1296 



AKBOKKIUiM ANU FIIUTICETUM. 



•A in 111 



C comdsum L'Herit. in Lin. Trans., 1. p. 18<1., Willd. Sp. PI., 2. p. 927. ; ami C. Pdndcrx L'Hirit. ; 

 are described by botanists, and registered in Sweet's llurtus Britannicus as introducetl ; but we are 

 not aware of their being in the country. 



App. I. Half-hardy Species of PoljjgGndcece. 



Brunnfc/i'ia cirrhbsa Ga?rtn. Fruct., 1. t 45. f. 2., is a tendrilcd climber, a 

 native of Carolina, with alternate, cordate, acuminate leaves, and flowers 

 in panicled racemes. It was introduced in 17H7, and is occasionally met with 

 in old collections ; for example, in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. 



Rumrj- I.uniiria K, Pluk. Aim , L'5'J, '■253., is a nativeof the Canaries, with 

 roundish glaucous leaves, which has been occasionally found in green-houses, 

 since the days of Parkinson. It grows to the height of .Oft. or fi fl. in the 

 Cambridge Botanic Garden ; and produces its greenish flowers in June and 

 July. There are two other .African suffiruticose species recorded in our Hor- 

 tus Britannicus ; and there is a plant in the Horticultural Society's (iarden, 

 from Moldavia, which has twining stems, and of which a portion is repre- 

 sented in Jig. 1 li)7. It grows against a wall with an east a.<pect, and, though 

 frequently killed down during winter, never fails to spring up vigorously the 

 following spring. 



'Polygonum ai/pressum R. Br., Bot. Mag., t 3145., the Macquarrie Harbour 

 vine, is a native of Van Diemen's Land, principally on the sea shore, about 

 Macquarrie Harbour. It is an evergreen climber or trailer, growing to 

 the height of fio t1. ; flowering from May to August ; and ripening its fruit 

 in December and January. The flowers are axillary, and are succeeded by 

 racemes of fruit, which, at first sight, resemble grapes. " The seed of all 

 the polygonums, which is a small hard nut, is known to be wholesome, 

 (buck-wheat, for example) ; but in P. adpre.-sum the seed is invested with 

 the eidarged and fleshy segments of the calyx, which gives to each fruit the 

 appearance of a berry : some acidity in this fruit renders it available for 

 tarts." {But. ^tos-, April, 1832; see also (iard. Mag., vol. viii. p. 347., and 

 vol. xi. p. 341.) This plant was introduced in 1822; and, though considered 

 as requiring the green-house, yet we have little doubt it would live against 

 a conservative wall, or as a trailer on dry rockwork, in peat soil, in a warm 

 situation. The extraordinary rapidity of its growth might perhaps recom. 

 mend it for the same purposes as the coboea, and other rapid-growing 

 climbers. 



CHAP. XCIII. 



OF THE HARDY AND HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER 



LAURA'CEiE. 



This order is distinguished from all others by the following short charac- 

 teristics : — Anthers o|)ening by valves which curve upwards ; carpels solitary 

 and superior; and ovules pendulous. {Lindl. Nat. Sysl.of Bot.) The only 

 other order treated of in our work, in which there is an analogous mode of 

 opening in the anthers, is Berbcrdcetc. The species are chiefly trees, some of 

 them shrubs, natives of Asia and North America, and one of them of the 

 south of Europe. 



Geni s I. 



LAU'RUS Vlhi. TuK Laurel, or Ba\\ Tree, Lin. Syst. Enneandria 



Monogynia. 



Identification. Pliny, on the authority of C. G. Xees von E^scnbcck in Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot, 

 p. 21)2. ; Lin. Gen., No. 503., in part ; and so of most other botanical authors. 



Synonymes. Sassaf> as a.\\A Bcnxuin, C. G. Von Esenbeck ; Daphne, Greek. 



Derivation, i'rom laus, praise; in reference to the ancient custom of crowning the Roman con- 

 querors with laurel in their triumphal processions. There appears some doubt of the Zaurus 

 iiiibilis being the Laurus of the Romans, and the Daphne of the <; reeks. (Sce/Japhne.) As, however, 

 nothing certain is known of the subject, we have followe<l the popular Ijelief ; and, in the history 

 given below of the Laiirus n6bilis, we have treated it as if identical with the Daphne of the Greeks. 



Gen. Char., <.^r. Sc.rcs polygamous, or dioicious. Ca/i/.r with 6 sepals. Stamens 9 ; 

 C exterior, 3 interior, and each of them having a pair of gland-hke bodies 



