PLATE DCIX.
CITRUS MEDICA, odoratissima.
Bergamot Lemon.
CLASS XVIII. ORDER III.
POLYADELPHIA ICOSANDRIA. Many Sets of Chives. Threads from the Calyx or Receptacle.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-dentatus. Corolla 5-petala. Stamina 20 in cylindrum passim connata. Stylus 1. Bacca 9--12-locularis, pulpa vesiculari.
CUP 5-toothed. Petals five. Stamens about 20, generally united at the base. Shaft 1. Fruit 9-to 12-celled, the pulp bladdery.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CITRUS foliis acuminatis.
CITRUS with pointed leaves.
CITRUS medica β. Linn. Sp. Pl. Limon Bergamotta. Volkamer. Hesperides, cap. 26. tab. p. 154.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement. 2. Chives spread open. 3. The seed-bud and pointal. 4. A horizontal section of the fruit.
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The drawing of this curious and valuable fruit was also taken at Wormleybury last May. Sir Abraham Hume informs us, that the plant was introduced in 1785, by Mrs. Evelyn, of St. Clare in Kent, who brought it with her from Nice. The name Bergamot is said by the Chevalier Lamarck (in the French Encyclopédie) to come from Bergame in Italy, where the principal cultivation of the plant lies. The valuable perfume called Essence of Bergamot is prepared in Italy from the fruit, but by what method they extract it we have not been able to learn: it is rather remarkable that England, so celebrated for her commerce, her collections of natural history, and spirit in gardening, and annually importing so much of this Essence, should have been so long without the plant that produced it.
In arranging the Bergamot for the present as a variety of the Lemon, we by no means subscribe to the opinion of those who, servilely following Linnæus, include all sorts of apples and pears under his Pyrus mala and communis; all grape-vines under Vitis vinifera; and limes, lemons, citrons, oranges and shaddocks of all kinds, under his Citrus Medica and Aurantium. Already the last-mentioned genus has been considerably illustrated by the works of Gmelin, Rumphius, Thunberg, and Loureiro; and Professor Willdenow now enumerates six species of Citrus, and the Chevalier Lamarck eleven species; and many more are probably yet latent in the unexplored regions of Asia. Indeed it is only to those who have an opportunity of observing them in their original situations, where the spade of the labourer has never disturbed their repose, that we must look for their complete illustration. The immense tracts on our northern hemisphere, over which apples are naturally scattered, as well as the vast and permanent differences observed in their fruits, give us also much to hope for; even Linnæus himself observes in his Flora Suecica, that the apple which he found growing naturally in Smoland was very different from that which he found in other parts of Sweden; the original Paradise-apple (Malus pumila of the old authors) has already been recovered by the Russian naturalist Pallas, forming large thickets on the banks of the Wolga and Tanais, (see his Flora Rossica, vol. i. p. 22.); and the same author informs us that the apples he found growing about the Terek were of a large size, and excellent even in their wild state; while those that he met with in other parts of Russia were quite worthless. Even in India our indefatigable countryman Dr. Buchanan has discovered five original species of this genus (one of them a quince) growing naturally on the elevated regions towards the snowy mountains. His descriptions of them, however, are yet unpublished, but we have seen his specimens in the collection of A. B. Lambert, esq.
PLATE DCX.
RUELLIA FORMOSA.
Beautiful Ruellia.
CLASS XIV. ORDER II.
DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. Two Chives longer. Seeds covered.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-partitus. Corolla 1-petala, limbo inæquali 5-lobo. Capsula bilocularis, bivalvis, dentibus elasticis dissiliens.
CUP 5-parted. Blossom of one petal, with the limb unequally 5-lobed. Fruit a two-celled, two-valved capsule bursting with elastic teeth.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
RUELLIA caule suffruticoso erecto; foliis pilosis, petiolatis, integerrimis, ovatis, obtusis; pedunculis lateralibus foliis duplo seu triplo longioribus, ramosis; ramulis subtrifloris.
RUELLIA with a suffruticose erect stem; hairy, entire, oval, blunt leaves upon footstalks; the flower-stalks twice or thrice as long as the leaves and branched; the branches three-flowered.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement. 2. A blossom spread open. 3. The seed-bud and pointal.
