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Show rhe Hi}Jory of P L A N T S. Plumbago foliis petiolatis. 7!:Je Plumbago, with petiolated leaves. The root is oblong, moderately thick, and of a very acrid tafie ; the ~adicalleaves are roundi!h, three inches long, and of a deep green colour : the ftalk ~1fes to three or four feet high, but is not very robufi, and feldo~ J?erfetl:ly erect: It IS round, articulated, woody, but tortuous, and of a green, !hmmg furface : 1t ufually grows among Jhrubs, and is, in part, fupported upright by them. The leaves fiand on the fialks, on very fhort pedicles.; they are roundi!h, fometimes rather oblong, tw~ inches in length, and of a deep Jhining green, fmooth on the furface, and very thm : the flowers fiand in fpikes at the top of the fialk and branches ; they have no pedicles, but adhere by the bafe of the cup, which is vifcous, firiated, and, as it were, fpinofe ; the flowers are white, and much like thofe of the common white Lychnis, only femewhat fmaller. It is a native both of the Eafi and Weft Indies; we have it frequently in our gar.: dens. Ray calls it, Dentillaria lychnoides fylvatica fcandens flore albo; Commelin, Lychnis Indica fpicata frutl:ibus lappaceis oblongis, radice urente. The other fpecies of the Plumbago are, 1. The beet-leaved, American Plumbago ; and, 2. The fmaller-leaved, fcandent, and prickly, American Plumbago, with fmaller flowers. PH L 0 X. T HE calyx is a cylindric but decangular perianthium, formed of a fingle leaf, di~ vided into five fegments at the edge, and permanent: the corolla confills of a fingle petal, and is of the hypocrateri-form kind : the tube is cylindric, and three times 'the length of the cup, narrow below and crooked: the limb is plane, and divided into five roundifh, equal, obtufe fegments, 1horter than the tube : the fiamina are fiy~ filaments placed in the tube of the flower; two of which are longer, one fhorter than the other two : the anthem! are placed in the mouth of the corolla : the germen is conic; the £lyle is filiform, and of the length of the fiamina : the fiigma is trifid and acute : the fruit is an oval, but fomewhat trigonal, capfule, formed of three valves, and containing three cells : the feeds are fingle and oval. This genus comprehends the Lychnidea of Dillenius. 1. Phlox foliis lineari-lanceolatis caule reC!o, corymbo terminali. 1:he narrow, lanceolate-leaved P I:Jlox, with a clztjler of flowers terminati1tg the .ftalk. The root is oblong, flender, white, and furni!hed with a few fibres. the radical leaves ~re three inche.s long, narrow, and pointed at the ends, of a pale green colour, and thm: the fialk ts round, fmooth, and robufr; it rifes to two feet high, and toward the top has fome branches : the leaves fiand two at a joint ; they are an inch and a half long, narrow, and P?inted. at the ends, of a very pale green, and fmooth on the furface: the flowers ~and m a ~md of u~bels at the tops of the ftalks and branches; they are large and white, fomeumes redd1G1. T~c plant is common i? V.irginia, and many other parts of North America; we have 1t m our gardens. Dtllenms calls it, Lychnidea folio melampyri. 2. Phlox foliis ovatis, corymbo terminatrice. The oval-leaved Phlox, with terminatory cluflers of flowers. The root is o.blong, thick, ~nd woody, white, and furnifhed with a number of fibres. The radtcalleaves are four inc?es long, very numerous, of a pale green, fmooth and e~en at the edges, and near three mches in breadth : the fialk rifes to two or three feet htgh : the leaves fiand in pairs, at three or four inches difi:ance · they are of an oval figure! an~ obtufely pointed, two inches and ~half long, and m~re th;n an inch and a half m hi eadth. The fialk towards the top fends out fix or eight branches jn pairs, oppofite The Hi}lory of P L A N T s. oppofite to each other, fr.om the alre of the leaves : th~fe aU rife to the height of the main ftalk, and are termmated