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or ten minutes. I have frequently watched them as [ pearance, their branches always grov/in^ defornVetIi 

 (hey have been recovering, and have always found it I and being but thinly garnifhed with lca\'cs, v/hen in 

 has been by a vibratory motion, like the index of a | their greateft vigour ; but for feveral months they arc 

 clock. ' ' r ' deftitute of leaves, fo that the only thing remarkable 



Some of the forts are fo fufceptiblc of the touch, that l ' in this tree is, the uncommon wreathed foincs with 



the fmalleft drop of water falling on their leaves will 

 caufc them to contraft, but others do not move with- 

 out a much greater prefTure, 



The roots of all the forts have a very ftrong difa- 

 teeablc odour, almoft like that of a common fewer, 

 have met with fome accounts of thefe plants, in 



which the trunk and branches are fully befet. Thefe 

 have the refemblance of animal horns, andarevari- 

 oufly twiftcd and contorted. 



The twenty-third fort was brought from the Bahama 



Iflands by Mr. Catefby, anno 1726. The feeds of this 



plant (which are flat, and one half of a beautiful red 



which it is mentioned, that the leaves and branches | • colour, the other half of a deep black) grow in long 



have a poifonous quality, and that the Indians extradl j twiftcd pods, opening when the feeds are ripe, on one 



fide, and letting them out, which hanging oy a fmall 

 thread for fome time out of the pods, make a very 



a poifon from them, which kills by flow degrees, and 



that the root of the plant is the only remedy to expel 



it ; but how far this is true I cannot fay, having never ] agreeable appearance i the leaves of this tree branch 



out and divide into many ramifications : the lobes are 

 roundifhj and placed in a very regular order. The 

 flowers have not as yet appeared in England, but 

 from a painting done from the plant in the country^ 

 they feem to be very beautiful. 

 The thirteenth fort was brought from Jamaica, and 

 is growing in the phyfic-garden at Chelfea -, this hath 

 four large lobes to each leaf; the fpines are fhort, Iliff; 

 and crooked, and the feeds grow in twifted pods like 

 the former. This plant is well dcfcribed in Sir Hans 

 Sloane's Natural Hiftdry of Jamaica. By the inha- 

 bitants of America it is called Dodor Loner, under 



ht 



made any experiments on the qualities of thefe plants ; 

 but if thefe plants are endowed with fo deadly a qua- 

 lity as related, this fenfibility with which they are en- 

 dued, may be defigned by providence to caution per- 

 fons from being too free with it ; and as many of them 

 arc ftrongly armed with thorns, fo that is a guard 

 againft their being eaten by animals v for in all the 

 enquiries which I have made of thofe perfons who 

 have refided in the countries where they naturally 

 grow, I could never learn that any animal will browfe 



upon them. 



Thefe plants are all of them natives of America, fo 

 were unknown to the other parts of the world till that 

 was difcovered, for I have not heard of any of them 



* 



' # 



'' which name the feeds are frequently 

 '; England. ^^^^' Mrnny^m '■-■ v- "* 



broug 



to 



. being found in any other country : and" a few years f ' Moft of the' 6ther"Ibrts here 'Aientioried, Were col- 

 ago I fent fome of the feeds of thefe plants to China, * "^ ^ ' "" 



William 



epl 



jCt^ 



Mimo 



h ' 



■^ 

 V , 



■; their charafters,' that Linnseus has joined them in 

 ,-ithe fame genus 5 and as hi^ fyftem is now generally 

 followed, fo in compliance with that I have done the 

 '■' fame. 

 n The tenth fort of Acacia is the tree from whence 



* the true Sticcus Acacias is taken, and the Gum Ara- 

 :% bid exfudes from the branches of the fame ; which, 

 . , thoOgh mentioned as a native of Egypt, yet it is alfo 



■r found in divers parts of America, from whence the 



m Jamaica, at Vera Cruz and Campeachy, who fent 

 the feeds of moft of them Into Europe^ m.any 0/ 

 which are nd^^r*6winglri'tRe' phyfic-garden at Chel- 

 fea, where fome of them have produced floweft'and 



plenty of feeds."*'-' -*-^''^ '-''' '" "*- 



■.'i-» rj-, ^' 



Thefe being all tender, arc to te placed in^ftovcs in 

 the winter, and in fumnner muft be but a fliort time 

 expofed to the open air, and have a warm fituation. 

 They are propagated by fowing their feeds on a hot- 

 bed in the fprlng of the year, which will in a fhort 

 time appear above ground, and in about five or 

 fix weeks after, be fit to tranfplant, when a frefh 



there'raifed in feveral gardens near London. 



