Part 99

EMPALEMENT. Cup one leaf, funnel-shaped, coloured, above and withering; border four divisions.

BLOSSOM. Four petals, sitting close on the mouth of the cup, into which they are inserted.

CHIVES. Eight threads, unequal, thread-shaped, upright, fixed into the tube of the cup. Tips egg-shaped.

POINTAL. Seed-bud beneath, egg-shaped. Shaft thread-shaped, upright, the length of the chives. Summit composed of small knobs.

SEED-VESSEL. A fleshy berry, egg-shaped, and four valves.

SEEDS many, small, affixed to a pillar-shaped receptacle.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Fuchsia foliis ovatis undulatis, subternis; pedunculis unifloris, axillaribus; laciniis calycis reflexis.

Fuchsia with egg-shaped leaves, waved, and growing mostly by threes; foot-stalks with one flower growing from the insertion of the leaf, the segments of the cup reflexed.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A Flower cut open, to expose the insertion of petals and chives into the cup. 2. The Pointal, complete. 3. A ripe berry, natural size.

No plant perhaps ever excited such universal admiration, as the Scarlet Fuchsia; wherefore, the addition of a second species to our collections, of so fine a Genus, must be considered as a very agreeable acquisition. The Box Thorn-like Fuchsia, is a native of the North-west coast of America; and was first brought to England, in the year 1796: it is certainly, much more tender than the Scarlet Fuchsia, as the plant constantly perishes, as low as to the earth, if not preserved in the hothouse; but whether it is herbaceous the root surviving, we have not sufficient experience to determine. The increase is certain and easy, if cuttings are made, from the young shoots, early in March, and plunged in a hotbed, or in the bark of the hothouse, six or eight in a pot; from which they may be removed, about June, into large pots for flowering, which will be from August till November. Loam, with a small portion of rotten dung, is the soil it most approves.

The specific title we have adopted, is from the very great resemblance the plant bears to Lycium afrum, or the Box-Thorn; although we have some doubts, whether this species may not be the F. triphylla of Father Plumier. But as the F. coccinea, as well as this plant, has frequently the leaves growing by threes; we thought that, as it as yet had no specific title with us, the character of the plant would be best distinguished, by the name we have chosen.

PLATE CXXI.

GERANIUM CORTUSÆFOLIUM.

Cortusa-leaved Geranium.

CLASS XVI. ORDER IV. of Suppl. System. Veg. 1781.

MONODELPHIA DECANDRIA. Threads united. Ten Chives.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

MONOGYNA. Stigmata quinque. Fructus rostratus, penta-coccus.

One POINTAL. Five summits. Fruit furnished with long awns, five dry berries.

See GERANIUM GRANDIFLORUM, Pl. XII. Vol. I.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Geranium foliis cordatis, sublobatis, serratis, tomentoso-sericeis; petiolis longissimis, erectis; floribus umbellatis, odoratissimis, stipulis subulatis; caule robusto, subcarnoso.

Geranium with heart-shaped leaves, slightly lobed, sawed, and covered with a downy pile; footstalks very long and upright; flowers grow in umbels, and are very sweet scented; leaf-props awl shaped; stem stout, and rather fleshy.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The Empalement cut open. 2. The Chives and Pointal, natural size. 3. The same, magnified. 4. The Chives cut open, magnified. 5. The Seed-bud, and Pointal, magnified.

The Cortusa-leaved Geranium is a tender plant, seldom growing to more than a foot in height; producing its blossoms, which are extremely fragrant, in erect bunches, from the summit of the branches, and must be protected, through the depth of winter, in the hothouse. The propagation is both slow and difficult, as it rarely perfects any seeds, and forms but few branches. The cuttings when taken off, which ought to be done about the end of May, should be exposed to the sun, till the part where cut has formed a tough coat over the wound, which will take place in two or three days; when they will not be so subject to rot from the moisture of the earth, as if planted when just taken from the plant. These instructions are necessary to be observed, in the propagation of all the thick-stemmed Geraniums, by cuttings. A mixture of sandy peat, with a small quantity of old rotten dung, will prove the best compost for preserving this plant. Our drawing was taken this year, in July, at the Hammersmith nursery. A mistake has arisen with regard to the name of this species of Geranium; which was evidently not known to any botanist, antecedent to its being brought to England in 1786 by Mr. A. Hove, a native of Poland, from the south west coast of Africa, and found by him in about the 23d degree of south latitude. Professor Martyn, in his new edition of Miller’s Dictionary, article Pelargonium 43, has taken for granted that this is the plant designed by Professor Jacquin, where he treats of G. cortusæfolium; giving the G. tabulare of Burman, Linnæus, &c. as synonymous to it; but undoubtedly, no such intention could be in the Professor, as the uniting these two plants, which are so entirely dissimilar; but only an unfortunate inclination to alter an old established name, for one, which he conceived more appropriate to a well known, common species; whence the confusion; the constant consequence of such useless alterations, whether generic or specific.