STA'TICE OLE1FO'LIA. 



OLIVE-LEAVED SEA LAVENDER. 

 Class. Order. 



PENTANDRIA. PENTAGYNIA. 



Natural Order. 



PLUMBAGINEiE. 



No. 86. 



Much uncertainty exists respecting the original 

 signification of the generic term Statice. It is sup- 

 posed to have arisen out of the Greek STATIZO, to 

 stop or arrest, in allusion to its astringent quality. 

 Sir J. E. Smith observes, that what the ancient 

 plant may have been, can scarcely be guessed with 

 any probability. The modern application of the 

 name to our Thrift or Sea-Gilliflower, he observes, 

 seems to have originated with Dalechamp, whom 

 Tournefort followed. Hence it has become appro- 

 priated to a fine and extensive genus, whose wiry 

 and entangled stems, so well formed to impede the 

 progress of a foot passenger, may literally almost 

 justify its present use. 



The present species is smaller than the greater 

 portion of them, but still is an interesting and per- 

 fectly hardy little plant. Our figure of a blossom- 

 branch is the full size, but the radical leaves are only 

 half the size of nature. 



It flourishes in a light loam, and may be increas- 

 ed by a division of the roots. It does not increase 

 very fast; and will always flower stronger from 

 having remained two years without a removal. 

 Hort. Kew. 2, v.2, 181. 



