hollow Scales j each fwelling forwards, and crown-
ed with a rounded Rim of a dry and more delicate Subftance. The Rays are
female Floftules : each rifts from the Head of a Seed ; it has in its Bofom a
Style, and is divided by three Dents at the End. The tubular Floftules rife
in a conic Head which is form’d of young Seeds, cover’d with light Films and
crown’d each with two Thorns : in the Hollow, between theft refts the Rudiment
of the Style. Theft Parts I have figur’d feparately ; together with a SeCfion of
the principal Flower, to ftiew the conic Receptacle ; and of an imperfeCf Flower
exhibiting the Difference of the Cup. The tubular Floftule entire is alfo fhewn
fix’d at the Head of the Seed, divefted of its fhelly Coat.

The Plant has been thought a Bidens, but the ftaly Cup and conic Recep-
tacle, fhew their Miftake who held that Opinion. It is diftin6f from all others j
but Errors in this Clafs are more pardonable than in any other, for it is the
moft obfcure of all.

A M-

Linnsus could give this no Name, for it never flower’d in Europe till the prefent Summer.

'^EW

c^Ci-YArvUCAr^,

c<

E

i'-. .

.'ji X

- _ iLi3r<Ar<'V

A

I

'«-

SYNG'ENESIAi ( 30 )

A M B R O S I A L A S T E R.

T his fpedous After has been fom^ Time familiar with us firigle; bul
I have not (een it double till the prefent Year. In any State i^ is a fin-^
gular and very elegant Plant : but the Double exceeds the commoii
State of the Flower in this, as much as in the Famous, and now common
China After. The Stem is robuft and a Yard high ; the Branches are innu-^
merable j and the fmall curl’d Leaves tiiri up into the Cup. As the Progref-^
fort from the fmgle to the perfedily double Flower has been this Yeat compleat-
ed under my Eye, I lhall take this Opportunity of explaining the Manner
wherein the Flowers of Syngenefious Plants are doubled : for it is altogether
different from the Courle wherein Nature purfues the fame Purpofe in the other
Genera. The Flowers are Very laftihg^ whence I have nam’d the Plant Am-
brofial, immortal.

The radiated Syngenefious Flowers we fee are complex i each is form’d of
many lefler Flowers or Flofucles, and thefe are of two Kinds ; thofe tubular and
ftiort which form the Dilk of the general Flower, and thofe long and flat which
make the Rim. In this tnftahce they differ alfo in Colour, thofe of Dilk being
yellow, and thofe of the Rini Purple ; thefe fevetal Flofciiles have been
luppofed perfectly diftindl ; but we ftiall fee they are fo nearly ally’d, that
Nature, in a State of Luxuriance, converts eafily the one into the other. In
this Plant the tubular Flolcules ate thus form’d; Each is made of one yellow
Petal fix’d upon the Rudiment of a Seed and cut at the Summit into five fmall
Segments. The Rays rile in the lame Manner, each from the Head of a Seed,
and thefe have allb a tubular yellow Bale, tho it has not been regarded ; which,
inftead of dividing at the Top, into five Segments, opens, becomes lengthen’d,
and changes Colour ; fo that it is continu’d into a Ray or flat Petal j whofe Bale
is hollow. In this Flofcule is a Style^ as in the others 5 bUt there are ilo Fila^
mentSi

The Courfe by which Natufe forms a double Flowet in this Plant, is by
giving more Growth to the tubular Flofcules, and thus they are cdriverted into
Rays. I have exprefs‘d in feparate Figures, all the Gradation. The tubula-
ted yellow Bale is the lame in thefe Flolcules, and in the Rays ; and the Change
is thus brought on. Firft, one of the five Segments, of a yellow tubular Flof-
cule, grows longer than the others : in the next Stage, it joins the two which
are next it, to its own Body; ahd growing yet longer, there is one long Segment,
and two ftiort ones : the long one allb begins toward its Top to alTume the pur-
ple Colour of a Ray : the next Stage obliterates the two Segments which
were left in the former ; and the Flofcule is nOw tubular at the Bafe, with a
plain, long, and partly flat Body. One Stage more perfects the DoUblertefs i
for this flat Part growing more in Length, and acquiring a full pUrple Colour,
becomes a perfeft Ray. The Filaments in this Cafe, fade for Want of Nou-
rilhment, but the Style remains ; and thefe Rays of the Centre become the
fame entirely with thofe of the Verge.

