Part 104

As hitherto this tribe of Plants has not been given to the public by any truly established name; (the different species having been erroneously titled Dillenias, which have many pointals,) and as we find it to differ, from any yet described Genus, we have named it after G. Hibbert, Esq. of Clapham Common, Surry; whose knowledge and fervor in botanical pursuits, as well as liberality in his endeavours to enrich our collections, from every quarter of the globe, but especially from the Cape of Good Hope, has not been exceeded by any; and we are well assured, no name deserves a place, on botanical record, more than that of HIBBERT.

PLATE CXXVII.

JASMINUM GRACILE.

Slender-stemmed Jasmine.

CLASS II. ORDER I.

DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

CALYX. Perianthium monophyllum, tubulatum, oblongum; ore quinquedentato, erecto; persistens.

COROLLA monopetala, hypocrateriformis; tubus cylindraccus, longus; limbus quinquepartitus, planus.

STAMINA. Filamenta duo, brevia. Antheræ parvæ, intra tubum corollæ.

PISTILLUM. Germen subrotundum. Stylos filiformis, longitudine staminum. Stigma bifidum.

PERICARPIUM. Bacca ovalis, glabra, bilocularis seu bicapsularis.

SEMINA duo, magna, ovato-oblonga, arillata, hinc convexa, inde plana.

Obs. Figura floris acuminata et obtusa variat. Bacca in aliis simplex, in aliis dicocca.

EMPALEMENT. Cup one-leaved, tubular, oblong; five-toothed at the mouth, and upright; remaining.

BLOSSOM, one petal, salver-shaped; tube cylindrical, long; border five divisions, flat.

CHIVES. Threads two, short. Tips small, within the tube of the blossom.

POINTAL. Seed-bud roundish. Shaft thread-shaped, the length of the chives. Summit two-cleft.

SEED-VESSEL. Berry oval, smooth, two-celled or two-capsuled.

SEEDS two, large, oblong egg-shaped, each in its proper seed-coat, convex on one side, and flat on the other.

Obs. The flower varies in its character of tapering to a point, or in being blunt-ended. In some the berry is simple, in others double-seeded.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Jasminum petiolis foliorum geniculatis; foliis ovatis, oppositis, nitidis, simplicibus; floribus umbellatis; laciniis corollæ obtusis, undulatis.

Jasmine with the foot-stalks of the leaves jointed; egg-shaped leaves, growing opposite, shining and simple; flowers grow in umbels; the segments of the blossom are blunt and waved.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The Cup. 2. A Blossom spread open, to expose the situation of the Chives. 3. The Shaft and Summit. 4. A ripe Berry. 5. The same cut transversely, to shew the cells and seeds.

The plant here figured, we consider as a distinct species from the J. simplicifolium of Forster, which he describes as a native of the Friendly Isles, in the South Seas; and likewise from the J. oblongum of Burman, which is given (but with a query) as a synonim to the J. simplicifolium of the former Author by Willdenow, in his Sp. Plant. p. 38, Part I. In the year 1792, the seeds of this plant were received by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy, Hammersmith, with the Bignonia pandorana, and many others, communicated by Colonel Paterson, then commanding a detachment stationed for a time on Norfolk Island, where it is native. To the green-house it is a considerable acquisition, either for a climber, or otherwise, as it is rarely without blossoms from July, till the end of November; being rather more tender than many of its congeners, which are in general destined to that station; it should be placed as nigh the flue, in as dry and airy a part of it as possible. A light, sandy peat soil, without mixture, is the most congenial to its growth; and it is increased by cuttings, made in the month of March, put, from 12 to 20, according to the size of the pot, under a small bell-glass, in the before-named earth, and plunged either in the bark-bed of the hot-house, or in the heat of a common hot-bed.

PLATE CXXVIII.