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Show '!be Hi.ftory of P L A N T S. more, high. From the middle of this to the top ftand. t,he flowers in a. kind of fpike; they are large, and of a beautiful blue, and have each 1t s feparate pedicle, about half an inch long, and dependent. It is a native of the Eaft, but is common in our gardens, where culture has pro-duced a multitude of varieties of it, all which Tournefort has named as fpecies; too many of them, almoft all the other writers. 2. Hyacinthus corollis campanulatis fexifidis. The campanulated-jlowered Hyacinth. d5rnffp lf;p~ ncint{). The root is a large bulb; the radical leaves are feven inches long, graffy, and of a deep green : the ftalk is green, round, fucculent, and naked; at it's top ftands a fpike of large blue flowers, not ventricofe at the bafe, divided into fix fegments to the mid-dle, and thefe not curled back. It is a native of the Eaft ; we have it in gardens. C. Bauhine calls it, H yacinthus creruleo oblongo flare minor. 3. Hyacinth us corollis globojis. The globqfe-Jlowered Hyacinth. laaccmofe <5rape~ fiolllec. The root is a moderately large bulb, of an oblong figure; the radical leaves are fix or eight in number, very narrow, eight inches long, ftriated, .ru!hy, carinated, and purpli!h toward the bafe, green in other parts: the ftalk is fix or eight inches high, round, thick, naked, and fucculent: the bottom is ufually purpli!h ; the middle green, and the top, where the flowers are, blui!h : the flowers ftand in a long clofe fpike, two inches, or more, in length ; they are fmall, globofe, of a fine blue colour, and ufually whiti!h at the edges ; the top of the fpike has a kind of ramofe figure, and every flower has it's own !hort pedicle, and hangs pendent. It is a native of Italy, but is fi·equent in our gardens. C. Bauhine calls it, Hyacin~ thus racemofus creru1eus ; Tournefort, Mufcari creruleum majus. 4· Hyacinthus corollis ovatis. The oval-flowered Hyacinth. ®u.Sk~p;; ctntl). The root is a large, white, tunicated bulb; the radical leaves are fix or eight in number, long, very narrow, furrowed, thick, and fuctulent: the fialk is thick, round, tender, and fucculent, eight or ten inches high, and loaded with flowers from the middle to the top; thefe are oblong, or oval, of a fine blue colour, and a perfumed fmell. It is a native of Auftria, but is common in our gardens. C. Bauhine calls it, Hya-cinthus racemofus Mofchatus. Thefe are the only four abfolutely difiinet fpecies of Hyacinth; but the varieties of them from culture are almofi: innumerable. Tournefort, taking thefe for fpecies, has extended them to near a hundred. Linnreus in his Fundamenta Botanica allows but two diftinet fpecies of this genus; but fince ~he publiihing that work, he ; llows thefe four to be fo. P 0 L Y A N T H E S. H ERE is no calyx. The corolla is formed of one leaf and is of an infundi- . . ?uliform iliape : the tube is oblong and crooked; th; limb is patulous, and d1v1ded mto fix oval fegments: the fiamina are fix thick obtufe filaments fituate in the open.ing of t~e corolla ; the .antherre are linear, and Idnger tqan the fila:nents: the germen IS roundiili, and ftands m the bottom of the corolla ; the fiyle is filiform, and ~h?rter than the corolla; the fiigma is trifid, thick, and covered with a honey-like JUICe : the fruit is .a. capfule of a roundi!h, but obtufely trigonal, form, compofed of three valves, contammg three cells, and wrapped up in the bafe of the corolla: the f~cds ar~ numerous, femiorbicular, plane, and laid in a double feries. Heifter has gtVen this genus the name of Tuberofa. ALOE. The Hiflory of P L A N T S. A L 0 E. T HE R E is no calyx ; the corolla is oblong, and formed of a lingle petal, divided into fix fegments at the extremities : the tube is gibbofe; the