yellow, very fragrant, flowers from May to October. In British gardens, it was for some time after its first introduction kept in the greenhouse, or conservatory, but it is now commonly treated as a wall shrub, where it has attained the height of 15 ft., and it appears to be nearly as hardy as any species of the genus. It is readily propagated by cuttings, and is a fine grower and flowerer in any common soil and exposure. There are splendid plants of it against the conservative wall in the London Horticultural Society's Garden. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 1s. 6d. each; at New York, one dollar. 5. J. (R) PUBI GERUM D. Don. The downy Nepal Jasmine. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves alternate, pinnate. Leaflets 6. J, OFFICINA LE L. The officinal, or common, Jasmine. Identification. Lin. Sp., 1. p. 9.; Vahl Enum., 1. p. 34.; Don's Mill, 4. p. 63.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 31.; Lam. Ill., t. 7. f. 1.; Bull. Herb., t. 231.; Schmidt Baum., S t. 150; and our fig. 1078. Spec. Char. Leaves opposite, pinnate; leaflets ovate, acuminated, terminal one longest. Young buds erectish. Plant glabrous. Branches angular. Calycine segments 5, subulate. Corolla white, 4-5-cleft, sweet-scented. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 63.) Varieties. AA J. o. 2 foliis argenteis Lodd. Cat. has the leaves striped with white. J. o. 3 foliis aureis Lodd. Cat. has the leaves striped with yellow. J. o. 4 floribus plenis Hort. has the flowers double, but is very rare. Description, &c. A climbing shrub, a native of Asia, from the coast of Malabar to Georgia; growing abundantly at the foot of Mount Caucasus, in woods. It generally loses its leaves in the winter season, especially in exposed situations; but, as its young shoots are of a fine deep green, and the plant is generally covered with them, it has the appearance at that season of an evergreen. The shoots are frequently produced 7 ft. or 8 ft. in length, and upwards. It is uncertain when it was introduced into Europe; but it has been cultivated in the gardens of convents from time immemorial; and it is naturalised in the southern valleys of Switzerland, particularly in the neighbourhood of Aigle. It was so common in British gardens in the time of Gerard, that "Master Lyte" thought it was indigenous. It is to be found in gardens, and against houses, in every part of Europe, from the Mediterranean, as far north as Warsaw; where, however, it requires the green-house during winter. It flowers, more especially in moist seasons, or when supplied with water, from the end of May till October; but, like many other plants prolific in side-suckers, it very seldom produces fruit, even in the south of France and Spain. This year, 1836, there are a few fruit, with perfect seeds, on our plant, at Bayswater. Properties and Uses. The flowers are highly odoriferous; and, though they do not yield an oil, yet they are much employed, in France and Italy, to communicate their odour both to oils and spirits; and, sometimes, also to powdered sugar. This is effected in the following manner :- Small flasks of cotton are moistened with the oil of ben (an oil drawn from the seeds of Moringa pterygospérma Dec., the horseradish tree, a native of the East Indies), or with any other oil not liable to become rancid. Layers of these pieces of cotton are placed between layers of flowers for twenty-four hours, when the cotton is removed; and the oil, being separated from it by expres sion, is found to be highly aromatic. This oil, put into pure spirit, gives out its odour to it; and the oil being separated, the spirit remains, having imbibed the odour of the jasmine. Powdered sugar, in layers, placed between layers of blossoms, becomes impregnated with the odour in the same manner as the oiled cotton; and the sugar may be afterwards used to flavour various articles, either in a dry state, or in the form of syrup. In every case, the article impregnated with the flavour of the jasmine requires to be kept in vessels closely stopped; because the odour soon evaporates by exposure to the air. These operations may be performed with all the odoriferous species of jasmine; and, indeed, with all odoriferous flowers whatever. The great use of the jasmine, in British gardens, is as a shrub for covering walls, arbours, &c.; for which purpose it may be truly said to be invaluable. It is always green, by its leaves in summer, and by the colour of its young wood in winter; and it is an abundant flowerer. Its flowers are produced during the greater part of summer; they are of an elegant shape, a pure white, and are highly odoriferous. Evelyn, alluding