accounts for its being so rarely met with in our gardens. 

 To insure the ripening of its seeds,, Miller directs that it 

 should be raised in the autumn, and the young plants pre- 

 served through the winter under a frame. In the spring, 

 they may be planted in the open air, in a warm situation, 

 sheltered from the high winds. These plants, which have 

 been preserved through the winter, will flower towards the 

 end of June, and may be expected to produce ripe seeds, 

 should the weather be at all favourable. 



The calyx in the whole genus is bell-shaped and much 

 larger than the corolla, with teeth more or less mucronated : 

 in this species they are described as being without mucro ; 

 but this is not the fact : the mucro is indeed small, and 

 though not pungent when ■ green, becomes so in drying. 

 The whorls are generally five-flowered, and under each calyx 

 is a bracte of from three to five spines united at the base, 

 which, though at first innocuous, become rigid and pungent ; 

 these together form an involucre surrounding the stem, 

 beneath each whorl. 



Authors differ in their opinion of its scent ; Parkinson 

 observes, that the smell thereof is nothing like balm, but 

 rather fulsome : to us the scent is very agreeable; as it was to 

 John Bauhin. 



Native of Syria. Cultivated by Lob el in 1570. Flowers 

 in July and August. Communicated by our kind friend, 

 Alexander M'Leay, Esq. 



