The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 3 | Page 3

the South of Europe, flowers in the
open border in April, is a hardy-perennial, thriving in almost any soil or
situation, but succeeds best in a loamy soil and eastern exposure.
Varies with double flowers, in which slate it is often used for forcing.

No notice is taken of this species by MILLER, except as a variety of
the N. Jonquilla, from which it differs toto calo.

[79]
LOTUS JACOBÆUS. BLACK-FLOWER'D LOTUS.
Class and Order.
DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Generic Character.
Legumen cylindricum strictum. Alæ sursum longitudinaliter
conniventes. Cal. tubulosus.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
LOTUS Jacobæus leguminibus subternatis, caule herbaceo erecto,
foliolis linearibus. Lin. Syst. Veg. 601.
LOTUS angustifolia, flore luteo purpurascente, infulæ S. Jacobi.
_Comm. hort. 2. p. 165. t. 83._
[Illustration: No 79]
This species of Lotus has been called black-flower'd, not that the
flowers are absolutely black, for they are of a very rich brown inclined
to purple, but because they appear so at a little distance; the light colour
of the foliage contributes not a little to this appearance.
"It grows naturally in the Island of St. James; is too tender to live
abroad in England, so the plants must be kept in pots, and in the winter
placed in a warm airy glass cafe, but in the summer they should be
placed abroad in a sheltered situation. It may be easily propagated by
cuttings during the summer season, and also by seeds, but the plants
which have been two or three times propagated by cuttings, seldom are

fruitful." Miller's Gard. Dict.
It continues to flower during the whole of the summer; as it is very apt
to die off without any apparent cause, care should be taken to have a
succession of plants from seeds, if possible.

[80]
SPIGELIA MARILANDICA. MARYLAND SPIGELIA, OR
WORM-GRASS.
Class and Order.
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Generic Character.
Corolla infundibuliformis. Capsula didyma. 2-locularis, polysperma.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
SPIGELIA Marilandica caule tetragono, foliis omnibus oppositis. _Lin.
Syst. Veg. p. 197. Mant. 2. p. 338._
LONICERA Marilandica, Spec. Pl. ed. 3. p. 249.
PERICLYMENI virginiani flore coccineo planta marilandica spicata
erecta foliis conjugatis. D. Sherard Raii Suppl. p. 32. _Catesb. Carol.
11. t. 78._
ANTHELMIA Indian pink. _Dr. Lining. Essays Physical and Literary,
Vol. 1. and Vol. 3._
[Illustration: No 80]
This plant, not less celebrated for its superior efficacy in destroying
worms[A], than admired for its beauty, is a native of the warmer parts
of North America; the older Botanists, and even LINNÆUS, at one

time considered it as a honeysuckle, but he has now made a new genus
of it, which he has named in honour of SPIGELIUS, a Botanist of
considerable note, author of the Ifagog. in yem herbar. published at
Leyden in 1633.
"This plant is not easily propagated in England, for the roots make but
slow increase, so that the plant is not very common in the English
Gardens at present; for although it is so hardy as to endure the cold of
our ordinary winters in the open air, yet as it does not ripen seeds, the
only way of propagating it is by parting of the roots; and as these do
not make much increase by offsets, so the plants are scarce; it delights
in a moist soil, and must not be often transplanted." _Miller's Dict._
The scarcity of this plant, even now, is a proof of the justness of Mr.
MILLER's observation; it is in fact a very shy plant, and scarcely to be
kept in this country but by frequent importation.
It flowers in June and July.
[Footnote A: Vid. Lewis's Mater. Medica.]

[81]
COLUTEA ARBORESCENS. TREE COLUTEA, OR BLADDER
SENNA.
Class and Order.
DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Generic Character.
Calyx 5-fidus. Legumen inflatum, basi superiore dehiscens.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
COLUTEA arborescens arborea foliolis obcordatis. _Lin. Syst.

Vegetab. p. 668._
COLUTEA vesicaria. Bauh. Pin. 396.
The greater Bastard Senna with bladders. Park. Par. 440.
[Illustration: No 81]
The Bladder Senna, a native of the South of France and Italy, produces
a profusion of bloom from June to August, when its inflated pods
please from the singularity of their appearance; on these accounts, it is
one of the most common flowering shrubs cultivated in gardens and
plantations.
"It is propagated by sowing its seeds any time in the spring in a bed of
common earth; and when the plants are come up, they must be kept
clear from weeds, and the Michaelmas following they should be
transplanted either into nursery-rows, or in the places where they are
designed to remain; for if they are let grow in the seed-bed too long,
they are very subject to have tap roots, which render them unfit for
transplanting; nor should these trees be suffered to remain too long in
the nursery before they are transplanted, for the same reason." _Miller's
Gard. Dict._