ARBOR VITJE. 



Thuja. 



Thuja, L. Greek 5 U101 -, s u ,, or s; which is de- 

 rived from SUM, to perfume. 



Arbor Vitx, L. from .Arbor, a tree, and Fttee, of life. 

 The tree of life. 



Thuja, the name of a tree, whose very durable wood 

 served, according to Theophrastus, to make images. Its roots, 

 in particular, being curiously twisted or veined, were used for 

 the most valuable ornamental works. This plant was pro- 

 bably the Juniperus Oxycedrus, very common throughout 

 Greece and the Archipelago, of which Mr. Hawkins is of 

 opinion that the most ancient statues were made. Our pre- 

 sent genus of Thuja has nothing in common with this classi- 

 cal plant, except being an aromatic evergreen tree of the 

 same natural order, with very durable wood; but it is not a 

 native of Greece or the Levant. Rees' Encyclopedia. 



The species cultivated are, the American Arbor Vitse, 

 Thuja Occidentalis, called White Cedar; and the Chinese 

 Arbor Vitae, Thuja Orientalis. In the first of these species, 

 there are great varieties; as the American sweet-scented, and 

 the variegated-leaved native of North America, from Cana- 

 da to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. It is 

 rather scarce in the Southern States, and only found on the 

 steep banks of mountain torrents. 



The Thuja Occidentalis is an evergreen tree of humble 

 growth, much branched, very different from most others in the 

 compressed vertical aspect of its younger shoots, and their 

 closely imbricated leaves, which are small, obtuse with a 

 point, smooth; those of two opposite rows compressed and 

 keeled; the intermediate ones flat, with a glandular point or 

 cell of resin, at the back. The flowers appear in May, and 

 are small, solitary, terminal; the males yellowish, and most 

 abundant. Cones ripened the following year, drooping, about 

 the size of a filbert kernel, consisting of about half a dozen 

 lax, smooth, coriaceous scales. The odour of the bruised 

 plant is aromatic, but not agreeable. The wood is not hard, 

 but tough, and extremely durable. 



Thuja Orientalis, is a native of rocky and mountainous 

 situations in China and Japan. It is a hardy evergreen in 

 our gardens, flowering at the same time with the former. 

 The very copious and crowded young branches are more erect, 

 more slender, and rather less compressed than those of the 

 former, and the leaves are furrowed, without any resinous dot. 

 The young branches two edged; leaves imbricated in four 

 furrows, compressed, ovate, somewhat rhomboid, with a cen- 

 tral furrow. Inner scales of the cone obtuse, and remarkably 

 hooked, with a recurved dorsal point. 



AURICULA. 



Primula Auricula. 



Primula, a name given to the Primrose, as the first of- 

 fering of Spring, (from Primus,) and retained by Linnxus 

 for the genus to which that favourite flower belongs; though, 

 as he remarks in some parts of his writings, there are plants, 

 in various countries, more strictly entitled to such an ap- 

 pellation. 



Auricula,!*, the outside, the flap of the ear; from auris, 



L. the ear. That species of Primrose, called from the shape of 

 its leaves, Bear's ear. 



The Auricula is considered in the Linnaean system as a 

 species of Primula. The varieties of the Auricula are ex- 

 tremely numerous, as every year produces a great number of 

 flowers, different in shape, size, and colour; in the leaves, 

 also, there is great variety, so that the experienced florist can 

 distinguish the particular sorts by that means. 



The Flora Historica tells us, that it is a native of the icy 

 summits of the Alps: that it is a plant on which Nature plays 

 her frolics, and loves to paint in all the varieties of whimsi- 

 cality and diversity of rich hues. Nature has guarded these 

 delicate flowers from the scorching heat of the sun's rays, by 

 sprinkling them with a fine powder, and the leaves of most 

 of the kinds of Auricula are kept cool by the same wise 

 precaution. 



Auriculas enrich'd 

 With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves. 



Thomson. 



See 



Where rayed in sparkling dust, and velvet pride, 



Like brilliant stars arranged in splendid row, 



The proud Auriculas their lustre show. Kleist. 



The acme of the florist's ambition is to procure the Au- 

 ricula of a glowing scarlet, or deep crimson, edged with 

 green. 



The Primula Auricula, garden Auricula, or Bear's ear, 

 is the origin of all the fine powdered garden Auriculas; it has, 

 in a wild state, much less powdery leaves, whose edges are 

 partially, but often coarsely, serrated; their form broadly and 

 obtusely obovate. Stalk many-flowered, about the length of 

 the foliage. The flowers are small, yellow, occasionally 

 purple, or red, as usually seen in gardens. Their scent is 

 grateful and peculiar. 



BACHELOR'S BUTTON. 

 Lychnis Dioica. 



(See note on Scarlet Lychnis.) 



Dioica Wares, or Dioecious flowers, have stamens in one 

 individual, and pistils in another, on separate plants of the 

 same species. 



Bachelor's Button Bachelor, a word of very uncer- 

 tain etymology. Junius derives it from the Gr. /Sxxixcj, 

 foolish. Menage, from bos chevalier, a knight of the lowest 

 rank. The most probable derivation seems to be from bac.ca 

 laurus, (L) the berry of a Laurel or Bay; Bachelors being 

 young, are of good hopes, like laurels in the berry. 



Johnson. 



Lychnis Dioica red or white field campion, flowers 

 dioecious; fruit of one cell; crown of each petal four-cleft. 

 There is a blush-coloured variety, otherwise most like the 

 white; but more evanescent. 



The red flowering kind, L. Diurna, is a very common 

 plant throughout Europe, in hedges and shady bushy places, 

 in the spring. The white, L. Vespertina, so called from its 

 evening fragrance, is a stronger plant, usually found in 



