JE S C 



A^. S C 



And the sixth has ait annual roof. The 

 6tem is from one to two tcet in height ; some- 

 times, but rarely, reaching three teet ; it seldom 

 stands upright,' but is subdivided, round, and 

 somewhat hirsute, delicate and slender. The 

 branches are tilitcrm, patulous, round, streaked, 

 hirsute. The hairs ferruginous at the base. 

 The leaves pinnate, alternate: leaflets sessile, 

 alternate, minute, siekle-shaped, serrulate, 

 three-nerved beneath, smooth on both sides. 

 The petioles thicker at the base, round, hirsute. 

 The stipules sickle-shaped above and below the 

 petiole, opposite, acuminate, somewhat hirsute. 

 The peduneles longer than tlie leaves, axillary, 

 Bolitarv, and erect. The flowers are pedicelled, 

 alternate, whitish, or brownish yellow. The 

 bracteKsessile,o\ ale-acuminate, serrate, streaked 

 and hir?utc at the edge. The cup has the upper 

 lip serrate at the tip or bluntly three-toothed, 

 and pubescent at the edge. The corolla, banner- 

 streaked ; wings obovatc ; keel ovate, sickle- 

 shaped, upriglu and bilid. The legume almost 

 uprififht, pendulous, margined, wrinkled and 

 pubescent, linear-oblong, compressed, straight 

 at the suture next the seeds, lobed and crenate 

 on the other suture : joints six or seven, semi- 

 orbiculate, gibbous in the middle, compressed 

 at the cd<'C, separating spontaneously. The 

 seeds are crescent-kidney-shaped, turgidly len- 

 ticular, smooth, shining and black. 



This species is said to be soniew hat sensitive ; 

 and during the night, or at the approach of rain, 

 the leaves told together in some degree. It is a 

 native of the West Indies. 



Culture. — The propagation of these plants 

 mav be accomplished bv sowing the ripe seed on 

 a moderate hot-bed, about the latter end of 

 March or beginning of April; and when the plants 

 have advanced to the height of two or three 

 inches, and arc become sufficiently strong, they 

 must be transplanted out separately into small 

 pots filled with light earth, and be inuiiediately 

 plunged into a new hot-bed, in order to promote 

 their growth more efl'eetualb . Afterwards, as 

 thev advance in size, they should be carefully 

 renioved into larger pots :' much attention is, 

 however, necessary not to overpot them, as 

 where this is the case the plants seldom thrive 

 well. 



The first species being tender requires conside- 

 rable attention, in order to presen-e it during the 

 winter in this climate, by raising and keeping it 

 in the hot-bed and stove bark-bed in the manner 

 directed above ; in which treatment it may be 

 preserved in the winter, and afl'ord flowers in the 

 tnsuing summer months. 



The second, third and fourth sorts also de- 

 mand a similar proteclioii in the stove bark-bed 



in the winter season ; by which means they are 

 made to flower more earlv ui t!ic succeeding sum- 

 mer, and the seeds become ripe m the autumn. 

 And as their stems are of a succulent nature, they 

 should be kept ra;hcr dry during the cold moist 

 winter months, in order to prevent their roots 

 from rotting. In this intention it is advised to put 

 them into the bark -bed instead of the dry stove, as 

 in the latter ea-e, from the root-fibres becoming 

 drv, the plants soon dioop for w ant of moisture ; 

 and if it be supplied in that situation, the ])!ants arc 

 quickly destrovcd by tile decaying of their roots. 



The filth and sixth species, irom their being 

 annual plants, require to be brought forward 

 early in the vcar, in the same manner as the first 

 kind, as where that is not the case they seldom 

 perfect their seed. 



These plants afl'ord an agreeable and pleasing 

 variety in stove and gri'enhouse collections. 



yKSCULUS, ihc~ Horse Chcsnut Tn-e, a ge- 

 nus comprising several hardy trees of the deci- 

 duous kind, employed for the purpose of orna- 

 ment. 



It belongs to the class and order of Heptandria 

 JSlonagyma, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Trlliilutce. 



Its characters are : that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed, ventricose, small and five-toothed peri- 

 anthium : the corolla consists of five roundish 

 petals, plaited and waving about the edge, flat,^ 

 spreadinir, with narrow claws inserted into the 

 calyx, and irregularly coloured : the stamina have 

 subulate, declining filaments, of the length of 

 the corolla, and ascending antherx : thepistillum 

 is a rouiidi>h germ, ending in a subulate style; 

 the stigma acuminated : the periearpiuin is a 

 leathery, roundish, three-celled, three-valved 

 capsule : the seeds are two, and subglobular. 



The species are : 1 . JE. Hippocastanum , Com- 

 mon Horse Chesnut : -2. J£. Jiaia, Veilovv- 

 flowered Horse Chesnut : 3. ^. paviu, Scarlet 

 Horse Chesnut. 



The first, or Common Ilorsc Chesnut Tree, is 

 suflieiently known bv the beautiful ])aiabolic 

 form in which the branches are disposed, when 

 it stands single ; by its digitate leaves, which are 

 composed of seven leaflets, serrate about the 

 edge, the middle one largest, the outer ones 

 surallcst ; and by its liandM)me, upright, pyra- 

 midal tlivrse of white flowers, variegated with 

 yellow or red towards the centre. Some of iheni 

 towards the top of the thyrse being imperfeci 

 and abortive, they come out soon in the spring. 

 The capsule, or nut as it is often termed, is 

 divided internally into three cells according to 

 some, but into two only, as others assert. 



In this climate it rises to the height of fifty or 

 sixty feet or more; and its leaves, w hich are large 

 D i 



