esq. It is a native of Botany Bay on the banks of the Derwent, and was
sent over by one of the settlers. The abundance and agreeable fragrance
of its flowers render it deserving a place in any collection.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXII.
PROTEA HUMIFLORA.
_Low-flowering Protea._
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
_TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra
apices insertæ. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
BLOSSOM four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into
the petals below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PROTEA foliis lanceolatis: ramis plurimis adscendentibus: floribus
confertis, procumbentibus.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
PROTEA with lance-shaped leaves, with many ascending branches.
Flowers crowded together, and lying on the ground.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower complete.
2. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
Of this perfectly new species of Protea we have represented the entire
plant, just as we found it growing in the conservatory of G. Hibbert,
esq., where it has flowered for the first time in this country. In the
flowers it resembles the P. cordata, in its foliage the P. canaliculata,
allied to each and yet removed from both. The procumbent situation of
its crowded blossoms gives a singularity to its appearance, and
altogether it is certainly a very interesting species. It should be
planted in a light loamy soil, and kept in an airy part of the
green-house.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXIII.
CACTUS COCCINELLIFER.
_Cochineal Torch Thistle._
CLASS XII. ORDER I.
_ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ About twenty Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX monophyllus, superus, imbricatus. Corolla multiplex. Bacca
monolocularis, polysperma.
EMPALEMENT one-leafed, above, tiled. Blossom of many folds. Berry
of one loculament, many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CACTUS prolifero-articulatus: articulis ovato-oblongis,
sub-inermibus.
Habitat in Mexico.
Tuna cochenillifera.--_Dill. Elth. tab. 297._
CEREUS proliferous-jointed. Joints are of an ovate and oblong form,
and nearly unarmed.
Native of Mexico.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower cut open.
2. The same shown from the outer side.
3. A longitudinal section of the seed-bud.
4. The cochineal insect as retailed in the shops.
5. The same shown from the under side.
6. A larger and darker sort.
7. The same shown from the under side and magnified.
_Cactus coccinellifer_ is a native of Mexico, where the principal
culture of cochineal is situated, under the torrid zone, where little or
no rain falls during half the year (from the beginning of October to
about the end of March); as rain destroys the insects, and is injurious
to the plants. The dryer the soil is the better they succeed, as their
roots are very impatient of water. Although the insects are found
naturally upon the plant in those climates, the cultivators, we are
informed, always stock their young plantations with insects of their own
rearing, which are larger and finer than the wild sort, and give a more
brilliant colour. These they breed under sheds in the rainy season; and,
when the spring commences, always fresh stock their plantations,
scattering a few breeding insects upon each plant, and in a few days the
surface appears speckled over with them, each bringing about 300 at a
birth. In two months after they begin to collect, by scraping the
insects from the bark with the blunt edge of a knife; nor need they any
other preparation than immersion for half a minute in boiling water,
which is done by dipping them in a kind of sieve, and afterwards drying
them in the sun, or by a common fire. Three collections in this manner
are generally made in six months; fresh breeding insects being always
replaced upon the plants after gathering. Other species of Cacti also
breed the insects; but this is always preferred, as a man can gather
from the _coccinellifer_ ten pounds a day, while from the _Tuna_,
_Opuntia_, and other thorny species, he could not gather two ounces. The
plants are generally placed in lines from north to south, that both
sides may have the benefit of the sun; and they consider them fit to
bear insects at the age of 18 months. Although it is neither a new nor a
rare plant, yet as an interesting one, and rarely seen in blossom in
England, we presume it will be acceptable to our readers; nor is there
any tolerable figure of it which we have seen, unless that of Dillenius
in the Hortus Elthamensis, which is not in every body’s hands. Our
drawing was made in July 1808, at the Countess de Vandes' collection at
Bayswater.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXIV.
JUNIPERUS DAURICA.
_Daurian Juniper._
CLASS XXII. ORDER XIII.
_DIŒCIA MONADELPHIA._ Chives and Pointals on different Plants.
Monadelphous.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
* _Masculi flores._
AMENTUM ovatum. Calyx squamosus. Corolla nulla. Stamina 3.
* _Fœminei flores._
CALYX 3-partitus. Petala 3. Bacca 3-sperma, tubulata, tuberculata.
Calyx inæqualis.
