348 



CAR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



CAR 



plants by their small tendrils, if permitted. They are an- 

 nuals, and die soon after they have perfected their seeds ; 

 and, heing natives of hot countries, they will not thrive in 

 England but in a stove. They are propagated by seeds, 

 which should be sown upon a hot-bed in the spring ; and 

 when the plants are two inches high, they should be each 

 transplanted into a pot filled with light sandy earth, not too 

 rich, then plunged into a very moderate hot-bed, where they 

 must be carefully shaded until they have taken fresh root '; 

 nfter which a large share of fresh air must be admitted, to pre- 

 vent them from being drawn up tall and weak ; and when 

 their roots have filled the pots, they should be carefully 

 shaken out, preserving all the earth to their roots, and put 

 into pots which are a little larger, filling them up with the 

 same light earth, and placing them either under a deep 

 frame, or behind the plants in the stove, where they may be 

 screened from the sun till they are well settled in the pots ; 

 after which they may be removed into the glass-case, where 

 they may have room to grow, escape the cold of the nights, 

 and enjoy the air in warm weather. With this management 

 they will flower in July, and ripen their seeds in autumn. 

 The species are, 



1. CardiospermumHalicacabum; Smooth-leaved Heart Pea, 

 or, Heart-seed. Leaves smooth and even ; stem herbaceous, 

 twining, striated, unarmed, slender, long, branched; leaves 

 broad-lanceolate, sinuate-gashed, smooth, biternate; flowers 

 axillary, solitary, small, white, on long peduncles ; calix five- 

 leaved. Native of both the East and West Indies, and the 

 Society Isles in the South Seas. It flowers here in July. 



2. Cardiospermum Corindum ; Woolly -leaved Heart Pea, 

 or Parsley-leaved Heart-seed. Leaves tomentose under- 

 neath. This rises, with a slender, channelled, climbing stalk, 

 to the' height of four or five feet, sending out many side- 

 branches, with leaves upon very long footstalks, coming 

 out opposite at the lower part of the stalk ; but upward the 

 leaves come out one side, and the peduncle at the oppo- 

 site ; the petioles are divided into three, each of which sus- 

 tains small leaves, which are again divided into three parts, that 

 are sharply cut on their edges, and end in sharp points. The 

 peduncles are long, naked, and toward the top divided into 

 three short ones, each sustaining a single flower ; imme- 

 diately under these divisions, come out tendrils or claspers, 

 like those of the Vine, but smaller ; these fasten themselves 

 to whatever plants grow near them, and are thereby sup- 

 ported : the flowers are small, white, and composed of four 

 small concave petals, two of which, standing opposite, are 

 larger than the others ; when these fall away, the germen 

 becomes a large inflated bladder, having three lobes, in each 

 of which is contained one, two, and sometimes three seeds, 

 which are round, hard, and the size of small peas, each 

 being marked with a black spot, in the shape of a heart. It 

 is a native of Brazil, and, according to Loureiro, of the suburbs 

 of Canton in China. It flowers in July and August. 



3. Cardiospermum Grandiflorum ; Great-flowered Heart- 

 seed. Leaves pubescent ; capsules acuminate, very large, 

 smooth and even. Native of Jamaica. 



Carduus ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polyga- 

 mia ^Equalis. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : common ven- 

 tricose, imbricate ; scales very numerous, lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, spiny. Corolla : compound, tubular, uniform ; co- 

 rollules hermaphrodite, subequal,. reflected ; the proper one 

 monopetalous, infundibuliform ; tube very slender ; border 

 erect, ovate at the base, quinquefid ; divisions linear, equal, 

 one more deeply separated than the rest. Stamina : fila- 

 menta five, capillary, very short ; anthera cylindrical, tubu- 

 lar, length of the corollule, five-toothed at the mouth. Pin- 



til: germen ovate ; style filiform, longer than the stamina ; 

 stigma simple, subulate, naked, emarginate. I'irir'irfi : 

 none ; calix converginga little. Seeds : solitary, oboviite, four- 

 cornered, the two opposite corners obliterated ; down sessile, 

 very long. Receptacle : hairy, flat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: ovate, imbricate with spiny scales. Receptacle: 

 hairy. It is scarcely necessary to say any thing concerning 

 the propagation of Thistles, as they are justly considered as 

 weeds demanding eradication, not as plants fit for cultivation. 

 A small number only of them is admitted in gardens, and 

 merely because they are foreign plants. The greater part 

 of the species are biennial, and must be raised from seeds. 

 The perennial sorts are also easily increased in the same 

 manner, and by the roots. The species are, 



1. Carduus Leucographus. Leaves decurrent, toothed, 

 spiny ; peduncles naked, very long, one-flowered ; calices 

 spiny, inclined. Root annual ; stem three feet high , flowers 

 upright ; down simple. Native of the county of Nice and 

 Campania. 



2. Carduus Lanceolatus ; Spear Thistle. Leaves decur- 

 rent, pinnatifid, hispid ; divisions divaricate ; calices ovate, 

 spiny, villose ; stem hairy. Root biennial ; stem upright, three 

 or four feet high, angular, downy, frequently purple; corolla 

 purple, sometimes white ; down plumose, almost as long as 

 the blossom. It is sometimes found the height of a man, 

 with heads twice the size of the common; as also with smaller 

 heads, in all respects a less plant. It is called the Bur- 

 thistle in Yorkshire, and is found on road-sides, hedges, and 

 fallows, flowering in July. Although_this plant, in common 

 with most of the Thistles, is merely regarded as a noxious 

 weed, yet, as Linneus judiciously remarks, it preserves an- 

 nual plants, by protecting them with its spines, and giving 

 them opportunity to seed in quiet. If a heap of clay, says 

 Dr. Withering, be thrown up, nothing would grow upon it 

 for several years, did not the seeds of this plant, wafted by 

 the wind, fix and vegetate thereon ; under the shelter of this, 

 other vegetables appear, and the whole soon becomes fertile. 

 The seeds are eaten by birds ; and the flowers, like those of 

 the artichoke, have the property of curdling milk. This is 

 the most common species of its genus, and is a large succu- 

 lent plant, well known upon all strong lands. Mr. Miller says, 

 " I have seen the air perfectly filled with the down of this 

 Thistle, for miles together, flying along in windy weather, till it 

 was intercepted by a hedge, bank, orrising ground. Thegreat- 

 est part of it indeed is down without seed ; and for this the hus- 

 bandman is obliged to the goldfinch and other small birds, 

 who nevertheless generally leave enough to stock his ground ; 

 and the misfortune is, that let a farmer be ever so neat in 

 himself, if he happen to live near a slovenly neighbour, he 

 will be stocked annually from the other's neglected banks, 

 headlands and fallows. Nothing is easier than to destroy 

 these Thistles ; for they are biennial plants, and only require 

 to be mowed down before they perfect their seeds. It is 

 better to do this while the plant is yet tender, for as it ad- 

 vances to maturity the stalk grows very hard ; but if the 

 operation have been neglected till the seeds are forming, it 

 will be a proper precaution to rake the plants into heaps, 

 and burn them. The ashes may be afterwards spread ; and 

 as they contain a considerable quantity of salts, will be of 

 some advantage to the soil, which they had previously im- 

 poverished." 



3. Carduus Arabicus ; Arabian Thistle. Leaves decur- 

 rent, pinnatifid, lanuginously villose ; divisions divaricate ; 

 caliees oblong, spinulose, sessile, aggregate. Root annual, 

 fusiform, white ; stem erect, about a foot high, scarcely 

 branched, lanuginous, and hoary ; corollules purplish ; an- 



