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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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353 



blue, but sometimes white. It flowers in June, July, and 

 August, anil sometimes ripens seeds in England. Native of 

 the'Canaries, Cochin-china, &c. It is easily propagated by 

 layers or cuttings ; the seeds are not much regarded. Those 

 plants, however, which are raised from layers or cuttings do 

 not produce seed, whereas those which come from seeds sel- 

 dom fail. If the young shoots be laid down in the spring, 

 they generally put out roots in three or four months ; they 

 may be taken off an old plant at that season, and each put 

 into a separate pot filled with light earth, and shaded until 

 they have taken new root ; after which they may be placed 

 with other hardy green-house plants till autumn, when they 

 must be removed into the green-house, and treated as Myrtles, 

 &c. The tender cuttings planted during any of the summer 

 months in pots filled with lightearth, plunged intoa moderate 

 hot-bed, and shaded from the sun, will take root, and may 

 be treated as the layers. The leaves continuing green all the 

 year, this plant makes a pretty variety in the green-house 

 during the winter. 



21. Convolvulus Muricatus ; Rough-stalked Bindweed. 

 Leaves cordate ; peduncles thickened ; they and the calices 

 even ; stem muricate. Stalk very smooth, with harmless 

 prickles scattered over it ; leaves undivided ; peduncles usu- 

 ally two- flowered ; corolla purple. Native of Surat. It is 

 annual, and flowers in July and August. 



22. Convolvulus Anceps. Leaves cordate ; stem keeled 

 on both sides, smooth ; leaves three inches long, smooth, 

 veined, obtuse, quite entire, on petioles nearly the length of 

 the leaf. Native of Ceylon and Java. 



23. Convolvulus Turpethum ; Square-stalked Bindweed, 

 or Turbith. Leaves cordate, angular ; stem membranaceous, 

 quadrangular ; peduncles many-flowered. Root perennial, 

 having thick fleshy tubers, spreading far in the ground, and 

 abounding with a milky juice, which flows out when the plant 

 is wounded, and soon hardens intoa resinous substance when 

 exposed to the air. Corolla white, scarcely twice as long as 

 the calix, bell-shaped, plaited, five-cleft. Native of Malabar, 

 of the Island of Ceylon, and of the Society and Friendly Isles, 

 and also of the New Hebrides in the South Seas. 



24. Convolvulus Grandiflorus ; Large-flowered Bindweed. 

 Leaves cordate, ovate, bluntish, quite entire, peduncled, bear- 

 ing about two flowers; calices coriaceous; stem and petioles 

 pubescent. Stem arboreous at first erect, then twining, pu- 

 bescent ; leaves large, with rounded lobes, obtuse, smooth, 



, on pubescent petioles ; flowers large. Native of the East 

 Indies. 



25. Convolvulus Maximus ; Great Bindweed. Leaves cor- 

 date, ovate, acuminate, quite entire, very smooth ; stem and 

 petioles very smooth. Stem woody at bottom, then twining 

 and mounting to a great height. The whole plant very 

 smooth. Native of Ceylon. 



26. Convolvulus Speciosus ; Broad-leaved Bindweed. 

 Leaves cordate, tomentose, silky on the lower surface ; pe- 

 duncles longer than the petiole, umbellate ; calices acute. 

 stem arboreous, erect, then twining, round, pubescent ; leaves 

 very large, hairy on the upper surface, covered with a white 

 down on the lower, and shining like silver in the sun-beams, 

 tin' lobes rounded, and very obscure; petioles round and 

 pubescent. Native of the East Indies. 



27- Convolvulus Trinervius. Leaves cordate, oblong, 

 smooth, three-nerved ; stem round ; peduncles one-flowered. 

 Stem filiform, smooth, simple ; leaves opposite, petioled, 

 acuminate, quite entire, pale underneath, an inch or some- 

 what more in length. Native of Japan. 



28. Convolvulus Peltatus. Leaves peltate ; peduncles 

 many-flowered.: Native of Amboyna and the Society Isles. 