* _Male flowers._
CATKIN egg-shaped. Empalement squamous. Blossom none. Chives 3.
* _Female flowers._
EMPALEMENT 3-parted. Petals 3. Shaft 3. Berry 3-seeded, hollowed,
and a little swelled. Cup unequal.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
JUNIPERUS foliis oppositis, acutis, imbricatis, decurrentibus,
passim patulis, subulatis.
_Pallas’s Flora Rossica_, vol. 2. p. 13. tab. 55.
JUNIPER with opposite leaves, acute, imbricated, and decurrent,
here and there spreading, and awl-shaped.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A female flower magnified.
2. Seed-bud and pointals, magnified.
3. A berry.
4. The same cut in two, with a seed detached.
The plant here figured is from the arboretum of the Marquis of Blandford
at White Knights, where we first noticed it in 1806, growing in the
greatest perfection, and bearing abundance of fruit, which it still
continues to do annually; and being a finer species than any we before
possessed, is an interesting addition to our collections of hardy
evergreens. It agrees perfectly with the figure and description in the
Flora Rossica, and also with the original specimen in the Pallasian
Herbarium (now in the possession of A. B. Lambert, esq.)
The plant from which our figure was taken is above twelve feet high, and
wide in proportion. The male plant we have not seen. Gmelin informs us
(in his History of the Plants of Siberia) that in the town of Janisca
the Cossacks burn the twigs of this plant to fumigate those who are
afflicted with obscure diseases, or those which they superstitiously
suppose to be excited by devils, of whose agency they are extremely
credulous, and whom they believe to be pacified with smoke and hideous
noises, as being congenial to their own nature.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXV.
TROPÆOLUM PINNATUM.
_Winged Nasturtium._
CLASS VIII. ORDER I.
_OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Eight Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 1-phyllus, calcaratus. Petala 4-5, inæqualia. Nuces 3,
coriaceæ.
EMPALEMENT one-leafed, spurred. Petals 4 or 5, unequal. Kernels 3,
coriaceous.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
TROPÆOLUM foliis sub-peltatis: lobis obtusis, inæqualibus: floribus
pinnatis: petalis quinque, cuneatis, apice dentatis.
NASTURTIUM with leaves nearly shield-shaped. Lobes obtuse, and
unequal. Flowers winged. Petals 5, wedge-shaped, and toothed at the
end.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower spread open.
2. Seed-bud, chives, and pointal.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
This nondescript and beautiful species of Nasturtium we met with in the
select collection of the Countess de Vandes at Bayswater. Our figure
represents the entire plant; but by whom introduced, or whence a native,
we have not been able to learn. It appears to succeed well with the
treatment usual to other Tropæolums; and, if it should seed with us,
will no doubt be abundantly cultivated for the brilliance of its elegant
little blossoms. It flowers during the summer months.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXVI.
PROTEA ABROTANIFOLIA, _minor_.
_Small Southernwood-leaved Protea._
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
_TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra
apices insertæ. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
BLOSSOM four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into
the petals below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PROTEA foliis tri-furcatis, filiformibus, acutis: floribus parvis,
ramos terminantibus in umbellis confertis.
Habitat ad Caput Bonæ Spei.
PROTEA with leaves three-forked, thread-shaped, and pointed.
Flowers small, and terminate the branches in crowded umbels.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A leaf.
2. A bract.
3. A flower, one tip magnified.
4. Seed-bud and pointal.
Throughout this small divided-leaved section of the genus Protea there
is a similarity of appearance in the foliage, that makes the specific
differences appear less distinct than they really are. The
small-flowered species is a compact bushy little shrub, about fourteen
inches high, and nearly the same in width, requiring a light sandy loam,
free access of air, and a little attention to preserve it from the
partial humidity of the atmosphere.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXVII.
ORIGANUM TOURNEFORTII.
_Tournefort’s Origanum._
CLASS XIV. ORDER I.
_DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA._ Two Chives longer. Seeds naked.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
STROBILUS tetragonus, spicatus, calyces colligens. Corollæ labium
superius erectum: inferius 3-partitum: laciniis æqualibus.
HEAD of flowers four-sided, like ears of corn, containing the cups.
