F R A 



F R I 



some days after ihey appear, so that at first they 

 appear to be male iiowers." It llowcri iu April, 

 or tiic lo'.lowiug monih. 



There are varieties with simple leaves, lobed, 

 and even ternatc ; with peiuluious branches — or 

 Weeping Ash; with variegated leaves, yellow 

 and wh.le; or i;old-s;riped and silver-striped. 



In the seeond speeics the shoots are iiiuch 

 jhorter, and the joints closer together than in 

 those ot the Comni ,n Ash: the leaflets are 

 shorter, with deeper serratures on their edges, 

 and of a lighter green : the flowers come out 

 from the side of the branches, are of a purple 

 colour, and appear in the spring before the 

 leaves come out. It is of humble growth, sel- 

 dom risinu; to more than fifteen or si.\leen feet 

 in height in this climate. 



The third species, according to Miller, is a 

 low tree, abo'it the same heiglil as the preceding: 

 the leaves are composed of three or four pairs of 

 sawed lobes, far asunder, terminated by an odd 

 one, much smaller and narrower than those of 

 the Common Ash, but serrate, and of the same 

 dark colour : the flowers in large loose bunches 

 at the ends of the branches, havmg petals : they 

 are of a white herbaceous colour, mostly males, 

 and appear in May. 



There is a varieiv, the Dwarf Flowering Ash. 

 In the fourth species, the New Enghnd sort, 

 according; to Miller, " the leaves have but three, 

 or at most four pairs of leaflets, placed far di- 

 stant from each other, and the odd leaflet run- 

 ning out into a very long point, of a light 

 green, and no serratures on their edges. It 

 shoots into strong irregular branches, but does 

 not crow to a large size in the trunk. And in 

 the Carolina kind the leaves have seldom more 

 than three pairs of leaflets, the lower being the 

 least, and the upper the largest ; these are about 

 five inches long and two broad, of a light green 

 coKmr, and slightly serrate ; the midrib is taper, 

 and has short downy hairs on it : the seeds 

 broader than those of the Coii<mon Ash, and of 

 a very light colour. 



The first of the-e is called the White Ameri- 

 can Ash ; and the second the Red American 

 Ash. And there is a third variety named the 

 Black Ash, in which the stem is erect, branching, 

 twenty or thirty feet in height, with large very 

 dark leaves conipo-^ed of three or four pairs of 

 lobes ar.d an odd one, small flowers of a green- 

 ish colour, and broad blackish fruit. Other va- 

 rieties may also he found in the nurseries. 



Culture. — These plants may all of them be 

 i.-.creiscd with facility by seeds, which iu the 

 common sort siiould be sown in the autumn, 

 and in the others as soon as they cyn. be obtain- 

 ed in the spring, on beds of light mould over 



the surface, raking thcin in to the depili of 

 nearly an inch. The yiiung plants bhuuld be 

 afterwards kept clear from weeds, an 1 when 

 tliev have had one or two years growth they 

 should be removed into nursery-rows, and 

 placed two feet asunder, and one di>tani in the 

 rows, where they must remain till fit for being 

 planted where thev are to grow. 



The three last sorts may likewise be raised by 

 budding or ingrafting upon common Ash stocks, 

 when of the size of a good bean stem. This 

 business should be performed about the latter 

 end of suumier ; b;it the plants raised in this 

 mode are not so line as those I'rom seed, on ac- 

 count of the stocks growing with more rapidity 

 than the heads. 



These are the only methods by which the va- 

 riecated varieties can be Increased. 



All the sorts may he introduced as ornamental 

 trees; but those of the American kind are the 

 most ])roper in small plantations or shrubberies. 

 The first sort is hiirhly useful as a timber tree. 

 FRIAK'S COWL. See Ahu.n!. 

 I RIXGF-TKKE. See Chioxanthls. 

 FRITILLARIA, a genus comprisiiiu plants 

 of the bulbous-ranted pcretinial flowerv^kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Ihxandria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 C'jronarice. 



The chiracters are: that there is no calvx : 

 the corolla is six-petalled, bell-shaped, spread- 

 ing at the base : petals oblong, parallel : nectary 

 an excava'ion or pit in the base of each petal : 

 the stamina have six subulate filaments, approx- 

 imating to the style, the length of the corolla : 

 anthers quadrangular, oblong, erect : the pis;ii- 

 luin is an olilong germ, three-cornered, obtuse: 

 style simple, longer than the stamens : stigma 

 triple, spreading, blunt : (style trilid, with three 

 stigmas :) the pericarpium is an ublong capsule, 

 obtuse, three-lobed, three-ctlltd, three-valvtd 

 (superior) : the seeds very many, flat, semi - 

 orbicular on the outside, in a tlouble row. 



The species are: 1. F. Mekagru, ('ommon 

 Fritillary, or Chequered Lily ; 5. P. pyrcnana. 

 Black Fritillary; 3. F. impi-riuUs, Imperial 

 Fritillary, or'Crown Imperial; 4. F. Peislca, 

 I'erslan Friiillarv, or Persian Lily. 



In the first the root is a solid bulb or tuber, 

 about the size of a hazel-nut, wliite or yellow- 

 ish white, rourftlish, compressed, divisible iniu 

 several, inclosed by the withered wrinkled bulb 

 of the preccdinir year as in a case. The stein 

 from six to twelve, fifteen, and even eighteen 

 inches in height, advancing considerably in 

 length after How cring ; it comes out from the 

 side of the root, is simple, upright, round, 

 smooth, elaucous, and n-it unfrequcntly pur- 

 3 D 2 



