active 1799-1828 Henry Cranke Andrews

“ Its great fragrance, more resembling that of the May (Cratægus Oxyacantha) than any thing else we are acquainted with, makes the plant very desirable to collectors, and the more so, that it is hardy enough to bear our winters without the shelter of a green-house, and blossoms so early in spring. ”

“ The plant here figured is from the arboretum of the Marquis of Blandford at White Knights, where we first noticed it in 1806, growing in the greatest perfection, and bearing abundance of fruit, which it still continues to do annually; and being a finer species than any we before possessed, is an interesting addition to our collections of hardy evergreens. ”

“ This species of Hermannia is figured in the Hortus Schœnbrunnensis of Jacquin. We have adopted his specific title of flammea, but think the plant would have been better marked by the appellation of ignescens; particularly as we have seen it in bloom with scarcely any vestige of yellow or flame colour on the petals, but always of a fine fiery red colour. It is a very handsome hardy green-house shrub, and flowers from June till January. ”

“ Professor Jacquin also informs us, that the fruits of all the species he found in America were eaten by the natives. The arts are likewise much indebted to the genus Cactus, as the cochineal insect (so essential in the formation of our fine lake and carmine colours) can only be bred upon the coccinilifer and some other species of Cacti. ”

“ In the Paradisus Londinensis it has been mistaken for Plumier’s first species, the Epidendrum Vanilla of Linnæus, (Vanilla aromatica of Swartz and Willdenow,) of which we have three original figures: Catesby’s, in his History of Carolina, vol. iii. tab. 7.; Madam Merian’s, and Plumier’s own drawing published by Burman; all of them totally unlike it. No two plants can be more specifically distinct, and we have seldom seen two species of one genus so different in the blossoms. ”

“ Seed-bud and pointal.
This Cape species is described and figured by Thunberg in his Dissertation on the genus Protea. It is rather a tender plant, and flowers at first very sparingly; which is the case with almost all this tribe for the first year or two: after they are more familiarized to our climate they become much more prolific. ”

“ Lambert introduced a hive of bees into the hot-house, which soon produced the desired effect, as in three or four days after the germens began to swell. The form of the leaves varies exceedingly, particularly whilst the plant is young, coming sometimes much broader and with two side lobes; which has been mistaken by some for a different species. Almost every part of the plant is villous. ”

“ A flower divested of the petals, and cut open to the base of the tube.
2. The seed-bud cut transversely.
3. One of the side shoots.
4. Miniature figure of the plant.
No genus of plants more remarkable has yet been discovered than that to which our present subject belongs, whether we consider their simple succulent structure, strange diversity of form and habit, or the geometrical manner of their growth and disposition of their spines. Some of them, like the Opuntia and Ficus Indica, grow like figs or cucumbers stuck one upon another ”

“ Three collections in this manner are generally made in six months; fresh breeding insects being always replaced upon the plants after gathering. Other species of Cacti also breed the insects; but this is always preferred, as a man can gather from the coccinellifer ten pounds a day, while from the Tuna, Opuntia, and other thorny species, he could not gather two ounces. The plants are generally placed in lines from north to south, that both sides may have the benefit of the sun; and they consider them fit to bear insects at the age of 18 months. ”

“ Although the insects are found naturally upon the plant in those climates, the cultivators, we are informed, always stock their young plantations with insects of their own rearing, which are larger and finer than the wild sort, and give a more brilliant colour. ”

“ The fruit when dry, again contracts as before, and the experiment may be repeated ad libitum. What a wonderful œconomy of Nature to produce the seeds just at the moment proper for their germination, and preventing them until that time from falling on the parched sands and rocks upon which those plants vegetate! In some plants, natives of cold regions, where seeds are in danger of perishing by moisture, and there is seldom sufficient warmth for their vegetation, an œconomy the direct reverse takes place. ”

“ Jasminum foliis oppositis, ovatis, sæpe apice acutis: floribus in ramis terminalibus, plerumque ternis: corollis aggregatis, vel tribus in una, involutis, fragrantissimis: ramis oppositis, hirsutis, ferrugineis: caule patente, scandente.
Jasmine with leaves opposite, egg-shaped, and often pointed at the end: flowers terminate the branches mostly by threes: blossoms are aggregate, or three in one folded together, and very sweet-scented: branches are opposite, hairy, and of a rusty colour: stem spreading, and climbing.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. ”

“ Vanilla planifolia is an exceedingly ornamental and as yet a scarce species, and runs to many feet in length, throwing out simple tendrils from the axils of the leaves. The finest specimen in England, and the only one that has blossomed, is in the choice collection of the Right Hon. ”

“ Rumphius informs us (in his Herbarium Amboynense) that the Commersonia grows to a tree in the Moluccas, and is so plentiful that its wood is in common use as deal; that the bark is manufactured into matches ”

“ These they breed under sheds in the rainy season; and, when the spring commences, always fresh stock their plantations, scattering a few breeding insects upon each plant, and in a few days the surface appears speckled over with them, each bringing about 300 at a birth. ”

“ Calyx imbricatus: foliolis coloratis. Corolla nulla. Styli plurimi. Stigmata glandulosa. Semina plurima, intra calycis partem succulentam.
Empalement tiled: leaflets coloured. Blossom none. Shafts many. Summits glandular. Seeds many, within the fleshy part of the cup.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Calycanthus ramis virgatis, sub-erectis: foliis ovato-lanceolatis, acuminatis: floribus fertilibus.
Habitat in Americâ Boreali.
Calycanthus with twiggy branches nearly upright. Leaves ovately lance-shaped, and pointed. Flowers fertile.
Native of North America. ”