CHAP. LXXXIV.

A’OLANA CEiK.

LY'CIUM.

1269

1107

S. b etdceum Cav., Bot. Kep., t.4ll., is a native of South America , from which country it was in-troduced into Britain in 3803. It forms a splendid siirub, 10ft. or 12 ft. high, and produces egg-shaped1'ruit, of a deep crimson colour. The fruit are about the size and shape of magnum bonum plums,and hang down in clusters of three or four together. {Gat'd. Mag., vol. ii. p. 105.) A plant of thisspecies in the Cambridge Botanic Garden, in 1816, produced leaves nearly a foot in length, and half afoot in breadth ; giving out, when handled, an odour resembling that of the bruised wood of S. Dul-camara. This species resembles, in its free habit of growth,

Brugmansfa suaveolens j and it is observed by a correspondentof the Gardener's Magazine , that it is likely to thrive and flowerunder the same treatment as that plant. The same writer adds,

“ did the plants of S. detkceum, when planted out, produce onlya copious clothing of such leaves, they would, in themselves, bestriking, and impart an additional tropical feature to the British flower-garden.” {Ibid., p. 155.) The plants of this species in theBristol Nursery are said to be somewhat different from thatfigured in the Botanical Repository. {Ibid., p. 269.)

S. anguldtum R. ct S., Dun. Sol., 2. 95. t. L, is a native of .

Lima, introduced in 1825. It has large angulated prickly leaves,with purple veins and petioles. Preserved through the winterin a stove, and turned out in the spring, it makes a splendidappearance in the flower border.

S. marginatum W., Bot. Mag., t. 1928., is a native of Africa ,and forms an evergreen shrub, 4 ft. or 5 ft. high., striking fromthe mealy whiteness of its leaves.

S. Pseudo- Capsicum L., Capsicum /fmbmum Plinn Gerard,is a native of Madeira, an old inhabitant of our green-houses.

It grows 4 ft. or 5 ft. high, and produces red, or yellowish fruit,about the size of cherries. Gerard says, “ it is a rare and pleasantplant, kept in pots and tubs in green-houses during the extremityof winter, and set abroad in March and April.”

S. sodomeum L., the apple of Sodom, is a native of differentparts of Africa , and also of Sicily , and the south of Italy . It isa shrub, with numerous short and thick branches, armed withmany spines. The leaves are above 4 in. long, and 2 in. broad.

The flowers are blue, and the berries yellow, as large as walnuts.

It abounds, along with Spartium infestum Presl, on the coastof Calabria , and at the foot of Mount Etna . {Comp. Bot. Mag.,

1. p. 95.)

S. Ug&strinum Lodd. Bot. Cab., t 1963., and our Jig. 1107-, isa native of Chili, introduced by Mr. Cumming in 1831, andflowering in a sheltered border from May to September. It is afree-growing shrub, readily propagated by cuttings; and judgingfrom the plant in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, from which ourfigure was taken, we should think it tolerably hardy,

Genus II.

LY'CIUM L. The Box Thorn. Lin. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.

Identification. Lin. Gen., 1262.; Lam. Ill., t. 112.; H. B. et Kunth Nov. Gen. Amer., 3. p. 50.;

Lindl. Nat. Syst. Bot., 2d edit., p. 295.; Don’s Mill., 4. p. 457.

Synonymes. Jasminfildes Niss. in Act. Gall., 1711, Mich. Gen., 224. 1.105. ; Matrimony Vine,Amer. ; Lycien, Fr.; Bocksdorn , Ger. One species, L. Mrbarum, is commonly called the Dukeof Argyll’s tea tree, from the circumstance of a tea plant {Thla viridis) having been sent to theDuke of Argyll at the same time as this plant, and the labels having been accidentally changed.Derivation. Derived from Lycia , in Asia Minor ; hence the luhion of Dioscorides ; a namegiven byhim to a thorny shrub, which was supposed by Dr. Sibtborp to have been the Ah&mnus infectbrius,but which Mr. Royle, with greater probability, regards as identical with a species of Birberis,which he has denominated Birberis Lycium.

Description , Sfc. Thorny rambling shrubs, in general producing long slendershoots, and assuming the character of climbers. Natives of Europe , Asia ,Africa , and America . Hedges may be formed of the first nine sorts.

1. L. europium L. The European Box Thorn.

Identification. Lin. Syst., 228.; Mant., p. 47.; Willd. Enum., 1. p. 246.; Sibth. et Smith FI. Grase.,t. 236.; Don’s Mill., 4. p. 458.; Lodd. Cat. , ed. 1836.

Synonymes. L. salicifblium Mill. Diet. , No. 3., Mich. Gen., p. 224. t. 105. f. 1., Mill. Icon. y t. 171.f. 2.; Jasminoides aculeatum Mich.

Engravings. Mich. Gen., 1.105. f. 1 .; Mill. Icon., 1.171. f. 2.; and our fig. 1108.

Spec. Char., fyc. Branches erect, loose. Buds spinescent. Leaves fascicled,obovate-lanceolate, obtuse, or spathulate, bent obliquely. Flowers twin orsolitary. Corolla funnel-shaped. Stamens exserted, but shorter than thelimb. Calyx 5-eleft, ruptured at the side. Corollas pale violet, reticulatedwith red veins; tube greenish. {Don's Mill., iv. p. 458.) A rambling

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