[Illustration:
_Vol. X,
of the_
Botanist’s Repository
_Comprising,
Colour’d Engravings_
of
_New and Rare Plants_
ONLY
With Botanical Descriptions &c.
_in
Latin and English,
after the_
Linnæan System,
_by
H. Andrews_
_Botanical Painter Engraver &c._
]
PLATE DCIX.
CITRUS MEDICA, _odoratissima_.
_Bergamot Lemon._
CLASS XVIII. ORDER III.
_POLYADELPHIA ICOSANDRIA._ Many Sets of Chives. Threads from the Calyx
or Receptacle.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-dentatus. Corolla 5-petala. Stamina 20 in cylindrum passim
connata. Stylus 1. Bacca 9--12-locularis, pulpa vesiculari.
CUP 5-toothed. Petals five. Stamens about 20, generally united at
the base. Shaft 1. Fruit 9-to 12-celled, the pulp bladdery.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CITRUS foliis acuminatis.
CITRUS with pointed leaves.
CITRUS medica β. _Linn. Sp. Pl._ Limon Bergamotta. _Volkamer._
_Hesperides, cap. 26. tab. p. 154._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. Chives spread open.
3. The seed-bud and pointal.
4. A horizontal section of the fruit.
* * * * *
The drawing of this curious and valuable fruit was also taken at
Wormleybury last May. Sir Abraham Hume informs us, that the plant was
introduced in 1785, by Mrs. Evelyn, of St. Clare in Kent, who brought
it with her from Nice. The name Bergamot is said by the Chevalier
Lamarck (in the French Encyclopédie) to come from Bergame in Italy,
where the principal cultivation of the plant lies. The valuable perfume
called Essence of Bergamot is prepared in Italy from the fruit, but
by what method they extract it we have not been able to learn: it is
rather remarkable that England, so celebrated for her commerce, her
collections of natural history, and spirit in gardening, and annually
importing so much of this Essence, should have been so long without the
plant that produced it.
In arranging the Bergamot for the present as a variety of the Lemon,
we by no means subscribe to the opinion of those who, servilely
following Linnæus, include all sorts of apples and pears under his
_Pyrus mala_ and _communis_; all grape-vines under _Vitis vinifera_;
and limes, lemons, citrons, oranges and shaddocks of all kinds, under
his _Citrus Medica_ and _Aurantium_. Already the last-mentioned genus
has been considerably illustrated by the works of Gmelin, Rumphius,
Thunberg, and Loureiro; and Professor Willdenow now enumerates six
species of Citrus, and the Chevalier Lamarck eleven species; and
many more are probably yet latent in the unexplored regions of Asia.
Indeed it is only to those who have an opportunity of observing them
in their original situations, where the spade of the labourer has
never disturbed their repose, that we must look for their complete
illustration. The immense tracts on our northern hemisphere, over which
apples are naturally scattered, as well as the vast and permanent
differences observed in their fruits, give us also much to hope
for; even Linnæus himself observes in his Flora Suecica, that the
apple which he found growing naturally in Smoland was very different
from that which he found in other parts of Sweden; the original
Paradise-apple (_Malus pumila_ of the old authors) has already been
recovered by the Russian naturalist Pallas, forming large thickets on
the banks of the Wolga and Tanais, (see his Flora Rossica, vol. i. p.
22.); and the same author informs us that the apples he found growing
about the Terek were of a large size, and excellent even in their wild
state; while those that he met with in other parts of Russia were quite
worthless. Even in India our indefatigable countryman Dr. Buchanan has
discovered five original species of this genus (one of them a quince)
growing naturally on the elevated regions towards the snowy mountains.
His descriptions of them, however, are yet unpublished, but we have
seen his specimens in the collection of A. B. Lambert, esq.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCX.
RUELLIA FORMOSA.
_Beautiful Ruellia._
CLASS XIV. ORDER II.
_DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA._ Two Chives longer. Seeds covered.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-partitus. Corolla 1-petala, limbo inæquali 5-lobo. Capsula
bilocularis, bivalvis, dentibus elasticis dissiliens.
CUP 5-parted. Blossom of one petal, with the limb unequally
5-lobed. Fruit a two-celled, two-valved capsule bursting with
elastic teeth.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
RUELLIA caule suffruticoso erecto; foliis pilosis, petiolatis,
integerrimis, ovatis, obtusis; pedunculis lateralibus foliis duplo
seu triplo longioribus, ramosis; ramulis subtrifloris.
RUELLIA with a suffruticose erect stem; hairy, entire, oval, blunt
leaves upon footstalks; the flower-stalks twice or thrice as long
as the leaves and branched; the branches three-flowered.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. The seed-bud and pointal.
* * * * *
For this very elegant species we are indebted to Mr. Donn, Curator of
the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, who informs us that it is a native of
Brazil, and was introduced from Portugal in 1808 by sir Charles Cotton,
bart. The plant in the Cambridge garden is now nearly four feet high,
with many branches, and has continued flowering profusely since the
beginning of May, and appears as if it would continue to blossom during
the summer. It is propagated by cuttings, and has as yet been kept in
the hothouse.
We have found no figure or description of the plant in any author,
but have seen a very fine dried specimen of it brought from Portugal
by sir Thomas Gage, bart. in the herbarium of A. B. Lambert, esq.
with this note affixed: “I found this Ruellia growing, and ripening
seeds abundantly, amongst the hothouse-plants in the Botanic-Garden at
Lisbon.” So ornamental a plant we trust will soon be equally abundant
in the hothouses of our own country.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXI.
DAVIESIA CORYMBOSA.
_Corymbed Daviesia._
CLASS X. ORDER I.
_DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Ten Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX angulatus, simplex, quinquefidus. Corolla papilionacea.
Stylus subulatus. Stigma simplex, acutum. Legumen compressum,
monospermum.
CUP angled, simple, 5-cleft. Blossom butterfly-shaped. Shaft
awl-shaped. Summit simple, acute. Pod compressed, one-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
D. corymbosa, foliis lineari-oblongis, planis, muticis; pedunculis
axillaribus, geminis, corymbosis, multifloris; calyce regulari.
_Smith in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. 8. p. 258._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. Empalement.
2. The standard.
3. One of the wings.
4. The keel.
5. The chives and pointal.
6. The seed-bud and pointal.
7. A half-ripe seed-vessel.
* * * * *
This showy species is a native of New Holland, and was raised from seed
by Mr. Gibbs, last year, in his nursery at Brompton, and is not as yet,
we believe, in any other collection.
It may not be improper to observe, that the calyx of this species
appears a little bilabiate, and the germen two-seeded, although one of
the seeds in the fruits we have examined was always abortive.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXII.
<g>PÆONIA ALBIFLORA</g>, _flore pleno_.
_Tartarian Pæony, double-flowered variety._
CLASS XIII. ORDER II.--V.
_POLYANDRIA DIGYNIA ad PENTAGYNIAM._ Many Chives. Two to Five Pointals.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Styli 0. Capsulæ polyspermæ.
CUP five-leaved. Petals 5. Shafts none. Capsules many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PÆONIA foliis biternatis, foliolis ovato-lanceolatis integris
nudis, capsulis recurvatis glabris. _Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 2. p.
1222._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement and pointals.
* * * * *
The single-flowered Pæonia albiflora we have already figured in our
first volume (Plate 64.), but never heard of the double variety until
we found it in the nursery of Mr. Whitley, who informs us that he
raised the plant from seeds received from Mr. Livingstone, surgeon,
(in 1808,) who brought them from China under the title of the yellow
Pæony. It bloomed last year with only three flowers, but has this year
produced five elegant blossoms. Its great beauty certainly entitles it
to a place in every flower-garden and curious collection. We shall only
add to our former account of this fine species of Pæony above referred
to, that Professor Pallas mentions in his Flora Rossica that the roots
are used as food in Mongolia, where the plant grows naturally wild,
being boiled and eaten by the Tartars, who also powder the seeds to mix
with their tea.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXIII.
<g>IPOMŒA</g> pendula.
_Pendulous Ipomœa._
CLASS V. ORDER I.
_PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Five Stamens. One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX quinquepartitus. Corolla infundibuliformis. Stigma
capitato-globosum. Capsula 2-seu 3-locularis.
CUP five-parted. Blossom funnel-shaped. Stigma with a roundish
head. Capsule of 2 or 3 cells.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
IPOMŒA pendula, glabra, foliis quinato-digitatis: foliolis
lanceolatis, mucronulatis, margine integerrimis; extimis indivisis
bifidisve: pedunculis 1-3-floris: calycis foliolis subæqualibus,
obtusis, tubo corollæ ter brevioribus. _Brown Prod. Nov. Holl. et
Ins. Van-Diem, vol. 1. p. 486._
PENDULOUS Ipomœa with smooth five-fingered leaves: the divisions
lanced, sharp-pointed, and entire at the edge; the lowermost being
sometimes two-cleft: the peduncles one-to three-flowered: leaflets
of the cup nearly equal, blunt, three times shorter than the tube
of the blossom.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
* * * * *
This very ornamental species of Ipomœa is a native of the north and
east coasts of New Holland, according to Mr. Brown’s Prodromus of the
plants of that country above quoted. We have seen wild specimens of it
gathered by Dr. White near Port Jackson. The species is so decidedly
volubilous as not only to twine round other plants that may come in its
way, but twists also its own shoots round each other; and this both in
its wild and cultivated state. Towards the root it appears to be woody,
and is certainly perennial. The drawing was taken about the middle of
July, in the curious collection of the Countess de Vandes at Bayswater,
from a plant about five feet high, which was probably the first time
the species blossomed in this country. The introducer we have not been
able to discover.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXIV.
<g>FUMARIA NOBILIS</g>.
_Noble Fumitory._
CLASS XVI. ORDER II.
_DIADELPHIA HEXANDRIA._ Two Brotherhoods. Six Stamens.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX diphyllus. Corolla ringens. Filamenta 2, membranacea,
singula antheris tribus.
CUP two-leaved. Blossom gaping. Filaments two, membranaceous, each
supporting three anthers.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
FUMARIA caule simplici, racemo terminali, bracteis oblongis
acutis flore brevioribus, foliis pinnatis, foliolis
subtripartito-laciniatis. _Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 3. p. 858._
FUMITORY with a simple stem, a terminal bunch of flowers, with
oblong acute bracts shorter than the blossoms, and pinnate leaves
with the leaflets jagged and three-parted.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
* * * * *
The Fumaria nobilis is a native of the Altaian mountains in Siberia,
and was introduced to this country in the year 1783 by Mr. John
Græffer, but appears to have been since lost, as we never saw living
specimens until the beginning of last May, when that from which our
drawing was taken was communicated by Mr. Donn from the Botanic garden
at Cambridge. The plant appears well calculated for ornamenting
rock-work or curious borders, the finely cut foliage and flowers being
both very graceful. It is said to have been a great favourite with
Linnæus.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXV.
<g>GLOBBA PURPUREA</g>.
_Purple Globba._
CLASS I. ORDER I.
_MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ One Stamen. One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
ANTHERA duplex. Filamentum lineare, incurvatum, longissimum,
appendiculatum. Stylus laxus filiformis in medio antheræ receptus.
Stigma incrassatum. Nectarium utrinque bifidum. _Roscoe in the
Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. 8. p. 355._
ANTHERS double. Filament linear, incurved, very long and
appendaged. Style (or shaft) long thread-shaped, going up between
the anthers. Stigma (or summit) swelling. Nectary cleft at both
ends.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
GLOBBA scapo aphyllo paniculato; bracteis calyce multo longioribus
subovatis, corollâ trilobâ, filamento medio biappendiculato,
nectario cordato-oblongo.
GLOBBA with a leafless panicled stem, the bracts many times
longer than the cup and nearly ovate, the blossom of three lobes,
the filament with two appendages in the middle, and the nectary
between a heart-shape and an oblong.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A leaf.
2. A flower.
3. A front view of the same divested of the calyx.
4. Empalement, seed-bud, and pointal.
* * * * *
No genus of plants has more puzzled botanists than the Globba of
Linnæus, no plant having yet been discovered that agrees with his
generic character; but as the possessor of his herbarium has decided
that the Globba marantina, the only species of this genus Linnæus
professes to have seen, was the same plant with that called by Dr.
Roxburgh, and also by Mr. Donn in his Catalogue of the Cambridge
Botanic Garden, Colebrookia bulbifera; (see Smith’s Exotic Botany, page
85, where he has corrected the generic character;) this plant, also
sent from India by Dr. Roxburgh to Sir Abraham Hume, bart. in 1809, now
also changes its name to Globba. The inflorescence, which is directly
from the root, whilst in all the species described by Dr. Smith it is
placed above the leaves on a common stem, together with the three-lobed
corolla, might doubtless be quite sufficient characters to distinguish
it as a separate genus; but another having already been published
in honour of Mr. Colebrook, we prefer leaving it with the congeners
amongst which it was originally placed by its discoverer Dr. Roxburgh.
The delicacy and elegance of the whole plant, the rich tint of the
floral leaves, and the curious construction of the blossoms, (where the
long projecting filament drawn back by the style which is held by its
summit protruded beyond the anthers, at one period of the inflorescence
nearly resembles a half-bent bow,) have been admired by all who have
seen it. The leaves only appear as the flowers decay.
The plant blossomed in the middle of last May, for the first time in
this country, in the collection of Sir Abraham Hume, bart. where our
drawing was taken. From a very useful manuscript catalogue of Indian
plants by Dr. Roxburgh in the collection of A. B. Lambert, esq. we
learn that it is a native of India, and has been found growing wild
about Chittagong.
The ripe fruit we have not seen; but the germ is nearly oval, with
three blunt angles and of one cell with many seeds affixed to three
lateral receptacles. The plant is perennial, and may be propagated by
the roots like other scitamineous plants.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXVI.
<g>EUPHORBIA</g> epithymoides.
_Broad-leaved Spurge._
CLASS XI. ORDER III.
_DODECANDRIA TRIGYNIA._ Twelve to Nineteen Stamens. Three Styles.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX monophyllus, ventricosus. Corolla 4-seu 5-petala calyci
insidens. Capsula tricocca.
CUP of one leaf, bellying. Blossom of 4 or 5 petals sitting upon
the cup. Fruit a capsule with 3 cells.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
EUPHORBIA umbellâ quinquefidâ, radiis sub-bifidis, involucellis
ovatis denticulatis, foliis integerrimis lanceolatis obtusis
retusis subtus villosis, capsulis papilloso-hispidis. _Willd. Sp.
Pl. vol. 2. p. 909._
EUPHORBIA with a five-cleft umbel, the rays mostly bifid, the
involucrets ovate-toothed, the leaves entire, lanced, blunt,
retuse and woolly beneath; the capsules with little warts and
bristly.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
2. The same spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
* * * * *
This ornamental species is a native of Austria, and was introduced,
according to Donn’s Catalogue, in the year 1805. Professor Jacquin
has given an excellent figure and description of it in its wild state
in his Flora Austriaca, vol. iv. p. 23, tab. 344: but it varies very
considerably when cultivated, as may be seen by comparing the figures.
The figure cited to the species by Linnæus, from Columna, and from
which it also derives its name, as already remarked by Jacquin, (who
was certain of the identity of his species with the Linnean,) has very
little resemblance to the plant; but the name of epithymoides, however
apt to mislead, is now sanctioned by so long use, that were the plant
of Columna discovered, and proved to be different, one would hardly
venture now to restore to it its original appellation. The specimen
was communicated by Mr. Donn last May from the Botanic Garden at
Cambridge.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXVII.
EUPHORBIA meloformis.
_Melon-shaped Euphorbia._
CLASS XI. ORDER III.
_DODECANDRIA TRIGYNIA._ Twelve to Nineteen Stamens. Three Styles.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX monophyllus, ventricosus. Corolla 4- seu 5-petala calyci
insidens. Capsula tricocca.
CUP of one leaf, bellying. Blossom of 4 or 5 petals sitting upon
the cup. Fruit a capsule with 3 cells.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
EUPHORBIA subglobosa multangularis.
EUPHORBIA nearly round with many angles.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower spread open.
2. A chive magnified.
* * * * *
Those who are unacquainted with the versatility of this extraordinary
Genus will be a little surprised at seeing a plant with so little
resemblance to that on our last plate under the same generic
appellation. Even the variations of Protea itself appear trifling, when
compared with those of Euphorbia, which includes species with leaves
opposite, alternate, scattered, whorled, and imbricated, and others
leafless, like the present; plants round, oval, square, triangular
and oblong; annual, herbaceous, succulent, thorny, woody, and even
arboreous; and natives of all climates, from Siberia to Dusky Bay.
