H JEM 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H IE. M 



653 



where there is a convenience for keeping them : the roots may 

 be taken up when the leaves are decayed, and kept out of the 

 ground till August, when they should be new-potted, aud may 

 remain abroad till the end of September, at which time they 

 may be removed into the glass-case ; they will require fre- 

 quent waterings while growing, but not in large quantities. 

 It' a border be made against the front of the green-house or 

 stoves, which may be contrived so as to be covered with 

 glasses in winter, in which these roots, with those of the 

 African Gladiolus, Ixia, Persian Cyclamen, &c. are planted 

 in the full ground, they will flower more constantly, and the 

 footstalks will rise much higher than those kept in pots. 



2. Heemanthus Puniceus ; Waved-leaved Hasmanthus, or 

 Blood-flower, Leaves oblong, elliptic, acute, retuse, waved, 

 six to eight inches long, and two broad in the middle ; umbel 

 contracted, fastigiate; border and stamina erect; roots com- 

 posed of many thick fleshy tubers, forming a head, out of 

 which arises a fleshy spotted stalk, spreading at the top into 

 several spear-shaped leaves, which are waved on their edges ; 

 stulks a foot high. From the side of the stalk, near the 

 ground, breaks out a strong fleshy scape, six or eight inches 

 long, with a large cluster of yellowish red flowers at the top. 

 Native of Africa. This plant was first brought to Holland, 

 from whence it has been dispersed all over Europe. It may 

 be propagated by parting the roots ; the best time for this is 

 in the spring, before the plants put out new stalks, which is 

 also the proper season for shifting and new potting them ; but 

 as the roots do not multiply very fast in offsets, the best way is 

 to propagate them from seeds, which they ripen plentifully in 

 England : these should be sown soon after they become ripe, 

 in pots filled with light earth, and kept in the stove all 

 the winter : if these pots be plunged into the tan-bed in the 

 bark-stove, in the vacancies between the plants, the earth 

 will be kept warm, and will not dry so fast, as when they are 

 placed in a dry-stove, while the seeds will be the sooner pre- 

 pared to vegetate. In the spring the pots may be taken out 

 of the stove, and plunged into a hot-bed, which will bring up 

 the plants: they must have air admitted to them every'day 

 in mild weather, to prevent their drawing up weak ; and 

 when they are fit to remove, they may be each planted in a 

 separate small pot filled with light earth, and plunged into 

 the hot-bed again, to promote their taking new root ; then 

 they must be gradually hardened, and afterwards may be 

 removed into the dry-stove, where they should constantly re- 

 main otherwise the plants will not thrive and flower in this 

 country. They must be sparingly watered in winter, for 

 their roots, being fleshy and succulent, are apt to rot with 

 moisture. In summer, during warm weather, they require 

 a large share of air, and frequent waterings, especially when 

 in flower. 



3. Haemanthus Pubescens ; Downy-leaved Hamanthus. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, hirsute on every side ; umbel fasti- 

 giate, rounded ; border and stamina erect. It flowers in 

 August, and is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



4. Haemanthus Ciliaris ; Fringed Hamianthus. Leaves 

 lanceolate, smooth, ciliate; involucre broad, shorter than 

 the rounded umbel ; border reflex. Native of the Cape. 



5. Hsemanthus Toxicarius ; Fan-leaved Haemanthus. 

 Leaves in two rows, oblong, flattish, smooth ; peduncles 

 longer tlian the spathe and flower; flowers flesh-coloured. 

 Native of the Cape. 



6. Hsemanthus Spiralis ; Spiral-stalked Htsemanthus. 

 Leaves bristle-shaped ; scape filiform, at the base spiral and 

 flexuose ; involucres subulate, shorter than the umbel, which 

 bears from one to four flowers. It flowers here in Septem- 

 ber. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



VOL. i. 55. 



