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about an inch r.nd a hall" long, and half an inch broad, 

 fawed on the edges toward the end : the flov/ers 

 come out in imall bunches from the fide of the ftalk-, 

 "they are of a pale Straw colour, and appear in May 

 and June; thefe arc frequently fuccccded by feeds, 

 which ripen the latter part of Auguft. 

 The fifth fort feldom rifes more than two feet high, 

 with a foft ligneous fialk, fending out {lender irregular 

 branches, garnifhed with oblong, oval, woolly leaves, 

 ■ Handing upon pretty long footftalks ; the flowers are 

 produced in loofe fpikes at the end of the branches •, 

 ' thefe are, at their firft appearance, of a gold colour, 

 but after they have been Ibme days open, they change 

 to yellow. This flowers in June and July. 

 The fixth fort rifes with a fhrubby ftalk near three 

 feet high, fending out many flender branches, covered 

 with a reddifli bark, garnilhed with narrow wing- 

 pointed leaves ; the flowers come out from the fide 

 of the branches in fmall clufters ; they areTmall, and 

 of a deep yellow colour. This flowers in June and 



July. " ■ V 



The feventh fort hath fhrubby branching ftalks, 

 which are very'bufliy, 'but feldom rife more than a 

 foot and a half high j the branches are very flender, 

 and garniflied with hairy, pale, green leaves of dif- 

 ferent fizes J fome of them are two inches long, and 

 one broad at their ends ; but their common fize is fel- 

 dom more than one inch long, and half an inch broad 

 at their points j they are entire, and fit pretty clofe 

 to the branches •, the flowers come out from the fide 



* of the flalk fingly, they are fmall, and of a yellow 

 colour. This fort flowers mofl:part of fummer. 

 The eighth fort I raifed from feeds which came 

 from the Cape of Good Hope. This rifes with a 

 fhrubby hairy flalk about two feet high, fending but 

 many fide branches, which grow moreereft than thofe 

 of the former, garnifhed with oblong, veined, hairy 



" leaves, which are fometinies lingle, and at other 



" times come out by threes, the rhiddle "one being the 



largcfl: i the^ flowers are produced toward the end 



'^ of the branches ; they are large, and of a deep yel- 



* low colour, with large, fwoUen, hairy empalements. 

 ^ ,This fort continues flowering mofl: part of fummer. 

 ^ All the fpecies' of this genus yet known, are natives 

 '; of the country about die Cape of Good Hope, from 



whence mofl: of them were brought to the gardens in 

 ■ , Holland, v/here they have been propagated and fpread 

 'through mofl parts of Europe. / ,' " 



The plants are all propagated by planting cuttings of 

 '' them during any of the fummer months, in a bed of 



frefh earth, obferving to water and fhade'them until 

 ^ they are well rooted, which will be in about fix 

 *; weeks after planting ; then you fhould take them up, 

 ^^ preferving a ball of earth to their roots, and plant 

 '^them into pots filled with light frefh earth, placing 

 ^them in ar~lnady fituation until they have taken frefh 

 'root; after which'they may be exp,Qfe^d,to the Open 

 "^^air, with Myrtles, Geraniums, &c. until the middle 

 '] or latter end of Odlober, when they muft: be removed 

 '' into the green-hduTe, bbfemng to^place tKeni'in the 

 ' coblefl part of the houfe,' where they may have as 



much free air as poflTiblc ; for if they are too much 

 ^ drawn in the houfe, they will appear very faint and 



-fickly, and feldom'produce many flowers ; whereas, 

 ^"wfien they are only preferved from the frofl, and fiave 



a ereat fhare of free air, they will appear ftrone and 



healthy, and produce large quantities of flowers in 



. ^' April and MayVduring which feafon they make a very 



' handfdme 'Appearance in the'gi-eeh-holife : they muft 





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^^alfo be frequently watered, and will require tobe new 

 ," potted at leafl: twice every year, i. e. in May and Sep- 

 ."ttember -, otherwife their roots will be fo matted, as to 

 " prevent their growth, 



JThefe plants rarely produce good feeds with "us, "ex- 



' cepttl}e fourth and eighth Ibrts, which ripen their 



■ feeds everi^ year in England -, the other rarely pro- 



\ ducirig any,' I fuppofe this may be accounted for by 



jheir haying^ been long propagated fromcuttings V for 



"thofe plants wKich I have raifed from feeds, have been 



fruitful two of three years after, but I have always 



HER 



found thofe plants v.hich have been proparrated hv 

 cuttings taken from thefe, have foon become^ barren • 

 the fame thing I have obferved in many other plants' 

 therefore thofe who are dcfirous to continue thcr 

 plants fruitful, fhould conftantly raiie them fVor^i 

 ieeds. Thefe, as ahb thofe wliich are obtained froni 

 abroad, mufl: be fown upon a moderate hot-bed • 

 and when the plants come up, they muil be tranf- 

 planted into Imall pots, and plunged 



into another 

 very moderate hot-bed, in order zo promote dicir 

 rooting i after which they mull be hardened by de- 



grees, to endure the open air in iurniner, and may 

 then be treated as the old plants. 



