OCR Text |
Show [ II 2 ] -Chain'd at his root two fcion-demons dwell, Breathe the faint hifs, or try the fhriller yell ; Rife, fluttering in the air on callow wings, And aitn at infect-prey their little flings. So Time's {l:rong anns with [weeping fcythe erafe 255 Art's cumberous works, and empires, from their bafe : While each young tJour its fickle fine employs, And crops the fweet b~ds of d01neftic joys ! With bluihes bright as morn fair ORCHis charms, And lulls her infant in her fondling arn1s ; .2 6o Orchis. I. 259. The Orchis mario in tne circumll:ance of tne parent-root ll1rivelling up and dying, as the young one incrcafes, is not only analogous to other tuberous or knobby roots, but alfo to fame bulbous roots, as the tulip. The manner of the produclion of herbaceous plants from their various perennial roots, feems to want further uwefligation, as their analogy ·is not yet clearly eflablilhed. The caudc:x:, or true root, in the orchis lies above the knob; and from thi part the fib rcus roots and the new knob 01re produced. In the tulip the caudex lies below the bulb; from whence proceed the fibrous roots and the new bulbs; the root, after it has flowered, dies I ike the orchis-root.; for the fiem of the lall: ye:u's tulip lies on the outfide, and not in the center of the bulb; which I am informed does not happen in the three or four firfi years ''hen raifed from feed, when it only produces a fkm , and flender lc:tves without flowering. In the tuliprcot, diffecred in the early fpring, jull b::fore it begins to Jhoot, a perfect flowtr is fecn in its center; and between the fir(t and fecond co:.lt the large next year's bulb i.>, I beli. evc, produced; between the fecond and third coat, and betv\CU1 this and the fourth coat, and perhaps further, other Ids and lefs bulbs arc villble, all adjoining to the caudex at the bottom of the mother bulb; and which, I am told, require as many years before they will flower, as the number of the coats with which they an:: covered. This ( ITJ ) Soft plays Affe!Jion round her bofotn' s throne, Aud guards his life, forgetful of her own. So wings the wounded Deer her headlong Bight, Pierced by fo1ne ambufh' d archer of the night, Shoots to the woodlands with her bounding fawn, 2 6 5 And drops of blood bedew the confcious lawn; There hid in ihades fhe ihuri.s the cheerful day, Hangs o'er her young, and weeps her life away. 01nnual reproducrion of the tulip-root induces fome floriil:s to believe that tulip-roots never die naturally, as they lofe fo few of them; whereas the hyacinth-roots, I am informed, will not lafi above five or feven years after they have flowered. The hyacinth-root differs from the tulip-root, as the fiem of the laO: year's flower is always found in the center of the root, and the new off-fets arife from the caudex below the bulb, but not beneath any of the concentric coats of the root, except the external one: he~ce Mr. Eaton, an ingenious florill: of Derby, to whom I am indebted for moll: of the obfervations in this note, concludes, that the hyacinth-root does not perifh annually after it has flowered like the tulip. Mr. Eaton gave me a tulip-root which had been fet too deep in the earth, and the caudex had elongated itfelf near an inch, and the new bulb was formed above the old one, and detached from it, infiead of adhering to its fide. See addit. Notes to Vol. I. No. XIV. The caudex of the ranunculus, cultivated by the floritl:s, lies above the claw-like root; in this the old root or claws die annually, like the tulip and orchis, and the new claws, which are feen above the old ones, draw down the caudex. lower into the earth. The fame is faid to happen to Scabiofa, or Devil's bit, and fome other plants, as valerian and greater plantain ; the new fibrous roots rifi~g round the caudex above \he old ones, the inferior end of the root becomes fiumped, as if cut off, after the old fibres are decayed, and the caudex is drawn down into the earth by thefc new roots. See Arum and Tulipa. Q |