Page images
PDF
EPUB

Spec. Char, &c. Leaf lanceolate, toothed, scarcely so long as the raceme. Stamens 10. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 74.) A shrub, a native of the Island of Owhyhee. (Id.) Introduced in 1795. The plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden was placed against the wall in 1828. It is probable that plants of this species are extant in many old collections in conservatories.

App. i. Other Species of Duvaúa.

There is a plant belonging to this genus in the Horticultural Society's Garden, which was placed against a wall there in 1831, but which has not yet flowered. It seems somewhat different in foliage from the preceding sorts, and may be a variety. The others we consider as nothing more than varieties, unless we except D. latifolia.

App. I. Other Species of Anacardiacea, haif-hardy, or conjectured to be so.

Sàbia parviflora Wall, and S. campanulata Wall, are climbing shrubs, natives of Nepal, and included in our list, p. 174., as likely to prove hardy when once introduced. In Don's Miller (ii p. 69.), they are very properly marked as requiring the green-house; and we should probably not have included them among the half-hardy species, had we not had the aid of Mr. Royle's opinion, as stated in p. 173.

Schinus Múlli L. (Don's Mill., ii. p. 76.; Lam. Ill., t. 822.; and our fig. 234.) is a deciduous shrub or low tree, a native of Brazil and Peru, where it grows to the height of 20 ft. The leaves are impari-pinnate, with lanceolate serrated leaflets. The flowers are small, and of a yellowish green; and they are succeeded by berries about as large as a pea, of a singularly beautiful rose colour, and highly polished. This species was introduced in 1597, and, till lately, was kept in green-houses; but a plant in the garden of the London Horticultural Society has stood out several years in the open border, without any protection whatever. It well deserves a place against a conservative wall, not only on account of the beauty of its foliage and of its berries, but from the interest attached to it, from the usefulness of its products in its native country, were it is called the Peruvian mastich tree. The Peruvians are reported to make a vinous liquor and a sort of vinegar from its berries; and, from the resinous gum which exudes from its stem, they prepare mastich. The fresh leaves exhibit the same phenomenon, when immersed in water, as those of Duvaúa (see p. 558.), and, probably, other terebinthinate genera. The leaves, the bark, and other parts of the plant, when bruised, emit a terebinthinate odour. There are two plants in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, one of which, in 1834, was 3 ft. high, after having been 2 years planted; and the second, which differs in its foliage from the other, was 3 ft. high, after having been planted 3 years. The common name in gardens is S. Molle; but the proper specific name is Mulli, which is the Peruvian name of the tree.

S. M. 2 Areira Lin. Spec., 1467., Don's Mill., 2 p. 77., is a variety with the leaflets almost entire. S. Huýgan Mol, and S. virgata Sweet are species from Chili and Lima, probably as hardy as S. Múlli.

Triceros (from treis, three, and keras, a horn; because the berry is three-horned) cochinchinensis Lour. (Dec. Prod., 2. p. 89., and Don's Mill., 2. p. 77.) is a tree with impari-pinnate leaves, a native of Cochin-China, on the mountains, where it grows to the height of 25 ft. It would form a most desirable acquisition to British gardens, as there can be little doubt of its proving quite hardy. Heterodendron oleafolium Desf. (Don's Mill., 2. p.78.) is an evergreen shrub from New Holland, with the appearance of Cnedrum tricóccum.

Styloplàsium spathulatum Desf. (Don's Mill., 2. p. 78.) is also a native of New Holland.

Cnedrum tricôccum L. (Lam. Ill., t. 27.) is a native of Spain and the south of France, in dry and gravelly places. It has been an inhabitant of our green-houses since 1798; and, on dry sheltered rockwork, it will stand the open air with little or no protection; producing its yellow flowers from April to September, and ripening its brownish red 3-seeded fruits, which resemble in form those of Euphorbia Láthyris, and remain on all the winter. The plant is evergreen, and grows to the height of from 1 ft. to 2 ft. A specimen of this species in our garden at Bayswater, planted at the foot of a wall, and protected with a glass case, but without any artificial heat, has stood for the last six years; and is now (April 23. 1836) 18 inches high, and covered with fruit and flowers; contrasting strongly with Coronilla glaúca, planted in the same glass case, and beautifully in flower at the same time.

Cneòrum pulverulentum is a native of Teneriffe, and probably as hardy as the other.

