The flowers of this plant so strongly resemble those of the Campanula, that it is no wonder the older Botanists regarded it as such, Linnæus himself did so at first, and Miller also; and even now it may perhaps be doubted whether it ought to be made a distinct genus of, since it is found to differ principally in the number of its parts of fructification.

It is a native of the Canary Islands, whence its name, was cultivated in the royal garden, Hampton-Court, as long since as the year 1696[1], and is a tender herbaceous plant, to be found in most of our greenhouses; its stem rises to the height of six or more feet, its flowers produced singly from the fork of the stalk are large and shewy, they begin to open at the commencement of winter, and continue to blow till March.

"Is propagated by parting of its roots, which must be done with caution; for, as the root is fleshy, if they are broken or wounded, the milky juice will flow out plentifully; so that if these are planted before the wounds are skinned over, it occasions their rotting: the best time for transplanting and parting of their roots is in July, soon after the stalks are decayed; the soil should he a light sandy loam, mixed with a fourth part of screened lime rubbish." Miller.

[445]
Coronilla Emerus. Scorpion Senna.

Class and Order.

Diadelphia Decandria.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

Authors have given to this plant the name of Scorpion Senna, its seed-vessels, from their slender and jointed appearance, bearing some resemblance to the tail of a scorpion.

It is a native of France and Germany, and a very old inhabitant of our gardens, having been cultivated by Gerard in 1596; it is of low and slow growth: there is a shrub of it in the Apothecaries Garden, Chelsea, which grew there in the time of Miller, and which now is not more than five feet high.

In the nurseries we have observed two varieties of it, one in which the flowers have been tinged with bright red inclining to orange and which is by far the most common, the other with flowers wholly yellow, scarcely worth cultivating.

Its blossoms are produced in May and June, and sometimes again in autumn; neatly trained to a wall or paling, it makes a beautiful appearance when in flower, the shortness of its shoots renders it a very proper object for this purpose.

Is propagated by seeds, layers, and cuttings; the first are not produced in any great plenty with us.

The leaves by a proper fermentation are said to produce a dye like that of Indigo.

[446]
Psoralea Bracteata. Oval-Spiked Psoralea.

Class and Order.

Diadelphia Decandria.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The old authors, and indeed Linnæus himself at first, regarded this plant as a Trifolium; afterwards the latter changed it to Psoralea, and minutely described it in his Mantissa.

As a green-house plant, this small and delicate species has long been cultivated[1], and still continues to hold a place in all collections of note.

Its inflorence to us has more the appearance of a capitulum than a spike, and which when the plant is in full bloom, is by no means ovate, but rather hemispherical; the purple colour of the vexillum, contrasted with the white of the alæ, gives to the flowers a very pleasing parti-coloured appearance.

In its leaves we have a good example of the folium mucronatum.

It is a native of the Cape, flowers in June and July, and is usually propagated by cuttings.

[447]
Erica Empetrifolia. Crowberry-Leaved Heath.

Class and Order.

Octandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

It is a most pleasing circumstance, when plants afford characters by which they may with certainty be distinguished; most of the Heaths are of this kind, and the present one in particular: exclusive of its great peculiarity of growth, so obviously expressed in our representation of it, its flowers diffuse a strong honey-like fragrance, which, if other characters were wanting, would at once discriminate it.

It is one of those Heaths which are enumerated in the Hort. Kew. of Mr. Aiton, and was introduced to the royal garden by Mr. Masson, in 1774; is now to be met with in most of the collections of green-house plants about town, and flowers in May and June.

Is usually propagated by cuttings.

[448]
Mesembryanthemum Micans. Glittering Fig-Marygold.

Class and Order.

Icosandria Pentagynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The Mesembryanthemum micans, so called from the glittering particles which are conspicuous on its stalks and leaves, is a species which has long been introduced to our gardens (having been cultivated by Prof. Bradley in 1716) for the beauty of its flowers, which in richness of colour are indeed surpassed by few; they are produced in the months of July and August, but do not expand fully, unless the sun shines powerfully on them; nor do they long retain that regular expansion observable in some species, but quickly assume a somewhat ragged appearance; nevertheless, upon the whole, it is one of those species which is highly deserving of culture, by those who are partial to this tribe of plants.

It is a native of the Cape, and readily propagated by cuttings.