Thus is the Flower of the After doubled 1 but as there yet remain ufually
fome perfect tubular Flolcules irt the Middle, tho’ they are hid by thefe nume-
rous Rays, part of which fall over them ; the double Flowet itfelf can there-
fore ripen Seedsi This is not peculiar to the prefeUt Plant, the double China
After is form’d in the lame Manner, and alfo ripens Seeds*

TRANS-

After caule corymbofo^ foliis lanceolatis^ refleiis, floribus folitariis^ calyeibus patulis.

Gynandria,

( 31 )

TRANSCENDANT EPIDENDRUM.

A ll Things confpire, which can be valuable in a Plant, to recommend
this to our Regard, and eftablilh its juft Title to the nameTranfcendant.
We admire fome for Colour, others for Smell 5 fome for the pleafihg
Wildnefs of their Growth, and many for their vaft and numerous Flowers :
this has all. Its Height is determin’d only by that of the Tree on which it
climbs ; for like our Ivy, it takes hold of every Thing, winding its tough Stalk
round the Trunk, and fcattering its Divifions among the Branches. The Plant
from whence the Specimen was taken, cover’d a Tree equal to our talleft Elms,
and many hundred Flowers were open upon it together.

• The Leaves are not without their Beauty, for they. play in many Undula-
tions, and have a. fine Colour : the Flowers are as fingular as any Thing in
Nature, ' The Chinese, from their Figure, give the Plant a Name which fig-
nifies the Scorpion Flower j for they fuppofe a Refemblance of a Head, a Body,
and four Legs : and they are fo indifferent Naturalifts, they never think of the
Abfurdity of a four leg’d Scorpion.

The Colour of the Flower is yellow in the Ground, and they are clouded
and fpotted varioufly with a fine deep Crimfon. The Petals turn back at the
Sides and Ends j otherwife the Body of the Flower would be much fuller, and
would appear larger. They have the Fragrance of the animal Perfumes : the .
Scent is fuch as an artful Perfon might produce from a Mixture of Mulk.and
Civet, where neither was predominant, nor theWhole fo ftrong as to be offenfive.

The Flower has no Cup : it is plac’d naked upon the Rudiment of the Fruit j
which is long and lightly furrow’d. The Body of the Flower is compos’d of
five diftin(ft and wide explanded Petals. In the Centre, where Filaments, and
a Style might be expedled, is plac’d a fingular Body, a Nedfarium, form’d of
four Pieces. Three of thefe are flat, the fourth, or uppermoft, is thick and hol-
low j and thefe all unite at their Bafes in a tubular Body, which takes its Ori-
gin from the very Head of the young Fruit. Within the hollow Part of the
Nedlarium rifes the Style, and upon that are fix’d the Antherce. They are two,
and they have very Ihort Filaments. The Fruit which follows, is a long flelhy
Pod like the common Vanilla.

The Charadfers of a Clafs, different from all thole we have before nam’d, ap-
pear in this Flower : it is that of the Gynandria which have their Name from
the peculiar Situation of the male Parts upon the Female , the Buttons growing
upon the Style.

’Tis fingular that the fine Scent of this Flower refides in the Nedlarium, and
the Petal to which that principally adheres ; which is that fuppofed to reprefent
the Body of the Scorpion. It is ftrongeft when the Flower juft opens, and grows
weaker from that Time, but the Profufion of Bloom makes this lefs regarded
on the Plant.

G O L-

Epidendrum caule adfcenedente tereti fubratnofo foliis lanceolatis petalis linearibus obtufis. Linn.

The Scorpion Flower.

' LmRARt
NBW YORK

BOTANJCAlia

aAki>aM

' LmRARt
NBW YORK

BOTANJCAlia

aAki>aM

ifoynorc/ica.

I

Monoecia.

( 3i )

GOLDEN MOMORDICA.

