258 FLORA HISTORICA. 



flattish surface, that it frequently looks more like 

 a piece of rich velvet than a vegetable substance. 

 We do not find it placed in floral language, and 

 have therefore given it as the emblem of sin- 

 gularity. It is a native of several parts of Asia, 

 and is common in Persia, China, and Japan, 

 where we are informed it is cultivated to such 

 perfection, that the crests or heads of the flowers 

 are frequently a foot in length and breadth. 



This species of Celosia appears to have been 

 known in this country as long back as 1570 ; but 

 from the imperfect manner of forcing plants at 

 that early period of British gardening, we may 

 conclude that the plants were frequently lost with- 

 out affordnig seed. The most perfect plant of 

 this kind that has been raised in England, and 

 we presume we may say in Europe, was grown 

 by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., and which 

 he sent to the Horticultural Society of London in 

 October, 1820, a drawing of which is now to be 

 seen in the library of that institution. The flower 

 of this extraordinary plant measured seven inches 

 in height and eighteen inches in width ; it was 

 thick and full, and of a most intense purplish red 

 colour. 



In producing this singular plant, the first ob- 

 ject was to retard the protrusion of the flower- 

 stalk, so as to give it as much strength as possi- 



