146 



H 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ATM 



Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Carniola. It flowers 

 in July and August. 



3. Athamanta Sibirica ; fiihcriim Spignet. Leaves pin- 

 nate, gash-angled ; stem four feet high, much grooved, 

 angular ; corollas red underneath. 



4. Athamanta Condensata ; Close-headed Spignel. Leaves 

 subbipinnate ; leaflets imbricate downwards : umbel le.ns- 

 form ; root perennial; stem simple, a foot high; anthera 

 and receptacles of the florets, purple. Native of Siberia. 



5. Athamanta Oreoselinum ; Divaricated Spignel, or 

 Mountain Parsley. Leaflets divaricate ; root perennial, 

 thick, aromatic, resinous, crowned with bristles. Pehiln 

 white, with a blush of rose-colour. It is gratefully aro- 

 matic, and deserves to be better known. Native of the 

 continent of Europe, but not of Great Britain. 



6. Athamanta Sicula ; Flixweed-leaved Spignel. Lower 

 leaves shining, primordial ; umbels subsessile ; seeds hairy. 

 This is a perennial plant, sending up from the root several 

 upright stems, nearly three feet high. The flowers are white, 

 and are succeeded by oblong woolly fruit. Native of Sicily. 



7. Athamanta Cretensis ; Cretan Spignel, or Candy Car- 

 rot. Leaflets linear, flat, hirsute ; petals two-parted : seeds 

 oblong, hirsute. The whole plant is villose in a wild state ; 

 when cultivated in a garden, the leaves become succulent, 

 brittle, and very shining. Petals white. It flowers in June. 

 Was found by the celebrated English botanist, Mr. Ray, upon 

 the highest parts of Mount Jura. It is a native of the south- 

 ern parts of Europe. The seeds have been occasionally em- 

 ployed as carminatives, and were supposed likewise to be 

 diuretic and emmenagogue : lately they been little used, 

 except as ingredients in theriaca and mithridate. Haller, 

 however, judges it to be much superior to the common Dau- 

 cus, or Wild Carrot, in medicinal efficacy. It was celebrated 

 anciently as a specific in the stone : and it will scarcely be 

 credited, that Van Helmont seriously affirms, that it has even 

 cured the water in a well of this disorder. 



8. Athamanta Annua ; Annual Spignel. Leaves many- 

 parted ; divisions linear, roundish, acuminate. Annual ; a 

 native of Candia or Crete. 



9. Athamanta Chinensis. Seeds membranaceous, striated; 

 leaves super-decompound, polished, multifid ; stem angular, 

 erect ; umbel not much expanded, white. Native of China. 



10. Athamanta Rupestris. Leaflets bristle-shaped, re- 

 curved, smooth ; all the flowers fertile ; stem eighteen 

 inches high, branching, subvillose, finely streaked ; petals 

 white, equal. Native of Carniola and Dauphiny. 



Athanasia ; a. genus of the class Syngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia ^Equalis. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calic : common 

 imbricate, ovate ; scales lanceolate, pressed close. Corolla : 

 compound uniform, longer than the calix ; corollules her- 

 maphrodite, equal, numerous ; proper, funnel-form ; bor- 

 der five-cleft, acute, erectish. Stamina : ftlamcnta five, ca- 

 pillary, short ; anthe'rje cylindric, tubular. Pistil : germen 

 oblongish ; style filiform, a little longer than the stamen ; 

 stigma bifid, obtuse. Pericarp: none. Calix: unchanged. 

 .Set -its: solitary, oblong ; down chaffy, of very short bristles. 

 llfi-i-iitiirlc : chaffy ; chaffs lanceolate, longer than the seed. 

