The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 07

[223]
Lychnis Coronata. Chinese Lychnis

Class and Order

Decandria Pentagynia

Generic Character

Cal. 1-phyllus, oblongus, lævis. Petala 5, unguiculata: Limbo sub-bifido. Caps. 5-locularis.

Specific Character and Synonyms

LYCHNIS coronata glabra, floribus axillaribus terminalibusque solitariis, petalis laciniatis. Thunb. Japon. p. 187. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 435. Ait. Kew. V. 1. p. 117.

LYCHNIS grandiflora floribus axillaribus terminalibusque folitariis, petalis inæqualiter crenatis. Jacq. Collect. V. 1. p. 149. Icon. V. 1.

JAPONICE sen sjun ra, vulgo Ganpi. Kempf. Amæn. Exot. Fasc. V. p. 873.

N^o223.

The rich and elegant blossoms of this Chinese or Japanese beauty, possess a flatness and stiffness, which gives them an artificial air, to which their colour, which is exactly that of common red lead, may perhaps somewhat contribute; they make their appearance towards the close of the summer, and as many (when the plant is in health and vigour) are produced on the same stem, they continue a considerable time in bloom; its root is perennial, and its stem, which rises to the height of about two feet, herbaceous.

We remember to have seen this plant in the collection of the late Dr. Fothergill at Upton, about the year 1774, by whom it was first introduced to this country: Kæmpfer, the celebrated Dutch traveller, who saw it growing in Japan, gives a very short description of it in his Amænitates exoticæ, and mentions a variety of it with white flowers: Professor Thunberg, who saw it also in its wild state, as well as in the gardens of that country, confines himself to describing the plant more at large: Professor Jacquin, in his Icones, has given an admirable figure of it.

Persons here differ in their mode of cultivating this species of Lychnis, some treating it as a stove others as a greenhouse and others as a hardy herbaceous plant; the latter mode is to be preferred, provided care be taken to plant it in a sheltered situation, and to guard it against the inclemency of particular seasons; it is propagated by parting its roots, also by slips, and cuttings, but in this business more than ordinary care is required to be successful.

[224]
Phylica Ericoides. Heath-Leav'd Phylica

Class and Order

Pentandria Monogynia

Generic Character

Perianthium 5-partitum, turbinatum. Petala 0. Squamæ 5, stamina munientes. Caps. tricocca, infera.

Specific Character and Synonyms

PHYLICA ericoides foliis linearibus verticillatis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 235. Ait. Kew. V. 1. p. 268.

ALATERNOIDES africana ericæ foliis, floribus albicantibus et muscosis. Comm. Hort. 2. p. 1. t. 1.

N^o224.

Mr. Miller, who cultivated this plant in 1731, informs us, that it grows wild about Lisbon, where it covers extensive tracts of ground, in the same manner as the heath does in this country; it seldom rises above the height of three feet, and is much disposed to become bushy; its flowers, which are slightly odoriferous, begin to appear in autumn, and continue during the winter and spring; they grow in little heads on the summits of the branches: their whiteness, contrasted with the dark colour of the foliage, forms a pleasing appearance, and entitles this plant, though a common and long-established inhabitant of the greenhouse, to a place with such as may boast more brilliancy of colour.

Its leaves, which thickly cover the stalks, do not well accord with Linnæus's specific description.

It is usually propagated by cuttings, which strike readily.

[225]
Lobelia Surinamensis. Shrubby Lobelia

Class and Order

Syngenesia Monogamia

Generic Character

Cal. 5-fidus. Cor. 1-petala, irregularis. Caps. infera, 2 sive 3-locularis.

Specific Character and Synonyms

LOBELIA surinamensis caule suffruticoso, foliis oblongis glabris serratis, floribus axillaribus pedunculatis. Ait. Kew. V. 3. p. 498. Sp. Pl. 1320.

LOBELIA lævigata foliis ellipticis serratis glabris, capsulis grossis globosis, calycibus subulatis, corollis glaberrimis. Linn. Suppl. p. 392.

N^o225.

The Lobelia surinamensis, a plant newly introduced here, is minutely described in the Suppl. Pl. of the younger Linnæus, under the name of lævigata, apparently from the smoothness of its flowers: in the year 1786, Mr. Alexander Anderson sent this plant to the Royal Garden at Kew, from the West-Indies, where it grows spontaneously, as well as at Surinam; and Mr. Aiton has inserted it at the end of the Hort. Kew. assigning to it a new specific description, and a new trivial name: our drawing was made from a plant which flowered in the stove of Messrs. Grimwood and Co. Kensington, to whom it was imparted by Richard Molesworth, Esq. of Peckham, a gentleman liberal in his communications, and anxious to promote the cause of Botany.

This species of Lobelia is a stove plant, having a some-*what shrubby stalk, growing to the height of several feet; its blossoms are very large, of a pale red colour, and its Antheræ, which might be mistaken for the stigma, unusually hairy.

It begins to flower in January and February, and continues to blossom during most of the summer.

Is increased by cuttings.

[226]
Arabis Alpina. Alpine Wall-Cress

Class and Order

Tetradynamia Siliquosa

Generic Character

Glandulæ nectariferæ 4, singulæ intra calycis foliola, squamæ instar reflexæ.

Specific Character and Synonyms

ARABIS alpina foliis amplexicaulibus dentatis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 599. Ait. Kew. Vol. 2. p. 399. Mill. Dict. ed. 6. 4to.

