734 



J AS 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



J AS 



warm weather plenty of fresh air. They are raised from 

 seeds procured from the countries where they grow naturally, 

 and afterwards from cuttings, but it is with difficulty that these 

 take root. The species are, 



1. Jacquiuia Armillaris; Obtuse-leaved Jacquinia. Leaves 

 obtuse, coriaceous ; flowers in racemes ; berries four-seeded 

 or thereabouts. This a very elegant upright shrub, seldom 

 more than four or five feet high; peduncles scattered, spread- 

 ing, one-flowered ; flowers small, stiffish, white, smelling iihe 

 Jasmine, and retaining their sweet scent several days; berry 

 roundish, smooth, the size of a large pea, of a reddish orange 

 colour, and containing an orange-coloured pulp; seeds four, 

 sometimes (but seldom) three or five, ovate, smooth, shining, 

 cartilaginous, brownish yellow. The berries are eaten by 

 small birds; and the seeds are strung for bracelets by the 

 Caribbees, whence the French in the islands call this shrub 

 Bois Bracelets; and Linneus gives it the trivial name of 

 Armillaris. The Spaniards call it Barbasco, or Verbascum. 

 It flowers in Februaiy and March; and is a native of 

 South America and the West India islands, where it is found 

 on the calcareous rocks of Jamaica, Cura9oa, Martinico, 

 Carthagena, &c. 



2. Jacquinia Venosa ; Vein-leaved Jacquinia. Leaves 

 ovate, lanceolate, veined, submembrauaceous. Native of the 

 West Indies. 



3. Jacquinia Ruscifolia ; Prickly Jacquinia. Leaves 

 lanceolate, acuminate. This is a shrub three feet in height, 

 with all the habit of the preceding : it differs in having the 

 leaves lanceolate, acuminate, pungent, extremely stiff, and 

 shorter; the peduncles are as pendulous as in that, and one- 

 flowered. Native of South America. 



4. Jacquinia Linearis ; Linear-leaved Jacqitinea. Leaves 

 linear, acuminate. This is a shrub two feet in height, very 

 much branched, of the same habit with the two preceding, 

 but not so neat; leaves extremely rigid, pungent, like thorns, 

 generally four together in whorls at each joint ; peduncles 

 one-flowered, solitary, terminati-ng, pendulous, shorter than 

 the leaves; flowers stiffish, and without any smell; petals 

 white, with all the segments convex, the outer ones spread- 

 ing:, the inner almost erect; berries yellow. Native of the 

 island of St. Domingo, about Port-au-Prince, on the coast, 

 flowering and fruiting in January. 



Jasione; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Mono- 

 gamia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth common 

 ten-leaved; alternate leaflets inferior, narrower, including very 

 many flowers on very short peduncles, permanent; perianth 

 proper five-cleft, superior, permanent. Corolla: proper 

 one-petalled, regular, deeply five-cleft ; divisions lanceolate, 

 upright. Stamina: filamenta five, awl-shaped, short; an- 

 thcrse five, oblong, connected at the base. Pistil: germen 

 roundish, inferior ; style filiform, length of the corolla; 

 stigma bifid. Pericarp : capsule roundish, five-cornered, 

 crowned with the proper calix, subbilocular, gaping at the 

 tip, with a round hole; partition divided at the axis. Seeds: 

 many, subovate; receptacle subglobose, peclicelled, free, in 

 the baso of the capsule. Observe. The central floscules 

 are often abortive, with an undivided club-shaped stigma. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : common ten-leaved. 

 Corolla: five-petal led, regular. Capsule: inferior, two-celled. 