Almost all the species agree in being replete with a milky juice which
flows from them freely when wounded, and is generally of an acrid
corrosive quality. An excellent description of the Euphorbia meloformis
was given in the second volume of the Hortus Kewensis, and has been
since copied into the Species Plantarum. An engraving and description
of it by Mons. Desfontaines, one of the professors in the Museum of
Natural History at Paris, also ornaments the first volume of their
Annales. The species is dioicous; and, except in the Royal Gardens
at Kew, male flowers only have as yet been produced by the plants
cultivated in this country, and their progeny at Paris. The stamens
come to maturity at different times, those of the centre being the
earliest, the woolly filaments of which persisting after the antheræ
are fallen off give to the flowers a singular appearance. The species
is a native of Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope, and was introduced
by Mr. Masson in 1774, but is still very scarce, and requires to be
kept in the dry stove or on a shelf in the hot-house, much moisture
being always inimical to it. The propagation is by separating the young
bulbs from their parent stock, and planting them in pots of earth
nearly dry, as they retain their vegetative powers for months without
either earth or water.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXVIII.
ANNESLEA SPINOSA.
_Armed Indian Water Lily._
CLASS XIII. ORDER VII.
_POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA._ Many Stamens with many Styles or Stigmas.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX superus, persistens, 4 phyllus. Petala 30-40,
oblongo-lanceolata, persistentia. Stamina 60-70, incurva;
antheræ subovatæ. Styli nulli. Stigmata: sulculi decem in
apice cyathiformi germinis, ad umbonem centralem decurrentes;
inconspicui. Germen 10-loculare, supra cyathiforme atque ex
columellâ centrali protrusâ umbonatum, margine 10-dentatum. Septa
duplicia. Semina loculis in singulis 2, dissepimentis prope
parietem alterne affixa, obovata. Fructus: bacca subovata, calyce
persistente coronata, spinosissima, 10-20-sperma. Semina matura
non vidi.
Anneslea spinosa. _Roxburgh._
Calyx above, persistent, 4 leaved. Petals 30 to 40, oblong-lanced,
persistent. Stamens 60 to 70, incurved; anthers nearly ovate.
Styles none. Stigmas: ten inconspicuous channels in the cup-shaped
top of the germen, running down towards the central knob. Germen
10-celled, cup shaped above, with the central column rising like
a knob in the middle; the margin 10-toothed. Partitions double.
Seeds two in each cell, affixed to the partitions near the outer
angle one on each side, inversely ovate. Fruit: a berry nearly
ovate, crowned with the persistent calyx, exceeding thorny, 10-to
20-seeded. We have not seen the ripe seeds.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower cut open.
* * * * *
Seeds of this wonderful water plant, originally a native of China, were
sent preserved in sugar from Calcutta by Dr. Roxburgh, in 1809, to the
Most Honourable the Marquis of Blandford, in whose magnificent Aquarium
at White Knights it now raises its numerous heads bristling with
spines, unrolls its immense leaves, and flourishes in all its grandeur.
In vain we review the plants of its natural order for any analogy
to its thorny exterior; the Nymphs and Naiads, _Nymphæeæ_ and
_Naiades_, are not more conspicuous for their elegance and beauty
than for their mildness; Anneslea, like the panther, seems to unite
the extremes of ferocity and beauty. The leaves are nearly orbicular,
but sometimes a little extended upon one side with a corresponding
notch on the side opposite, the largest being from six to eight feet
in circumference; green on their upper surface, and reticulated with
purplish branching veins, with a sharp curved thorn at each of their
principal ramifications; their under side purple, thinly scattered over
with a very fine brown pubescence, and reticulated with high raised,
cellular, transparent, brown, branched veins, bearing innoxious thorns
of the same form as those of the upper surface at their principal
divisions. The compartments between the veins are irregular hexagons,
pentagons, and rhomboids, which are again intersected by other minute
veins nearly in the same manner. The leaf-stalks are centrally
affixed, nearly round, very porous, and bristled with soft spines
almost to where they rise from the root. The spines are hollow, of
the most simple structure, and appear to be formed by a continuance
of the cellular tissue of the plant protruded. See Mirbel’s Anatomie
Vegetale, fig. 24. It is only where they stand out of water, as upon
the fruit and upper surface of the leaves, that they become indurated
and really formidable. Very different is the nature and structure of
the thorns in the genus Rosa, where they are proper secreting vessels
or abortions of such, indurated; and may be gradually traced in the
R. damascena, muscosa, ferox, rubiginosa, and many others, from the
almost imperceptible hair supporting viscous matter, down to the horny
lacerating thorn. In the Geranium echinatum, on the contrary, and some
Monsoniæ, the spines are mere indurated persistent stipules, and in the
Astragali indurated petioles; while in Prunus, Cratægus, Ononis and
Genista, the ends of the branches indurate into thorns, and a plant of
Ononis spinosa deprived of its verdure and dried, would appear to be
only one branched thorn. Thorns are also formed from indurated bracts,
abortions of roots, leaves, branches, peduncles, flowers, petioles and
supernumerary stipules as in the terrible Gleditschia, horrid with
huge bunches of three-forked thorns from the very trunk of the tree.
All these and other similar parts of plants, their real nature and use
often overlooked, are in their aged and indurated state thrown together
by Linnæus under the denomination of “Arma, (or Armour,) to prevent
animals from injuring the plants.” Camels, however, and asses and
goats, are observed to be particularly fond of thorny plants; and even
quicks only escape being browsed by the cattle, by becoming woody or
growing out of their reach.