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For this very elegant species we are indebted to Mr. Donn, Curator of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, who informs us that it is a native of Brazil, and was introduced from Portugal in 1808 by sir Charles Cotton, bart. The plant in the Cambridge garden is now nearly four feet high, with many branches, and has continued flowering profusely since the beginning of May, and appears as if it would continue to blossom during the summer. It is propagated by cuttings, and has as yet been kept in the hothouse.
We have found no figure or description of the plant in any author, but have seen a very fine dried specimen of it brought from Portugal by sir Thomas Gage, bart. in the herbarium of A. B. Lambert, esq. with this note affixed: “I found this Ruellia growing, and ripening seeds abundantly, amongst the hothouse-plants in the Botanic-Garden at Lisbon.” So ornamental a plant we trust will soon be equally abundant in the hothouses of our own country.
PLATE DCXI.
DAVIESIA CORYMBOSA.
Corymbed Daviesia.
CLASS X. ORDER I.
DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Ten Chives. One Pointal.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX angulatus, simplex, quinquefidus. Corolla papilionacea. Stylus subulatus. Stigma simplex, acutum. Legumen compressum, monospermum.
CUP angled, simple, 5-cleft. Blossom butterfly-shaped. Shaft awl-shaped. Summit simple, acute. Pod compressed, one-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
D. corymbosa, foliis lineari-oblongis, planis, muticis; pedunculis axillaribus, geminis, corymbosis, multifloris; calyce regulari. Smith in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. 8. p. 258.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. Empalement. 2. The standard. 3. One of the wings. 4. The keel. 5. The chives and pointal. 6. The seed-bud and pointal. 7. A half-ripe seed-vessel.
* * * * *
This showy species is a native of New Holland, and was raised from seed by Mr. Gibbs, last year, in his nursery at Brompton, and is not as yet, we believe, in any other collection.
It may not be improper to observe, that the calyx of this species appears a little bilabiate, and the germen two-seeded, although one of the seeds in the fruits we have examined was always abortive.
PLATE DCXII.
<g>PÆONIA ALBIFLORA</g>, flore pleno.
Tartarian Pæony, double-flowered variety.
CLASS XIII. ORDER II.--V.
POLYANDRIA DIGYNIA ad PENTAGYNIAM. Many Chives. Two to Five Pointals.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Styli 0. Capsulæ polyspermæ.
CUP five-leaved. Petals 5. Shafts none. Capsules many-seeded.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
PÆONIA foliis biternatis, foliolis ovato-lanceolatis integris nudis, capsulis recurvatis glabris. _Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. 2. p. 1222._
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement and pointals.
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The single-flowered Pæonia albiflora we have already figured in our first volume (Plate 64.), but never heard of the double variety until we found it in the nursery of Mr. Whitley, who informs us that he raised the plant from seeds received from Mr. Livingstone, surgeon, (in 1808,) who brought them from China under the title of the yellow Pæony. It bloomed last year with only three flowers, but has this year produced five elegant blossoms. Its great beauty certainly entitles it to a place in every flower-garden and curious collection. We shall only add to our former account of this fine species of Pæony above referred to, that Professor Pallas mentions in his Flora Rossica that the roots are used as food in Mongolia, where the plant grows naturally wild, being boiled and eaten by the Tartars, who also powder the seeds to mix with their tea.
PLATE DCXIII.
<g>IPOMŒA</g> pendula.
Pendulous Ipomœa.
CLASS V. ORDER I.
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Stamens. One Style.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX quinquepartitus. Corolla infundibuliformis. Stigma capitato-globosum. Capsula 2-seu 3-locularis.
CUP five-parted. Blossom funnel-shaped. Stigma with a roundish head. Capsule of 2 or 3 cells.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
IPOMŒA pendula, glabra, foliis quinato-digitatis: foliolis lanceolatis, mucronulatis, margine integerrimis; extimis indivisis bifidisve: pedunculis 1-3-floris: calycis foliolis subæqualibus, obtusis, tubo corollæ ter brevioribus. Brown Prod. Nov. Holl. et Ins. Van-Diem, vol. 1. p. 486.
PENDULOUS Ipomœa with smooth five-fingered leaves: the divisions lanced, sharp-pointed, and entire at the edge; the lowermost being sometimes two-cleft: the peduncles one-to three-flowered: leaflets of the cup nearly equal, blunt, three times shorter than the tube of the blossom.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement. 2. A blossom spread open. 3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.