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Show • The Hiflory of P L A N T S . T R A D E S C A N T I A. T H E flowers are arranged int? an .irreg?lar umbel, and have an irregular fpath a..: ceous involucrum. The penanthmm IS formed of three oval, concave, patent, permanent leaves: the corolla .confifis of thre~ petals ; .they are very large, orbiculated, plane, and patent; the ftamma are fi:C, filiform, hatry fi~aments, ereCt, and of. the length of the cup; the anthera:! are remform: the gern:en IS oval,. and ?btu_fely tngo· nal ; the ftyle is filiform, and of the length of the fiamma; the fhgma 1s tngonal and obtufe. The fruit is an oval capfule, covered by the cup, formed of three valves, and containing three cells : the feeds are few in number, and angular. Of this genus there is only one known fpecies. , . ! T R A D E s c A N T I A. tttrgintan ~pillet:::lbo:t. The root is fibrous, and fpreads every way under the furface. The radical leaves are very numerous; they grow in clufters of three or four together, furrounding one another at the bafe ; they are two feet long, and fcarce half an inch broad, graify in appearance, and gradually growing fmaller from the bafe to the point. The ftalk is round, thick, green, jointed, and ufually fimple, fometimes ramofe : the leaves fiand fingly at the joints, except at the top, where there grow two ; from the center of thete grows a clufter of flowers, ten or fifteen in number. They are large, beautiful, and fading; their colour is a deep blue, fometimes red, fometimes white; the flowers that open in the morning clofe and fade at night, but there is a long fucceffion of new ones. It is a native of Virginia. C. Bauhine calls it, Allium five Moly Virginianum ; others, Phalangium Virginianum, and Ephemerum Virginianum. 1 Clafs the Sixth. Order the Firjl. Divijion the Sec011d. Hexandria Monogynia, with a Jpatha compofed of a Jingle leaf. GALANTHUS. HE. calyx is an oblong, obtufe, compreifed fpatha, opening on the flat fide, and fadmg: the corolla confifts of three oblong, obtufe, lax, hollow, patulous petals, e~ual in fize: the nectarium is cylindric, and is formed of three parallel, obtufe, cm~rgmated leaves, of half the length of the petals : the ftamina are fix very fhort, cap1llary filaments; the antherre are oblong, acuminated, connivent, and terminate in fCtm or hairs : the germen is globofe, and placed under the cup ; the fiyle is filiform, and longer than the fia~ina; the ftigma is fimple: the fruit is a capfule of a globofooval figure, obtufely tngonal, formed of three valves, and containing three cells: the feeds are numerous and globofe. Of this genus there is only one known fpecies and this is ufually called Narciffo-: leucoium. ' GAL ANT H us. The root is a fmall bulb, compofed of a multitude of coats· the colour black on the outfide, but white within, and furni!hed with a multitude of fibres from the bafc: the fialk and leaves rife from the root in a clufter furrounded to a confiderable heigh.t, .with .a membrane; the fialk is flender, angular,' hollow, green, and three or .four mches high; two leaves accompany the fialk ufually, almoft to it's top ; they are narrow'. long, .graffy, and of a bluifh or greyifh green ; the top of the fialk furnifhes a dro?pmg p~d1cle, on which hangs a large fnow-white flower. It IS a nauv~ of the ~lps ~nd Apennines; we have it in our gardens almofi every w~ere, flowenng early m fpnng. C. Bauhine calls it, Leucoium bulbofum trifolium minus; Lobel, Leuconarciifo-lirion minimum ; and Renealm, Erangelia. LEUCOIUM. The Hijloty of P L A N T S. , LEU C 0 I U M. T H .E calyx is an oblong., obtufe fpatha, compre.ffed, burfting fide ways, and de .. c1duous. The corolla IS of a rounded fhape, and patent, divided into fix plain oval petals, almo~ from the very ?afe, and with their tops fomewhat thicker and nar~ rower than the m1ddles. The ftamma are fix very fhort, fetaceous filaments : the antherre are oblong, obtufe, quadrangular, ere~, ~nd diO:ant; the germen is roundi{h, and 1bnds under the receptacle ; the fiyle 1s th1ckefi: upward and obtufe ; the fiigma is fetaceous, ereCt, acute, and long~ r .than the ftamina : the fruit is a turbinated capfule, formed of three valves, and contammg three cells : the feeds are numerous and roundifh. 0~ this genus there is alfo only o~e fpecies, and this is ufually diftinguifhed only from .the former genus as another fpecies, larger than that. Some have indeed obferved the difference in the flower, but they have fiill called it by the fame name. L E u c 0 I u M. The root is a tunicated bulb, brown on the outlide, white within, and fibrated at the bafe. The leaves are fix inches long, and a third of an inch broad, of a bright green, an? of a .gloffy fu_rface; there are ufually, from three to fix of them, together: the fialk IS fix mches h1gh, green, hollow, angular, and ilriated; it is inclofed with the leaves in a n:embra?e, to two inches high; it has no leaf on it, and has at it's top a long droo~mg ped~cle fame times,. but rarely two or three : the flower is large, and of a beautiful whtte, marked wtth a green fpot externally: the antherre are yellow. It is a native of Italy and Germany; we haye it in our gardens. C. Bauhine calls it, Leucoi~m bulbofum vulgare; Dodona:!us, Leucoium bulbofum ·hexaphyllum. N A R C IS S US. T HE. calyx is an oblong, obtufe, compreifed. fpatha, opening on one fide, and . . de~1duou~. _The corolla confifis of a neCtanum, formed of one leaf, of a cylmdrtc or mfund1buhform fhape, coloured at the top, and wide, curled and plicated at the mouth ; and of fix oval, acuminated, plane petals, affixed externally to the tube of the ne0arium above it's bafe. The ftamina are fix fubulated filaments, fhorter than the netlarmm ; the antherre are oblong: the germen is roundifh, but obfcurely triquetr? us, a!1d ~ands under the cup: the fiyle is fil.ifo:m, and longer than the ftamina; the fbgma IS tnfid, hollow, and obtufe. Th.e .fruit IS a roundi~, obtufely, trigonal capfule, formed of three valves, and contammg three cells, m which are a number of round, appendiculated feeds, with a columnar receptacle. 1. Narciffus fcapo unifloro, neElarii limbo rotato revijfimo. The Jingle-flowered Narciffus, with the limb of the neElarium very jhort and rotated. teurplt:::tint~ uten ~affo'Otl. The root is a tunicated bulb, fibrated at the bafe; the leaves are twelve or fifteen in.; ches long, h.alf an in~h broad, and of a pale blui!h-green; the fialk is fingle, naked, and fifteen mches high, green, flatted, angulated, firiated, and hollow; at it's top fiands a fingle flower, very fragant and beautiful; it is white but the tubular part h a crin:fon ed~e, below which is a white circle, and under tha~ a yellow one. as It I& a native of Italy, and fame parts of France. C. Bauhine calls it Narciffi albus circulo purpureo; Dodonc:eus, Narciifus medio-purpureus. ) us sA 2. Narcijjus |