[graphic]

CHAP. XXXIX.

OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER

235

BURSERA CEÆ.

Balsamodendron gileadénse Kunth, and Don's Mill., 2. p. 81.; the Amyris gileadénsis of Lin. (Vahl Symb., 1. p. 28. t. 11.; and our fig. 235. representing a branch, drawn to our usual scale of 2 in. to 1 ft., and fig. 236. representing the flower and fruit of the natural size), the Balm of Gilead tree, is a native of Arabia, with leaves palmately trifoliate, and small whitish flowers. There are two or three varieties of it, which are by some considered species, but none of them have yet been introduced into Britain. - Canàrium Pimèla König. (Don's Mill., 2. p. 85.) is a tree with com. pound leaves, growing to the height of 50 ft. in the woods of Cochin-China and Java.

Fagástrum G. Don. (Don's Mill., p. 87.) is a Cape genus, containing several species of evergreen shrubs, with alternate pinnate leaves, some of which may probably prove hardy; but none of which have hitherto been introduced.

236

CHAP. XL.

OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS SPECIES OF THE ORDER

AMYRIDA CEÆ.

Amyris torifera Willd., the A. balsamífera of L. and Cat. Car. t. 40., is a tree with compound leaves, a native of Carolina, and growing to the height of 50 ft. It is commonly kept in greenhouses; but there can be little doubt, from the climate of its native country, that it would succeed against a conservative wall. The fruit is produced in racemes, and it is pearl-shaped and purple. From the trunk of the tree a juice distils as black as ink, which is reported to be poisonous. The leaves, in a dried state, are highly cephalic. This species was introduced in 1820, but it is not common. It well deserves a place in collections, as the representative of a genus containing various species interesting in medicine and the arts.

A. floridana Nutt. is a shrub, growing to the height of 10 ft. in Eastern Florida, with reticulately veined, glandular, resinous, and fragrant leaves, and black berries, about the size of those of black pepper. When introduced, it will doubtless be found half-hardy.

CHAP. XLI.

OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER LEGUMINA CEÆ.

THE name of Leguminacea is applied to this extensive and truly natural order, on account of the seeds of all the species being produced in leguminous pods, bearing more or less resemblance to those of the common pea or bean; and quite different from the siliquose pods of cruciferous plants.

The Distinctive Characteristics are: Calyx with 5 divisions, either partitions, teeth, or clefts, the odd one anterior to the axis of inflorescence. Fruit a legume. Seed with the radicle next the hilum. (Lindley, Introd. to N. S., and Key.) The ligneous species are trees and shrubs, for the most part deciduous; and they are disposed through almost every part of the world. The order contains some of our finest ornamental shrubs and low trees, such as Robínia, Cytisus, Wistària, Genísta, Ulex, Amórpha, Halimodéndron, Acàcia, Gleditschia, Cércis, and various others. It also contains some considerable trees, which belong to the genera Robínia, Gleditschia, Sophora, &c. The genera containing hardy ligneous plants are in number twenty-three, which, after De Candolle and G. Don, we place in characterised sections, and ascribe to them short characters, that are more or less contradistinctive.

Sect. I. SOPHO`REÆ.

Sect. Char. Corolla, in most, papilionaceous. Stamens 10, with the filaments distinct. Legume not jointed. Cotyledons flat, leafy. Embryo with the radicle beside the edges of the cotyledons. Leaves simply pinnate, or simple.

SOPHO`RA R. Br. Legume necklace-shaped, including many seeds. Leaf with more than three leaflets.

VIRGILIA Lam. Legume compressed, including many seeds. Leaf with more than three leaflets.

PIPTA NTHUS Swt. Legume compressed, including 6 seeds. Leaf with its leaflets 3.

Sect. II. Lo'TEÆ.

Sect. Char. Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens 10, the filaments of all connate, or those of 9 connate, and that of one distinct. Legume not jointed. Embryo with the radicle beside the edges of the cotyledons. The cotyledons flattish; in germination, converted into leaves furnished with stomata. Leaves simply pinnate, or simple.

ULEX L. Calyx 2-parted, 5-toothed. Legume oval-oblong, turgid, scarcely longer than the calyx, containing but few seeds, though the ovules are many. Habit spiny.

STAURACANTHUS Lk. Calyx 2-parted, 5-toothed. Legume flat, extended far beyond the calyx, containing many seeds. Habit spiny.

