R II U 



R TI U 



v hereby it iniilti plies and spreads greatly. If it 

 be near a wall, the fibres will strike into the joints 

 and support the stalks when severed from the 

 not. When it is thus supported, the stalks l>e- 

 c nine more woody, and rise much higher than 

 when it trails on the ground. The petioles are 

 near a loot long ; the three leaflets are ovate- 

 cordate, live inches long, three inches and a 

 halt broad, each on a short petiole; the two siilc 

 ones oblique to the petiole, but the middle one 

 equal; they have many transverse veins running 

 from the midrib to the borders. The flowers 

 come out trom the side of the stalk in loose 

 panicles, are small and of an herbaceous colour, 

 jnale and female on distinct trees ; the latter 

 succeeded by roundish, channelled, smooth ber- 

 ries, of a gray colour, inclosing one or two seeds. 

 It grows naturally in many parts of North Ame- 

 rica, and flowers in Julv. 



Having, in common with ivy, the quality of 

 not rising without the support of a wall, tree, or 

 hedge, it is called in some parts of America 

 Creeping Ivy. It will climb to the top of high 

 trees in woods, the branches every where throw- 

 ing out fibres that penetrate the trunk. When 

 the stem is cut, it emits a pale brown sap of a 

 disagreeable scent, and so sharp that letters or 

 marks made upon linen with it cannot be got out 

 again, but grow blacker the more it is washed. 



Like Rhus vernix it is poisonous to some 

 persons, but in a less degree. Kalm relates, that 

 of two sisters, one could manage the tree with- 

 out being affected by its venom, whilst the 

 other felt its exhalations as soon as she came 

 within a yard of it, or even when she stood to 

 leeward of it at a greater distance ; that it had 

 not the least effect upon him, though he had 

 made many experiments upon himself, and once 

 the juice squirted into his eve ; but that on an- 

 other person's hand, which he had covered very 

 thick with it, the skin, a few hours after, be- 

 came as hard as a piece of tanned leather, and 

 peeled off afterwards in scales. 



There is a variety with a straight and stout 

 trunk, having a brownish ash-coloured bark : 

 the leaves smooth, veined, bright green above, 

 somewhat paler underneath, pendulous, and 

 somewhat bent back : in the male plant, the 

 leaves arc rather wider and longer, and arc drawn 

 more to a point; in the female they are shorter 

 and blunter, and the petioles are reddish, where- 

 as in the other they are green : the flowers 

 axillary, in raeemes ; the males larger, whitish 

 yellow ; the femals smaller, herbaceous, on the 

 germ instead of the stvle there arc two, some- 

 times three black dots : fruits round, the size 

 and form of coriander seeds, streaked with live 

 lines, remaining on the tree till new flowers 



come out ; when the outer rind i 



a cretaceous subs) mce comet . 



which an ash-coloun 



volved, slightly di\ idi d on the np 

 somewhat kidney-shaped. 



The tenth rises with a v. . the 



height of seven or eight feet, ah a 



brown bark, and having miin irw 

 tiie leaves on long petioles : the mgu- 



lar, near two inches bog and one inch I I 

 dark green above, downy underneath: tin: 

 flowers come out in slender bunches : 

 side of the branches, are of a whitish hem.: 

 colour, and soon fall away. It is a native of the 

 Cape. 



The eleventh species rises with a woody stalk 

 seven or eight feet hijrh dividing into several 

 irregular branches, covered with a dark brown 

 bark : the leaves are on pretty long footstalks : 

 the leaflets two inches lon<> and half an inch 

 broad in the middle, ending in acute points, 

 lucid green above, but downy underneath: the 

 flowers are produced in small loose bunches 

 from the side of the branches ; are small and 

 herbaceous. It is a native of the Cape. 



The twelfth rises with a woody stalk dividing 

 into many branches, covered with a brown bark : 

 the leaflets are of a lucid green colour. It is a na- 

 tive of the Cape, flowering in Julv and August. 



Culture. — The first nine of these plants are 

 capable of being raised by seeds and layers, and 

 some of them also by suckers, or their rooting 

 branches. 



In the first method, such of them as do not 

 send up suckers should have the seed procured 

 from abroad, and sown in pots of a large size 

 or in beds of light mould, bc-iiiLt covered in 

 about the depth of half an inch in the autumn. 

 Those in pots should be protected from the 

 frosts during the winter, and if plunged in a 

 moderate hot-bed in the earlv spring they will 

 be rendered more forward) letting the plants 

 have a free air when they appear. Those m the 

 open ground often remain long before they ve- 

 getate ; thev should be kept Free from weeds, be 

 well watered in summer, and have the pro* ction 

 of mats the first winter. When the plants have 

 had the growth of a year or two they may be 

 planted out in nursery-rows till lit to be set out 

 in the places where they are to remain. 'I he 

 potted plants should have the protection of the 

 frame the second winter, air being freely admit- 

 ted ill mild weather: and in the spring billow- 

 ing they may be shaken out of the pots •' 

 injuring the roots, and be set cut in nuiscry- 

 rows, three feet apart, and a foot distant in the 

 rows, where they may remain two years, and 

 then be planted out where they are to remain. 