DRABA alba siliquosa repens. Bauh. Pin. p. 109.

N^o226.

An early-blowing plant, if it has no great pretensions to beauty, brings with it a powerful recommendation, more especially if its flowers are not of the more common hue; such are the claims which the present plant has to a place in this work: it is perennial, hardy, herbaceous, of low growth, rarely exceeding a foot in height, producing its white blossoms in April and May: its size renders it a suitable plant for the border of a small garden, or for the covering of rock-work.

It is readily increased by parting its roots in autumn.

Grows spontaneously on the Alps of Switzerland, Austria, and Lapland, and was cultivated (vid. Hort. Kew) in the Botanic Garden at Oxford, in 1658.

[227]
Helianthus Multiflorus. Many-Flowered or Perennial Sun-Flower

Class and Order

Syngenesia Polygamia Frustranea

Generic Character

Recept. paleaceum, planum. Pappus 2-phyllus. Cal. imbricatus, subsquarrosus.

Specific Character and Synonyms

HELIANTHUS multiflorus foliis inferioribus cordatis trinervatis superioribus ovatis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 781.

CHRYSANTHEMUM americanum majus perenne, floris folis foliis et floribus. Moris. Hist. 3. p. 23.

N^o227.

The Helianthus multiflorus, a native of North-America, is a hardy perennial herbaceous plant, arising usually to the height of five or six feet, and producing a great number of large yellow shewy blossoms, which renders it a suitable plant to ornament the shrubbery or garden of large extent; the variety with double flowers is the one most commonly cultivated, and this we find in almost every garden: it flowers from July to September, and is propagated by parting its roots in autumn.

This is a hardy plant, of ready growth, will bear the smoke of London better than many others; if it continues in the same spot for a great number of years, the blossoms are apt to become single.

The single sort, according to Morison, was introduced before 1699 by Lord Lemster. Ait. Kew.

[228]
Bellis Perennis var. Major Flore Pleno. Great Double Daisy

Class and Order

Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua

Generic Character

Recept. nudum, conicum. Pappus nullus. Cal. hemisphæricus: squamis æqualibus. Sem. subovata.

 

Specific Character and Synonyms

BELLIS perennis scapo nudo. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 770.

BELLIS hortensis flore pleno. Bauh. Pin. p. 261.

BELLIS minor hortensis flore pleno. Double Garden Daisy. Park. Parad. p. 322.

N^o228.

The daisy, a plant common to Europe, in its wild state delights in open situations, which are moderately moist, its root is perennial, and increases greatly; the usual colour of its flowers is white, the florets are sometimes tipt with red, but more frequently red on the under side.

When double, the daisy becomes much more ornamental, and in this state many varieties of it have long been cultivated, very generally in gardens; those principally found in our nurseries are

The large double daisy with florets of a deep red colour on the under side, figured on the plate; the flowers of this sort will sometimes expand nearly to the size of a half-crown piece, and are the most shewy of any that we have seen; the foliage of this sort is also proportionably larger.

The pale red double daisy, more delicate in its appearance, but smaller, varying in its shades of colour.

The pure white double daisy.

The deep red double daisy; in this the petals are usually tubular or quilled.

Besides these, there are

The coxcomb double daisy, both red and white, in which the flowering stem rises up preternaturally flattened, and carries on its summit a long-extended ridge of flowers, frequently of an enormous size; this monstrous production seems to arise from the coalescence of two or more flowering stems: and as it is of accidental origin, so we find that a daisy which has been a coxcomb one year, shall lose that appearance entirely the next, and out of a long edging of daisies growing luxuriantly, new ones shall here and there arise; we cannot therefore depend upon the constancy of this variety.

Another singular variety is the proliferous or hen and chicken daisy, in which a number of flowers standing on short footstalks spring circularly out of the main flower; as this appearance for the most part arises from great luxuriance¹, this sort of daisy is also found occasionally to lose its prolific character: in my garden at Lambeth-Marsh, I once had a daisy growing in an edging among a number of others, which not only became proliferous, or of the hen and chicken kind, but its stalk also, or scapus, became branched, producing six or seven flowering-stems, with flowers at their extremities of the size of the common daisy; thus we find that the most permanent characters of plants are liable to be altered, and even destroyed, by accident, or culture.

Daisies appear to most advantage planted as an edging to a border, not that they are superior, or even equal to box for the great purposes of an edging; but in the spring of the year they enliven the border more, and add much to the general gaiety of the garden: in the formation of these, we shall give our readers some practical instructions, which will enable them to succeed much better than by following the mode commonly practised.

The last week in September, or the first in October, take up your daisy roots, and divide them into single plants; your border being dug, put down your line, and make a shallow trench along it as for the planting of box; in this trench place your plants three inches apart, spreading out their fibres in the trench, and pressing the earth closely round them; in this way they will soon become rooted, and firmly fixed in the ground before the approach of frost; should this business be deferred later, as it frequently is, and the daisies be planted with a dibber in the usual way, in all probability the worms will draw out every plant before spring, especially if the earth has been rendered loose by repeated frosts.

Edgings of this kind require to be replanted in the same way every autumn, as the plants, if they grow well, spread too wide; if the summer prove dry, many of the roots fail, and if they remain undisturbed in the same spot, they will degenerate and become single, notwithstanding Mr. Miller informs us, that he never observed them to do so.