CHAP. XCIlI. POLYGONA‘CEZ. CALLI‘GONUM. 1295 
Loddiges, upwards of 2 ft. high, which was profusely covered with white 
flowers, tinged with pink, in August, 1836. It frequently ripens seeds 
there; but no plants have hitherto been raised from them. There is also a 
plant in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, It thrives best in sandy peat, and is 
propagated by layers. So elegant and rare a plant deserves a place in every 
choice collection. 
« 2. A.unpuLA‘TA L. The waved-leaved Atraphaxis. 
Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff., 137. ; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 249. 
Engraving. Dill. Elth., t, 52. f. 36. 
Spec. Char., &c. It is less rigid than the A. spindsa, and has not a spiny character. Its leaves are 
ovate, waved at the edges, and of a greener hue. The calyx is 4-parted, and has the lobes equal, 
ovate, and concave. Stamens lanceolate. Style bifid. Fruit roundish, (Observation, and Wiild. 
Sp. Pl.) A native of the Cape of Good Hope, whence it was introduced in 1732, but is rare in 
collections. In British green-houses, it flowers in June and July ; and, when planted out in the 
open garden, it will produce shoots from subterraneous stolones. We have not seen the plant. 
Genus IV. 
org 
{se | 
CALLY’GONUM L. Tue Catticonum. Lin. Syst. Dodecandria Tetra- 
gynia. 
Identification. Lin. Gen., 680.; L’Héritier in Lin. Soc. Trans., 1. p.177.; Willd. Sp. PL, 2. p. 926. 
Synonymes, Pallasia L., Pterocéccus Pall. 
sigs ecaer oe Kalios, beauty, gonu, a knee; in description of the neat and jointed character of the 
ranches, 
% 1.C. Pavia‘sz4 L’Herit. Pallas’s Calligonum, 
Identification. WL’Herit. Stirp., 2. p. 37., and in Lin. Soc. Trans., 1. p. 177.; Ait. Hort. Kew., 2. 
p. 242.; Willd. Sp. Pl, 2. p. 997. 
Synonymes. Pterocéccus aphYllus Pall. Voy., 2. p.738. t. 8.; Calligonum polygonoides Pall. Itin., 
3. p. 536.; Pallaséa caspica Lin. fil. Suppl., 252., Savigny in Encycl. ; Pallasia Pterocéccus Pall, 
Fl. Ross., 2. p.70. t.77, 78. ; Caspischer Hackenknopf, Ger. 
Engravings. Lam. Ill., 410. ; Pall. Itin., 2. t.81.; Pall. Fl. Ross., 2. t.77, 78.; and our figs. 1165, 1166. 
Spec. Char., &c. Fruit winged: wings membranous, curled, and toothed. (L’Hérit. in Lin. Soc. 
Trans.) A shrub, 3 ft. or 4ft. high. Introduced in 1780, but rare in collections. In its native 
state, on the banks of the Caspian Sea, its root is thick, woody, 13 in. in diameter, striking deep into 
the sand, with a tuberose head. Stems numerous, about the thickness of a 
finger, erect, branched, spreading, dichotomous, brittle, with a grey striated 
bark. Branches alternate, round, zigzag, pointed, a little knotty; without 
leaves ; putting out every spring, at each 
joint, from 6 to 10 close-set, herbaceous, 
rush-like shoots, sometimes simple, some- 
times branched, of a fine green and nearly 
glaucous colour ; a few of which survive 
the winter, and harden into branches; 
the rest perish and leave a knotty scar. 
Stipule membranous, obscurely trifid, 
shriveling, surrounding the joint, as in 
the polygonums. Leaves alternate, sessile, 
solitary, at each joint of the herbaceous 
shoots ; round, awl-shaped, ficshy, resembling the shoots; half an inch long. 
Pallas says there are no leaves; but L’Héritier affirms they were actually 
~pn a in plants cultivated by himself, which were bearing flowers and fruit. 
owers numerous, in clusters, 3—5 in a cluster, lateral, or axillary within 1166 
the stipules, on the young or woody branches, as well as on the herbaceous shoots; white, with 
a greenish tinge in the middle. Stamens 16, the length of the calyx, and withering with it 
as the fruit increases, without falling off. Filaments bristle-shaped, thickest at the base, downy. 
Anthers nearly globular, 2-celled. Ovary conical, 4-sided, rarely 3-sided, the bifid angles prolonged 
so as to form the wings of the fruit. Wings somewhat oval, of a crimson colour, striated, and split 
on the edges, spreading on each side so as to conceal the nut. Pallas describes this plant as a singu- 
lar shrub, growing plentifully in the Desert of Naryn, and in the sandy tracts between the rivers 
Rhymnus and Wolga, lying towards the Caspian Sea, where it frequently covers whole hills; the 
branches attaining the height of a man, and the roots often descending upwards of 6ft. into the 
sand. It abounds on gravelly hills near the Wolga, at Astracan, and near the mouths of the Cama, 
in the deserts of Tartary. The thick part of the root being cut across in the winter season, a gum 
exudes, having the appearance of tragacanth. Infused in water, it swells, and is changed into a 
sweetish mucilage, which does not soon grow dry; and, if exposed to heat, ferments in a few days, 
and acquires a vinous flavour. ‘The wandering tribes form tobacco-pipes and spoons from the knots 
found upon the trunk. The smoke of the wood is said to be good for sore eyes. The fruit is succu- 
lent, acid, and excellent for quenching thirst. The flowers are produced in May, and the fruit 
ripens in July. The nuts germinate freely when sown deeply in sand, and the two seed-leaves break 
forth, and suddenly spring up, in one night, 1 in. in length, and thread-like and decumbent ; but 
they become speedily erect. 
*4aQ 