The story of the Anneslea’s flowering under water may have probably
arisen from the very short time the blossoms remain above; as, like
those of the Nymphæa, they only rise to expand, and again gradually
sink to ripen their seeds after the globules of fertilizing pollen have
burst from their parent cells, phœnix like, to perish in renovating
their race; and by adding circle to circle served to prolong the
immoveable and immeasurable chain. That it certainly flowers above
water, we can assert from our own observation; but we were informed at
White Knights (where our drawing was taken last September) that it had
flowered there below; which might have been owing to its artificial
treatment, (We have seen the Nymphæa rubra flowering at the very bottom
of the water in the same Aquarium.) and cannot be its natural state,
unless we can bring ourselves to believe that nature has endowed it
with the power of propagating itself in both elements.
We hope yet to see its magnificent foliage mantling our ponds. Have we
not already taught the Thea--the Camillia--the Ta kio--the Moutan--the
Yu lan, to resist our winters! Our water is not less temperate than
our sky. The name Anneslea was given by Dr. Roxburgh, in honour of the
Right Hon. George Annesley, Viscount of Valentia, who discovered the
plant growing in the Gagra River in Oude, and also about Chittagong,
when on his travels in India. The fruit abundantly distinguishes the
genus from the Euryale of Mr. Salisbury.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXIX.
EUGENIA Zeylanica.
_Ceylon Eugenia._
CLASS XII. ORDER I.
_ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Stamens from the Cup. One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX quadripartitus, superus. Petala quatuor. Bacca 1-locularis,
1-sperma.
CUP four-parted, above. Petals four. Berry of one cell, one-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
EUGENIA foliis subovalibus integerrimis coriaceis retusis,
pedunculis unifloris solitariis vel geminatis, axillaribus
lateralibusque.
EUGENIA with oval entire leathery retuse leaves, and one-flowered
peduncles, either solitary or in pairs, axillary or lateral.
Eugenia zeylanica. _Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 2. p. 963._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. Empalement, seed-bud and pointal.
2. The fruit, with the seed detached.
* * * * *
The Ceylon Eugenia is a low bushy wide-spreading shrub, with both the
leaves and branches extending nearly horizontally. The flowers grow
from the axils of the leaves and sides of the branches upon simple
downy footstalks, which have two small bracts a little above their
middle; and open in succession from the lower axils upwards. Professor
Willdenow is not quite correct in stating the leaves to be impunctate,
a minute dotting being visible on both surfaces with the naked eye, and
very distinctly with the aid of a common eye-glass. The fruit is of
the size of a large pea, rough with minute warts, and crowned with the
persistent calyx.
We have seldom seen a more striking example of the astonishing
resources provided by nature for the continuation of species than this
plant, whose little germen when blossoming contains sixteen infant
seeds (clustering round a common centre), while the fruit admits of one
only coming to maturity! Above eighty stamens are also provided for the
fertilization of a solitary stigma. We have often admired the common
chesnut, each germen of which when blossoming contains twelve seeds in
embryo, but this yet surpasses it.
We were favoured with fresh specimens last July by A. B. Lambert, esq.
from his seat at Boyton, and a foreign specimen in his collection
has also enabled us to add the fruit, which has not yet ripened in
this country. The plant is stated in Donn’s Catalogue to have been
introduced in 1798, most probably by Sir Abraham Hume, as the only
plants of it that we have seen came originally from his collection.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXX.
<g>SCHINUS DENTATA.</g>
_Toothed Schinus._
CLASS XXII. ORDER IX.
_DIOECIA s. POLYGAMIA DECANDRIA._ Shafts and Chives separate on
different Plants, or both on the same. Ten Chives.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
MAS. Calyx 5-fidus. Petala 5. Stamina 8-10 sub nectario rotato
inserta.
FEM. Calyx et petala maris. Stigmata 3. Drupa sicca,
multi-locularis, submonosperma. Nux subturbinatus, obtusè
angulatus. Embryo subreniformis, compressus. Cotyledones 2,
æquales, latofalcatæ. Radicula supera, cylindrica, incurva.
MALE. Cup 5-cleft. Petals 5. Chives 8-10 affixed under a
wheel-shaped nectary.
FEMALE. Cup and blossom as in the male. Summits 3. Berry dry, with
many cells and generally one seed. Nut nearly top-shaped with
blunt angles. Embryo nearly kidney-shaped, compressed. Seed-leaves
2, equal, broadly falcate. Radicle above, cylindrical, incurved.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
SCHINUS foliis simplicibus dentatis.
SCHINUS with simple toothed leaves.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A petal magnified.
3. A chive magnified.
4. The nectary magnified.
5. A ripe berry.
6. The nut cleared from the pulp.
* * * * *
Specimens of this curious Schinus were communicated in May by the Right
Honourable the Marquis of Blandford, from his gardens at White Knights.
Its native country, as we are informed, is Owhyhee, an island long to
be remembered in English history for the loss of the illustrious Cook;
Who, born to bless mankind, fair Science bore
To Ocean’s bounds and isles unknown before;
And, while to guard barbarian lives his care,
Was murder’d by the men he sought to spare.
At what time the Schinus dentata was brought to England, or by whom,
we have not been able to learn. It thrives very well in sheltered
situations here in the open ground, and even ripens fruit in good
seasons when trained against a wall. The berries are black, nearly
of the size of small currants, with a sweet fleshy pulp, each berry
containing a single nut which is bluntly angled, and a flattened
two-leaved crooked embryo enclosed in a farinaceous perisperm of
unequal thickness, having outwardly the same form as the nut.
