F RI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



TK f 



it distils from each gash ; the season continues about a 

 month, and the men have only about three carlines, or thir- 

 teen pence halfpenny, for every rotolo, which is equal to 

 thirty-three ounces and a third, and is sold for twenty-four 

 carlines and three quarters, or somewhat more than ten shil- 

 lings ; if it be in tubular pieces, the price rises one-third, 

 these pieces are called manna in cannoli; and these regular 

 tubes are produced by applying to the incision thin straw, or 

 small bits of shrubs, upon which the manna runs as it oozes 

 out. Manna is one of the mildest and safest purgatives 

 known, excellently adapted for young children, and weak 

 constitutions ; it sheathes sharp acrimonious humours, and is 

 good in disorders of the breast attended with fever and inflam- 

 mation, as well as in the pleurisy, hooping-cough, gravel, and 

 bilious complaints. It is apt to gripe the patient during the 

 operation, but that inconvenience is easily removed, by add- 

 ing a small quantity of some warm carminative substance to 

 the dose. These trees succeed best when planted in an 

 eastern exposure, in order to warm the juices in the morning, 

 and to inspissate those which the heat has sweated out in the 

 evening. This, and the remaining plants of the genus, are 

 commonly propagated in the nurseries by budding or ingraft- 

 ing upon the common Ash, but are not so valuable as those 

 which are raised from seeds, because the stock grows much 

 faster than the grafts ; so that the lower part of the trunk, 

 so far as the stock rises, will often be twice the size of the 

 upper ; and if the trees stand much exposed to the wind, the 

 grafts are frequently broken off from the stock after they are 

 grown to a large size. 



3. Fraxinus Ornus ; Flowering Ash Tree. Leaflets ovate- 

 oblong, serrate, petioled ; flowers with petals. Miller makes 

 two species out of this. The first is a low tree, about the 

 same height as the preceding ; the leaves are much smaller 

 and narrower than those of the common Aoh, but are serrate, 

 and of the same dark colour; the flowers have petals. The 

 second, has only or chiefly male flowers ; the leaves have but 

 three or four pairs of leaflets, which are short, broad, smooth, 

 of a lucid green, and irregularly serrate ; the midrib is jointed, 

 and swells where the leaflets come out; the flowers grow in 

 loose panicles at the ends of the branches, are of a white her- 

 baceous colour, and appear in May. This species is gene- 



, rally planted for ornament, the flowers making a fine appear- 

 ance when they are in beauty, for almost every branch is ter- 

 minated by a large loose panicle, so that when the trees are 

 large, and covered with flowers, they are distinguishable at a 

 great distance. 



4. Fraxinus Americana ; American Ash Tree. Leaflets 

 quite entire ; petioles cylindric ; the fruits or keys are the 

 same as in the common Ash, but smaller and narrow. It was 

 first raised from seeds imported from New England. 



French Honeysuckle. See Hedysarum Coronarium. 



French Marigold. See Tagetes. 



Freshwater Soldier. See Stratiotcs. 



Friar's Cowl. See Arum Arisarium. 



Fringe Tree. See Cliionanthus. 



Fritilla-ia ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 pynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 six-petalled, bell-shaped, spreading at the base ; petals ob- 

 long, parallel ; nectary an excavation or pit in the base of each 

 petal. Stamina: filamenta subulate, approximating to the 

 style, the length of the corolla ; antheitc quadrangular, 

 oblong, erect. Pistil: germen oblong, three-cornered, ob- 

 tuse; style simple, longer than the stamina; stigma triple, 

 spreading, blunt. Pericarp : capsule oblong, obtuse, three- 

 lobed, three-celled, three-v;ilved. Seeds: very many, flat, 

 semiorbicular on the outside, in a double row. ESSENTIAL 

 roj.. i. 40. 



CHARACTER. Corolla: six-petalled, bell-shaped, with a 

 nectareous cavity above the claws; stamina the length of the 



corolla. -The species are, 



1. Fritillaria Imperialis ; Imperial Fritillary, or Cw/i 

 Imperial. Flowers in a raceme with a coma over them, but 

 naked below ; leaves quite entire. It has a large round scaly 

 root of a yellow colour, and a strong odour of a fox ; the stalk 

 rises to trie height of four feet or upwards, it is strong, suc- 

 culent, and garnished two-thirds of the length on every sine 

 with long narrow leaves ending in points, which are smooth 

 and entire ; the upper part of the stalk is naked a foot in 

 length, then the flowers come out all round the stalk upon 

 short footstalks, which turn downward, each sustaining one 

 large flower : above these rises a spreading tuft of green 

 leaves, which are erect, and called the coma. This plant 

 flowers in the beginning of April, and the seeds ripen in 

 July. The principal varieties are: 1. the common crown 

 imperial, of a dirty red colour; 2. yellow crown imperial, 

 of a bright yellow ; 3. bright red crown imperial, railed 

 fusai; 4. the pale yellow crown imperial; 5. the yellow 

 striped crown imperial; 6. the large flowering crown impe- 

 rial ; 7. the broad-leaved late red crown imperial ; 8. the 

 double and triple-crowned imperial crown ; 9. the double 

 red crown imperial; 10. the double yellow crown imperial; 

 11. the silver-striped-leaved crown imperial; 12. the yellow 

 striped-leaved crown imperial. The variety with yellow 

 flowers, that with large flowers, and those with double 

 flowers, are the most valuable: but that which has two or 

 three whorls of flowers above each other makes the finest 

 appearance; though it seldom produces its flowers in that 

 form until the second or third year after its removal, the 

 stalks will be taller, and frequently have three tiers ol 

 flowers one above another, which is called the triple crown : 

 the stalks of this sort frequently run flat and broad, when 

 they produce a greater number of flowers than usual ; but 

 this is only a luxuriancy of nature, not constant, though 

 many of the writers have mentioned it as a particular va- 

 riety. As this is one of the earliest tall flowers of the sprinsr. 

 it makes a fine appearance in the middle of large borders, at 

 a season when such flowers are much wanted to decorate the 

 pleasure-garden ; but the rank fox-like odour which thty 

 emit is too strong for most people, and greatly decreases 

 them in value. The beauty, however, of the plant, and the 

 splendour of the magnificent pendulous flowers, will ever 

 ensure it a place in large gardens and plantations. The sin- 

 gular nectary cannot fail to arrest the attention of a curious 

 observer; it is a white glandular cavity at the base of each 

 petal, and has a drop of limpid nectareous juice standing in it 

 when the flower is in vigour. Another of the wonders of nature 

 may be observed in the peduncles, which bend down while 

 the plant is in flower, but become upright as the seeds ripen. 

 This circumstance, however, is by no means peculiar to this 

 plant, but common to it with many others. The Crown Im- 

 perial has the same name in all thp European languages : the 

 Germans call it kaiser krone ; the Danes, keiserkrone ; tho 

 Swedes, keisarkrona; the French, la couronne imperial, or 

 tafritillaire imperial; the Italians, la corona imperiales ; and 

 the Spaniards, la corona imperial. -Propagation and Culture. 

 This species may be propagated by seeds, or offsets from the 

 root ; the first is too tedious a process for most English florists, 

 because the plants so raised are six or seven years before 

 they flower ; but the Dutch and Flemish gardeners, who have 

 more patience, frequently raise them from seeds, and so 

 obtain some new varieties, which amply repay them for their 

 labour. The method of propagating these flowers from seeds 

 being nearly the same as for the Tulip, the reader is requested 

 7 I 