':; feed of this tree have been fent into England, and j, hot-bed is to be prepared for them, and fhould be 



•■ pretty wartti ; the next thing to be provided is a quan- 

 tity of fmall halfoenny pots, which are to be filled 

 J ''■ with frefti, light, landy ea.r;h } thefe fliguld be plunged 

 ' ^> into the hot-bed, but not into duns: ; for if thefe beds 



'•»:::rWs tfec ai^rives lo a large fize in the cOiintrieS Where 



grows 



: or ten feet high.- ;^ It frequently flowers in autumn, 

 !i but never produces any feeds. ' ': ' ' ■'^^:"'^" 

 ^ The eleventh fort is the moft corrimon kind in Jamaica 

 and Barbadoes, and the other warm parts of America ; 

 : and, for the fwcetnefs of its flowers, has been dif- 

 / perfed through moft parts of Europe • and though a 

 .^ native of the warmer parts of the Indies, it hath been 

 made familiar to the Italian g^fdens, and is Cultivated 

 iikewife in great plenty in Portugal and Spain. -^^-j 





.are made with wai^m^Tiorfe diing,' they ought to be 

 'covered with earth as deep as the pots, whofe botfo*ms 

 ^- ftiould reft upon the dung, for otherwife the roots of 

 'y the plants may fuffer by too much heat ; but beds of 

 - 'tahnefs bark feldom heat fo violently;* As foo!i as 

 the earth in the pots is warm, which will be in two or 

 three days, you fhould carefully take up the youna 

 Diants out or the nrit hot-bed* Dlantino- four or fivf* 



r 



^^The Italian gardeners, wRo bring over Orange-trees^ f :: plants into each of thefe: pofs, giving them a gentle 



cr 



I • 



:;iBcc. 'every year^ generaflv Bring alfo rriany- ybun^. 



^ ^plants of this fort to Engi:ind, under the title of Ga 



zia; but as they are too tender to live in a common 



. green-Kbufe in England, fo feW* of thofe which arc 

 purchafed of them fucceed. ^^^' iW i-^^^-'^fh^rP^^A \ 



t t!pi}(?ai'c!s "6f fe 



•^ teen feet high, \vhich have produced great numbers 

 v^of flowers in Jufy and Auguft, but thefe were kept 

 ■ In aftovc in winter, arid in glafs-cafcs in fummer, to 

 • ;icreen tKem from wet anif the cbld, fof they will not 

 ;Vflower in the open aiF Ih^ this country. ? The flo^^rs 

 '-■: are of a bright yellow colour, and fmcllfweet) in the 

 •: /Weft-Indies it w called Sponge-tree.^ ^Vf^'S^^^: .;^ 



The twelfth fort is at prefent very rare in England, 

 ■-"and only to be found in fome curious gafdeffS. ■ This 



tfecproduces its fpines by pairs, which are extreme 

 ' Jarge and crooked, and of a whitifh colour ; but I do 



not remember ever to have fccn this flower. ' 



In jjngland, fmm the dried famples^ However, which 



1^ ,^ave rc9eived from C^mpeSchy, ^ith many flowers 



^upon them, there appears but little beauty iri them, -, 



!-nor do the trees in their xiktive XoA maRe a Setter ap- 



watering to fettle the eartn to their roots, and fcreen- 



ing them with mats over the glaflfes from the heat of 



• the fun, until they have "taken root; "afte/which time 



^ you muft give them air, by raifing'the glaffes in pro-* 



'portion to the heat of the weather, or to the ebnflitu- 



"•tionoftheplants.^=:^'-^v/;^ - ' v •;?:•/' i:; ':tC^ 

 -The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, "^fts " ^ 



^> 



are very 

 clpecially whileyo'ung, therefore Ihould have 

 '"^"atibt-bed of tatriners^barS'"', '^J^d as they increafe in 

 ^^ bulk, fhould bcfhifted into bigger pots.;^ The earth 

 >- for thefe fhould be a little lighter, and more inclined 

 -"'to a fand, 'than for the other lorts -, but never plant 

 ^^theiiiln 'pots that arc too large, which is full' as bad 

 i*^ td thefe as ifc Oran|^Mtre^s ; ^leither give them too 

 '-'rriuch water,, efpecjally in winter;"'' The tenth fort 

 ' being the hardicft of the three, will, when grown to 



• be woody, "ftand in a commbh ftbvc, which fhould 

 be Icept to'the poTnfbf temperate heat in winter ; and 



* in the fumrttcr tiipe;;ifi warm weather, may enjoy 

 the open free air: but*tKe eleventh and twelfth forts 

 muft have a bark-ffove in wmter ; nor ffibutd tliey 

 be expofed to tKe open air infu'ramef, at leaft for'fouf 



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