264 FLORA HISTORICA. 



PERSICAKIA. Pohjcjoniim Orientate. 



Natural Order Holeracece. PoIygo?i(e, Juss. A Genus 

 of the Odandria Trigynia Class. 



——————— Their rise tliey boast. 



From India's deserts or Columbia's coast. 



Europe is indebted to M. Tournefort for this 

 eastern plant, that celebrated botanist having first 

 noticed it growing in the Prince of Teflis's garden 

 in Georgia, and he afterwards procured the seed 

 from the garden of the monks of the three churches 

 near jMount Ararat, the spot on which the ark is 

 supposed to have rested : we have therefore made 

 it the emblem of restoration. 



The Duchess of Beaufort appears to have been 

 the earliest cultivator of the Oriental Persicaria in 

 this country, it having been introduced by her 

 Grace in the year 1707 ; and, although it is pro- 

 nounced to be a native of the East Indies, it has so 

 far become a denizen of our soil, that the plants 

 wliich spring spontaneously from the self-sown 

 seeds are generally finer than those raised by art ; 

 from which we may learn that the autumn is the 

 Droper time of sowing this seed, and that it should 