SPARTIUM Dec. Standard roundish. Keel acuminate. Branches rushlike. Leaf simple.

GENI'STA Lam. Standard oblong-oval.

Keel oblong, not wholly includ

ing the stamens and pistils. Leaves with 3 leaflets, or, in some, simple. CY'TISUS Dec. Standard ovate. Keel very obtuse, including the stamens and pistil. Leaves, in all, with 3 leaflets.

ADENOCARPUS Dec. Stamens with the filaments connate. Legume bearing stalked glands all over it.

ONO NIS L. Calyx with 5 linear segments.

containing few seeds; in most, turgid.

Standard striate.

AMORPHA L. Corolla consisting of the standard only.

Legume

ROBINIA Dec. Legume flat; that edge to which the seeds are attached margined. Leaf impari-pinnate.

CARAGA NA Lam. Legume rather cylindrical. Leaf abruptly pinnate. HALIMODENDRON Fisch. Legume stipitate, inflated, bladdery. Leaf abruptly-pinnate.

CALO PHACA Fisch. Stamens with the filaments of 9 connate, that of one distinct. Legume sessile, with concave valves bearing hairs, some soft, some rigid and glanded.

COLU TEA R. Br. Legume stipitate, much inflated, glabrous.

ASTRA GALUS Dec. Legume with its lower suture so bent in towards the opposite one as to cause the legume to seem, more or less, 2-celled.

Sect. III. HEDYSA'REÆ.

Sect. Char. Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens usually with the filaments connate in one of three modes; the 10 connate; 9 connate and one distinct; or connate by fives: in a few cases all are distinct. Legume dividing transversely into 1-seeded joints, called loments. Embryo with the radicle beside the edges of the cotyledons, which are flattish, and, in germination, are converted into leaves furnished with stomata. Leaves simply pinnate, or simple.

CORONILLA Neck. Calyx campanulate, usually shorter than the claws of the petals. Carina acute. Stamens diadelphous. Secds ovate, or cylindrical.

Sect. IV. PHASEO`LEÆ.

Sect. Char. Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens usually with 9 filaments connate, and one distinct. Legume not jointed, including many seeds, that are separated from one another with a cellular, transverse, membraneous partition, that is in some cases not complete. Embryo with the radicle beside the edge of the cotyledons, which are thick, and, in germination, either remain under ground, or are changed into thick leaves that scarcely have stomata. Leaves simply pinnate, or simple. WISTA'RIA Nutt. Leaf impari-pinnate.

LUPINUS Tourn. Leaf digitate.

Sect. V. CASSIE E.

Sect. Char. Corolla, in most of the species, of equal petals; in some subpapilionaceous. Stamens with the filaments distinct. Leaves doubly or triply pinnate; in some simple.

GLEDI TSCHIA L. Sexes dioeciously polygamous. Corolla of 3-5 equal petals. Legume in most long and narrow. Seeds compressed. Leaves compoundly divided. Bearing prickles in most.

GYMNO CLADUS Lam. Sexes, by defect, diœcious. Corolla of 5 equal petals. Legume compressed and broad. Seeds scarcely compressed. Leaves compoundly divided.

CE'RCIS L. Sexes hermaphrodite. Corolla sub-papilionaceous, of 5 unequal petals; the side ones, or wings, longer than the others. Leaves simple.

[blocks in formation]

SOPHO`RA R. Br. THE SOPHORA. Lin. Syst. Decándria Monogýna. Identification. R. Brown in Hort. Kew., ed. 2. vol. 3. p. 2.; Dec. Lég. Mém., 5.; Prod., 2. p. 95. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 109.

Synonyme. Sophora spec. Lin. Gen., No. 508.

Derivation. Altered from sophero, the Arabic name of a papilionaceous flowering tree.

Description. The only hardy species is a deciduous tree, a native of Japan or China, and it is highly ornamental. It is propagated by seeds, which are ripened in abundance in the south of France and Italy. The two varieties of this species (S. japónica) are propagated by grafting. All the sorts will grow in any soil which is dry; but in Britain, north of London, they are rather tender. On the Continent, however, where the summers are hotter than in England, and the winters colder, as at Vienna, for example, these trees are quite hardy.

1. S. JAPONICA L. The Japan Sophora.

Identification. Lin. Mant., 78.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 98. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 109.