The upper lip of the blossom is upright: the lower is three-parted,
in equal segments.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
ORIGANUM spicis tetragonis: bracteis sub-rotundis, maximis: foliis
geminis, oppositis, alternis, cordatis, punctatis, glaucis.
Habitat in Magna Græcia.
ORIGANUM with a four-sided spike: floral leaves nearly round, and
large. Leaves by pairs, opposite and alternate, heart-shaped,
dotted, and glaucous.
Native of Greece.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
2. The same spread without the cup.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
This species of Origanum was first discovered by Tournefort, who, in his
travels in the Levant, describes it as one of the rarest plants in all
the Archipelago; native of Amorgos, and only to be found in the clefts
or rents of a hideous rock that overhangs the sea. At the bottom of this
rock stands a convent of the Virgin, a large house resembling a chest of
drawers, and to which there is no entrance but by a ladder of a dozen
wooden steps through a small opening in one of the corners, the door of
which is covered with iron plates. This frightful promontory is
naturally perpendicular, and said to exceed in height that of La Sainte
Baume in Provence.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXVIII.
VANILLA PLANIFOLIA.
_Flat-leaved Vanilla._
CLASS XX. ORDER I.
_GYNANDRIA DIANDRIA._ Chives on the Pointals. Two Chives.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA pentapetala. Labellum basi sub-cucullatum, ecalcaratum.
Anthera opercularis, decidua. Capsula siliquæformis, carnosa.
BLOSSOM of five petals. Lip of the nectary nearly cowl-shaped, and
without any spur. Anthers covered, at last falling off. Fruit a
long fleshy pod.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
VANILLA foliis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis obliquis, obsolete
striatis, nitidis: petalis sublanceolatis, incurvis, obtusis.
VANILLA with oval-lanced, oblique pointed leaves, which are faintly
streaked, and shining; and the petals of the blossom somewhat
lance-shaped, blunt, and curved inwards.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The nectarium spread open.
2. The chives and pointal.
Vanilla flore albo, fructu breviori corallino, of Plumier’s unpublished
drawings. The botanical history of this plant is curious. It was
published by Plumier in the year 1703, as a third species of Vanilla, as
we have ascertained by a copy of his original drawing in the collection
of A. B. Lambert, esq. but unnoticed by Linnæus or any of his editors.
In the Paradisus Londinensis it has been mistaken for Plumier’s first
species, the Epidendrum Vanilla of Linnæus, (Vanilla aromatica of Swartz
and Willdenow,) of which we have three original figures: Catesby’s, in
his History of Carolina, vol. iii. tab. 7.; Madam Merian’s, and
Plumier’s own drawing published by Burman; all of them totally unlike
it. No two plants can be more specifically distinct, and we have seldom
seen two species of one genus so different in the blossoms.
Vanilla planifolia is an exceedingly ornamental and as yet a scarce
species, and runs to many feet in length, throwing out simple tendrils
from the axils of the leaves. The finest specimen in England, and the
only one that has blossomed, is in the choice collection of the Right
Hon. Charles Greville, at Paddington, from which our drawing was taken.
We are informed that it is a native of the West Indies, and was
introduced to this country by the Marquis of Blandford.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXIX.
CALYCANTHUS FERTILIS.
_Fruitful Allspice._
CLASS XII. ORDER VIII.
_ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA._ Twenty Chives. Many Pointals.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX imbricatus: foliolis coloratis. Corolla nulla. Styli plurimi.
Stigmata glandulosa. Semina plurima, intra calycis partem
succulentam.
EMPALEMENT tiled: leaflets coloured. Blossom none. Shafts many.
Summits glandular. Seeds many, within the fleshy part of the cup.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CALYCANTHUS ramis virgatis, sub-erectis: foliis ovato-lanceolatis,
acuminatis: floribus fertilibus.
Habitat in Americâ Boreali.
CALYCANTHUS with twiggy branches nearly upright. Leaves ovately
lance-shaped, and pointed. Flowers fertile.
Native of North America.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower divested of the leaflets of the cup.
2. The same cut open, to show the seeds.
This fruitful species of Calycanthus has not yet been figured by any
author we know of, but has been described by two: first by Walter, in
his Flora Caroliniana, under the title of C. fertilis; and afterwards by
Michaux, in his Flora Boreali-Americana, under the appellation of C.
ferax, synonymous appellations equally good: and we see no reason why it
should have been altered from fertilis, if even for the better, unless
that had been a very bad specific title. It is a native of the high
mountains of Carolina, in North America, and was introduced by Mr. Lyons
in 1807. Our figure is from a plant in the collection of the Marquis of
Blandford.