Varies with flowers of a paler hue.

[449]
Dillenia Speciosa. Shewy Dillenia.

Class and Order.

Polyandria Polygynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The name of Dillenia was given by Linnæus to this genus of plants, in honour of John James Dillenius, Professor of Botany at Oxford, and the celebrated author of the Hist. Muscorum, Hort. Elthamensis, &c.

Until the publication of the first volume of the Linnean Transactions, only one species of Dillenia was generally known; in that work Prof. Thunberg minutely describes five others, three of which are there figured; all these, and one more described by Dr. Roxburgh in his work on the Coromandel plants, are inserted by Prof. Martyn in his new and highly improved edition of Miller's Dictionary.

The present species, which now loses its name of indica in that of speciosa, and which though not enumerated in the Hort. Kew. has many years been cultivated at Kew, and in the stoves of the curious near town, is a native of Malabar and Java; in its native soil it becomes a vast tree, here we rarely see it more than two or three feet high; its flowers are large and shewy, but quickly deciduous, and remarkable for the unpleasantness of their scent, which is like that of the Lycium japonicum, but not being readily exhaled does not infect the air of the stove.

This species is increased without difficulty by cuttings, which quickly produce flowering plants.

[450]
Gladiolus Watsonius. Watson's Corn-Flag.

Class and Order.

Triandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

Professors Jacquin and Thunberg have both described this rare bulbous plant, a native of the Cape, and newly introduced to this country from Holland among a great variety of others: it seems highly probable that the descriptions of both these authors were taken from dried specimens, since they accord so little with the living plant as it flowers with us.

At first sight, one would be led to regard this plant as an Antholyza rather than a Gladiolus, its flowers bearing a great affinity to those of the Antholyza Meriana, which differs widely from those of the Gladiolus communis: Prof. Thunberg having thought fit to make a Gladiolus of that plant, he could do no less than regard this as a Gladiolus also; we regret that the infinite variety to which all the productions of nature are subject should give occasion to versatile minds perpetually to alter genera, often without due consideration. This species flowers in February and March, requires the same treatment as other Cape bulbs, and is propagated in the same manner.

Descr. Stalk from twelve to eighteen inches high, upright, smooth; Leaves about three or four, the lowermost a sheath merely, the second leaf springs from a long sheath, is puckered at its base, three inches in length, upright, rigid, flat, linear-lanceolate, having three strong ribs, one in the middle, two at the margin, which, projecting on each side, give to the edge of the leaf a thick appearance, the leaves as they ascend, gradually differ from this, and finally become hollow bracteæ, which at first envelope the flowers, and afterwards contribute to support them; Flowers from two to three, each standing on a peduncle-like tube, enclosed by a bifid spatha, contained within and about half the length of the bracteæ; Corolla bright red, funnel-shaped, tube bent somewhat downwards, nearly cylindrical, a little flattened, and glossy, limb divided into six ovato-lanceolate segments, spreading outwards, the uppermost segment incumbent, the three lowermost smaller than the others; Filaments three, whitish, nearly straight; Antheræ oblong, straight, purple; Style red; Stigma trifid, each segment dividing into two villous lips.

[451]
Blakea Trinervia. Three-Ribbed Blakea.

Class and Order.

Dodecandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

"This vegetable is certainly one of the most beautiful productions of America. It is but a weakly plant at first, and supports itself for a time by the help of some neighbouring shrub or tree; but it grows gradually more robust, and at length acquires a pretty moderate stem, which divides into a thousand weakly declining branches, well supplied with beautiful rosy blossoms on all sides that give it a most pleasing appearance in the season.

"It is chiefly found in cool, moist, and shady places, and grows generally to the height of ten or fourteen feet; but rises always higher when it remains a climber, in which state it continues sometimes. It thrives best on the sides of ponds or rivulets, and those that would choose to have it flourish in their gardens, where it must naturally make a very elegant appearance, ought to supply it with some support while it continues young and weakly.

"It is called Blakea, after Mr. Martin Blake, of Antigua, a great promoter of every sort of useful knowledge, and a gentleman to whose friendship the Natural History of Jamaica chiefly owes its early appearance." Brown's Jamaic.

