CONVOLVULUS _Nil_ foliis cordatis trilobis, corollis semiquinquefidis, pedunculis petiolo brevioribus. _Linn. Syst. Veg.

ed. 14. Murr. p. 209._ _Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 1. p. 209._

CONVOLVULUS caeruleus hederaceo anguloso folio. _Bauh. Pin. p. 295._

NIL Arab. _Gef. hor. Eyst._

CONVOLVULUS Caeruleus. Blew Bindweed. _Ger. Herb. p. 715. c.u.m ic._

CONVOLVULUS trifolius five hederaceus purpureus. The greater purple Bindeweede or Bell-Flower with cornered leaves. _Park. Parad. Pl.

361. fig. 2._

All our writers on exotic botany treat of this plant, GERARD, one of the first, gives us the following account: "This beautiful Bindweed, which we call _Convolvulus Caeruleus_, is called of the Arabians _Nil_: of _Serapio_, _Hab al nil_, about Alepo and Tripolis in Syria, the inhabitants call it Hasmisen, the Italians _Campana azurea_, of the beautifull azured flowers and also _Fior de notte_, bicause his beautie appeereth most in the night:" he informs us, that it grew in his garden, but perished before it ripened its seeds. PARKINSON says, it thrives remarkably well in our country, if the year be any thing kindly: MILLER informs us, that it is a native of Africa and America, extols it as one of the most beautiful of the genus, observes, that it is a very distinct species from the purpurea, of which it has been considered by some as a variety; that it will grow to the height of eight or ten feet, that in favourable seasons the seeds will ripen in the open air, and that it requires the same treatment as other annuals usually raised on a hot-bed. Mr. AITON considers it as a stove plant, as indeed most of our tender annuals properly are.

It flowers from July to September.

Though apparently common in our gardens formerly, it is now very rarely met with.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[189]

ERICA GRANDIFLORA. GREAT-FLOWERED HEATH.

_Cla.s.s and Order._

OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cal._ 4-phyllus. _Cor._ 4-fida. _Filamenta_ receptaculo inferta.

_Antherae_ bifidae. _Caps._ 4-locularis.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

ERICA _grandiflora_ antheris muticis exfertis, corollis cylindraceis subincurvis glabris, stylo elongato, floribus axillaribus pedunculatis, foliis subsenis acerosis glabris. _Ait.

Hort. Kew. vol. 2. p. 25._

ERICA _grandiflora_ foliis quaternis, stylo exserto, corolla cylindrica, calyce simplici, floribus lateralibus subcurvatis.

_Linn. Suppl. Pl. p. 223._

The Erica here figured, is one of the many new and beautiful species, which within these few years have been sent from the Cape by Mr. Ma.s.sON, and which have contributed so greatly to enrich the royal garden at Kew.

The description given of the _grandiflora_ in the _Suppl. Plant_.

accords so ill with our plant, that we should be led to consider it as another species, did not the respectable authority of the _Hortus Kewensis_ silence all doubts on that head.

The blossoms of this species, whether we regard their magnitude, their colour, their smooth and glossy surface, or the regular position of the filaments, projecting beyond the corolla, and closing together by the antherae, excite our notice, and claim our admiration.

Like every other heath, the hardy ones excepted, it is a greenhouse plant, and flowers from May to July.

Our drawing was made from a plant finely blown, in the collection of JAMES VERE, Esq. Kensington-Gore.

[190]

ORNITHOGALUM AUREUM. GOLDEN ORNITHOGALUM.

_Cla.s.s and Order._

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cor._ 6-petala, erecta, persistens, supra medium patens, _Filamenta_ alterna basi dilatata.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

ORNITHOGALUM _aureum_ foliis ovato-lanceolatis, albomargmatis, floribus racemosis confertis, filamentis nectario emarginato infidentibus.

We have bestowed on this plant the name of _aureum_, from the colour of its blossoms, which are usually of a bright orange or gold colour; in some specimens we have observed them of a paler hue, and consequently less beautiful.

This highly ornamental species is of modern introduction, having been received by Mess. LEE and KENNEDY, a few years since from the Cape, of which it is a native.

The root is a whitish bulb, resembling in size and shape that of the _Lachenalia tricolor_, figured on plate 82 of this work, from whence spring three or four smooth, somewhat fleshy, upright, dark-green leaves, about half an inch wide, and three or four inches long, edged with white, and, if magnified, appearing fringed with very fine hairs or villi; the stalk is naked, from eight to twelve inches high, supporting many flowers, which spring from the alae of large, hollow, pointed bracteae, and which opening one after another, keep the plant a considerable time in flower; according to LINNaeUS'S generic character, every other filament should be dilated at the base, in the present species each filament is so, or rather sits as it were on a white glandular nectary, emarginated on the inside, and highly deserving of notice.

In the greenhouse, where this plant has. .h.i.therto been kept, its blossoms come forth as early as January and February, and continue for several months; they will long display their beauty, if the stem be cut off and put in a phial of water.

It is propagated by offsets from its bulbs, and has the appearance of being a plant of kindly growth and easy management.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[191]

PRIMULA MARGINATA. SILVER-EDGED PRIMULA.

_Cla.s.s and Order._

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.