372 



THE BEGONIA. 



scepire, as by the conjunction appearelh in 

 the uniting^ of those too most ruyal houses 

 of Lancaster and York." 



" It is reported that the Turks can by no 

 means endure to sec the leaves of Roses 

 fall to the ground, because tliat some of them 

 have dreamed, that the first or most an- 

 cient Rose did spring from the blood of Ve- 

 nus, and others of the Mahometans say, 

 that it sprantj from the sweat of Mahomet." 



The double Roses described, are the 

 white, red, damask, Rose without prickles, 

 and the Holland or Provence. " The Hol- 

 land or Provence Rose hath divers shoots 

 proceeding from a woody root, full of sharp 

 prickles, dividing itself into divers branches, 

 whereon do grow leaves, consisting five 

 leaves set upon a rough middle rib, and 

 those snipt about the edges ; the flowers do 



grow on the lops of the branches, in shape 

 and color like the damask Rose, but greater 

 and more double, insomuch that the yellow 

 chives in the middle arc hard to be seen ; of 

 a reasonable good smell, but not full so 

 sweet as the common damask Rose; the fruit 

 is like the other of his kinde." 



Under the head of musk Roses, are the 

 double and single and great musk, the vel- 

 vet, single and double yellow, single and 

 double cinnamon. Under wild Roses; sin- 

 gle and double eglantine, briar and pim- 

 pernell Roses. The cut of the Holland 

 Roses is a good representation of our La 

 Reine, equal in size and perfection to one 

 of the best specimens. Thus ends my 

 chapter on ancient Horticulture. J. B. 



THE BEGONIA— ITS VARIETIES AND CULTURE. 



FROM THE LONDON HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE. 



The Begonia is rather an extensive genus, i 

 composed principally of stove-plants. It is 

 named after Michael Begon, a Frenchman, 

 and promoter of botany, and belongs to the 

 natural order Begoniaceae, and to the Lin- 

 naean Moncecia Polyandria. It consists 

 chiefly of succulent-stemmed plants, which 

 are remarkable for the obliquity of the 

 leaves at their base ; and in the greater num- 

 ber of species, the flowers are very handsome. 

 As a family, the culture of the Begonia has 

 been a good deal neglected; and yet, for 

 those who have any taste for an assemblage 

 of affined plants, the Begonia offers induce- 

 ments which are by no means common. It 

 is, doubtless, the fact of their being stove- 

 plants, that has, at least partly, operated to 

 produce the neglect into which they have 

 fallen ; yet they are by no means chargea- 

 ble with the expense which is usually un- 

 derstood to attach to the culture of stove- 

 plants. A small structure, with a temperature 

 very slightly elevated above that of a green- 

 house, would be sufficient to grow most, if 

 not all, the species to pretty good perfection, 

 as their growth would be chiefly effected in 

 the summer season, when advantage could 



be taken of the heat of the sun ; and in 

 the winter, when the chief portion of ex- 

 pense would be incurred, they would be 

 benefited, rather than injured, by a low de- 

 gree of temperature, as compared with 

 what is usually considered necessarj' for 

 stove-plants. 



The affinities of the order are, by the 

 analogy of properties, chiefly with Poly- 

 gonacese. Some of the species known to 

 botanists, such as B. grandiflora, and £. 

 tome7i(osa, possess bitter, astringent roots, 

 like those of the Bistort, [Polygoimm bis- 

 tcrta.) Others, as B. odorata, have fra- 

 grant blossoms, in which they agree with 

 Polygomivi odoratum. The leaves of B. 

 nitida, or ohliqua, are used as sorrel, and 

 are known in Jamaica as the Sorrel of the 

 Woods ; whilst in Brazil, the leaves of B. 

 ulmifolia, B. bidentata, B. spdtulata, B. cu- 

 cullata, and B. hirtella, are used as cooling 

 salads. Several species yield in Brazil a 

 cooling drink, similar to that prepared in 

 the East from Rheum ribes ; and oxalate 

 of potass is obtained from several species, 

 as Avell as from many kinds of Rumex. 

 The root of B. obliqua is called Wild Rhu- 