T his is another of thofe climbing Plants of the Chinese, which in their
native Wildnefs cover Trees. The Fruit in this is the moft ftriking
Part 5 large irregularly, rais’d in Tubercles ; and of a golden Yel-
low. This is its firft State, and in this ’tis very beautiful 5 but when it burfts
with extream Ripenefs, and Ihews the inner Coat, there is a new Scene of
Wonder : the Crimfon upon that is much more ftriking than the rich Colour
of the natural Outfide ; and the Variety the white Seeds form, adds to the ge-
neral Beauty : they feem fo many Crimfon Lumps under the Skin, while they
are cover’d by it, as they are in a very peculiar Way originally : but when
that burfts, and lets them out, they are white.

The Plant is weak and always gets Support ; but like the preceding, when
it has once faften’d on a Tree, it climbs to the full height of it ; and covers all
its Branches. The extream Ends of the Stalk, after this, hang down partly
by their own Weaknefs, and partly by the Weight of the Fruit : and as this is
produc’d in vaft Profufion, the Wind blowing the Branches one againft another,
ftrikes thefe together in a wild and very whimfical Manner. Nature, perhaps,
ordain’d this to favour the Burfting of the Fruit for the Sake of the Seeds be-
ing difcharg’d j for this is fo firm in their Subftance, that it would be a great
while before they open’d otherwile.

The Flowers, which cover this Plant in great Profufion, are of two Kinds; and
they lead us to another Clafs in the fexual Syftem. They might appear all a-
like to an incurious Eye, but when their inner Part is examin’d, we find in
fome the male Organs of Fructification only ; and in others only the Female :
*tis thus in Melons, and a Multitude of other Plants ; and as in thofe Kinds,
fo in the prefent, the firft mention’d, or male Flowers fall off without any far-
ther Ufe, the Female only being fucceeded by Fruit.

The Male and Female Flowers have equally a fmall Cup cut into five Seg-
ments ; and one of them, as well as the other, has five Petals, which grow to,
or rife from this Cup. In the male Flower the Filaments are three, they are
very Ihort, and each fupports its proper Button : but theft are not alike ; jfbr
two of them are Iplit at the End and have an Appendage on each Side, but the
Third has only one of thefe Appendages.

In the female Flower there are the Rudiments of three Filaments, but there
are no Buttons upon them. There rifts in the Centre a Column or Style with
three Heads, and under the Flower is the Rudiment of a Fruit which afterwards
ripens to the Form here figur’d.

In the Generality of Plants, the Filaments and Style are plac’d in the fame
Flower ; and in thofe Cafes the Clafles are characteris’d from the Number and
Infertion, or Proportion of thofe Parts. In this and many others they are in
ftparate Flowers ; but thofe being upon the fame Plant, they are call’d Monoe-
cia 1 in others yet the niale Flowers grow upon diftinCt Plants from the Female,
tho’ of the fame Species; as in Hemp, Spinach, and the like; and thefe are call’d
therefore Dioecia.

There is not a more fingular Plant than this, or more worth Culture in the
whole Monoecious Clafs.

S P I-

Momordica pomis angulatis tuberculatis, foliis villofis longitudinaliter paltnatis, Linn.

Indian Balfam Apple,

Dioecia.

( 33 )

S P I R A L V A L L I S N E R I A.

I Had Occafion to mention, in the laftPage, thofe Vegetables which have the
Male and Female Flower, not only diftin^l; in themfelves, but placed upon
feparate Plants. This Vallifneria is an Inftance ; nor is it poffible for Nature
to produce one more wonderful. The Flowers of the two Sexes are not only
diftin(T ,but they are unlike to one another ; nor is any Thing fo ftrange as the
Method purfu’d by Nature to bring them together, for the Propagation of
the Plant : the male Flowers growing under Water at a great Depth, and up-
on Ihort Footftalks ; the Female having very long and wonderful ones, and
floating on the Surface.

The whole Account, as given by accurate Writers, feems yet fcarce credit
ble ; and Linn^us laments that he has not feen the Flowers. I obtain’d the
Specimen from which this Drawing is made from Itaty, by the Favour of Mr.
Bromfield, the Princes’s Surgeonj whofe Intereft there procur’d me the per-
fect Plant and all its Parts.

