HflisTMAS HORTU?. JAMAICENSIS. 133, 



CHRISTMAS GAMBOL. CONVOLVULUS 



Cl. 5, OR. 1. -Pentandria monogT/nia, Nat. OR, Cavipanacea', 



Gen. Char. .Vee; Bindweeos, /). 88. 



POLYANTHOS. 



Convolvulus major pohjd-ni ho.'!, longissime la/tssmieque repens,Jlorilus - 

 alh/'s ininoribus- o,d/)nitis. Sloane, v. i, p. 15.'3, t. 97, f. 2. Poli. 

 (uitltos glahcr undiijuc repen!^,^:racemls" subcomosis sparsis ct alari- 

 bus, capsulis Dinno.'sriermis.- iirowne-t \i. 15^. v 



This plant covers sonietimes a .great many trees, and'sQiaetifiies pastures for a great 

 "breadtli. It has a broad or compressed, fiat, long, cornered root^ of a brownish co- 

 Jour, Irom wlience issue many. strin>gs. The stalks are whitish, broad, smooth, iiavirig 

 several round eminences on tiieir surt'acc, piutirig iorth branches adorned with leaves 

 at an inch and a half (iistance ; they are siiaped liice a heart,_an uich and a half long, 

 ii an iiicli long peduncle, and an inch broai^ut the round !)ase, wiiere ilroadest, smooth, 

 soft, and of a darkish green coloun ^ The tlovvers^come out in the bra'i.ches in great 

 numbers, on inch long footstalks, they are monopetaious, beil-fashioned, white, small 

 with respect to the plant, and sraeiiing very svyeet-. After each ot these flowers comes 

 !ioe large oval seed, like brown vehxt, ^olid, inclosed in a brown membranaceoii.s, 

 hairy seed vessel having five 'brovvn leaves, .standing out at every side under it like tiie 

 says of a star. ' It grows on the plain grounds near the river side by the town of St. Jago 

 de la Vega, and iii other places of the island, very plentifully. It flowers in May aiid- 

 December, when the homuung birds are very busy about it, feeding on the-farina of 

 4lie flowers. The suiell.of the flower Is somewhat like tiiat of the narcissus. Sloane. 

 All the parts of this plant are smooth. 



jj^fi BiNixwERDs Jalap Imdian-Creeper PurginCt Sea Biseweed Scammony ^ 



.Sweet Potatoe. 



CHRISTMAS PRIDE. RUELLIA. 



Cl. 14, OR. 2. Didynamia angiospermm. NAT. or. Per sonata. 



This is so named in honour of Joannes Ruellius, a learned physician of Paris, who 

 fed in 15^7. 



CrEN. Char. Calyx a one-teafed, five-parted, permanent perianth, having lineap 

 segments, acute, strai^ljt ; the corolla one petaled, uTegular, with a patulous 

 inclined neck; border five-cleit, spreading, blunt; with two upper segments more 

 reflexed ; the stamens are four filaments, placed where the tube widens, approxi- 

 mating by pairs ; anthers scarcely loiigtr taan the tube ; the pistil has a roundish 

 germ, a filiform style the length of the stamens, a bifid acute stlgua, the lower 

 segments rolled in ; the pericarp is a round caj>sule, acuminate both ways, tivo- 

 celled, two-valved, opening elaslically by the claws ; partition contrary; seeds s 

 ,few roundish, compressed. Four species arc natives of Jamaica. 



I. PANICULATA. tanicled. 



^Sj)culu7n veneris majus, impaiicns, ^ioaiie, v. I, p. 158, 1. lOO, f. 2. 



Proceriixr^^ 



