i. 





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and drink ; but how any animal fliould ever attack 

 plants which are fo well defended by ftrong thorns, 

 which arenas' hard' and llifFas whaleborie, or any other 

 bony fubftance, fs difficult to conceive -, nor could any 

 thing but diftrefs for moifture ever have tempted 

 them to venVure amongft thefe troublefome plants tp 



• fearchTor relief, fince they muft encounter with many 

 difficulties, before they could find a method of dii- 



■ lodging the rhoms. 

 The fmit of all the f6r'te of Melon-thiftlcs, are fre- 



' cuently eaten by the inhabitants of the Weft-Indies j 

 mere is fcarce any difference in the fruits of all the 

 kinds I have 'yet feen, either in fize, fhape, colour, 

 or tafte. They are about three quarters of an inch in 

 lencrth, of a taper form, drawing'to a point at the 

 bottom toward the plant, but blunt at the top, whet 



-•■ ' > ■:j'v<»; /■ 



-M S 



4 



plentifully ftockcd with them, maybe foon fupplied 

 with the fifth fort from feeds, and ttie fixth from the 

 young plants which are thruftout from the fide of tlae 



CiESALPlNA. Plum. Nov. Gen. 9. Brafiletto. 

 ^ This plant was fo named by father Plumier, who dif- 

 covered it in America, in honour of Andreas Ca^fal- 

 pinus, an eminent botanift, and one of the firft writ- 

 ers on a method of claffing plants. 





The Characters are, 



f ► - 



the empalement of the flower was fituated. The tafte 

 is an agreeable acid, which, in aliot country, muft 

 f render the fruit more "grateful. : ' .''■-■' '■'■ ^ 



^ AU.tlie forts of thefe plants require a very goodftove 

 to preferve them through the winter in England, nor 

 ' flibuld they be expofed to the open air in fummer ; 

 ^ f6t although they may continue fay: to 6utward ap- 

 pearance, when they have been fome time expofed 

 abroad, yet they will imbibe mbiftifre, which will 

 caufe them to rot foon after they are removed into the 

 ' ftove.' And this is frequently the cafe of thofe plants 

 : which are brought from abroaiJ, which have a fair 

 . healthy appeafahce Many tirhes at their firft arrival, 

 but foon after decay, and this will happen veiy fud- 

 ■ denly. Scarce any appearance of diforder will be 

 . feeri, till the whole plant is killed;, which, in a few 

 hours time, has often been the 'fate of thofe plants, 

 ' when tlieyhave been placed in the ftove. ■ - ^--i'^J 



'plunged into a hot-bed of tanners 



: will greatly forward them in their 

 /.growth; but when this is praftifed, there Ihbuld be 

 ."'icaree any water given to the plants, for the moifture 

 r v/hich they will imbibe from the Ferpentation of the 

 " tan,' will be Tuffictent for them^ arid more would 

 t caufe them to rot, - 



■ t 



t - r 



-• ■ 



^ * 



-1 



e 



The beft method to preferve all 

 : the large kinds is, in winter, to place the pots, either 

 upon the iops of the flues, or, at leaft, very near 

 • them, that they may have the warmeft place of the 

 ' ftove ; and during that feafon, never'to give them any 

 water \ but when the feafon comes for leaving out the 

 fire in the ftove, to remove them into a bed of tdn- 

 ' ners bark', wHich will foon fet them in a growing ftate, 

 and recover their verdure. ■ The foil in which thefe 

 .' fhould be planted, muft be of a fandy nature, and if 

 - mixed with fome dry lime rubbifh, it will be llill bet- 

 r teV. :; In the bottoin of the pots fhould be placed fome 

 ■: ftones, in order to drain off any moifture which may 

 be in the earth ; for as thefe plants naturally grow 

 upon 'the 'hot dry burning rocks which have no 

 earth; and*, w^fe it 'fiotfor thefe plants, would be ab- 

 folutely barren, we muft imitate their natural foil as 

 near as poffibley making fom"e allowance for the dif- 

 ference of climates."'. 



The 

 muft 



) 





I ' 



*■ 





rear forts may be propagated by feeds, which 



e fown and managed as hath been diredled for 



thfe fmaller fort ; biit as the' plants which are raifed 



froni feeds in England, will befomey^ars in arrivino- 



to any confiderable fize, it will be much the beft Way 



to procure fome plants from the Weft-Indies ; and if 



the plants arrive here in any of the fummer months, 



fo as that there may be time for them to get new root 



before the cold comes on in autumn, the plants will 



more certainly fucceed. When the plants come over, 



'it will be proper to take them out of the earth as fooh 



as poffible, and lay them in the ftove upon the fhelves, 



-to dry for a fortnight or three Weeks ; and when they 



are^^planted, they fhould be plunged into at good 



warm bed of tanners bark, " to promote their making 



new roots. Jn this bed they may remain till the be"^ 



ginning of Oftober, v^hcn they itiuft be removed into 



the ftove, and treated in the j-nanner before diredted. 



