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Show The Hijlory of P L A N T S. K OE M p F E R I A· <Dalangat. The root of the Kcrmpferia is tuberous and creeping : it ~uns un?er the furface in various direCtions and is crooked and knotty. It's general th1cknefs IS that of a man's finger, but it is' not unfrequently of an inc~ in diameter ; it is furrounde.d, with circular ridges in many places, and fwells mto frequen~ protu.b~rances : It s ~alour is a pale browni{h red on the furface! and. yet pale~ Withm ; It s fmell aromatic ; it's tafie extreamly acrid and pungent; It e~tts ~bres m great z:umber, from feveral parts, and propagates itfelf a great way, in a httle time, by fpreadmg; from the feveral knots of the root arife the leaves; there grow two of them together, they fiand on erect, broad, and fl atti01, hollow pedicles : they fl:and oppofite to one another, and are ~f a roundilh figure, and hollowed with a fmall finus at the bafe; they are of a th1ck, fleihy firutl:ure, and bright green colour, except at th~ edge, where they are generally purpli{h. They are of a fine aromatic fmell, and acnd tafie. The flowers fiand on long pedicles, which arife from the center, betwee? the two leaves. ~hey are white within, and toward the bafe of a deep purple, and m fome parts yellowiili and greenifh. Every flower lafis, f10m the time of it's opening, to the evening when it falls off, and in the morning after a freili fet appear. This plant is frequent in Ceylon, Malabar, and many other parts of the Ea£1: Indies. It's root is the Galangal of the {hop~. The apothecaries, and even the people in general who have written of the Materia Medica, difiinguiili two kinds of Galangal, the greater and the Ieifer; the latter is, of the two, much the fironger, and more acrid, and it has been fuppofed that they were the roots of two differen t plants, but they are, in reality, both the root of this fpecies, and the larger are only the older and lefs vigorous ones. We have the plant in fame of our gardens, but it requires a fiove heat, and very feldom flowers with us; it never produces any fi·uit in our coun-try; rarely, where native. It is defcribed in the Hortus Malabaricus, under the name of Katsjula-Kelenger. Krempfer calls it, Wanhem; and Rudbeck, Orchis abortiva bifolia. The root is a carminative and fl:omachic; it is a common ingre~ient in bitter infufions, and enters fame of the {hop compofitions. Clafs the Firfl. Genus the Fir.fl. Divijion the Second. Monandria Monogynia, which produce only a jingle feed after every flower. B 0 E R H A A V I A. THE calyx of the. Boerhaavia is fcarce difiinguifhable : it. is a mere margin, very fmall, and fiandmg as a corona on the head of the germen. The corolla confi~~ of a. fingle petal; it is ca~panulated, ereCt, and of a quinquangular figure. It is dtvtded mto five fegme~ts, .which are !hort and emarginated. The fiamen is a fingle fl?o:t ?lament, on wh1ch ts affixed a fmall, r.oundi.!h anthera. The germen of th.e .Pifblis placed bel.o~ the re~eptacle: the fiyle IS captllary and ereCt, and the fiigma lS obtufe. The fruit IS a turbmated capfule, furrowed on the furface and forming only one c~ll within, in which there is lodged a fingle feed. ' . This genus com~re.hen~s the Boerhaavia, and the Antanifophyllum of Vaillant. Lm~reus has place.d 1t m his Genera Plantarum among the triandria, and defcribed it as havmg three fiamma, but he had then only feen a dried fpecimen of it . he afterwards faw it in flower in the Upfal Garden, aRd, in his Catalogue of the Pl~nts there has placed it among the Monandria. ' There is only one known fpecies of this ge~ms. B 0 E R H A A v I A. The root of th~ Boerhaavia is oblong, and of an inch, or more, in diameter, and confifis of a ~ard, mternal part or core, and a foft bark of the thicknefs of a fl1illing, or more. It IS of a tolerable fmooth furface, and duiky colour. The ftalk is round, geniculated, .~ ~n~r-~ f_~efota~lfat ?Yanr t:.ktWrli'JI~ 2/.it/fe.Jrufl . |