MARVEL OF PERU. 245 



tlie Jalap to be the root of the Bdle de Nuit. This 

 error has been since discovered, and it is now 

 clearly ascertained that the true Jalap is the root 

 of an American species of Convolvulus, distin- 

 guished by the title of Jalapa, consequently, the 

 Mirabilis is now frequently called False Jalap. 

 We are indebted to Dr. Houston for this discovery, 

 he having ascertained the fact in the Spanish West 

 Indies, from whence lie brought over a drawing of 

 the plant, made by a Spaniard at Xalapa or Ha- 

 lapa. Seeds of the Convolvulus Jalapa appear to 

 have been introduced by Cliarles Du Bois, Esq., 

 about the year 1728; and Mr. Miller informs us 

 that he received three seeds of this plant from the 

 Spanish West Indies in the year 1736, one of 

 Avhich he reared in the botanic garden at Chelsea, 

 where it became a large plant, having a tuberous 

 root as large as that of the Jalap commonly im- 

 ported. This plant perished in the severe winter 

 of 1739-40, without having flowered. 



The Marvel of Peru has a fusiform root, whicli 

 should be taken up in the autumn and kept under 

 cover in dry sand until the spring, when it may be 

 planted where it is to flower ; but as the seeds 

 which are sown in the spring produce plants that 

 flower in the summer, this mode of preserving the 

 roots is not usually attended to. 



The seed should be sown in March on a mode- 