_Erratum._--In our last Number, Pl. DXXXVII, the description of
Origanum Tournefortii (in the hurry too often attendant upon
periodical publications) was left unfinished. The most necessary
information omitted, is, that it is a hardy green-house shrub; and
fine living specimens of it were communicated to us by A. B.
Lambert, esq. who received it from the Royal Gardens at Kew, to
which it was introduced by the late Dr. Sibthorpe in 1788.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXL.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM HETEROPHYLLUM.
_Various-leaved Mesembryanthemum._
CLASS XII. ORDER V.
_ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA._ Twenty Chives. Five Pointals.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 4-5-fidus. Petala numerosa, linearia, basi cohærentia.
Capsula carnosa, infera, polysperma.
EMPALEMENT 4-5-cleft. Petals numerous, linear, and united at the
base. Fruit fleshy, below, many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM octogynum, caulescens: foliis sub-semiteretibus,
elongatis, obliquis, nitidis, basi connatis: apicibus vel
aduncorostratis vel ancipitibus, integris, obtusis.
Habitat in Promontorio Bonæ Spei.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM eight-styled, with a stem, and leaves nearly
half-round, elongated, oblique, shining, and united at the base,
with the points either like a hooked bill, or two-edged, entire,
and blunt.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower divested of the petals cut open.
2. Seed-buds and pointals, a summit magnified.
3. A dry capsule.
4. The capsule as it appears when half expanded in water.
5. The same when fully expanded.
Of this fine Mesembryanthemum we have found no figure nor description.
It is most allied to M. difforme, so well illustrated by Dillenius, and
figured before by Plukenet; but the figure of Miller, _tab._ 126. _fig._
2. quoted for the same plant in the four last editions of the _Species
Plantarum_, is certainly M. dolabriforme, as the author himself says,
although his editor here has not stuck close to his text. M.
heterophyllum is very distinct from either, is a free growing species,
and flowers from June to September, the blossom open early in the
morning, and shut in the afternoon. It is propagated both by seeds and
parting the roots. The fruit is divided into eight loculaments for the
seed, separated longitudinally by double elastic partitions, which are
reflected above, so that the edges come in contact together and cover
the seeds. Eight elastic valves attached to the margin of the fruit, and
adhering firmly to the part containing the seeds, and to one another
until mature, again enclose these. Two cartilaginous coloured bodies,
jointed near the base, and arising from the outer edge of the
partitions, are prominent upon the interior of each of those valves,
which have their edges always more or less reflected to facilitate the
entrance of moisture to the seeds, above which they continue to lie
close so long as the atmosphere continues dry: but, when it rains, or
water is poured upon them, it enters by the openings between the valves,
and is imbibed by the receptacles of the seeds and cartilaginous
partitions, which presently become much dilated, and the diameter of the
fruit is considerably increased. The upper valves also by this extension
are drawn outwards, and being pressed at the same time by the edges of
the partitions, resting against the elastic rigid bodies on their
interior surface, gradually rise to be perpendicular upon the margin,
when the fruit somewhat resembles a little cup with a Vandyke edge; but
this is of short duration, as the less elastic and hygrometrical
exterior of the valves (for their interior parts imbibe water and dilate
rapidly) soon draws them backwards into the form of a star or
polypetalous flower, with colours as vivid as if really vegetating. The
edges of the partitions now become more erect, leaving the seeds
uncovered; and the water being led towards the centre by channels in the
valves, and retained by an elevated margin, the seeds are floated out of
their cells. The fruit when dry, again contracts as before, and the
experiment may be repeated _ad libitum_. What a wonderful œconomy of
Nature to produce the seeds just at the moment proper for their
germination, and preventing them until that time from falling on the
parched sands and rocks upon which those plants vegetate! In some
plants, natives of cold regions, where seeds are in danger of perishing
by moisture, and there is seldom sufficient warmth for their vegetation,
an œconomy the direct reverse takes place. The cones of pines, being
most hygrometrical externally, close firmly in moisture, and expand only
in dry heat! The singular qualities of the fruits of Mesembryanthema, we
find first mentioned by Dillenius--_see his Hortus Elthamensis, vol._
ii. _p._ 237. It has since been noticed by Dr. Sims, who has described
the fruit M. pinnatifidum in the _Medical Journal_ for 1799, and also by
Mr. Konig in the _Annals of Botany_, but we believe no elucidation of
the phenomenon has been given before. Dr. Hagen, a German, who possessed
the fruits of three species without knowing what they were, imagined
they were the whole plants, and described them as a new and
extraordinary reviviscent genus in Cryptogamia. Others have taken them
for the Rose of Jericho, which is not a fruit, but a plant. The fruits
of most Mesembryanthema exhibit the same metamorphosis, but with great
variety. M. hispidum has the upper valves double, the inner membrane
beautifully transparent. The fruit of this perfectly ripened, if put
into tepid water, will fly open as if with a spring. We have made
experiments with the fruits of M. latum, scalpratum, cordatum, and
pugioniforme, all of which are very fine.