It takes Root always at the Bottoms of Ditches of three or four Feet deep ;
and whether the Plant be Male or Female, cannot be known till the Time of
flowering : the Root and Leaves being perfeflly alike in both. The Root is fi-
brous, and the Leaves are very long and narrow ; their Colour is a frefh Green,
and they play about varioufly with the Courfe of the Water.

At the flowering Seafon, the Male and Female fhoot up their Stalks toge-
ther. The male Stem is moft inconfiderable, ’tis very Ihort, and has a Spike
of little Flowers, whitilh and cut into three Parts, and in the Centre of each of
thefe are two Ihort Filaments, crown’d with Buttons.

The female Plant fends up its Stalk even to the Surface of the Water : and
by a peculiar Mechanifiu, always lays the Flower which terminates it, flat up-
on that Surface; open to the Air. The Mechanifm is this ; the Stalk is twifted
in a fpiral Form ; and while the Flower is but in Bud, the feveral Convolutions
are apply’d clofe together ; fo that it is very Ihort. When the Flower is ready
to open, the fpiral Coil unwinds itfelf, and the burfliing Bud is laid upon the Sur-
face : there the Sun w'arms it, and the Flower is open’d perfectly. If the Wa-
ter be within the Influence of Tides, or by any other Accident is at Times
deeper and Ihallower, the fpiral Form of the Stalk winds or unwinds itfelf jult
as much as is necefiary to keep the Flower upon the level Top of the Water.
This is needful for the Impregnation of the Seeds; which is indeed perform’d in
a Manner altogether wonderful.

When the male Flowers are ready to burft, they feparate of themfelves from
the Stalk ; and being light they rife to the Surface of the Water : there they
float loofe ; and there the female Flower lies upon the fame Level ready to re-
ceive the Dull from their Buttons. As the Winds, or Current throw the male
'Flowers about, fome of them get at the Female, and thus the Seed-veflTel which
follows that Flower is impregnated.

Nothing in Nature is more ftrange than this Produ<£Iion of two Kinds of
Plants, fo far as the Flowers are concern’d from the fame Seed; for the male
Vallifneria rifes from the Seed of the female Plant as well as the Female; and
fo it is throughout this Clafsv

C R I M-

Vallifneria. Linn.

Vallifneria et Vallifnerioides Micheli.

iNEW YOYIK

'4 •

■ ■ ■ ■ '

■ ■" ■
■'f'".-: ■ ■-

■ h.'

*•- NEW YORK'
BO'i'ANiCAiU

#./■

• .. : . ' .- J' '■ '

/ -.-h, ■••• ■'!

a’

■ l.:

' • f t ■ - ♦ '

i

i ■

; i

■';v V; :•

mi

V'V.-aa:

,.r ■•

r

V . ?

r^:

A-

,\ \\'. v-'-

PoLYGAMlAi ^

C R I M S

T he Shape as well as Colour of this Fig is pleafing : it is a perfeft Glohe '
and when full ripen’d in its native Climate, it glows throuc^hout, tipoii
the Surface, and within with the moft perfect Crimfon. ^

It grows to five and twenty Feet in Height, but is a weak and ill Ihap’d
Tree ; always the better for Support and the more Luxuriant. The Roots are co-
ver’d with a purple Bark, and the fame Colour ; tho’ it be loft upon the Stem,

appears upon the young Shoots above the Irifertiohs of the Footftdks of the
Leaves j and all about the Fruit.

From various Parts of the T runk, and of the drooping Branches, where they
are within the Reach of the moift Exhalations of the Ground, there grow out
certain Threads, which, by Degrees j lengthening and acquiring more Thicknefs,
hang at laft to the Ground, and pierce it, in the Manner of natural Roots pro-
duc’d below the Surface. The World is well acquainted, that there is a Fig-
tree, whofe Branches droop to the Earth, and there take Root again. It is a
Property common alfo to our Bramble of the Hedges, and many other Kinds
wherein it has pafs’d unregarded : this Way of producing Roots in the open
Air, thd^ left attended to, is really more fingulaf.