Another species agreeing exactly in habit with the present, the toothed
leaves excepted, S. dependens, (the Amyris polygama of Cavanilles
and Willdenow,) has before been added to the genus by Ortega: and we
cannot help noticing how remarkable it is that three plants, two of
which differ so widely in habit, should yet agree so closely in their
fructification. The insertion of the stamens, nectary, germen, stigmas
and fruit is exactly similar; and the fruit of Schinus Molle figured
by Gærtner (as far as his figure and description go) coincides exactly
with the fruit of S. dentata. For the ripe fruit and some observations
on the genus we are indebted to A. B. Lambert, esq.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXI.
JUSSIEUA exaltata.
_Tall Jussieua._
CLASS VIII or X. ORDER I.
_OCTANDRIA seu DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Eight or Ten Stamens.
One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 4-seu 5-partitus, superus. Petala 4 seu 5. Capsula 4-seu
5-locularis, angulis dehiscens. Semina numerosa.
CUP 4-or 5-parted, above. Petals four or five. Capsule 4-or
5-celled, splitting at the corners. Seeds numerous.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
JUSSIEUA erecta, pubescens, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis
pubescentibus punctato-scabris; floribus 4-petalis 8-andris,
stigmate 4-lobo.
ERECT pubescent Jussieua with oblong-lanced pubescent leaves rough
with little dots; flowers with 4 petals and 8 stamens, and the
stigma four-lobed.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A petal.
2. Empalement, seed-bud, and pointal.
3. The capsule.
4. A ripe seed.
5. The same magnified.
* * * * *
Linnæus could scarcely have selected a happier genus in honour of the
great French botanist; by whose arrangement plants agreeing in general
habit and character are not liable to be thrown to various classes for
a slight difference in their number of stamens, as in the Linnæan;
where octandrous and decandrous plants can only be brought together by
special license.
Of the twelve species of Jussieua enumerated by Willdenow, and the two
additional species since described by Humboldt and Bonpland, our plant,
communicated from Boyton in September, most resembles the _octovalvis_,
of which the Professors Swartz and Jacquin appear to have described
very different varieties. Ours, however, appears to be specifically
distinct from either.
Mr. Lambert informs us that the plant is a native of the East Indies,
from whence the seeds were sent to him by Dr. Roxburgh, with a
reference to the _Cattu Carambu_ of the Hortus Malabaricus, (tom. ii.
p. 97, fig. 50,) which is a very fair representation of it.
The name _exaltata_, bestowed upon it by Dr. Roxburgh, may have been
suggested by comparing it with the two other Indian species, the
_repens_ and _suffruticosa_; but the _peruviana_ must be a much taller
plant, from the account given of it by Father Feuillée.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXII.
LEPTOSPERMUM scoparium.
_New Zealand Tea._
CLASS XII. ORDER I.
_ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Stamens from the Calyx. One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-fidus, semisuperus. Petala quinque, unguiculata,
staminibus longiora. Stigma capitatum. Capsula 4-seu 5-locularis,
polysperma. Semina angulosa.
CUP 5-cleft, free above the middle. Petals five, clawed, and
longer than the stamens. Stigma headed. Capsula 4-or 5-celled,
many-seeded. Seeds angular.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
LEPTOSPERMUM foliis ovatis ovato-lanceolatisque mucronatis
obsolete trinerviis; calycibus glabris, dentibus membranaceis
coloratis.
LEPTOSPERMUM with ovate and ovate-lanced dagger-pointed faintly
3-nerved leaves, and smooth calyces with membranaceous coloured
teeth.
L. scoparium. _Willd. sp. pl. 2. p. 948._
Tea Plant. _Cook’s Second Voyage, vol. 1. p. 100. tab. 32._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. Empalement, chives, and pointal.
2. The same cut open, one tip magnified.
3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
4. A petal.
The Leptospermum scoparium grows naturally in New Zealand, where it was
found in Cook’s first voyage of discovery in the year 1769, and was
first published with an engraving of the fructification in 1776, by the
two Forsters, in their _Characteres Generum Plantarum_, or Account of
the Plants they collected in that expedition. The following description
of the plant, and accounts of the benefits his people derived from it,
are extracted from Captain Cook’s Account of his Second Voyage, vol. i.
p. 99 to 101.
“The Tea plant is a small tree or shrub, with five white petals or
flower-leaves, shaped like those of a rose, having smaller ones of the
same figure in the intermediate spaces, and twenty or more filaments
or threads. The tree sometimes grows to a moderate height, and is
generally bare on the lower part, with a number of small branches
growing close together towards the top. The leaves are small and
pointed like those of the myrtle; it bears a dry roundish seed-case,
and grows commonly in dry places near the shores. The leaves, as I have
already observed, were used by many of us as tea, which has a very
agreeable bitter and flavour when they are recent, but loses some of
both when they are dried. When the infusion was made strong, it proved
emetic to some, in the same manner as green tea.
“The beer certainly contributed not a little to the healthiness of our
people. As I have already observed, we at first made it of a decoction
of the spruce leaves (Dacrydium cupressinum); but finding that this
alone made the beer too astringent, we afterwards mixed it with an
equal quantity of the Tea plant, (a name it obtained in my former
voyage from our using it as tea then, as we also did now,) which partly
destroyed the astringency of the other, and made the beer exceedingly
palatable, and esteemed by every one on board.”
In the younger Forster’s account of the same expedition, vol. i, p. 128
and 129, a similar account of its utility and beauty is given, with the
additional information, that, in a fine soil, in thick forests, it was
found from 30 to 40 feet high, and above a foot in diameter; while on a
hilly arid situation he found it bearing flowers and seed when only 6
inches high.