Our specimen is from the collection of A. B. Lambert, esq.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXLI.
PROTEA CONIFERA.
_Cone-bearing Protea._
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
_TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra
apices insertæ. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.
BLOSSOM four-cleft, or of four petals. Tips linear, inserted into
the petals below the points. Cup proper, none. Seeds solitary.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PROTEA foliis acinaciformibus, glabris, callosis: floribus in
capitulis terminalibus, pallide luteis: involucro patente, late
lanceolato, concolore.
PROTEA with scimitar-shaped leaves, smooth and hard. Flowers grow
in terminal heads of a pale yellow colour: the involucrum is
spreading, broadly lance-shaped, and the same colour as the
blossoms.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
2. A chive magnified.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
Our figure represents part of a plant in the collection of G. Hibbert,
esq. in the year 1803, and the smaller specimen a branch from the same
plant in 1807. So considerable a latitude of growth is certainly
deserving notice, as, upon a slight examination, they might easily be
mistaken for distinct species. In the first year of its inflorescence
its appearance is uninteresting; but in a year or two afterwards it
displays such an abundance of bloom, that it then becomes a very
ornamental little shrub. It is a Cape species, and requires no
particular treatment more than what is common to the generality of this
extensive family.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXLII.
RUELLIA INFUNDIBULIFORMIS.
_Funnel-flowered Ruellia._
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
_TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-partitus. Corolla monopetala, limbo 5-lobo, inæquali.
Stamina biconjugata. Stylus filiformis. Stigma bifidum. Capsula
dissepimentis dentatis, elasticis, dehiscentibus. Semina pauca.
EMPALEMENT 5-parted. Blossom one petal: border 5-lobed, unequal.
Chives by pairs. Shaft thread-shaped. Summit two-cleft. Capsule
with the partitions toothed, elastic, and splitting. Seeds few.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
RUELLIA foliis oppositis, alternis, lanceolatis, undulatis,
costatis, lucidis: floribus in spicis terminalibus, confertis.
Corolla infundibuliformis: laciniis limbi quinquefidis, crenatis,
patentibus, rugosis, coccineis, ad basin luteis.
RUELLIA with opposite alternate leaves, lance-shaped, waved,
ribbed, and shining. Flowers grow in terminal spikes, crowded
together. Blossom funnel-shaped: segments of the border five-cleft
and notched, spreading, wrinkled, of a scarlet colour, and yellow
at the base.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
Few of the small plants that adorn the stove are superior in beauty to
this elegant little shrub, whose successive bloom continues from June
till January. It is the Justicia infundibuliformis of Linnæus, but must,
according to his own system, be removed to the class Tetrandria. We have
seen it in many collections in great luxuriance. It is a native of the
East Indies, and was introduced by the Right Hon. C. Greville, four or
five years ago. As yet, we believe, it has not perfected its seed with
us, but propagates freely by cuttings.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXLIII.
PROTEA SPECIOSA PATENS.
_Spreading Showy Protea._
CLASS IV. ORDER I.
_TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Four Chives. One Pointal.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA 4-fida, seu 4-petala. Antheræ lineares, petalis infra
apices insertæ. Calyx proprius, nullus. Semina solitaria.