to its flowers, says that, if they were as much employed in England as in Italy and France, our gardeners might make money enough of them. "One sorry tree in Paris," he adds," has been worth, to a poor woman, near a pistole a year." In the present day, the plant is still a great favourite with the French. The Parisian gardeners train the plants to a single stem in pots and boxes, and expose them all the year in the flower-markets, where they find customers among all ranks. Such is the rapid growth of this plant, that, when once firmly established in good soil, it will make shoots from 10 ft. to 20 ft. long in one season. These shoots, when of 2 years' or 3 years' growth, are used in Greece and Turkey as tubes to tobacco-pipes; and they may be seen, in Constantinople, 8 ft. or 10 ft. long, twisted in various ways. The plant will endure the smoke of London almost as well as the ivy and the aucuba, but it does not blossom so freely among coal smoke as in a purer air. In Paris, it may be found beautifully in flower in back courts, and on the balconies, sills, or outsides of windows, in the most confined parts of the town. A very striking application of this shrub is, to train it up a strong cast-iron rod 20 ft. high, with an umbrella head 8 ft. or 10 ft. in diameter; and, after the head has been covered with shoots, to allow them to droop down on every side to the ground. This is, also, a very pleasing mode of covering the roofs of cottages, allowing the shoots to droop down on every side like curtains, and drawing them back from the windows in a similar manner to what is done with drapery. Historical, poetical, and legendary Allusions. Cowper observes, The jasmine (of which "The deep dark green of whose unvarnish'd leaf Makes more conspicuous, and illumes the more, has been frequently celebrated by the poets; and several of them have alluded to the custom which prevails in some countries, of brides wearing jasmine flowers in their hair when they are married. The origin of the custom is said to be, that a grand-duke of Tuscany had, in 1699, a plant of the deliciously scented jasmine of Goa (J. odoratíssimum), which he was so careful of, that he would not suffer it to be propagated. His gardener, however, being in love with a peasant girl in the neighbourhood, gave her a sprig of this choice plant on her birthday; and he having taught her how to make cuttings, she planted the sprig as a memorial of his affection. It grew rapidly, and every one who saw it, admiring its beauty and sweetness, wished to have a plant of it. These the girl supplied from cuttings, and sold them so well, as to obtain enough money to enable her to marry her lover. "The young girls of Tuscany, in remembrance of this adventure, always deck themselves, on their wedding-day, with a nosegay of jessamine; and they have a proverb, that she who is worthy to wear a nosegay of jessamine, is as good as a fortune to her husband." (Sentiment of Flowers, p. 8.) This custom, however, appears to prevail, also, in the East, according to Moore: "And brides, as delicate and fair As the white jasmine flowers they wear, Hath Yemen in her blissful clime." The flower alluded to in the beautiful lines below, also by Moore, is J. Sámbac, a hot-house plant, but, which like many other tender shrubs, might be turned out to blossom for the summer. ""Twas midnight-through the lattice, wreathed From timid jasmine buds, that keep Their odour to themselves all day, But, when the sunlight dies away, Let the delicious secret out To every breeze that roams about." 1079 Propagation and Culture. The common jasmine throws up side-suckers in great abundance; by which, by layers, or even by cuttings, it is readily propagated. The double-blossomed variety is rare, and is generally propagated by budding on the species. When it is desired to turn a green jasmine into a variegated one, a single bud of either the silver-leaved, or the golden-leaved, will communicate its variegation to every part of the plant, even to suckers thrown up by the roots. This has been done in the Chelsea Botanic Garden; and we are informed by Mr. Pince of Exeter, that the same result takes place with the variegated laburnum, even if the bud should die, provided a portion of the bark to which it was attached continues to live. We have little doubt that the same thing would take place in the jasmine, and, doubtless, in various other plants. Insects. That very remarkable lepidopterous in sect, the death's head hawk moth (Acheróntia A'tropos Fab.), feeds, in the larva state (see fig. 1081. a), indiscriminately on the different species of jasmine, and on the leaves of the potato. When the perfect