The plant was introduced to the Royal Gardens at Kew so early as 1772,
and several varieties of it are now in cultivation. It is increased
both by seeds and cuttings, and requires to be kept in the Greenhouse
or Conservatory.
Specimens were communicated by Mr. Donn from the botanic garden at
Cambridge last May, and others in June by Mr. Milne from Fonthill.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXIII.
ARDISIA ELEGANS.
_Elegant Ardisia._
CLASS V. ORDER I.
_PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Five Stamens. One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-phyllus. Corolla hypocrateriformis. Antheræ magnæ, erectæ.
Stigma simplex. Drupa sicca, supera, 1-sperma.
CUP five-leaved. Blossom salver-shaped. Anthers large, erect.
Stigma simple. Berry dry, above, one-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
ARDISIA corymbis terminalibus, compositis, nutantibus; foliis
lato-lanceolatis, crenatis, nitidis, margine reflexis.
ARDISIA with terminal, compound, nodding corymbs, and
broad-lanced, crenated, shining leaves, with the margin reflected.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. The seed-bud and pointal.
This beautiful species grows naturally in moist situations and by
the sides of rivulets in Pulo-Pinang, where it was discovered by the
collector sent out by T. Evans, Esq., and brought to England with him
on his return in 1809; and our drawing was taken from a plant of it
nearly five feet high, which has been flowering beautifully this year
in the collection at Stepney, from August to the end of November. The
common height of the plant in Pinang, as the collector informs us, is
from eight to about twelve feet.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXIV
LOTUS australis.
_Southern Lotus, or Bird’s-foot Trefoil._
CLASS XVII. ORDER IV.
_DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA._ Stamens in Two Sets, Ten.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
LEGUMEN cylindricum, strictum. Filamenta sub-cuneiformia. Alæ
sursum longitudinaliter conniventes.
POD cylindrical, straight. Filaments somewhat wedge-shaped. Wings
united lengthways above.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
LOTUS herbaceus, foliis stipulisque lanceolatis
obovato-lanceolatisque pubescentibus; floribus amplis paucis;
capitulis longè pedunculatis: leguminibus tereti-linearibus calyce
duplò longioribus.
HERBACEOUS Lotus, with lanceolate and inversely ovate downy leaves
and stipules; large flowers few together, in heads upon long
footstalks; the pods roundish linear, and double the length of the
calyx.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. The vexillum.
3. One of the wings.
4. The keel.
5. Chives and pointal.
6. The chives spread open and magnified.
New Holland, so rich in new families of plants, sometimes (though
rarely) also furnishes us with a few species belonging to genera common
to our northern regions, as in Convolvulus, Chenopodium, Campanula,
and our present subject, of which the specimen was communicated from
Fonthill last July by Mr. Milne. By whom the species was introduced
we have not been able to learn; but we have seen dried specimens of
it, brought over by the late Governor King, in the herbarium of A. B.
Lambert, Esq.
The plant is of humble growth, and rather conspicuous when in blossom
from its fine heads of flowers, but has not yet produced seeds in this
country; and our account of the fruit is from the foreign specimens
above mentioned. Like most other New Holland plants, Lotus australis
requires to be kept in the Greenhouse, or at least sheltered in winter.
In our account of Euphorbia meloformis we omitted to add that the
figure was taken from a fine plant in the collection of J. Vere, Esq.
Kensington Gore, in August last.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXV.
BARLERIA CRISTATA.
_Crested Barleria._
CLASS XIV. ORDER II.
_DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA._ Four Stamens in unequal Pairs. Seeds covered.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 4-partitus, inaequalis. Stamina 2, longè minora. Capsula
4-angularis, bilocularis, bivalvis.
CUP 4-parted, unequal. Stamens 2, much smaller. Capsule 4-angled,
2-celled, 2-valved.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
BARLERIA foliis oblongis integerrimis; calycis foliolis duobus
latioribus ciliatis, duobusque linearibus acutis.
BARLERIA with oblong entire leaves; two of the calyx-leaves
broader and ciliated, and two linear acute.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open, segments of the border cut off.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
Linnæus’s excellent description of this species in the first edition
of the Species Plantarum is rather at variance with his character of
the genus; nor can the plant certainly be a congener of either of the
two original species of Plumier, one of which indeed the late Professor
Vahl found it necessary to remove to Ruellia. To the curious little
sheath within the corolla, which encloses the germen about two-thirds
of its length, in Barleria cristata, and one side of which is shorter
than the other, we do not recollect having ever before met with any
thing analogous.
We are indebted for fine specimens in blossom to T. Evans, esq., in
whose collection it has continued flowering during the autumn, and by
whom it was introduced to this country in 1808. The plant seems to grow
freely, and is propagated by cuttings. It requires to be kept in the
hot-house.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXVI.
GEODORUM CITRINUM.
_Lemon-coloured Geodorum._
CLASS XX. ORDER I.
_GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA._ Style bearing the Stamens. Stamen One.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
PETALA quinque, longitudine subæqualia, patentia. Labellum
cymbiforme; carinâ posticè paulò productâ. Anthera terminalis,
opercularis, decidua. Massæ pollinis duæ, reniformes, cereaceæ.
PETALS five, about an equal length, spreading. Lip boat-shaped,
with the keel a little prolonged behind. Anther terminal,
cover-like, deciduous. Masses of pollen two, kidney-shaped, waxy.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A blossom spread open, divested of the lip.
