William Curtis

“ It is not a little extraordinary that this plant which has for many years been cultivated in this country, should have escaped the notice of Linnæus; it is equally wonderful that we should at this moment be strangers to its place of growth.
Having three leaves growing together, it has been considered by many as the trifoliatus of Linnæus but his trifoliatus is a very different plant, a native of Canada, producing small yellow flowers.
It has been usual to treat this species as a green-house plant, or at least to shelter it under a frame in the winter; probably it is more hardy than we imagine. ”

“ The most mischievous of all our common birds, the sparrow, is very apt to commit great depredations amongst them when in flower, to the no small mortification of those who delight in their culture; we have succeeded in keeping these birds off, by placing near the object to be preserved, the skin of a cat properly stuffed: a live cat, or some bird of the hawk kind confined in a cage, might perhaps answer the purpose more effectually, at least in point of duration. ”

“ The ascertaining the precise limits of species, and variety, in plants that have been for a great length of time objects of culture, is often attended with difficulties scarcely to be surmounted, is indeed a Gordian Knot to Botanists.
Our plant is the Cyclamen persicum of Miller, and has been introduced into our gardens long since the European ones; being a native of the East-Indies, it is of course more tender than the others, and therefore requires to be treated more in the style of a green-house plant. ”

“ Linnæus considers the Crocus, or Saffron of the shops, which blows invariably in the autumn, and the spring Crocus, with its numerous varieties (of which Parkinson, in his Garden of Pleasant Flowers, enumerates no less than twenty-seven) as one and the same species; other Botanists have considered them as distinct, particularly Prof. Jacquin, whose opinion on this subject we deem the most decisive. ”

“ Being a native of Sicily, Palestine, and Africa, it is of course liable to be killed with us in severe seasons, the common practice is therefore to treat it as a green-house plant, and indeed it appears to the greatest advantage in a pot; it is much disposed to throw up new flowering stems; hence, by having several pots of it, some plants will be in blossom throughout the summer ”

“ The Carnation is propagated by seeds, layers, and pipings; new varieties can only be raised from seed, which, however, is sparingly produced from good flowers, because the petals are so multiplied, as nearly to exclude the parts of the fructification essential to their production. ”

“ Certain plants are particularly liable to be infested with Aphides, or, in the vulgar phrase, to become lousy, this is one: the only way to have handsome, healthy, strong-flowering plants, is to procure a constant succession by cuttings, for there is no plant strikes more readily ”

“ Plants growing in mountainous situations, where they are constantly exposed to strong-blowing winds, are always dwarfish; in such situations, the present plant has no stalk, whence its name acaulis, but cultivated in gardens it acquires one. ”

“ When the plants are fit to remove, they should be transplanted into small pots, four or five in each pot, then plunged into a moderate hot-bed, where they must have a large share of air in warm weather; when they have obtained some strength, they must be gradually inured to the open air; when exposed abroad, they should be mixed with such plants as require little water, placed in a warm situation, and screened from heavy rains, which are apt to rot them. The cuttings of this sort take root if properly managed. Miller's Gard. ”

“ The flowers are produced from June to autumn, and the seeds ripen in October. This plant should be placed in an airy glass case in winter, where it may enjoy a dry air, and much sun, but will not thrive in a warm stove, nor can it be well preserved in a common greenhouse, because a damp moist air will soon cause it to rot.
The seed of this plant should be sown in small pots filled with light sandy earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed; sometimes the seeds will lie a long time in the ground ”

“ To succeed in the culture of the Carnation, we must advert to the situation in which it is found wild, and this is observed to be dry and elevated; hence excessive moisture is found to be one of the greatest enemies this plant has to encounter ”

“ It is only in very favourable situations that these shrubs ripen their seeds in England, hence they are most commonly propagated by layers, which readily strike root: Miller says, that the plants raised from seeds are hardier than those produced from layers. ”

“ This species rarely ripens its seeds with us, and is therefore to be raised from cuttings, which however are not very free to strike.
It has been usual to keep it in the stove, but we have found by experience, that it succeeds much better in a common green-house, in which it will flower during the whole of the summer. Small young plants of this, as well as most other Geraniums, make the best appearance, and are therefore to be frequently obtained by cuttings. ”

“ Besides the remarkable difference in the number of the leaves in this plant, the leaves themselves are observed to be much smaller in the winter season, and their ribs less branched; the runners also are slenderer and more productive, and the fruit in general more oblong or pyramidal. ”

“ We have not yet had a fair opportunity of observing whether this species ripens its seeds with us: though of as long standing in this country as the Dodecatheon, it is far less common; hence one is led to conclude that it is either not so readily propagated, or more easily destroyed. ”

“ This species is found wild on the Pyrenean mountains; was an inhabitant of our gardens in the time of Parkinson (who has very accurately described it, noticing even its three stamina) to which, however, it has been a stranger for many years: it has lately been re-introduced, but is as yet very scarce. Our figure was taken from a specimen which flowered in Mr. Lee's Nursery at Hammersmith.
It grows with as much readiness as any of the others of the genus, and flowers in March and April. ”

“ It is propagated by parting its roots in autumn, and by seeds, though few of the latter in general ripen, nor do the roots make much increase—to these causes we must doubtless attribute its present comparative scarcity. ”

“ It is generally cultivated in pots, in light undunged earth, or in a mixture of loam and lime rubbish, and kept in frames, or on the front shelf of a green-house, where it may have plenty of air in the summer, but guarded against too much moisture in the winter. ”

“ May be raised from seeds in the same manner as the round-leaved Cyclamen already figured in this work, p. n. 4.
Flowers early in the spring, and is admirably well adapted to decorate the parlour or study.
Varies with fragrant flowers, and the eye more or less red.
[Pg 103]
[Pg 104]
[45] Crocus vernus. Spring Crocus.
Class and Order
Triandria Monogynia.
Generic Character.
Corolla 6-partita, æqualis. Stigmata convoluta.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
CROCUS vernus foliis latioribus margine patulo. Jacq. Fl. Austr. Vol. 5. app. t. 36. Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p. 83. var. sativ. ”

“ CENTAUREA glastifolia calycibus scariosis, foliis indivisis integerrimis decurrentibus. Lin. Syst. Veg. p. 787. Gmelin Sib. 2. p. 83.
CENTAURIUM majus orientale erectum, glasti folio, flore luteo. Comm. rar. 39. t. ”

“ Cal. 3-phyllus. Cor. 3-petala. Bacca 3-locularis.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
TRILLIUM flore sessili erecto. Lin. Syst. Vegetab. p. 349.
PARIS foliis ternatis, flore sessili erecto. Gron. virg. 44.
SOLANUM triphyllum. Pluk. alm. 352. t. 111. f. 6. Catesb. car. t. 50.
No40
Of this genus there are three species, all of which are natives of North-America, and described by Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary, where the genus is called American Herb Paris ”