H E R M O D A C T Y L U S, the Hermodaflyl, com- 

 monly called Snake's-head Iris. 

 This genus is by Dr. Linns;us joined to Iris, the 

 charadlers of the fiov/er agreeing pretty well with thofe 

 of that genus ; from which Tournefort has feparated 

 it from the difference of the root, which is not ac- 

 cording to his own fyflem, where he makes the fhape 

 of the petals with their number and pofition, the 

 principal charaderiftics in diflinguiHung the clafies 

 and genera \ but as this plant requires a particular 

 treatment, fo I have continued it under Tourncfort's 

 title. ' '^ 



The Characters are. 

 It hath a Lily-Jhapcd flower^ confifiing of one leaf^ end 

 Jfjaped exA^ly like an Iris, but has a tuberous rooi^ di- 

 vided into two or three dugs, like oblong bulbs. 



We have but one Species of this plant, viz. ' ' 

 Hermodactylus {Tuberofa) folio quadran2;ulo. C, B. P. 

 Snake^s-head Iris, vulgo. This is alfo chilled Iris tu- 

 berofa Bclgarum, i.e. Tuberous Iris of the Dutch, -\ 

 This plant is eafily propagated by its tubers, which 

 fhould be taken olf foon after the green leaves decay, 

 which is the proper feafon for tranfplanting the root; 

 but they fhould. not be kept. long out of the ground, 

 left they fhVink, which will caufe them to rot when 



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they are planted^ They fhould have' a loamy foil,: 

 not too ftrong nor deep, and mufl be"'plan'ted to 'an' 

 eafl afpeft, where they will .flower very well. The 

 roots fhould not be removed cftener than once in 



three years, if you defign to increare'thenii but 

 then they fhould be planted at a farther diflance from; 



' ^ach other, than if they w^ere to remain but one year; ■ 

 and the beds fhould be kept clear from weeds, and at 

 Michaelrhas there fliould be fome fine earth laid over 

 ^ the beds',"" which will greatly flrengthen their roots.* 

 The diflance which thefe plants fl:iould be allowed is ■ 



,' fixinches fquare, and theyfhouldbe placed three iqcjies 



. deepintheground. ThefeproducetheirflowersinMay, 

 and their feeds are rtpe in Auguft ; but as they mul-^ 

 tip1y 'pretty fafl by their roots, few people are at the 

 trouble of raifing them from feeds-, but thofe, Avho. 

 have an inclination fo to do, muft treat them in the,- 

 ' manner direfted for the bulbous Irifes. " .:., ■, j,\,i 



, The roots of thisplant are very apt to run ^eep'mtq 

 the ground, and then they feldom produce fiowefs; 

 and many times they fhoot fo deep as to be loft, 

 efpecially where the foil is very light ; therefore to 

 .prevent this, it will be proper to lay a thicknefs of 



"rubbifh under the border where thefe are planted, to 

 hinder them from s;etcin2:"*down. This fhould al- 



; ways be praclifed in light ground, but in ftrong land 

 'there will be no occafion to make ufe of this precau- 

 tion, becaufe' they do not fhdot downward fo freely 





in that.' t' -" '" 

 ^ This plant has^by fome botanic writers been fuppoied 

 "the true "Hermoda6lyl, but what has been long ufcd 

 in Europe for that is the root of a Colchicum. 

 HERNANDIA. Pliim. Nov. Gen. 8. tab. ^o.Lin. 

 Gen. Plant. 931. Jack-in-a-Box, vulgo, 

 ■ The Characters are, , . ^ 



Itiath rnale and feynale flowers on the fame plants the 

 male fiowers have a partial involucrum, compofed of four 

 oval fmall leaves, ivhich inclofe three flowers \ each of 

 thefe has a proper bell-fjaped empalement of one le^f'^ 

 the petal is funnelfhaped, cut into fix fegnients at the 

 brim ; // hath three fhcrt Jlamina inferted in the emfdU- 



^'menty terminated by ere£! fummitsr The female flo'wsrs 



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