2. The lip detached.
Little more than sixty years ago, Mr. Miller, the best informed
gardener of his time, and emphatically styled by foreigners, to whom
he was known by his writings, ‘Hortulanorum Princeps;’ after forty
years experience in gardening, in the last edition of his Dictionary
which he published, when treating of Epidendrums, says: “It would be
to little purpose to enumerate them here, as the plants cannot by any
art yet known be cultivated in the ground; though, could the plants be
brought to thrive by culture, many of them produce very fine flowers
of uncommon forms.”--Genius and perseverance, however, have completely
vanquished this prejudice, and we now cultivate more species of
Epidendrum in England, or what in Mr. Miller’s time would have been
considered as such, than he supposed to exist: indeed few plants are at
present in greater favour with cultivators than those of the beautiful
order of Orchideæ; and our present subject, discovered in Pulo-Pinang,
or Prince of Wales’s Island, at the same time with the Ardisia elegans,
is certainly not one of the least elegant. Both its peculiar habit and
character easily prevent its being confounded with any natural genus
yet described, although some species have been enumerated amongst the
Limodorums by Dr. Roxburgh, and transposed with no more felicity from
thence to Malaxis by Professor Willdenow.--The genus, however, is more
allied to Cymbidium in character than either of the above; and, as far
as our knowledge of the order at present extends, ought to be placed
near to that in the arrangement. The other species of the genus before
alluded to are the Malaxis nutans and cernua of Willdenow, Limodorum
nutans of the Plants of Coromandel, and the L. recurvum of the same;
all of which agree in having the same remarkable flaccidity of foliage,
and recurved inflorescence.
The drawing was taken at Stepney last October, and the plant was still
in blossom in the end of November.
Some idea of the prodigious extent of this family of plants may be
inferred from Dr. Buchanan’s having gathered more than fifty new
species in his late journey through Napaul, and Mr. Brown above a
hundred, (all now described in his Prodromus,) during his botanical
expedition to New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land; and from the statement
of the Spanish botanists, Messrs. Ruiz and Pavon, who spent eight years
botanizing in South America, that more than a thousand distinct species
grow there upon the sides of the Cordilleras!
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXVII.
BEGONIA EVANSIANA.
_Evans’s Begonia._
CLASS XXI. ORDER VII.
_MONŒCIA POLYANDRIA._ Stamens and Styles separate upon the same Plant.
Stamens more than Seven.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
_Mas._ CALYX 0. Corolla 4-petala, petalis 2 oppositis majoribus.
Stamina numerosa.
_Fem._ CALYX 0. Corolla 6-seu 4-petala, ut mascula. Styli 3,
bifidi. Capsula infera, triangularis, alata, 3-locularis,
polysperma.
_Male._ CUP none. Blossom 4-petalled, with two opposite petals
larger than the others. Stamens numerous.
_Female._ CUP none. Blossom 6-or 4-petalled, as the male. Styles
3, bifid. Capsule below, triangular, winged, 3-celled, many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
BEGONIA foliis inæqualiter cordatis, suprà hispidulis, nitidis,
margine inæqualibus, acutissimè serrulatis: petalis duobus
lato-ovatis, duobus obovatis quadruplò majoribus: caulibus
flexuoso-erectis, nodosis: axillis bulbiferis.
BEGONIA with unequally heart-shaped leaves a little hispid and
shining above, with the margin irregular, most sharply and finely
toothed: two of the petals broadly ovate, and four times larger
than the two inversely ovate ones: the stem a little zigzag: axils
bulbiferous.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. One of the large petals.
2. A small petal.
3. The stamens, one of the anthers magnified.
For this very ornamental species we are also indebted to T. Evans,
esq., whose collector discovered it growing about the sides and clefts
of rocks near a waterfall in the interior of the Island of Pulo-Pinang
in 1808. As yet it has only produced male flowers at Stepney; but
the bulbs in the axils of the leaves always supply abundant means of
propagating it, and its beauty and liveliness of colouring well entitle
it to a place in every curious collection.
The drawing was taken at Stepney, last October, from a plant about two
feet four inches in height.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXVIII.
CLERODENDRUM PYRAMIDALE.
_Pyramidal Clerodendrum._
CLASS XIV. ORDER II.
_DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA._ Two Chives longer. Seeds covered.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-fidus, campanulatus. Corollæ limbo 5-partito, æquali.
Drupa 4-sperma, nuce uniloculari.
CUP 5-cleft, bell-shaped. Limb of the blossom equally 5-parted.
Berry 4-seeded, nut one-celled.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CLERODENDRUM foliis basi profundè cordatis, quinquelobis,
margine undulatis, edentulis: panicula brachiata; pedunculis
pubescentibus, trichotomis.
CLERODENDRUM with the leaves deeply heart-shaped at the base
and five-lobed, waved on the margin and toothless; the panicle
cross-armed; the peduncles pubescent, three-forked.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. A blossom spread open.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
This before unnoticed species of Clerodendrum was introduced from the
Island of Pinang, where it grows naturally wild, by T. Evans, Esq. of
Stepney, in 1809. The leaves are very large, a little hispid on their
upper surface: the height of the plants, in the specimens which we have
seen, is from three to five feet. The plant appears to grow freely,
and may be propagated by cuttings, but requires to be kept in the
hot-house. The drawing was taken at Stepney last October.
[Illustration]
PLATE DCXXIX.
DESMANTHUS NATANS.
_Floating Desmanthus, or Aquatic Sensitive._
CLASS XXIII. ORDER I.
_POLYGAMIA MONŒCIA._ Various Dispositions upon one Plant.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
_Hermaph._ CALYX 5-dentatus. Corolla 5-petala vel 5-partita.
Stamina 10. Pistillum 1. Legumen bivalve.