The Bark of the Trunk is a pale brownifti Grey 5 The Branches afe in a
Manner jointed at fmall Diftances ; and from every Joint rifes a fingle Leaffup-
ported on a thick, firm Footftalk. The Leaves themfelves are of a handfome
Shape, oval, undivided, and obtufe. They are of a firm Subftance, and of a
deep and ftrong green Colour, diverfify’d not inelegantly with bright Crimfon
Veins. Thefe would alone recommend the Shrub to our Regard, if it never
fruited with us, for they are very elegant, and they are ever green.

The Fruit is nearly of the Size of our moft common Fig, but round 5 and
it grows from the Branches in the fame Manner, no Flower having preceded.

The Fructification of the Fig has been, till of very late Time, fo little under-
ftood, that the Shrub was claft’d, even by the beft Writers, along with Ferns
and Mofles among the Cryptogamia. This was a Difgrace to Botany as a Sci-
ence I but it is fince remov’d. The Antients knew, that the wild Fig they
call’d Caprifieus, was neceflary to the ripening of Fruit upon the Female 5
and this, tho’ flowly, led the modern Botanifts to underftand the Courfe of
Nature : which is thus. ,

That which we call the Fruit of the Fig, is properly a. fleihy, juicy Cup, con-
taining many Flowers. Thefe in the common Fig-tree are either Hermaphrodite,
or Female ; but upon the Caprifieus, they are Male ; and this Caprifieus is the
fame Species ; as is the maleVallifneria, only differing in the ProduClion of fim-
ply male Flowers. This is the Character of the Claft call’d Polygamia. With-
out thefe male Flowers, the Seeds of the common Fig will not well ripen : tho’
the Fruit, as it is call’d, becomes pulpy, foft and efculent. Young Trees will
be rais’d by the Seeds of fuch as have been impregnated from the male Plant j
and not from thole of others.

E N O R-

. Ficus foliis ovatis integerrimis obtufis caule inferno radicato. Linn.

Bengal Fig.

34 )

ON FIG.

Cryptogamia. ( 35 )

ENORMOUS POLYPODY.

A Single Leaf makes but a fimple Appearance after the gorgeous Clutters
and profufe Elegancies of Nature, reprefented juftly, if imperfectly, in
the preceding Plates : But in the fern Kinds, to which this belongs, a
Leaf is all. It is the whole Plant entire, and capable of Propagation j thefe
bear no Stalk for Flowers, but the whole Herb is here. The golden Dots upon
the pale Backs of the Leaves are Clutters of minute Flowers and their fucceeding
Seeds. Thefe are fo fmall, and the Progrefs of Nature in performing the great
Work of Impregnation, is fo hid from our Sight by the Minutenefs of the Or-
gans, that the whole Clafs is thence nam’d Cryptogamia 5 thofe which impreg-
nate in Obfcurity. It was proper to give- one Plant of this peculiar Clafs ; and
Fortune could not have thrown in the Way a nobler : for what Beauty there
can be in a Leaf this has j and there is alfo a Singularity about the Root, wor-
thy particular Regard. Many of the Ferns, and even of this particular Poly-
pody Kind, have Leaves more complex in their Form, and more divided; but <
thofe who have ttudy’d the Art of Defign, will give the Prize of Elegance to
this whofe Parts are all large, fuited to the enormous Whole.

The antient Naturalitts have nam’d a Creature, call’d the Scythian Lamb,
and told us idle Stories of its Life : nay, fome have brought the Body into
England ; and we have feen the Folly and the Falfity of the Accounts by that
unerring Evidence. This Lamb is the thick Root of a Fern, cover’d with a
brown and downy Coat, and they cut off four of the Stalks at a due Heighth,
which pafs upon the credulous for Legs. This Polypody will explain the Mi-
racle; and as it is evidently a Native of China and the neighbouring Countries,
tho’ we firtt had it only from South America ; it is not improbable the very
bett of thofe imagin’d Creatures have been made from it.