VOL. i. 3O. 



29. Convolvulus Jalapa; Jalap Bindweed. Leaves ovate, 

 subcordate, obtuse, obscurely repand, villose underneath ; 

 peduncles one-flowered. Root large, oval, full of milky juice; 

 stems many, herbaceous, triangular, eight or ten feet high ; 

 leaves different in shape, lower ones triangular, almost heart- 

 shaped, upper ones more long, and acute ; petioles long ; 

 flowers reddish on the outside, but dark purple within, pro- 

 bably varying in colour ; seeds covered with a very white 

 down like cotton. Native of South America, as at Xalapa 

 between La Vera Cruz and Mexico. The medicinal virtue 

 of jalap resides in the resin. The powdered root is the part 

 used. It is in general a safe and efficacious purge, and has 

 been much celebrated in large doses as a hydragogue in drop- 

 sies. It is often prescribed in a compound form, as with 

 cream of tartar, &c. The dose of the simple powder is com- 

 monly from one scruple to two. The roots of jalap, says 

 Lewis, have scarcely any smell, and but very little taste 

 while kept in the mouth, but after they are swallowed, the 

 throat is affected with a slight pungency and heat, which 

 continues for a considerable time. When reduced to powder, 

 and taken in doses of a scruple and half a drachm, it proves 

 in general an effectual and very safe purge, seldom occa- 

 sioning any sickness or griping pains, which are the too com- 

 mon attendants of strong purgatives. Some of the faculty 

 have prohibited the use of this root to children ; but there 

 appears no rational ground for such a prohibition. Young 

 children, from the laxity of the solids, and the soft lubricat- 

 ing nature of their food, in gt neral bear this kind of medicine 

 better than adults ; and adults of a weak lax habit of body 

 better than those who are robust ; and in both cases, few, if 

 any, of the strong purgatives now made use of, are stronger 

 than jalap. Motherby remarks, that jalap is of a diuretic, as 

 well as a purgative nature ; on which account it is peculi- 

 arly serviceable in dropsies, for which purpose it is best given 

 in wine, wherein it has stood some hours before taking it. 

 There is a tincture made from the root of this plant, and 

 kept in the shops, which has all the effects of the root in sub- 

 stance, and may be thought by some persons to be more 

 agreeable to take. This plant must be preserved in the bark- 

 stove. It may be raised from seeds on a hot-bed ; the young 

 plants being removed into pots, must be plungeil into the 

 bark-bed, and treated in the same manner as the last-men- 

 tioned set of plants, with this difference only, that as this has 

 large, fleshy, succulent roots, it must have bu little water, 

 especially in winter. The proper soil for the Jalap is a light 

 sandy loam, not too rich ; and the plants should always re- 

 main in the bark-stove. It may also be increased from slips 

 or cuttings. 



30. Convolvulus Sericeus ; Silky Bindweed. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate-elliptic, tomentose, silky underneath; peduncles sub- 

 umbellate ; calices hairy. Stem shrubby, smootliish ; leaves 

 alternate, petioled underneath, shining, marked with lines, 

 acute. Native of the East Indies. 



31. Convolvulus Tomentosus ; Woolly Bindweed. Leaves 

 three-lobed, tomentose ; stem lanuginose. The stem is round, 

 whitish, climbing twenty feet high; leaves like the older leaves 

 of Ivy ; flowers axillary, solitary ; peduncles a quarter of an 

 inch in length^; corolla of a fine purple colour, with paler 

 streaks. Native of Jamaica, China, and Cochin-china. 



32. Convolvulus AlthEeoides ; Mallow-leaved Bindweed. 

 Leaves cordate, sinuate, silky ; lobes repand ; peduncles 

 two-flowered. Root perennial, sending out many weak twin- 

 ing stalks, about three feet high when supported, and if not, 

 lying on the ground ; peduncles very long, two-flowered ; co- 

 rolla pale rose-colour. It flowers from June to August, but 

 rarely ripens seed in England. There is a variety of this 



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