322 



C L E 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



C L E 



shoots are become tough, so as rarely to put out roots under 

 two years ; and after being so long in the ground, not one 

 in three of them will have made good roots ; so that many 

 have supposed that these plants were difficult to propagate, 

 but since they have altered the season of performing it, they 

 have found that these layers succeed as well as those of other 

 plants. The best time for laying down the branches is in the 

 beginning of July, soon after they have made their first shoots, 

 for it is these young branches of the same year which freely 

 take root ; but as they are very tender, great care must be 

 taken not to break them in the operation ; therefore those 

 branches from which these shoots were produced, should be 

 brought down to the ground, and fastened, to prevent their 

 rising ; then the young shoots should be laid into the earth, 

 with their tops raised upright three or four inches above 

 ground ; and after the layers are placed down, if the surface 

 of the ground be covered with moss, rotten tanner's bark, or 

 other decayed mulch, it will prevent the ground from drying, 

 so that the layers will not require watering above three or four 

 times, which should not be at less than five or six days' in- 

 terval ; for when the layers have too much wet, the tender 

 shoots frequently rot. Where the method here directed is 

 practised, the layers will be more sure to take root, than by 

 any other way of treating them. Most of these plants have 

 climbing branches, and should therefore always be planted 

 where they may be supported, otherwise the branches will 

 fall to the ground, and appearunsightly ; so that unless they 

 be properly disposed, they will cease to be ornamental, and 

 become the reverse : where there are arbours or seats with 

 trellis-work round them, or where any walls or other fences 

 require to be covered from the sight, these plants are very 

 proper for the purpose ; but they are by no means proper 

 for open borders, nor do they answer the expectation when 

 they are intermixed with shrubs ; for unless their branches 

 have room to extend, they will not be productive of many 

 flowers. The sort with double flowers is the most beautiful, 

 and that should be prefered to those with only single flowers, 

 of which a few should be planted for. the sake of variety : 

 they are all equally hardy, and are seldom injured by frost, 

 except in very severe winters, when sometimes the very ten- 

 der shoots are killed; but if these be cut off in the spring, 

 the steins will put out new shoots. 



3. Clematis Viorna ; Leathery flinvered Virgin s Bower. 

 Leaves compound and decompound ; some of the leaflets 

 tritid. Stems many, slender, sarmentose, round, striated, 

 prostrate, or climbing ; flowers purple or blueish violet, axil- 

 lary, solitary ; petals with a whitish cotony border. Native 

 of Carolina andVirginia. It flowers from June to September, 

 and if the autumn prove warm the seeds will ripen. This, 

 as well as the fourth and fifth species, is a very hardy plant, 

 and having (limbing branches, may be disposed in the same 

 manner as the first and second species : they are also propa- 

 gated by lovers, which will succeed, if performed at the same 

 time, and in the same manner, as is directed for them. 



4. Clematis Crispa; Curled Virgin's Bower. Leaves sim- 

 ple and ternate ; leaflets entire, and three-lobed. This has 

 weak stalks, which rise nearly four feet high, and by thoir 

 clampers fasten themselves to neighbouring plants: the corolla 

 is purple, the inside curled, and has many longitudinal fur- 

 rows. The flowers appear in July, and the seeds ripen in 

 September. Native of Carolina, Florida, ;md Japan. 



5. Clematis Orientalis , Oriental Virgin's liower. Leaves 

 compound ; leaflets gashed, angular, lobcd, wedge-form ; pe- 

 tals villose on the inside. This also has weak climbing stalks, 

 rising to the height of seven or eight feet when supported ; 

 towers drooping ; petals bent back, finally flat, villose within, 



of a yellowish green colour, with a tinge of russet on the 

 upper part or outside ; stamina collected into an oblong pur- 

 ple head, with oblong purple anthers;, yellow at the edge. 

 It flowers from July to October ; and was discovered by 

 Tournefort in the Levant. 



6. Clematis Hexapetala; Six-petallcdVirgin's Bower. Leaves 

 compound ; leaflets ovate, serrate ; peduncles two-leaved; co- 

 rolla spreading, six-petalled; flowers yellowish, difflcous; pe- 

 duncles branching, dichotomous. Native of New Zealand. 



7- Clematis Virginiana ; Virginian Virgin's Bower. Leaves 

 ternate ; leaflets heart-shaped, somewhat lobed and angular ; 

 flowers dioecous. Root perennial ; stems numerous, six feet 

 high or more ; flowers white, in short panicles resembling 

 umbels; petals villous on the outside, naked and veined 

 within. Native of North America. 



8. Clematis Florida ; Large-flowered Virgin's Bower. 

 Leaves decompound ; leaflets binate and ternate ; petals 

 ovate. Stem striated, purple, smooth ; corolla large, hand- 

 some, spreading ; petals acuminate, yellowish ; stamina un- 

 equal, purplish. It flowers most part of the year ; and is a 

 native of Japan. 



9. Clematis Japonica ; Japan Virgin's Bower. Leaves 

 ternate : leaflets elliptic-ovate, serrate ; flowers cylindric. 

 Stem filiform, striated, purple, villose ; petiole capillary, 

 loose ; flowers from the joints, peduncled, solitary, purple. 

 Native of Japan. 



10. Clematis Dioica; Trifoliate Virgin's Bower, or Climber. 

 Leaves ternate, quite entire ; flowers dioecous. Root peren- 

 nial ; stems slender, tough, climbing ten or twelve feet high; 

 flowers white; peduncles on the joints close to the petioles, 

 one on each side, long, naked, horizontal; petals narrow, 

 reflexed ; stamina erect. Native of South America. Both 

 this, and the seventeenth species, are unable to endure the 

 open air in this country, unless they are preserved in stoves : 

 but as they are great ramblers, and not remarkable for beauty, 

 they are seldom preserved in Europe, except for the sake of 

 variety in botanic gardens : they may be propagated by layers 

 in the same manner as the other sorts, or may be raised from 

 the seeds imported from the country where they naturally 

 grow, but must receive the same treatment as other exotic 

 plants from that country. 



11. Clematis Vitalba ; Common Virgin's Bower, IVild 

 Climber, or Traveller's Joy. Leaves pinnate ; leaflets cor- 

 date ; petioles twining. Root perennial ; stems branched, 

 leafy, furrowed, twining round other plants by means of the 

 twisted petioles of the fallen leaves ; leaves opposite, unequally 

 pinnated ; leaflets in fives, petioled, egg-shaped ; flowers 

 white, sweet-scented ; seeds with long plumose tails, which 

 adorn the hedges in autumn, and great part of the winter. 

 The recent leaves, when rubbed on the skin, produce blisters. 

 Native of England, and the south of Europe, chiefly on 

 a calcareous soil. 



12. Clematis Flammula ; Sweet-scented Virgm'i Bower. 

 Lower leaves pinnate, laciniate ; upper simple, quite entire, 

 lanceolate. Flowers white, small, sweet-scented. This is 

 rather creepinff than climbing : it flowers from July to Octo- 

 ber. Native of the south of France, Italy, and the Grisons. 



IS. Clematis Maritima. Leaves pinnate, linear; stems 

 simple, hexagonal, erect. Perennial : leaves opposite. 

 Found near Montpellier, Nice, and Venice. 



14. Clematis Recta; Upright Virgin's Bower. Lcavet 

 pinnate ; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, quite entire ; stem erect; 

 flowers four and five petalled. Perennial : stems herbaceous, 

 annual, round, scarcely branched, from three to live feet 

 high, firm, ending in a panicle at top ; petals white, olilong, 

 four in number, obtuse, somewhat villose, a little longer than 



