height, and is very ornamental when Teucrium angustifolium Schreb. is green, hardy species, with yellow flowers, will be found mentioned in our Hortus Britannicus. P. purpurea Smith Spic., 6. t. 3., and our fig. 1138., differs from the preceding sort, in having its flowers of a pale purple colour. Both sorts have a peculiar soapy smell. Rosmarinus officinalis L., Fl.Græc., 1. t. 14., and our fig. 1139., is a well-known evergreen shrub, a native of the south of Europe, which has been an inhabitant of our gardens since 1548. There are plants of it in different gardens in the neighbourhood of London, which, as bushes in the open border, in 5 or 6 years have attained the height of as many feet, and breadth in proportion; thus forming very handsome evergreen bushes. We may refer in proof of this to the Twickenham Botanic Garden, and to the gardens of many small suburban villas. In a wild state, the rosemary grows 4 ft. or 5 ft. high; but there is a variety with broad leaves, which, when trained against a wall, will grow to the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft. As the plant flowers from January to April, it forms, when so treated, a very desirable garden ornament. There are, also, a variety with the leaves variegated with gold colour, and a silvery-leaved variety; but these are often rather weaker, and more dwarf, than the species. 1139 The wild rosemary is a native of the south of France, Spain, Italy, the Levant, Barbary, &c., on rocks and rocky hills; and, in some places, it is so abundant, that in spring, when it is in flower, the air is perfumed with its odour to a considerable distance. On this account, and also from the powerful attraction which it forms to bees, at a season when there are few other plants in flower, it has long been partially cultivated by the inhabitants of those countries of which it is a native. In Narbonne and Mahon, the rosemary is so abundant, partly from being indigenous, but principally from its being frequently used there to form hedges to gardens, that it communicates its flavour to the honey, which is considered the finest in France. The rosemary is mentioned, in many of the old Continental songs of the troubadours, as emblematic of that constancy and devotion to the fair sex, which was one of the characteristics of the days of chivalry. Garlands and chaplets were formed of myrtle, laurel, and rosemary, and put on the heads of the principal persons in fêtes. It was formerly held in high esteem as a comforter of the brain, and a strengthener to the memory; and, on the latter account, is considered as the emblem of fidelity in lovers. Formerly, it was worn at weddings, and also at funerals; and it is still grown for that purpose in many parts of the Continent. Many allusions have been made to both customs by poets, and also to its being the symbol of remembrance. Shakspeare makes Ophelia say, "There's rosemary for you: that's for remembrance;" and in the notes to Stevens's edition of Shakspeare are many references to passages referring to this plant in the works of the old poets. It is said to be found wild in the Great Desert; and Moore, in allusion to this, and its use for funerals, says, "The humble rosemary, Whose sweets so thanklessly are shed To scent the desert and the dead." The points of the shoots are a most powerful bitter, and they are aromatic; they, also, when distilled with water, yield a thin, light, pale, essential oil, at the rate of 8 oz. of oil to 100 lb. of the herb in a green state. The oil of the flowers (which ought always to be gathered with their calyxes) is somewhat more volatile than that of the leaves, and is readily extracted with spirits of wine. This oil contains a considerable quantity of camphor. The oil of rosemary was in great use among the Greeks and Romans, and still forms an article of the materia medica. Hungary water (so called from being first used by the Queen of Hungary) is made with rosemary, and is considered excellent for keeping the hair in curl. If constantly used, however, the hair will lose its colour, and become wiry. The smell of the plant is fragrant and aromatic; and the taste pungent and bitter. Its properties are effectually extracted by rectified spirit, and partly, also, by water. In France, besides its use by the apothecaries and perfumers, a conserve, a honey, and a liqueur, are made from it by the confectioners. Though the rosemary is indigenous to the south of France, it will scarcely live through the winter, in the open air, in the neighbourhood of Paris; and the varieties, except the broad leaved one, are kept there in the conservatory. In some parts of Germany, especially in the Catholic countries (at Nuremburg, for example), rosemary is cultivated in quantities, in pots, by the commercial gardeners, for the purpose of selling sprigs of it when they come into flower, in winter and early in spring, for religious purposes. (See Enyc. of Gard., edit. 1835, § 545.) Like almost all the plants of this chapter, it is easily propagated by cuttings, and it also ripens seeds in abundance in fine seasons. It is said