The two fmall forts prop-.f^ate fo faft in England, as 



to render it unnccefTary to fend for plants of thefe 



kinds from abroad y for whoever hath a mind to be 



.{ 



It hath a qulnquefid pitcher-JIoaped empahment^ the un- 

 der lobe being large, 'The flower hath five almojl equal 

 petalsy of the butterfly kind. It hath ten declining fla- 

 mina which are diJlinBy and terminated by roundiflj fum- 

 mitSy and an chhng gerrhen fupporting a Jingle Jtyle the 

 length of the ft amina^ cron.vned by a blunt ftigma. ^he 

 einpalement afterward becomes an oblong comprejfed pod^ 

 with one cellincloftng three of four comprejfed feeds. 

 This genus of plants Js, ranged in the firft fed:ion of 

 Linnseus's tenth clafs, * intitled Decandria Monogjmia, 

 the flower having ten feparate ftamina and one ftyle. 

 :'. The SpEtiES are, ' ■ 



1. CjESAhPifJA ' (Brajilienjis) foliis duplicato-pinnatis, 

 ■;; foliolis emarginatis, floribus decaridris. defalpina with 

 ^ doubly winged leaves y whofe fmall leaves are indented at 



the endy and flowers with tenftaminal Pfeudo-fanta- 



lum croceum. Sloan. Hift. Jam. Vol. 11. p. 184. Saf- 



fron-coloured Baftard 'Sauni^s^ commonly called Brafiletto. 



2. C^^sALPiNA {Jrijh) fdliis duplicato-pinnatis foliolis 

 . ■ ovatis integerrimis floribus pentandriis. defalpina with 



doubly winged leaves^ 'whofe fmall leaves are oval and 



entire^ and flowers with five ft armna, Csefalpina poly- 



phyllaaciilis horrida. -Plum. Nov. Gen. 28, 



•The firft fort is the tree which affords the Brafiletto 



. wood, which is much ufed in dyeing. It grows na- 



■f rurally in the warmeft parts of America, from whence 



'' . the wood is imported for the dyers; and the demand 



for it has beenfo great,, that there .are no large trees 



. left in any of the Britifti colonies, the biggeft fcarce 



"exceeding eight ihch^s in diameter, and fifteen feet 



in height. - It hath very flender branches, which are 



\ armed with recurved thorns. The leaves are wing- 



, ; ed, branching out into many divifions*, each being 



^' garniftied with fmall oval lobes which are indented at 



the top, and are placed oppofite. The foot-ftalks 



of the flowers come out from the fide of the branches, 



and are terminated by a loofe pyramidal fpike of 



white flowers, which are fliaped fomewhat like thofe 



of the" butterfly kind, having ten ftamina which <SiXt 



much longer than 'the petals, and terminated by 



roundlfli yellow fummits.' The germen afterw^ard 



becomes a long compreffed pod with one cell, incloi- 



ing feveral oval flat feeds; : .■ 



The fecond fort grows naturally in the fame countries 

 with the firft, but is 6f larger fize : it fends out many 

 weak irrep;ular branclies, armed with fliort, ftrong, up- 



The kaves branch out in the fame 

 manner as the firft, but the lobes (or fmall leaves) 

 are oval and entire. The flowers are produced in 

 long fpikes like thofe' of the former, but are varie- 

 gated with red ; thefe have each but five ftamina, 

 therefore, according to Linn^us's fyftem, fhould 

 not be ranged in this clafs ; but as in all the other 

 characters they agree, I have continued them to- 

 gether. • . , . 



Dr. Linri^us has joined thefe two fpecies together, 

 in which he has beeh followed by Dr. Burman ; but 

 if either of them had feen the plants, they could^not 

 have committed this miftake. To this genus Lin- 

 naeus has added two other fpecies, ^one of which is a 

 Guilandina, and the qjther a Bauhinia ; to the latter he 

 has^ added the Synonime of Colutea Ver^ Crucis Ve- 

 ficaria, which is a plant totally different, being a ge- 

 nuine Colutea. I received this from the late Dr. 

 Houftoun, who found it growing naturally at La Vera 

 Cruz, in Nev/ Spain. 



Thefe plants are propagated by feeds, which ihould 

 be fown in fmall pots filled with light rich earth early 

 in the fpring, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanners 

 bark, obferving to water the earth as often as it jip- 



6 ' - " pears 



right thorns. 