Our figure was drawn from a very fine healthy plant which flowered in the collection of Lady Downe, at her villa of Bookham-Grove, near Leatherhead, in April 1799; though not enumerated in the Hortus Kewensis, it had produced blossoms in several other collections near town long before this period; those when they once expand are of short duration, but the foliage when healthy is always handsome.

It is usually kept in the stove with other Jamaica plants, and propagated by layers.

We cannot see the propriety of applying foliis enerviis to the description of this species, since Linnæus himself, in his Sp. Pl. describes the leaves as trinervia; three strong ribs they always have, and usually two others near the margin which are finer.

[452]
Cardamine Trifolia. Three-Leaved Cuckow-Flower.

Class and Order.

Tetradynamia Siliquosa.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

Such as are attached to the smaller alpine plants, will regard this species of Cardamine as worthy a place in their collections; one would scarcely have expected to find it in Parkinson's Parad. yet there it is described, and the following account given of its introduction: "It was sent me by my especial good friend John Tradescante, who brought it among other dainty plants from beyond the seas, and imparted thereof a root to me."

This species is perennial, hardy, and of very humble growth; the leaves grow thickly together, forming a kind of tuft; the flowering stems rarely rise above the height of six inches, and produce on their summits numerous flowers, waved on their edges; all those which we have had an opportunity of seeing have been perfectly white, Parkinson and Haller describe them as being sometimes tinged with red or purple; they begin to appear towards the end of March and continue through April, the shelter of a hand-glass open at top is often necessary to protect and improve the flowering of this and other such early-blowing plants.

It grows readily either in a pot or in the open border, succeeds best when planted in bog earth in a situation moderately moist and shady, and is readily increased by parting its roots, which are somewhat of the creeping kind.

Grows spontaneously in most of the northern parts of Europe, especially Lapland, Switzerland, and Austria.

[453]
Amaryllis Reginæ. Mexican Lily.

Class and Order.

Hexandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

Descr. "Bulb green, scape round, somewhat flattened: Corolla scarlet, with a bottom of a whitish green, the three outer petals round at the tip, the three inner fringed at the base; the style red, the flower stems seldom rise more than one foot high; each stem supports two, three, or four flowers, rarely more; they are large, and of a bright copper colour, inclining to red; the spathe which cover the buds before they open, divides into two parts to the bottom, standing on each side the umbel of flowers joined to the peduncles.

"It flowered in Mr. Fairchild's garden at Hoxton, in 1728, when the late Dr. James Douglass caused a figure of it to be drawn, and wrote a folio pamphlet on it. He gave it the title of Lilium Reginæ, because it was in full beauty on the first of March, which was the late queen's birth-day. Mr. Fairchild told me the roots were brought from Mexico; so he gave it the name of Mexican Lily, which is still continued to it by the English gardeners. It flowers constantly in the spring, when it is placed in a very warm stove. It is in beauty in February, and those which are in a moderate temperature of air will flower in March or April.

"Not being so hardy as some others, it must be placed in a warm stove, and if the pots are plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, the roots will thrive better, and the flowers will be strong.

"It is increased by offsets." Mill. Dict. ed. Mart.

[454]
Canna Indica. Common Indian Reed or Shot.

Class and Order.

Monandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The Canna indica, a native of both the Indies, is a plant greatly admired for the beauty of its foliage and flowers, and on that account generally cultivated; it has been called by some Indian Shot, from the roundness and hardness of its seeds.

We find it to have existed in our gardens in the time of Gerard, 1596. Parkinson was acquainted with that variety of it which has yellow spotted flowers: Prof. Martyn, in his edition of Miller's Dict. has quoted the chief of what these authors say of it, which as a matter of curiosity we shall here transcribe: "Gerard informs us, that in his time it was in the garden at Padua, that he had planted it in his garden divers times, but it never came to flowering; and that it must be set or sown in a pot, with fine earth, or in a bed made of horse-dung, in such manner as Cucumbers and Musk-Melons are: Parkinson says, in some kindly years this beautiful plant has borne its brave flowers, but never any ripe seed, and that it will not abide the extremities of our winters, unless it meet with a stove, or hot-house, such as are used in Germany; for neither house nor cellar will preserve it: Clusius saw it flowering by house-sides in Spain and Portugal, and says, that the inhabitants there use the seeds for making their rosaries."

Mr. Aiton enumerates four varieties of it, viz. rubra, lutea, coccinea, and patens.