Near the decaying Stump of Ibme old Tree, where the Soil is mellowed by
the fallen Leaves of many Seafons, rifes this fpecious Polypody. The thick Part
of its Root creeps varioufly and wildly upon the Surface of the Ground, tho’
under Shelter partly of the Leaves : this is cover’d in a furprifing Manner with
a brown filky Manner, and from this ftioot the Fibres. A fertile Imagination
might find eafily the Forms of Bears and Bulls, as well as Lambs in it ; as
Children fee fuch Figures in the Fire, or Attronomers in the Heavens. And as
Stalks rife from thence in many Parts, Legs enough may be form’d at Pleafure.

The Plant rifes to a Yard in Heighth or more ; and its long undulated and
fair Divilions, are decorated on the Back with round Clutters of Seeds of a
gold Yellows This is the Character of Polypodies among the Cryptagamous
Clafs; therett having the Clutters in long Lines, or on the Edges of the Leaves,
or covering their whole Surface.

Nature feems to have confider’d a beautiful Out-line in the Formation of
this Leaf in a peculiar Manner : not only the Divilions are elegant and plac’d
elegantly, but their Proportion and Difpofition are vary’d to favour it. The
lower Lobes are kept diftin^f, and the terminating Part is larger than the rett ;
both thefe Particulars are Sources of Beauty.

Polypodiuni frondibus pinnatifidis kvibus pinnis oblongis diftantibus infimis patulis, termlnali maxima. Linn.

Golden Polypody.

FINIS.

1

■ '

VORR'

nQTAmcAh,

m '■r

H®" '.

' ,/

mv/ VJ.JJ,,,

^'^T/iK;c,\r

«

'% ■

'1^, its, ■

:..ile'

f

' ,/V

-A.

■ ' V ' ,

\

/

)•

/

, \

»

N

If %

k, '

\

I

%

\

/

«

\

' f

\

A

the

A

Anemone

After

Azalea

iHibifcus, Crimfori *
Maryllis, delicate Page to | jjjy feus, double Crimfon

Amaryllis, Jacobean 9 iHibifcus, Mufle

^^yHibifeus, mutable
3 ° I Hibifeus, double mutable
^ y Hypericum - *

Oallicarpa

Colchicum

Coftus

Daffbdills

fepidendfum

Fig

Gloriola

C.

D.

E;

fit

G.

H.

5

12

1

14

31

M.

Mefembryanthemilm
1 Mefpilus * -

^Momordica

13

N.

® Narciflus
Ny£tanthes

Hawthorn, New York * 17 iNy^lanthes, double

B.

^3

23

26

27

28

I.

Jafmine, Arabian

* %

Jafmirie, Arabian double

^ ,3

Ixia - p ^

4

L.

Lepia t - ii _

Lilly, Jacobsean

*• 9

Lilly, fuperb -

" ^3

18

32

INDEX.

Peloria

Periwinkle

Piony

Poinciana

Polypody

Rofe, China
Rhubarb

P.

S.

R.

8 P Saint John’s wort
7 K Superb Lilly
2,0

^^|Tek^ Bohea
35 ^ Tea, Green
— 1 Tulips

2,5, 27 i Vallifneria
15 ii Vinca

T.

V.

a8

13

21

22
1 1

33

7

Note. The fame Numbers are upon the Pages and their refpe£live Plates.

DIRECTIONS to the Bqok-bjnder.

Place every Plate oppoiite to the Page which has the fame Number.

1 . ■

}

■ ■ -i. , ,.1/ ..• : .

.i' ■ ^

. -V'' I

-T . ' *' 'f ''

. , r ' .r V - V- ' T- %

' .f,

,r V- \',;'r

-K":

: ft-

'. m''

/ '

"l' ^ 1 < »

'•! . V ,,T/7 7*

‘i - T''.) .» '

,-*:.;7f;-:>^

■I

r'-’K-

mrnrn:

., ■ V-V7U ':^>7

,• - . ■■■■- f vVnv

:-.-^'VT"'-;-,'-'i; -r/.' '

•7, ^

1

■ ^

»

o

.<>

I

■ ^

Nm Vofli Bolantcal Oardwi LIbory

QK98 ,H5 f gen

Hill John/Exotic botany illustrated in

3 5185 00094 1672