7. Heemanthus Carinatus ; Keeled Hamanthus. Leaves 

 linear, keeled. This species has a large bulbous root, send- 

 ing out three or four leaves, a foot long or more, not flat, but 

 hollowed like the keel of a boat, and more erect than those 

 of the first sort, but not quite so broad ; the flowers are of a 

 paler red. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. For its pro- 

 pagatjon, see the first species. 



8. Heemanthus Multiflorus ; Many-flowered Heemanthus, 

 or Blood-flower. Leaves three together, ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, keeled, waved, upright; umbel close, globular; 

 petals spreading; bulb from one to three inches in diameter, 

 the upper parts tinged of a red colour, and speckled like the 

 stalk ; scape from eight to eighteen inches in height, speckled 

 with dark red almost to the top, round or flatted, sometimes 

 fluted on one side ; corolla of a clear shining blood-red colour, 

 divided to the bottom into six narrow parts,,which are point- 

 ed, and spread out wide ; the leaves stand in some plants 

 nearly as high as the bottom of the flowers, in others as high 

 as the top, or even higher, and do not display themselves 

 entirely till after the flowers are passed. Native of Sierra 

 Leone. To bloom successively, it must be kept in the stove. 



Hamatoxylum ; a genus of the class Decandria, order 

 Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, coloured; tube very short, pitcher-shaped, fleshy, 

 permanent.; border five-parted, spreading, deciduous; parts 

 oblong, blunt, the four upper ones equal, the lowest a little 

 longer than the rest. Corolla: petals five, lanceolate, broad- 

 est at top, blunt, veined, spreading, nearly equal, inserted into 

 the calix, and larger than its divisions. Stamina: filamenta 

 ten, subulate, hairy at bottom on the inside, upright, unequal, 

 scarcely longer than the corolla, inserted into the calix; 

 antheree oval, small. Pistil: germen oblong-sabre-shapsd, 

 compressed; style capillary, bent at the tip, longer than the 

 stamina; stigma funnel-shaped. Stamina: legume lanceo- 

 late, flat, blunt, one-celled, edged on each side with a thickish 

 suture that does not open, opening by the bursting of the 

 valves in the middle longitudinally, and dividing into two 

 unequal boat-shaped parts. Seeds : few, oblong, compressed, 

 furrowed, fixed to one of the sutures. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: five-parted. Petals: five. Legume: lan- 

 ceolate ; valves boat-shaped. The only species is, 



1. Heematoxylum Campechianutn ; Logwood, Bloodwood, 

 Campeache-Wood. The stem rises from sixteen to twenty-four 

 feet high, is generally crooked, and seldom thicker than a 

 man's thigh ; branches subdivided, flexuose, prickly, round, 

 ash-coloured ; leaves pinnate ; petioles alternate, patulous, 

 round, smooth ; leaflets four pairs, on very short petiolules, 

 generally obcordate, entire, small, veined, very smooth and 

 shining, spreading in the day-time, but at night upright, con- 

 verging ; flowers in racemes, peduncled, numerous, small, red- 

 dish-yellow, on short, scattered, simple, coloured peduncles. 

 The flowers appear in March and April, and the seeds ripen in 

 July. This tree grows naturally in the Bay of Campcache, at 

 Honduras, and in other parts of the Spanish West Indies. It 

 was first propagated in Jamaica, in the year 1715, from seeds 

 brought from the Bay of Campeache, and it now grows wild 

 in the neighbourhood of Savannah la Mar, in such quantities 

 as to be extremely incommodious to the land-holders, occupy- 

 ing that district, in the same manner as the Opoponax and 

 Cashew have the southern parts of Middlesex county. It 

 was first introduced to prevent die necessity of forming set- 

 tlements upon the Spanish Main ; but the result did not fully 

 answer the benevolent intentions of those who first cultivated 

 it. It makes an impenetrable and beautiful fence. The smaller 

 stems are made into hoops. Both the bark and gum are gen- 

 tle subastringents, but the last excels, and adds a sweetness 

 8 D 



