AMSO'NIA LATIFO'LIA. 



BROAD-LEAVED AMSONIA. 

 Class. Order. 



PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 



Natural Order. 

 APOCYNE.S:. 



No. 18. 



The appellation Amsonia appears to have been 

 first given to this plant by the author of the Flora 

 Virginica, Mr. Clayton, who discovered it in Vir- 

 ginia ; but we are not told in what its name origi- 

 nated ; a supposition may be ventured that he made 

 choice of it from the name of some person or place. 

 Latifolia, from the Latin latus, broad, and folium, 

 a leaf. 



This plant has long been an inhabitant of the 

 English parterre, and is generally thought to have 

 been cultivated by Miller. This, however, is not 

 quite certain ; for, in his dictionary, he speaks of the 

 Tabernsemontana Amsonia, which is considered sy- 

 nonymous with the present Amsonia latifolia, as 

 having white flowers; ours it will be seen are light 

 blue. 



It does not increase rapidly, though it may occa- 

 sionally be divided at the root. It succeeds best in 

 a warm situation where the soil is continually kept 

 in a moderate degree of moisture. It may be plant- 

 ed in a compost of peat and loam, with the addition 

 of a small quantity of sand, and should not be fre- 

 quently removed. 



Hort. Kew. 2, v. 2, 72. 