insect is captured, it sometimes utters a shrill cry, by the friction of the palpi on the trunk; but, in the opinion of M. Savi, by the escape of air from two cavities in the abdomen. It makes its appearance during autumn, and is very difficult to rear beyond the pupa state (b). It is indigenous throughout great part of Europe, and also in Africa and India. Sphinx jasmineàrum, of which fig. 1079. is the larva, and fig. 1080. the perfect insect, also feeds on all the various species of the genus. Statistics. The largest plant of the Jasminum officinale that we recollect having seen was at Cobham Hall, in Kent; where, in 1826, a plant covered great part of one of the fronts of the mansion, and must, at least, have been 50 ft. high. The price of plants, in the London nurseries, of the species, is 25s. per hundred; and the varieties, from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per plant : at Bollwyller 30 cents: and at New York, 373 cents each. App. i. Hardy Species of Jasminum not yet introduced. J. aureum D. Don, G. Don's Mill., iv. p. 63., is a native of Nepal, with pinnate leaves, which are opposite, and have from 9 to 11 leaflets. The flowers are of a golden yellow. J. nervosum Lour., Don's Mill., iv. p. 63., is a native of Cochin-China, with pinnate, alternate leaves, and ovate three-nerved leaflets. The flowers are white, and without scent. App. ii. Half-hardy Species of Jasminum. J. odoratissimum L., the Jasmine of Goa (Bot. Mag., t. 285.), is a well-known inhabitant of the green-house; and, being a native of Madeira, it may be kept through the winter in a pit, or against a conservative wall. The flowers are yellow, and extremely odoriferous. J. glaucum Vahl is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, with lanceolate leaflets like the leaves of the privet, and white flowers resembling those of J. officinale, but longer. J. azóricum Vahl (Bot. Mag., t. 1889.) is a native of the Azores and Madeira, with trifoliolate leaves, and white flowers. The shoots twine, as well as climb; and the plant is, doubtless, half. hardy. CHAP. LXXVII. OF THE HARDY AND HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER APOCYNA CEÆ. GENUS I. VINCA L. THE PERIWINKLE. Lin. Syst. Pentándria Monogynia. Identification. Lin, Gen., No. 295.; Juss., 144.; Lindl, Nat. Syst. Bot., 2d edit., p. 301.; Don's Mill. 4. p. 95. Synonymes. Pervinca Tourn., t. 45.; la Pervenche, Fr.; Sunngrün, Ger. Derivation. In Don's Miller, this word is said to be derived from vinco, to conquer; because the species subdue other plants by their creeping roots, or bind them by their runners: but a much better origin seems to be from vinculum, a band, on account of the suitableness of the shoots for the purpose of making bands. Gen. Char., &c. Calyx 5-cleft; segments linear or subulate, acute. Corolla salver-shaped; tube longer than the calyx; throat bearded; segments of of the limb flat, oblique, truncate at the apex. Stamens 5, inserted in the throat, enclosed. Filaments short. Anthers ending each in a hairy membrane at the apex, which connive over the stigma. Stigma bearded, seated on a flat orbicular disk, which is grooved round the circumference. Glands 2, alternating with the ovaries, glabrous, as well as they. Follicles 2, erect, terete, narrow, dehiscing lengthwise, few-seeded. Seeds cylindrical, naked. Albumen fleshy. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 95.) —The hardy ligneous species are creeping evergreens; natives of Europe, in shady places; of the easiest culture; and readily propagated by division, layers, or cuttings. 1. V. MAJOR L. The greater Periwinkle. Identification. Lin. Sp., p. 304.; Don's Mill., 4. p. 95.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1856. Synonymes. Vinca mèdía Delile; Pervínca major Scop. Carn., No. 274., Garid. Aiz, t. 81., Lob Spec. Char., &c. Stems erectish. Leaves ovate, acute, ciliated. Calycine teeth linear-subulate, ciliated, usually with a small tooth on each side at the base. Segments of corolla broad, obovate. This species is larger in all its parts than the preceding. Corollas fine purplish blue. Flowering stems erect; barren ones trailing. There is a variety of this with variegated leaves. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 95.) A low, trailing or creeping, suffruticose evergreen; a native of the middle and south of Europe, and apparently wild in some parts of Britain. It grows as high as 2 ft., forming a dense dark green, low, trailing bush, growing freely under the shade of other trees; and producing its fine blue flowers from March to September. Variety. V. m. 2 variegata Hort. has the leaves variegated with white and yellow. |