"Being a native of the warmest parts of America, it requires to be placed in a moderate stove in winter, where they always flower in that season, at which time they make a fine appearance, and in the summer place them abroad in a sheltered situation with other tender exotic plants, where they generally flower again, and produce ripe seeds annually." Mill. Dict.

"These plants will continue many years with proper management, but as young plants always flower better than the old root, so it is scarce worth while to continue them after they have borne good seeds, which should be sown on a hot-bed in the spring." Mill. Dict.

[455]
Aloe Retusa. Cushion Aloe.

Class and Order.

Hexandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

Though the flowers of this Aloe have little to recommend them, there is much to admire in the form and structure of its leaves; and this pleasing circumstance attends it, it is perfectly distinct from all the other species: when first introduced, it was no doubt an object of great admiration; Fairchild, the celebrated Gardener of Hoxton, who preceded Miller, had it engraved, with several other succulents, on a plate which is prefixed to Dr. Blair's Botanic Essays, and which he described to the Doctor, betwixt whom and Mr. Fairchild there appears to have subsisted a great degree of intimacy: the Essays were printed in 1720.

This species is a native of the Cape, and flowers in June, but not regularly so, increases very fast by offsets: Mr. Aiton makes it as he does all the Aloes indiscriminately, Dry Stove Plants, but it may be kept in a good green-house, taking care to place it in the driest and most airy part, and to guard it at all times from much wet, but more especially in the winter season.

[456]
Diosma Serratifolia. Serrated or Saw-Leaved Diosma.

Class and Order.

Pentandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character.

It was in the green-house of Mr. Whitley, Nurseryman at Old Brampton, that we first saw this plant in flower, on the 25th of March 1799; previous to this period it had flowered in the Royal Garden at Kew, and specimens of it had been deposited in the Herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks, under the name of Diosma serratifolia.

It forms a neat pretty shrub, which is rendered more desirable by its early flowering; its blossoms are pure white, set off by Antheræ of a lively purple colour; the whole plant has a strong scent very like that of Pennyroyal, but more powerful.

This shrub is one of the many which have been raised within these few years from Botany-Bay seeds, is a greenhouse plant, of easy culture, blows freely, and is readily increased by cuttings.

Descr. Twigs somewhat angular, reddish purple; Leaves opposite, narrow, on very short footstalks, spreading, slightly truncated at the extremity, finely toothed, a transparent gland in the angle of each tooth, beset on both sides with numerous glands, which project and give to the upper surface a manifest roughness; Flowers from the alæ of the leaves, opposite, on peduncles about one-third of an inch long, usually supporting one, sometimes two flowers; Calyx composed of five leaves which are tinged with red and permanent; Corolla five petals, white, ovato-lanceolate; Stamina filaments five, white, hairy, at first upright, afterwards bending back betwixt the petals; Antheræ before they open purple; Pollen yellow; Nectaries of two kinds, five white, springing up between each filament, and which may perhaps be considered as so many imperfect stamina, they are broader, much smoother, and about one-third of the length of the filaments, terminating in a transparent gland instead of an anthera; five green, forming a kind of calyx to the germen, from the top of which they spring, they consist of five roundish, fleshy, spreading, green leaves, edged with hairs; besides these, there is a glandular ring at the base of the germen; Style white, tapering, very hairy; Stigma simple; Flowers usually dropping off without ripening the seeds.

[457]
Aloe Plicatilis. Fan Aloe.

Class and Order.

Hexandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

"The Fan Aloe grows to the height of six or seven feet, with a strong stem, towards the upper part of which are produced two, three, or four heads, composed of long, compressed, pliable leaves, of a sea-green colour, and ending obtusely; these are placed in a double row, lying over each other, with their edges the same way; the flowers are produced in short loose spikes, are of a red colour, and appear at different times of the year." Mill. Dict.

Linnæus originally made this plant a variety of his Aloe disticha, the leaves in their mode of growth are indeed truly distichous, few plants afford a better example of such, but they differ materially from those of the real disticha both in form and colour: Mr. Miller, with great propriety, made a distinct species of it, by the name of plicatilis, or Fan Aloe, which Mr. Aiton has continued; and by the name of Fan Aloe it is very generally known: we may remark, however, that though this term may be justified by the form into which the leaves expand, the folium plicatile of Linnæus is a very different kind of a leaf.