always to thrive best near the sea; as is indicated by the name, which is compounded of two Latin words, ros, marinus, signifying sea-dew. Stachys fruticulosa Bieb, is a low evergreen shrub, from Caucasus, which seldom grows above 1 ft. in height; but which may be planted where it is desired to include as many species as possible in the arboretum. S. stenophylla Spr., from Spain, and S. palestina L., from Syria, grow about the same height. Stachys lavandulæfòlia is a native of the Levant, and produces its purple flowers in May and August. Lavandula Spica L., N. Du Ham., 3. t. 42., and our fig. 1140., the common lavender, is a well-known fragrant shrub, which, like the rosemary, has been long an inhabitant of British gardens. In deep, dry, calcareous soils, it will grow to the height of 3 ft, and form a compact hemispherical bush, flowering abundantly every year. The flowers are generally purple, but there is a variety with white flowers; and L. latifolia Ehrh., which is not uncommon in gardens, and which has lilac flowers, though treated by some as a species, is probably nothing more than another variety. The common lavender is a native of the south of Europe, the north of Africa, and the west of Asia, in warm, rocky, and barren places. It is particularly abundant in Provence; where, as the rosemary, the thyme, and the heath do in other districts, it gives a 1140 peculiar flavour to the honey, which is known as the miel de Provence, and which, after that of Narbonne, a kind that, as already mentioned, takes the flavour of rosemary, is considered the best in France. The lavender was held in high estimation by the Greeks and Romans, for its fragrance and aromatic properties; and it has been esteemed, on the same account, in Britain, and cultivated in gardens for its medicinal virtues from time immemorial. Medicinally, in the form of tincture, spirit, or essential oil, it is considered a powerful stimulant to the nervous system, and is, conse quently, generally had recourse to in headachs and hysterical affections. The odour resides entirely in the essential oil, which is contained in every part of the plant, but principally in its spikes of flowers and flower-stalks, from which the oil is obtained by distillation. This oil, rectified, and again distilled, and mixed with spirits of wine, forms the well-known lavender water of the perfumers. The flowers, on account of their powerful aromatic odour, are frequently put into wardrobes among clothes, as an antidote to moths, particularly in the case of woollen stuffs. A few drops of the oil will serve the same purpose. So powerful are the effects of this oil, that, if a single drop of it be put in a box along with a living insect, the latter almost instantly dies. The lavender is cultivated in various parts of France; and it is so much hardier than the rosemary, that it is grown in quantities for perfumers, even in the neighbourhood of Paris. The driest soil, in the warmest situation, produces most oil; and, as the odour of this plant and the rosemary, as, indeed, of all the Labiacea, depends on the disengagement of their oil, of course it is most felt in hot days and during sunshine. The lavender has been long cultivated in the neighbourhood of London, and in other parts of England. Park Place, near Henley on Thames, is celebrated for its lavender plantations, which occupy between 40 and 50 acres. "The plants are raised from cuttings, which are slipped off and prepared by women in the autumn, and bedded in, in rows, in any spare piece of garden ground, where they remain for two years. The ground into which they are to be transplanted, being prepared by shallow trenchings or double ploughing, the plants are placed in rows 4 ft. apart, and at 2 ft. distance in the rows. For three or four years, a row of turnips or potatoes is grown between the rows of lavender; after which period, or about the time that the lavender plants in the rows touch each other, half of them are removed, leaving the field covered with plants 4 ft. apart every way. All the culture which is required afterwards is, keeping the soil free from weeds. In a few years the plants will have grown sufficiently to touch each other; and in this state they will remain from fifteen to twenty years, according to the nature of the soil: they are then taken up, and the ground cropped for two or three years with turnips and other field crops; after which the lavender plantation is renewed. The flowers are obliged to be either sold to a regularly licensed distiller, or distilled on the premises, on account of the excise laws. The oil from the plantation here is said to be of the best quality; doubtless from the calcareous nature of the soil." (Gard. Mag., ix. p. 661.) Miss Kent, in her Flora Domestica, mentions that the stalks of lavender, when stripped of their flowers, form an agreeable substitute for pastiles, and burn very well in the little vessels made for burning pastiles in. (p. 219.) The poets have not quite neglected the lavender. Shenstone, in his Schoolmistress, says, — "And lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom Shall be erewhile in arid bundles bound, To lurk amidst her labours of the loom, And crown her kerchiefs clean with mickle rare perfume." A'cynos graveolens Link, and A. rotundifoliu Pers., the former a native of the Crimea, and the 1141 latter of Spain, are small thyme-like shrubs, seldom exceeding 1 ft. in height, which might be placed on rockwork. Gardoquia Hookeri Benth., Swt. Brit. Fl. Gard., 2. s. t. 271., is a small upright-branched shrub, with obovate pointed leaves; a native of South Carolina, where it was discovered by Mr. Alexander Gordon, a collector sent out by Mr. Charlwood, and was introduced in 1831. It is a delicate, but showy, little shrub, with brilliant scarlet flowers, and in all probability is half-hardy. Westringia rosmariniformis Sm., Bot. Rep., t. 214., is a native of New South Wales; introduced in 1791, and producing its pale blue flowers from May till August. It is a very eligible shrub for a conservative wall, from the rosemary-like character of its evergreen foliage. In the conservatory of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, it is 9 ft. high in a pot, and will doubtless grow much higher when trained against a wall. 1142 Sálvia officinalis L., N. Du Ham., 6. t. 25., and our fig.1141., is a well-known suffruticose plant, which, though seldom seen above 2 ft. in height, yet, in deep sandy soil, will grow to the height of 5 ft. or 6 ft., and produce a stem as thick as a man's leg. We have seen plants of this size in Donald's Nursery, at Goldsworth, in Surrey; and we have seen hedges of sage on chalky soils, between 3 ft. and 4 ft. high. It is a native of the south of Europe, and has been known in British gardens from time immemorial, and when grown in masses, and abounding in racemes of flowers, it is very ornamental. The virtues of sage have been celebrated from time immemorial. The Latin name of the plant, Salvia, is derived from salvere, to heal; and one of the Latin poets asks, “Why should a man die who has sage in his garden ?" According to Gerard, "No man needs to doubt of the wholesomeness of sage ale, being brewed as it should be with sage, scabious, betony, spiknard, squinanth, and fennel seeds." (Herbal, p. 766.) There are several varieties; one of which has the leaves variegated; another has the whole plant of a reddish hue; and one (fig. 1142.), common in the neighbourhood of Paris, and of which there are plants in the Horticultural Society's Gar- 1143 den, has leaves larger than those of the species. S. Hablitziana Willd., Bot. Mag., t. 1429., and our fig. 1143., is a native of Siberia, and appears tolerably dis tinct. S. ponúfera L.; S. crética frutéscens pomífera Tourn., 1144 Fl. Græc., 1. t. 15.; and our fig. 1144.; is a native of Candia; introduced in 1699. This sort of sage is described as growing 4 ft. or 5 ft. high, and having pale blue flowers, like S. officinalis. The branches are liable to be punctured by insects; in consequence of which protuberances are produced as big as apples, in the same manner as galls are produced upon the oak, and mossy excrescences upon the rose tree. Tournefort says the spikes of flowers of this kind of sage are 1 ft. in length, and that the odour of the plant partakes of the common sage and lavender. In the Isle of Crete, the common sage is said to produce the same excrescences as those of S. pomífera; and the inhabitants carry them to market there under the name of sage apples. 1145 This circumstance, and some half-hardy species, some of which will be noticed in Audibertia incana Benth., Bot. Reg., t. 1469., and our fig. 1146., is a curious little evergreen shrub, sent from Colombia, in 1827, by Douglas. It grows to the height of 1 ft. or 2 ft., and produces its pale blue flowers from July to September. There are plants in the Horticultural Society's Garden. App. I. 1146 Half-hardy ligneous or suffruticose Species of Labiàceæ. Lavándula Sto'chas L., Bar. Ic., 301., N. Du Ham., 3. t. 43., and our fig. 1149., is an elegant little evergreen shrub, with conspicuous lilac-coloured flowers. It is a native of the south of Europe, and has been known in gardens since the days of Gerard. It is commonly kept in green-houses'; but it will pass the winter on dry rockwork, with little or no protection. L. dentata L., Bot. Mag., t. 401., and our fig. 1146., is a native of Spain; and L. pinnata Bot. Mag., t. 400., and our fig. 1147., is a native of Madeira. Both sorts are curious in their leaves, and well deserve a place in collections. L. vi. ridis L'Hérit., Fl. Port., 1. t. 4., is a native of Madeira, with purple flowers, which are produced from May to July. Plectranthus fruticosus L'Hérit. Sert., 85. t. 41., and our fig. 1148., is a native of the forests near the Cape of Good Hope, an old inhabitant of our green-houses, and one of the few green-house plants that were found in old conservatories in France before the Revolution. In that country, among the old orange trees, pomegranates, olives, and oleanders, which are occasionally found lingering about the few old châteaux that still exist, Plectranthus fruticosus 1147 |