The only known species is, 



1. Jasione Montana; Mountain Jasione, or Hairy Sheep's 

 Scabious. Hoot annual, rigid, whitish, and fibrous; stems 

 many, erect, or procumbent, from a span to a foot in height 

 or more, somewhat rigid, beset with rough short hairs, 

 ;lar, striated, green, often tinged with purple; for some- 

 thing more than one-third of their height, they are clothed 



with numerous leaves, which are linear or linear-lanceolate, 

 waved at the margin, bJuntish at the end, hairy on both 

 surfaces, sessile, and pointing upwards: the remainder of the 

 stem is naked, and terminated by one flowering head ; corolla 

 blue, sometimes varying to white; stigma club-shaped, purple. 

 Linneus remarks, that the leaves are obscurely serrated. 

 Leers asserts that the calix has constantly twenty leaflets, 

 in four rows, subserrated, the outer ones gradually larger. 

 The antherse are at first almost wholly united, but when the 

 pollen is evacuated, they spread, and are joined only at the 

 base ; the central florets are barren, with the stigma club- 

 shaped, quite entire, having pollen scattered over it, and not 

 villose ; the capsules are on very short pedicels, and never 

 ripen. The lateral florets in great numbers are fertile; they 

 have also a club-shaped stigma, which afterwards becomes 

 bifid ; because the antherse of these have evacuated their 

 pollen before the stigma bursts, it seems probable that the 

 fecundation is made by the antherse of the barren florets. 

 The styles of the barren floiets aie all upright, but those of 

 the fertile florets are bent down, for the easier reception of 

 the pollen. In the above curious account of the process of 

 fecundation, the botanist cannot but remark the affinity it 

 bears to the genuine plants of the class Syngenesia, where 

 Linneus placed it, and from whence modern reformers have 

 removed it. In its general appearance it so resembles a 

 Scabious, as to be taken for one by unskilful botanists. It 

 varies much in size, and on the sea-coast of Cornwall is only 

 about an inch high when fall grown, and the whole plant is 

 very hairy. Linneus informs us that bees are particularly 

 fond of the flowers of this plant, the whole of which is 

 milky, and sometimes eaten by sheep. Ray calls it Ram- 

 pions with scabious-like heads ; and Withering, Scabious 

 Sheep's-bit. It flowers from June to August; and is common 

 on dry sandy grounds, heaths, and hilly pastures. The 

 younger Linneus, in his Supplement, mentions a variety with 

 perennial roots, the stem higher than in the common sort, and 

 the heads of the flowers larger. 



Jasminum; a genus of the class Diandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, tubulated, oblong ; mouth five-toothed, upright, per- 

 manent. Corolla: one-petalled, salver-shaped ; tube cylin- 

 drie, long ; border five-parted, flat. Stamina : filamenta 

 two, short ; antherse small, within the tube of the corolla. 

 Pistil : germen roundish ; style filiform, length of the 

 stamina ; stigma bifid. Pericarp : berry oval, smooth, two- 

 celled or two-capsuled. Seeds : two, large, ovate-oblong, 

 arillated, convex on one side, flat on the other. Observe. 

 The shape of the flower varies as to acuteness or obtuseness ; 

 the berry is in some simple, in others dicoccous. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : salver-shaped. Berry : dicoc- 

 cous. Seeds: solitary, arillated. The species are, 



1. Jasminum Sambac ; Arabian Jasmine. Leaves oppo- 

 site, simple, elliptic, ovate and subcordate, membranaceous, 

 opaque; branchlets and petioles pubescent; calicine seg- 

 ments awl-shaped. It rises with a winding stalk to the 

 height of fifteen or twenty feet, sending out small branches ; 

 leaves smooth, nearly three inches long, and two broad, on 

 short footstalks. The flowers are produced on the ends of 

 the branches, and also upon the side-shoots, on short pedun- 

 cles, each generally sustaining three flowers ; the tube of the 

 corolla narrow, about half an inch long, cut at the top into 

 eight obtuse segments, which spread out quite flat. The 

 flowers are of a pure white, and have a most agreeable odour, 

 somewhat like orange flowers, but sweeter; when fully blown, 

 they drop outof their cups on being shaken, and frequently fall 

 out in the night, changing soon to a purplish colour. The 



