William Curtis

“ In Guernsey, the cold of the Winter is far less intense than with us; many of those plants which we keep in our greenhouses, stand with them in the open ground; the superior mildness of the climate enables them to cultivate this plant with more success than we can do, even perhaps with all the expence and trouble to which we might subject ourselves ”

“ By the name of Dittany of Crete, the species of Origanum here figured, has long been known in this country as a medicinal plant; to the purposes of physic it still indeed continues to be applied, as imported in a dried state from the Levant: when bruised, the whole plant gives forth an aromatic fragrance, highly grateful; as an ornamental plant, it has also been long, and is now, very generally cultivated in this country. ”

“ This charming little shrub is a native of Switzerland and Austria: Clusius informs us that it grows in great abundance on many of the mountains near Vienna, so much so that women gather it when in flower and sell it in the markets; its beautiful and fragrant blossoms come forth in April and May, the principal season for its flowering, but it frequently blows during most of the Summer, and even in the Autumn; it varies with white blossoms.
It is extremely hardy, thrives remarkably well in road sand in almost any situation ”

“ Beautiful and hardy as this plant is, and long as it has been introduced to this country, we do not find it generally in gardens; we attribute this to its having, in a greater degree than many other plants, a partiality for a particular soil; in certain districts, where the soil is stiff and moist, it grows as freely as any weed, in other soils it is perpetually going off: it is also one of those plants whose roots require to be often parted ”

“ The Cockle of our corn-fields is an ornamental plant, the present species resembles it; but while the plant itself is much smaller, its flowers are proportionably larger, and their colours more vivid.
It is an annual of ready growth, a native of Sicily and the Levant, flowering in July and August, and ripening its seeds in September and October.
It appears to most advantage when several plants of it grow together; the best mode, therefore, is to sow about a dozen seeds early in April on the several spots of the flower-border where you intend they shall remain ”

“ It is a hardy herbaceous plant, growing in favourable situations to the height of three or four feet; the main spike of flowers which terminates the stalk, is often a foot in length; by the time that most of its flowers are blown, side branches shoot out, and flower; so that the plant continues in bloom six weeks or two months: if the Autumn prove favourable, the plant with us produces plenty of seed in the open ground; to insure its ripening, some place pots of it, when blowing, in the greenhouse or stove. ”

“ Hermannia is a genus of plants named in honour of Dr. Paul Herman, a Dutch Botanist of great celebrity, author of the Paradisus Batavus, and other valuable works: twenty-six species are enumerated in the 13th edition of the Syst. Naturæ of Linnæus by Prof. Gmelin, and eight in the Hortus Kewensis of Mr. Aiton; most of those in the latter work are cultivated in the nurseries near town: they form a set of the more hardy greenhouse plants, grow readily, and flower freely; their blossoms are for the most part yellow, and have a considerable affinity with those of the Mahernia. ”

“ The plant grows spontaneously in the more southern parts of Europe, especially in Italy and the Levant; in its wild state it forms a shrub of low growth, having numerous, spreading, spinous branches, somewhat thickly beset with smooth roundish leaves; the blossoms grow alternately on the branches, and when the plant begins to flower, one opens generally every other morning, but so delicate are its parts, that on a hot summer's day it fades before noon: the petals are white ”

“ Aiton relates, that the plant was cultivated here in 1659, by General Lambert, at Wimbledon.
Fatal as Guernsey proved to the unfortunate mariners, it afforded the roots of our plant a soil and situation apparently congenial to their own; in that island they have flourished ever since, there they are propagated in the open borders of the flower-garden with the least possible trouble, flowering most readily, but we believe never producing any ripe seeds; from thence most of the roots which flower with the curious here, are yearly imported in the Autumn. ”

“ Hoy, gardener to the Duke of Northumberland, produced a specimen of it in flower at a meeting of the Linnean Society in 1790; it is a shrub of quick growth, and a ready blower: a plant of it in the stove of Chelsea-Garden has this year (May 10, 1795) produced ripe pods, and perfect seeds. In the greenhouse, where it flowers from February to April, the blossoms go off without shewing any tendency to produce fruit. ”

“ We are happy in having it in our power to lay before our readers a representation of the Caper shrub, whose blossoms are rarely seen in this country, though its flower-buds are in very general use as a pickle ”

“ The many miscarriages that happen to the Guernsey Lily, are by letting the leaves be killed by the fierceness of the frost in Winter, or by cutting them off, as some people do, when they are green, which will so much weaken the plants, that they may keep them twenty years and not have them blow ”

“ When suffered to grow, it will become a shrub of considerable size; but this is not necessary for its flowering, as young and small plants are disposed to throw out blossoms, which is not the case with a plant extremely similar to, and often confounded with it, viz. the Crassula Cotyledon, whose foliage indeed scarcely differs from our plant but in being finely dotted.
It is a native of the Cape, and flowers from June or July to September.
In the Hort. Kew. of Mr. Aiton, four varieties are enumerated, differing chiefly in the form of their foliage. ”

“ Miller observes, that these plants are with difficulty preserved in England, for they delight to grow in crevices of rocks, and the joints of old walls and ruins, and always thrive best in an horizontal position; so that when they are planted either in pots or the full ground, they rarely thrive, though they may be kept alive for many years.
It flowers in May and June, and is usually raised from seeds.
Mr. Aiton regards it as a greenhouse plant, and informs us that it was cultivated by Gerard in 1596. ”

