30S 



C I S 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C I S 



11. Cissus Carnosa. Leaves ternate, ovate, obtuse, ser- 

 rate, smooth ; branches and petioles round. The whole plant 

 is smooth : universal umbel of three rays, partial with dicho- 

 tomous divaricating branches ; general peduncle longer than 

 the leaf. Native of the East Indies. 



12. Cissus Obovata. Leaves ternate ; leaflets obovate, 

 quite entire, smooth. Stem scandent, smooth ; tendrils oppo- 

 site to the leaves, of the same length, and bifid ; peduncles 

 axillary, solitary, longer than the leaves, smooth, trichotom- 

 ous ; the branchlets three-flowered ; the flowers pedicclled. 

 Native of America. 



13. Cissus Pedata. Leaves pedate; leaflets lanceolate, 

 serrate, tomentose underneath. Branches tomentose, hoary ; 

 leaves petioled, five, six, or seven ; leaflets also petioled, 

 three or four inches long, unequal, attenuated, unequally 

 serrate, but with the point quite entire, on the upper surface 

 slightly villose, beneath villose, tomentose, hoary, nerved ; 

 flowers small; calix obscurely four-toothed, runcinate. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



14. Cissus Heptaphylla. Leaves in sevens, serrate, hispid. 

 This is a sarmentose scandent shrub ; branches pubescent ; 

 tendrils opposite to the leaves, bifid : panicles fastis-late, 

 braehiate, peduncled, opposite to the leaves ; flowers small. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



15. Cissus Umbellata. Leaves ovate, quite entire ; flow- 

 ers umbelled ; stem shrubby, twining, long, branched ; 

 leaves opposite, smooth ; flowers white, in compound ter- 

 minating umbels ; corolla bell-shaped, four-cleft, woolly 

 within ; calix truncate, surrounding the berry. Native of 

 China, near Canton. 



16. Cissus Ovata. Leaves egg-shaped, acuminate, spar- 

 ingly toothed, smooth and even on both sides. Native of 

 Gaudaloupe. 



17. Cissus Orientalis. Leaves somewhat bipinnate ; leaf- 

 lets egg-shaped, serrated ; stem rather shrubby. This has 

 the habit of Vita Arborea, but is larger, and the leaves less 

 compound. Native of the East. 



Cistus ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth five-leaved ; per- 

 manent ; leaflets roundish, concave, of which two alternate 

 ones iire lower and smaller. Corolla . petals five, roundish, 

 flat, spreading, very large. Stamina: filamenta numerous, 

 capillary, shorter thnn the corolla ; anthers roundish, 

 small. Pistil .- germen roundish ; style simple, the length 

 of the stamina ; stigma flat, orbiculate. Pericarp : capsule 

 roundish, covered with the calix. Seeds : numerous, round- 

 ish, small. KSSKM i.u. CHARACTER. Corolla : five-petalled. 

 Calix : five-leaved, with two of the leaflets smaller. Capsule : 

 superior, angular, many-seeded. The history of this genus 

 is extremely obscure, on account of the multitude of varie- 

 ties which occur in it. Linneus says, that the species may 

 be much elucidated, if botanists will attend to the following 

 circumstances, in their native places of growth: 1. Whe- 

 ther the trunk be shrubby, undershrubby, annual, or peren- 

 nial ; 2. whether the stem be erect or decumbent; 3. whether 

 the leaves be opposite or alternate, and what is their form; 

 4. whether there be two stipules or none ; 5. whether the 

 peduncles be one-flowered or many-flowered, naked or with 

 a bracte ; (>. what is the form of the petals ; ~. whether 

 the capsules have five or three valves ; 8. whether the calix 

 be equal or unequal. The form of the leaves in the greater 

 part is ovate or lanceolate, or some modification of these two 

 forms ; but the principal difference attending these plants is 

 in the capsule, which in some is five or ten celled, with as 

 many valves ; in others one-celled, and threc-valved : hence 

 this great genus might very commodiously be divided into two, 



asTournefort,Miller,.Tussieu,Ga:rtner,and others, have divided 

 it, at least in the artificial arrangement, for undoubtedly they 

 all constitute one natural genus. They may be distinguished 

 thus : ('infus, or Rock-rose, has a five or ten celled capsule, 

 with as many valves ; seeds fixed to the axis ; embryo spiral. 

 These are shrubs, or undcrshruhs ; the leaves opposite, and 

 naked ; the flowers in umbels, with unequal calicine leaflets ; 

 and the corolla either purple or white, commonly large and 

 specious. Helianthemum, or Dicarf Sunflower, has a one- 

 celled, three-valved capsule, with the seeds fixed to the 

 valves ; embryo uncinate- inflected. These are suffruticose 

 or herbaceous ; the leaves opposite, or sometimes alternate, 

 stipuled or naked ; the flowers in spikes or racemes, with 

 two of the calicine leaflets minute ; and a corolla commonly 

 yellow, seldom purple orwhite, smaller than that of theCis- 

 tus, very de.-iduous in both. All the various kinds of Cistus 

 are very great ornaments to a garden ; their flowers, though 

 of short duration, are succeeded by fresh ones almost every 

 day, tor above two successive mouths : they are generally 

 about the size of a middling rose, but single, and of dilFerent 

 colours : their leaves continue all the year ; they are most of 

 them hardy enough to bear the open air in England, unless in 

 very severe winters, which often destroy many of them, so that 

 a plant or two of each sort may be kept in pots, and sheltered 

 in winter to preserve the kinds; the rest may be intermixed 

 with other shrubs, where they will make a pretty diversity ; 

 and in such places where they are sheltered by other plants, 

 they will endure cold much better than where they are scat- 

 tered singly in the borders. Many of these plants will reach 

 five or six feet in height, and, if permitted to grow uncut, will 

 have large spreading heads ; but if they be trimmed at all, 

 it should be only to prevent their heads from becoming too 

 large for their stems, for whenever this happens they are 

 liable to fall to the ground, which spoils their appearance. 

 They are propagated both from seeds and cuttings, but the 

 latter method is seldom resorted to except for such species as 

 do not produce seeds in England ; these are the twelfth and 

 the fifty-fifth sorts ; all the others generally produce plenty 

 of seeds, especially those plants which came from seeds, for 

 those which are propagated by cuttings are liable to become 

 barren. The seeds should be sown in the spring, upon a 

 common border of light earth, where the plants will come up 

 in six or seven weeks; and, if they be kept clean from weeds, 

 and thinned where they are too close, they will grow eight or 

 ten inches high the same year; but as these plants are liable 

 to be injured by hard frost when young, they should be trans- 

 planted, when they are about an inch high, into some small 

 pots filled with light earth, that they may be removed into 

 shelter in winter, and the others into a warm border, at about 

 six inches' distance each way : those which are potted must 

 be set in a shady situation till they have taken fresh root ; 

 and those planted in the border also must be shaded every- 

 day till they are rooted, after which the latter will require no 

 other care but to keep them clean from weeds till autumn.when 

 they should have hoops placed over them, that they may be 

 covered in frosty weather ; those in the pots may be removed 

 into an open situation as soon as they have taken new root, 

 v. hero they may remain till the end of October, but must be 

 shifted into larger pots, and frequently watered during the 

 summer; ut the end of October they should be placed under 

 a hot-lied frame, to .screen them from the cold in winter, but 

 at all times when the weather is mild they should be fully 

 exposed to the open air, and only covered in frosts. The 

 above is the method which the gardeners generally practise; 

 but those who desire to have their plants come forward, 

 should sow the seeds on a moderate hot-bed in the spring, 



