CHAP. XCTI.
polygona'ce®. calli'gonum.
1295
Loddiges, upwards of 2 ft. high, which was profusely covered with whiteflowers, tinged with pink, in August, 1836. It frequently ripens seedsthere; but no plants have hitherto been raised from them. There is also aplant in the Chelsea Botanic Garden. It thrives best in sandy peat, and ispropagated by layers. So elegant and rare a plant deserves a place in everychoice collection.
tL 2. A. uvdula'ta L. The waved -leaved Atraphaxis.
Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff, 137.; Willd. Sp. PI., 2. p.249.
Engraving. Dill. Elth., t. 32. f. 36.
Spec. Char., fyc. It is less rigid than the A. spinbsa, and has not a spiny character. Its leaves areovate, waved at the edges, and of a greener hue. The calyx is 4-parted, and has the lobes equal,ovate, and concave. Stamens lanceolate. Style bifid. Fruit roundish. (Observation, and Willd.Sp. PI.) A native of the Cape of Good Hope , whence it was introduced in 1732, but is rare incollections. In British green-houses, it flowers in June and July ; and, when planted out in theopen garden, it will produce shoots from subterraneous stolones. We have not seen the plant.
Genus IV.
CALLFGONUM L. The Calligonum. Lin. Syst. Dodecandria Tetra-
gynia.
Identification. Lin. Gen., 680.; L’Heritier in Lin. Soc. Trans., 1. p. 177.; Willd. Sp. PI., 2. p. 926.Synonymes. Pall&sm L., Pterocdccus Pall.
Derivation. Kallos, beauty, gonu, a knee: in description of the neat and jointed character of thebranches.
1165
a 1. C. Paula's/^ L’Herit. Pallas’s Calligonum.
Identification. L’Herit. Stirp., 2. p. 37., and in Lin. Soc. Trans., 1. p. 177.; Ait. Hort. Kew., 2p. 242. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 2. p. 927.
Synonymes. Pterocdccus aphj/llus Pall. Voy., 2. p. 738. t. 8.; Calligonum /jolygonoldes Pall. Itin .,3. p. 536.; Pall&ssTz c&sptca Lin. fil. Suppl., 252., Savigny in Encycl. j Pall&ssa Pterocdccus Pall.FL Ross., 2. p. 70. t. 77, 78.; Caspischer Hackenknopf, Ger.
Engravings. Lam. III., 410.; Pall. Itin., 2. t. 81-; Pall. FI. Ross., 2. t. 77,78. j and our/ig,?. 1165,1166.Spec. Char., %c. Fruit winged: wings membranous, curled, and toothed. ( L'H£rit. in Lin. Soc.Trans.) A shrub, 3 ft. or 4 ft. high. Introduced in 1780, but rare in collections. In its nativestate, on the banks of the Caspian Sea , its root is thick, woody, If in. in diameter, striking deep intothe sand, with a tuberose head. Stems numerous, about the thickness of afinger, erect, branched, spreading, dichotomous, brittle, with a grey striatedbark. Branches alternate, round, zigzag, pointed, a little knotty; withoutleaves; putting out every spring, at eachjoint, from 6 to 10 close-set, herbaceous,rush-like shoots, sometimes simple, some-times branched, of a fine green and nearlyglaucous colour ; a few of which survivethe winter, and harden into branches;the rest perish and leave a knotty scar.
Stipule membranous, obscurely trifid,shriveling, surrounding the joint, as inthe polygonums. Leaves alternate, sessile,
, solitary, at each joint of the herbaceous
p > round, awl-shaped, fleshy, resembling the shoots; half an inch long.
Fallas says there are no leaves; but L’Heritier affirms they were actuallypresent in plants cultivated by himself, which were bearing flowers and fruit. ,
Flowers numerous, in clusters, 3—-5 in a cluster, lateral, or axillary within 1166
the stipules, on the young or woody branches, as well as on the herbaceous shoots; white, witha greenish tinge in the middle. Stamens 16, the length of the calyx, and withering with itas the fruit increases, without falling off. Filaments bristle-shaped, thickest at the base, downy.Anthers nearly globular, 2-celled. Ovary conical, 4-sided, rarely 3-sided, the bifid angles prolongedon h/ 0 a rm wings of the fruit. Wings somewhat oval, of a crimson colour, striated, and spliton the edges, spreading on each side so as to conceal the nut. Pallas describes this plant as a singu-lar shrub, growing plentifully in the Desert of Naryn, and in the sandy tracts between the riversxihymnus and Wolga, lying towards the Caspian Sea , where it frequently covers whole hills; theBranches attaining the height of a man, and the roots often descending upwards of 6 ft. into the? and - a a b° unds on gravelly hills near the Wolga, at Astracan , and near the mouths of the Cama,in the deserts of Tartary. The thick part of the root being cut across in the winter season, a gumexudes, havmg the appearance of tragacanth. Infused in water, it swells, and is changed into aweetish mucilage, which does not soon grow dry ; and, if exposed to heat, ferments in a few days,no acquires a vinous flavour. The wandering tribes form tobacco-pipes and spoons from the knotsisink u P. on the trunk. The smoke of the wood is said to be good for sore eyes. The fruit is succu-nt, acid, and excellent for quenching thirst. The flowers are produced in May, and the fruitf in j Ul - v * , TI ?e nuts germinate freely when sown deeply in sand, and the two seed-leaves breakn l and suddenl y spring up in one night, 1 in. in length, and thread-like and decumbent; butthey become speedily erect.
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