SPIKENARD.. HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. ISSS 



jilish, smooth, polished in the inside; of which the lowest are the smallest, thinnest, 

 embracing the stalk, and alternate ; the uppermost scarcely ever more than two, very 

 large, forme .1 like a boat, somewhat heart-shaped at the base, embracing each other, 

 ending in a point; internal bractes scaly, membranous, white, and pellucid, three 

 times shorter than the Outer ones. Flowers numerous, between the uppermost and ex- 

 ternal bractes, which they scarcely rise above, separated and enfolded in distinct 

 clusters by the internal ones, pedicelled, white, short-lived, and scentless. Pedicels 

 simple, single-flowered, roundish, a little swelled in the upper part, whitish, some- 

 times green at the top, smooth, polished, curved after flowering. Calyx corolla-like, 

 whitish, pellucid, smooth; leaflets equal obtuse ; petals a little longer than the calyx, . 

 and alternate with its leaflets, broad-oval, obtuse, waved at the margin, when faded ' 

 rolled inward ; filaments as long as the corolla, nearly equal, almost erect, white, clothed , 

 a little above the base with numerous very slender, white, pellucid, hairs, which are - 

 most beautifully jointed, like a conferva, and are somewhat shorter than the stamen, 

 standing nearly erect ; anthers wedge-shaped, vertical, yellow, smooth, entire at the 

 top, bearing pollen at their orange-coloured edges ; germ superior, roundish, triangu- 

 lar, smooth, white; style erect, cylindrical, white, and smooth; stigma small, ob- 

 tuse, rough; capsule scarcely so large as a pea, smooth, turning red ; seeds solitarv, 

 somewhat kidney-shaped. This plant is noticed in the Hortus Eastensis by Mr. Wiles, 

 who says he found it at the road side near -Stoney- Hill. It was also found in Jamaica 

 by Mr. Mathew Wallen, who sent the seeds to Europe. It is the species spathacea of 

 Swartz. 



There is in America a plant; that grows very plentifully in watery places, like to the 

 English phalangium, or spider-wort. These spider, worts are all of the same virtues, 

 and receive their name from having a peculiar quality to expel the bite or venom of 

 spiders, which, it is said, they cure infallibly. Some of them grow like water-plan- 

 tain; some have a leaf like gentian ; some are branching and spreading, others not; 

 some have deep-purple or bluish flower*, some have white flowers, another a reddish, 

 or carnation colour ; but most of them soon fade away and spring again, and therefore 

 have the name of ephemeras. Barham, p. 177. 



SPIKENARD. BALLOTA. 



Cl. 14, or. \.~Dtdynamie gpnnospcrmia. Nat. or. Verticiltata. 

 Gen. char. Calyx a one-leafed perianth, salvershaped, five-toothed, ten sheathed; 

 corolla monopetalous, ringent, upper lip crenate, concave ; lower trifid ; stamens 

 four filaments, two shorter ; anthers oblong; the pistil has a quadrifid germ, a fili- 

 form style, and slender bifid stigma ; no pericarp, calyx unchanged, seeds ovate. 

 Que species is a native of Jamaica. 



SUAVEOLENS. SWEET-SMELLING. 



Mentastrum maximum, fore coeruleo, nardi odore. Sloane, v. 1, p. 

 171, t, 102, f. 2. llirsutumfoliis eordatis serrato subsinualis, flo- 

 ribus verticilleter spicatis. Browne, p. 257, t. 18, f. 3. 



Leaves cordate, spikes leafy, calyxes truacate, awns .linear, . 



Stein 