limb ftrait; the .fi:amina are fix fubulated .filaments, fully of the length of the corolla, and inferted in the receptacle: the antherre are oblong and incumbent; the germen is irregular in it's figure; the flyle is fimple, and of the length of the .fi:amina; the fiigma is obtufe and trifid : the fruit is an oblong, trifulcous capfule, formed of three valves, and containing three cells: the feeds are numerous and angular. The figure of the corolla i'n this genus is fomewhat uncertain, but there are characters enough, befide thofe of that part, to diftingui!h it by. 1. Aloe Joliis anguflis integris inermi-Jpinojis. The Alr!e, with narrow, entire, weakly fpinofe leaves. 3tbt ~uccottine ~toe t0lant. The root is tuberous, and large, covered with a greyi!h bark, and full of a bitter juice: the leaves are numerous, and ftand wide; they are a foot and half long, not more than two inches broad, and are thick, fucculent, and of a deep green; they terminate in a long fpine at the end, and are befet round the edges with a multitude of weak, white fpines. The ftalk grows to near two feet high; it is round, fmooth, fucculent, and browni!h ; there are fame little leaves on it toward the top : the flowers are large, l:>ending, and of a beautiful purple ; they ftand in a kind of thick fpike, at the fummit of the ftalk. It is a native of the ifiand Socotora, and many other places. Breynius calls it, Aloe fuccotrina anguftifolia fpinofa flare purpureo ; and Plukenet, Aloe ananre folio floribus fuave-rubentibus. The juice of the leaves of this plant depurated by ftanding, and then dried in the fun, is what is called Succotrine Aloes in the !hops. An excellent cathartic in ufe on a multitude of occafions. 2. Aloe Joliis JPinojis confertis dentatis vaginantibus planis maculatis. '!be clu.ftered, thick, dentated, and prickly-leaved Aloe. 1rllt J)tpatic ~toe \0lant. The root is a foot long, and two or three inches in diameter; the leaves are numerous, and fiand in a circular manner; they are a foot and half long, three or four inches broad, and an inch, or more, thick; they terminate each in a fpine, and are dentated at the edges, and all the denticulations terminate alfo in fmaller fpines ; they are of a blui!h-green colour, and feem as if dufty ; the fle!hy fubftance is green, foft, fucculent, and of a fweeti!h tafi:e, but there run through it in all directions a number of veffels, containing a yellow juice, of an intolerable bitternefs. The ftalk is round, fmooth, three feet high, and ufually divided into two or three ramifications: the flowers ftand in long feries; along the tops of thefe they are yellow, ftreaked with green, an inch long, and pendulous. It is a native of mofi parts of America, and of the Eafi: Indies. C. Bauhine calls it, Aloe vera vulgaris; others, Aloe vulgaris. The depurated juice of this plant, dried in the fun, is what is called in the !hops Hepatic Aloes; and the freces of the fame juice, dried, make the Caballine Aloes. - The other fpecies of the Aloe are extreamly numerous; the more fingular are, 1. The fpinofe, ribbed, African Aloe. z. The American Aloe, with a very long fpine at the end of the leaf. 3· The broad, glaucous-leaved Aloe. 4· The variegatedleaved Aloe, with a few !hort [pines. 5· The very robutt, fpined Aloe. 6. The very broad, !hining-leaved Aloe. 7· The broad, lucid, ferrated-leaved, fpinofe Aloe. 8. The dwarf, variegated Aloe of Ceylon. 9· The 01ort-leavcd, fpinofe, African Aloe: Commelin has defcribed this three times as three fpecies. 1 o. 'fhe patulous, diflichous, linguiform- leaved Aloe. 1 I. T he very prickly, deep green-leaved Aloe. I :2. The greenflowered, rhomboidal-leaved Aloe. 13· The oval, acuminated-leaved Aloe. 14. The triangular, vifcous-leaved Aloe. 15. The triangular-leaved, green and white Aloe. 5 E Y UCCA. |