Both the foliage and flowers of this plant are very handsome, in the course of many years it grows to a great size; in the Chelsea Garden there are some fine plants of it, which grew there in the time of Miller, by whom it was cultivated in 1731.

It is native of Africa, requires the same treatment as the other Aloes, and is propagated by dividing and planting its heads.

[458]
Aristea Cyanea. Grass-Leaved Aristea.

Class and Order.

Triandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

It will be seen, on consulting the synonyms, that this native of the Cape, though introduced to the Kew Garden by Mr. Masson in 1774, was long before known to a considerable number of Botanists, and it is curious to see the different opinions which they entertained of it; we abide by that of Mr. Aiton, who has called it Aristea, from the bearded appearance, we apprehend, of the Spathæ.

It is a small fibrous-rooted plant, rarely exceeding when in bloom the height of six or eight inches, and would be too insignificant for a green-house collection, were not its flowers of a very brilliant blue colour; indeed Miller, who appears evidently to have cultivated it, says, the flowers make little appearance, and so the plant is only kept for the sake of variety. Dict. 4to. ed. 6. Ixia africana.

Mr. Aiton tells us, that it flowers from April to June, yet Mr. Andrews, intent on giving to Messrs. Lee and Kennedy the credit of flowering it first, disregards this information, and is pleased to conjecture that the plant never flowered at Kew, because Mr. Aiton, as he alleges, has not given to it any specific character; not aware that, as a new genus, its parts of fructification are described at the end of the Hort. Kew. and that no specific character is ever given to a plant, where there is only one of a genus, and that for the most obvious reason.

The Aristea is a plant easily propagated by parting its roots, as well as by seeds, will succeed in a small pot, and though a green-house plant, will not be hurt by the moderate heat of the stove, but flower the better for it.

The blossoms do not expand fully unless the sun shines hot on them.

[459]
Convolvulus Cneorum. Silvery-Leaved Bind-Weed.

Class and Order.

Pentandria Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The Convolvulus Cneorum is a native of Spain and the Levant, was cultivated in the Botanic Garden at Chelsea in 1739, and flowers from May to September. Ait. Kew.

In size, habit, &c. this species has some affinity to the Convolvulis linearis, figured pl. 289, but differs from it, and other species usually cultivated with us, in the silky appearance of its foliage, which it is not in the artist's power to imitate, and for the beauty of which, more than that of its flowers, it is very generally kept in collections of green-house plants; its blossoms are nearly white and rarely or never productive of seeds in this country, hence it is increased by cuttings.

It is a hardy green-house plant, requiring a dry rather than a moist regimen.

[460]
Maurandya Semperflorens. Climbing Maurandya, or Bastard Foxglove.

Class and Order.

Didynamia Angiospermia.

Generic Character.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The plant whose elegant form is here so happily delineated by the masterly pencil of Mr. Edwards, according to Dr. Ortega, is an inhabitant of Mexico, where its seeds originally were collected by Dr. Martin Sesse, and sent to the royal garden at Madrid, in which the plant produced flowers and seeds in abundance; from thence seeds were obtained by the Marchioness of Bute, about the year 1786, who most kindly communicated them to different persons in the neighbourhood of London, and among others to my most generous benefactor, James Vere, Esq. in whose collection at his villa, Kensington-Gore, by the careful management of his Gardener, William Anderson, it was first brought to flower in this country, anno 1797.

Mons. Cavanille, who resides at Madrid, where he seizes every opportunity of publishing whatever new plants appear there, has figured and described the present one, under the name of Usteria, not aware that Wildenou had previously bestowed that name on a different plant; for this and other reasons[1], Dr. Ortega, in a new work of his above referred to, has changed the term Usteria to that of Maurandya; and, though we cannot cordially coincide with the Doctor in the propriety either of his generic or trivial name, we have adopted them.

This climber rises with a shrubby stalk to the height of many feet, is very prolific in branches, and produces flowers abundantly from July to September, which are succeeded by ripe seed-vessels and seeds.—As the plant is easily propagated by cuttings, as well as by seeds, it will soon become common to our greenhouses, though it is rather better suited to the conservatory; if its blossoms, which have a great affinity to those of the Foxglove, had more colour in them, the plant would be more desirable: at some future period such may probably be obtained from seeds.