 KSSI-.N-TIAI, CHARACTER. Calu: .- imbricate; down chaffy, 

 very short. Receptacle : chaffy. The perennial Cape sorts 

 ofAthanasia are easily propagated by cuttings during the 

 .summer months. If these are planted either in pots or upon 

 an old hot-bed, and closely corered with glasses, shading 

 them in the heat of the day, and refreshing them with wa- 

 ter when they require it, they will put out roots in five or six 

 weeks ; and in two months they may be taken up and planted 

 in pots filled with light earth, and placed ifl a shady situation, 



until they have taken new root ; after which they should be 

 removed to a sheltered situation, mixing them with other 

 exotic plants, where they may remain till the middle or end 

 of October, according as the season proves favourable ; then 

 they should be removed into a dry-stove or glass-case, where- 

 they may enjoy as much free air as possible, but secured from 

 frost, with which management they will thrive, and produce 

 plenty of flowers ; but where they are drawn weak in winter, 

 tiicv will not appear sightly. The annual 1 Cape sort is pro- 

 pagated by seeds when they can be obtained good : they 

 should be sown on a moderate hot-bed the latter end of 

 March ; when the plants are come up, they should have air, 

 in proportion to the warmth of the season, admitted to them, 

 to prevent their drawing up weak ; and so soon as they are 

 big enough to remove, they should be transplanted on an- 

 other gentle hot-bed, at three inches distance, observing to 

 shade them until they have got fresh root ; after which they 

 must have air and water, and, by the end of May, the plants 

 will have acquired strength enough to be transplanted into 

 the open air ; when some may be planted in pots, to place 

 among other exotic plants in summer, and the others into 

 warm borders, where they will flower all the autumn ; but 

 unless the season is very warm, they will not ripen seed*. 

 The European species may be propagated by planting slips' 

 or cuttings during the summer months, in the same way as 

 the African sorts : some of the plants should be put into 

 pots to be placed under a hot-bed frame in winter ; the 

 others may be planted in a warm border, where, if the 

 winter proves favourable, they will live; but they rarely 

 survive cold winters. The species are, 



1. Athanasia Squarrosa ; Cross-leaved Athanasia. Pedun- 

 cles one-flowered, lateral ; leaves ovate recurved. Native 

 country unknown ; supposed to be the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. Athanasia Sessiliflora ; Sessile-flowered Athanasia. Pe- 

 duncles one-flowered, shorter than the leaf; leares linear, 

 hairy. 



3. Athanasia Pumila ; Dwarf Athanasia. Peduncles- one- 

 flowered, longer than the leaf; leaves linear, hairy. A 

 very small plant ; found by Thunberg at the Cape. 



4. Athanasia Crenata ; Notch-leaved Athnnasia. Flowers 

 solitary, terminal ; leaves linear, alternate ; stem shtnbby ; 

 one terminal flower. Native country unknown. 



5. Athanasia Uniflora ; One-flowered Athanasia. Flowers 

 solitary, terminal, sessile . leaves obovate, imbricate, smooth. 



6. Athanasia Capitata ; Hairy Athanasia. Flowers ter- 

 minal, suljsessile ; leaves lanceolate, hirsute; flowers dis- 

 coid and flosculose. 



7. Athanasia Maritlma ; Sea Athanasia Cudweed, or Cot- 

 tonwetd. Peduncles two-flowered ; leaves lanceolate, ere- 

 nate, obtuse, tomentose ; root perennial, woody, putting out 

 many fibres, which spread near the surface. The floVers 

 are produced towards the end of the branches, upon short 

 peduncles, and are of a bright yellow colour. The whiteness 

 of the leaves and branches, makes a pretty appearance. 

 Native of the south of Europe, on the sea-coast ; found also 

 in the isle of Anglesea, Cornwall, isle of Mu-pey, near Pool 

 in Dorsetshire, and Landguard tort in Essex. 



8. Athanasia Genistifolia ; Broom-leaveil Athanaria. Co- 

 rymbs simple ; leaves lanceolate, undivided, naked, crowd- 

 ed ; corymbs small, with three or four subsessile flowers. 



9. Athanasia Pubescens ; t~iUose-le<tted Athanasia. Co* 

 rymbs simple ; leaves lanceolate, undivided, villose. If 

 rises six or seven feet high, with a shrubby stem ; the 

 flowers are yellow. The seeds do not ripen in England. 



10. Athanasia Annua; Annual Alhanasia. Corymbs sim- 

 ple, contracted ; leaves pinnatifid, toothed ; root annual; stem 



