1296
ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM.
PART 111
C. comdmm LTUrit. in Lin. Trans., 1. p. 180., Wind . Sp. PI. , 2. p. 927.; and C. PAndenV Writ .;are described by botanists, and registered in Sweet's Hortus Britannicus as introduced ; but we arenot aware of their being in the country.
App. I. Half-hardy Species of Polygonacete ..
Brunnichia cirrhbsct Gasrtn. Fruct., 1. t. 45. f. 2., is a tendriled climber, anative of Carolina, with alternate, cordate, acuminate leaves, and flowersin panicled racemes. It was introduced in 1787, and is occasionally met within old collections; for example, in the Cambridge Botanic Garden.
R itmex Lun&ria L., Piuk. Aim., 252, 253., is a native of the Canaries, withroundish glaucous leaves, which has been occasionally found in green-houses,since the days of Parkinson . It grows to the height of 5ft. or 6 ft. in theCambridge Botanic Garden ; and produces its greenish flowers in June andJuly. There are two other African suffruticose species recorded in our Hor-tus Britannicus ; and there is a plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden,from Moldavia , which has twining stems, and of which a portion is repre-sented in fig. 1167. It grows against a wall with an east aspect, and, thoughfrequently killed down during winter, never fails to spring up vigorously thefollowing spring.
P ol^gonum adprdssum R. Br., Bot. Mag., t. 3145., the Macquarrie Harbourvine, is a native of Van Diemen’s Land, principally on the sea shore, aboutMacquarrie Harbour. It is an evergreen climber or trailer, growing tothe height of 60 ft.; flowering from May to August; and ripening its fruitin December and January. The flowers are axillary, and are succeeded byracemes of fruit, which, at first sight, resemble grapes. “The seed of allthe polygonums, which is a small hard nut, is known to be wholesome,(buck-wheat, for example); but in P. adpressum the seed is invested withthe enlarged and fleshy segments of the calyx, which gives to each fruit theappearance of a berry : some acidity in this fruit renders it available fortarts.” (Bot. Mag- , April, 1832; see also Gard. Mag., vol. viii. p.347., andvol. xi. p. 341.) This plant was introduced in 1822; and, though consideredas requiring the green-house, yet we have little doubt it would live againsta conservative wall, or as a trailer on dry rockwork, in peat soil, in a warmsituation. The extraordinary rapidity of its growth might perhaps recom-mend it for the same purposes as the cobcea, and other rapid-growingclimbers.
CHAP. XCIII.
OF THE HARDY AND HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER
XAURA'cEjE.
This order is distinguished from all others by the following short charac-teristics : — Anthers opening by valves which curve upwards ; carpels solitaryand superior; and ovules pendulous. (Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot.) The onlyother order treated of in our work, in which there is an analogous mode' ofopening in the anthers, is Berberacece. The species are chiefly trees, some ofthem shrubs, natives of Asia and North America , and one of them of thesouth of Europe .
Genus I-
LAU'RUS Plin. The Laurel, or Bay, Tree. Lin. Syst. Enneandria
Monogynia.
Identification. Pliny , on the authority of C. G. Nees von Esenbeck in Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot,p. 202.; Lin. Gen., No. 503., in part: and so of most other botanical authors.
Synonymes. Sdssqfras and Benxbin, C. G. Von Esenbeck ; Daphne, Greek.
Derivation. From lam , praise; in reference to the ancient custom of crowning the Roman con-querors with laurel in their triumphal processions. There appears some doubt of the Xatirusnbbilis being theLaurus of the Romans, and the Daphne of the Greeks. (See Daphne.) As, however,nothing certain is known of the subject, we have followed the popular belief: and, in the historygiven below of the Xafirus n6bilis, we have treated it as if identical with the Daphne of the Greeks.
Gen. Char., 4-c. Sexes polygamous, or dioecious. Calyx with 6 sepals. Stamens 9;
6 exterior, 3 interior, and each of them having a pair of gland-like bodies