by clufiers of large wh1te flowers, together forming a furface, often of ten or twelve inches. This is frequent in Penfylvania, whence we have often received it from John Bartram. CONVOLVULUS. THE calyx is a very fmall perianthium, of an obtufe, oval, connivent figure formed of one leaf, divided into five fegments. The corolla confifis of a fingl~ petal; the 1hape is caml?anulated and patent; it is large, plicate~, and very lightly divided at the rim. The fiamma are five fubulated filaments, of about half the length of the corolla ; the antherre are oval and compreffed : the germen is roundilh ; the ftyle is filiform, and of the length of the ftamina : the fiigmata are two, oblong and broad~ The fruit is a capfule of a roundilh figure, contained within the cup, and formed of one, tw.o, or three valves : the feeds are two, roundilh and often acute : the corolla is ufually cut in ten places; but there are fpecies, in which thefe crenre are but five. This genus comprehends the Convolvulus of authors, and the Volubilis of Dillenius4 The Volt;tbilis has in a clufier fome larger, others fmaller, flowers ; f:lnd the feeds are elaled, but thefe are fpecific, not generical, difiinctions. I. Convolvulus foliis fogittatis po}Jice truncatis. <5ttat l!5tn~ The Convolvulus, with fogittated leaves truncated behind. - 'tbttil. The root is oblong, white, and creeping, of the thicknefs of a crow-quill, and of an acrid tafie : the fialks are round, flender, and infirm, but by t.he help of buihes,. on which it climbs, they grow fometimes to eight or ten feet high : the !~aves ftand fingly, and at confiderable difiances ; their p.edicles are an inch lo.ng ; tbey are broad, fagittated at the bafe, and terminate in a point : their colour is a pal~ green, their texture thin, and the two points at the bafe are truncated. The_ flowers fiand fingly on long pedicles, arifing from the alre of the leaves ; ·they are very large, aqd of a fnow white. The plant is common in our hedges. ' C. Bauhine calls it, Convolvulus IJ}ajor ~!bus. • · . 2. Convolvulus calycibus tuberculatis pilojis. The Convolvulus, with tuberculofe, hairy cups. laounll:::l eabttl, blue ll5tnnlllteb. The root is oblong, creeping, of a red.dilh colour, and of the thicknefs of a crowquill: the ftalk is round, flender, a~d tortuous, hairy, and ufually of k reddilh colour, and, when properly fupported, will grow to four dl- five feet high: the leaves fiand fingly, and at ·confiderable difiances on the ftalks; they have pe.dicles of an inch long, .reddilh and hairy: their 1hape is very unc,ertarn; they are fometimes, roundilh, fomet1mes angulated, like the leaves of ~vy, and this in a greater or leffer degree :I they are always of a pale green and hairy, 1bdth on tpe; upper and under furfaces. The fl.owers are difpofed in a very fing~far mlmher ; a. common pedicle of three inches long nfes f~om the ala of a leaf, and at the top of thts fiand three other pedicles, each an inch long, and each fupporting a fingle flower : the flowers are. large, and of a beautiful purple colour : the cups blackifh, ·hairy, and full of lit le' tub~rcles: the flowers are only open in the morning and evening; they lhut up, when the'fun is ou~: hence .fome have called the plant Flos noctis. It is a native of Syria, and many other ~f the wanner countries. It's leaves differ fo extreamly in figure, that they have milled many authors into the defcribing the plant three times over, as if of fo many different fpecies. C. Bauhine calls it, in the roundleaved ftate, Convolvulus purpureus folio fubrotundo; in it's angulated-leaved fiate~ Convolvulus hederaceus Ca:!ruleus angulofo folio ; and Dillenius, wheh the leaves are yet more angulated, calls it, Convolvulus creruleus hederaceo folio ma.gis angulofo. It ufuall~ has round leaves in Syria ; ivy-like leaves in many parts of Afia, Africa, and Amenca; and the more angular-leaved plants have been from .!Ethiopia. What ihews, |