“ In Italy and Spain, where this plant grows spontaneously, it is an annual, producing seed in abundance; with us (as far at least as we have observed) it produces no seed, but like the Senecio elegans, and some other annuals, is renewed, and rendered perennial by cuttings, which strike freely, and by which the plant requires to be renovated once or twice in a season; though described as growing with an upright stem, it requires to be tied up to a stick ”

“ It may be doubted whether the Dianthus superbus of Miller's Dict. ed. 6. 4to. be our plant; if it be, the description is not drawn up with that accuracy which distinguishes his descriptions in general; the mode of culture, however, which he recommends is strictly applicable to it, as the plant rarely continues in vigour more than two years, and as it is in its greatest beauty the first year of its flowering, he recommends that young plants should be annually raised for succession from seeds, which are plentifully produced ”

“ Bentick [C] : it still retains a place in most collections, deservedly indeed, for it has every claim to our notice; its appearance is magnificent, the glaucous colour of its foliage highly pleasing, its flowers large and of long duration; it blows freely, grows rapidly, is easily increased by cuttings, and will succeed in a house or window, with the common treatment of an African Geranium. ”

“ Both Kæmpfer and Thunberg agree, that the Japanese regard the root as poisonous.
[A] "They love a light earth, made with dung and sand, and a little lime rubbish with it does very well, it keeps the roots sound; for if the earth be too stiff or wet, you may keep them for many years before they blow. If they are in pots, they should be put in the house in Winter, to keep them from the severe frosts, which are apt to rot the roots. ”

“ It is propagated by seeds, which Miller recommends to be sown in the Spring; the seedlings should be transplanted in the Autumn, into the borders where they are to remain; it may also be increased by slips: the plant requires a situation moderately dry, and is most productive of flowers and seeds when it stands long in one spot. ”

“ Miller describes it as a plant difficult of cultivation; it is not now regarded as such; both Clusius and Jacquin describe it as having creeping roots; such plants are generally increased without difficulty, and so is this; planted in bog earth on a shady border, it thrives extremely well, and spawns much, so that there is no necessity for having recourse to its seeds. It grows spontaneously on the Alps of Austria and Switzerland. ”

“ The Guernsey Lily, as it is most commonly called, is originally a native of Japan; where it is described to grow by Kæmpfer and Thunberg, who visited that island, the latter says on the hills about Nagasaki, from thence roots are said to have been introduced to the garden of Johannes Morinus at Paris, in which it flowered, October 1634: its introduction to this country, which was subsequent to that date, as Dr. Douglass relates in his Monographia on this plant, "happened by a very singular melancholy accident, of which Dr. ”

“ The time of moving them is when they have no leaves on the root, that is from June to August: those that come with six leaves this year, seldom fail blowing the next year: they need not be put in fresh earth above once in two or three years: by this method of management I have had the same roots blow again in four years time. ”

“ When tied up properly, and carefully trained to stake, it may vie with most of our ornamental shrubs: for covering a wall, or paling, where the situation is not too shady, it probably would succeed very well, at least it is deserving of trial. ”

“ LOBELIA cardinalis caule erecto, foliis lato-lanceolatis serratis, racemo terminali secundo. Linn. Syst. Veg. ed. 14. Murr. p. 801. Ait. Kew. v. 3. p. 284.
RAPUNTIUM galeatum virginianum, coccineo flore majore. Moris. Hist. 2. p. 466. s. 5. t. 5. f. 54.
TRACHELIUM Americarum flore ruberrimo, sive Planta Cardinalis. The rich crimson Cardinal's Flower. Park. Parad. p. 356. t. 355.
This species of Lobelia, so eminently distinguished for the richness of its scarlet blossoms, is a native of the colder as well as warmer parts of North-America. ”

“ Hermannia Althæifolia. Marsh-Mallow-Leaved Hermannia. Class and Order. Monadelphia Pentandria.
Generic Character. Pentagyna. Caps. 5-locularis. Petala basi semitubulata, obliqua.
Specific Character and Synonyms. HERMANNIA althæifolia foliis ovatis crenatis plicatis tomentosis, calycibus florentibus campanulatis angulatis, stipulis oblongis foliaceis. Ait. Kew. v. 2. p. 411.
HERMANNIA althæifolia foliis ovatis plicatis crenatis tomentosis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 610.
HERMANNIA capensis althææ folio. Pet. Gaz. 53. t. 34. f. 2. ”

“ VERBENA Aubletia tetrandra, spicis solitariis, coroliis fasciculatis, foliis cordatis inciso-serratis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 66. Suppl. Pl. p. 86.
BUCHNERA canadensis Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 13. p. ”

“ GNAPHALIUM eximium foliis sessilibus ovatis confertis erectis tomentosis, corymbo sessili. Linn. Mant. Pl. p. 573. Syst. Nat. ed. 13. Gmel.
ELYCHRYSUM africanum foliis lanceolatis integris tomentosis decurrentibus, capitulus congestis ex rubello aureis. Edw. Av. t. 183.
In the summer of 1794, towards the end of July, the Gnaphalium here figured, the most magnificent and shewy of all the species hitherto introduced to this country, flowered in great perfection at Messrs. Lee and Kennedy's, Hammersmith: Mr. Lee informs me, that he raised it from seeds given him by Capt. ”