Synonyme. S. sínica Rosier Journ. Phys., 14. p. 248, Dec. Légum., t. 4. f. 1.

Engravings. Red. in N. Du Ham., 3. t. 21.; Dec. Légum., t. 4. f. 1.; and the plate of this species

in our Second Volume.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves pinnate, with 11-13 leaflets, which are oblongovate, acute, and smooth; panicle loose, terminal; pods smooth. A tree, a native of Japan, growing to the height of 40 ft, or 50 ft., and producing large bunches of rather small cream-coloured flowers in August and September. Introduced in 1763.

Varieties.

↑ S. j. 2 variegata Hort. has the leaves variegated, but is not worth cultivating as an ornamental plant.

son.

S. j. 3 péndula Hort., has pendulous shoots, and is a very remarkable variety. Grafted near the ground, the shoots run along the surface, like those of a trailing plant, to a very great distance from the main stem; in good soil, a shoot extending itself 6 ft. or 8 ft. in one seaGrafted at the height of 10 ft. or 20 ft., the shoots hang down, and form one of the most ornamental of pendulous trees, both in summer and winter. There are specimens in the Horticultural Society's Garden, and in Knight's Exotic Nursery, King's Road, Chelsea. Our engraving of this tree in Vol. II. was taken from the former specimen. The bright smooth green of the branches renders this variety truly ornamental, even when deprived of its leaves.

Description, &c. This is a round-headed tree, readily distinguished in winter by the fine, smooth, dark green bark of its young wood and smaller branches; and, in summer, by the dark blue green of its foliage. In deep free soil, this tree grows with great rapidity, seedlings attaining the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft. in 4 or 5 years; and in 20 or 30 years, in the neighbourhood of London, that of 30 ft. or 40 ft. In France, near Paris, there are trees of the height of 60 ft. The sophora is one of the few trees that were introduced into France before they found their way into England. In 1747, Father d'Incarville sent seedlings of this tree to Bernard De Jussieu, at Paris, who sowed the seeds, and distributed the plants. In 1763, it is recorded, as having been cultivated in the Mile End Nursery, by Gordon, who probably received it from Jussieu. In 1779, a tree in the garden of M. De Noailles, at St. Germain en Laye, flowered for the first time in France; and soon afterwards seed was ripened in abundance, from which the nurseries of Europe have been supplied with plants. There are large specimens in England, which flower freely; but they have never yet ripened seeds: indeed, the tree ripens seeds in France only in the very warmest seasons.

Properties and Uses. The wood is very hard and compact, as much so, it is said, as that of the box. The bark exhales a strong odour, which, it is stated in the Nouveau Du Hamel, has a remarkable effect on those who prune the tree, or otherwise work with the wood in a green state. This was first discovered by a turner, who, while at work on a piece of wood newly taken from the tree, was seized with the colic, which obliged him to leave off. The following morning he resumed his work; and the same thing having happened to him again, he sent for a neighbouring turner, and afterwards for two others, who were all alike seized with colic, and violently purged. It appears, however, that the Chinese, who employ the wood in a dried state, suffer no inconvenience from it. It is somewhat remarkable, that, in the Dictionnaire Général des Eaux et Forêts, where the sophora is treated on at considerable length, and a long extract is made from a pamphlet published on the subject by M. Guerrapain, no notice is taken of this singular property. In that pamphlet, the sophora is mentioned as rivalling the Robínia Pseud-Acàcia in the robustness of its habit, and rapidity of its growth; and as surpassing it in durability, and in suitableness for culture in arable lands, from its roots being chiefly of the descending kind; while those of the Robínia extend themselves horizontally near the surface. Little appears to be known of the uses of the tree in China and Japan; but it is said that the fruit is employed to dye a fine yellow; and the flowers for dyeing a yellow of so superior a hue, that it is exclusively reserved for dyeing stuffs to be worn by the members of the imperial family. In Britain, the tree can only be considered as ornamental; and, in that respect, none of the arboreous Leguminàceæ are equal to it in beauty of foliage and bark. Its flowers, when they are produced, are also in large terminal compound spikes, and very conspicuous, though much smaller than those of the Robínia viscòsa. One remarkable property in the foliage of the sophora is, that the very hottest and driest seasons do not turn it pale, or cause it to drop off, as heat does that of most of the other pinnated-leaved Leguminàceæ. The same remark holds good in

« PreviousContinue »