740 



IB E 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



I B E 



there are also other fat and oily substances which affect it 

 very sensibly. The Chinese have been long acquainted with 

 the art of dissolving it, and of giving it various colours; but 

 perhaps ilie purpose to which it has been most universally 

 applied, is that of obliterating pencil lines, for the reader 

 will by this time suspect it to be nothing less than our 

 famous India Rubber, to which artists and accountants are 

 under such great obligations. It was first found by Mons. 

 Condamine, in 1745, upon the banks of the river of Ama- 

 zons, and is very common in Quito, where it is called 

 Hheve. There are several trees which yield the resin called 

 elastic yum, or a juice very similar; as, Ficus Indica, Cecropia 

 Peltata, Siphonia Caoutchouc. Artocarpus Integrifolia, and 

 Urceola Elastica. 



Iberis ; a genus of the class Tetradynamia, order Sili- 

 cnlosa. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four- 

 leaved; leaflets obovate, concave, spreading, small, equal, 

 deciduous. Corolla: four-petalled, unequal ; petals obovate, 

 obtuse, spreading; claws oblong, upright: of these the two 

 exterior petals are far larger, and equal to each other ; the 

 two interior very small, reflex. Stamina : filamenta six, 

 awl-shaped, upright, of which the two lateral ones are 

 shorter; an there roundish. Pistil: germen roundish, com- 

 pressed ; style simple, short ; stigma obtuse. Pericarp : 

 silicic upright, suborbiculate, compressed, emarginate, sur- 

 rounded by a sharp edge, two-celled ; partition lanceolate; 

 Valves navicular, compressed, carinated. Seeds: a few, sub- 

 ovate. Observe. The sixth species has nearly equal flow- 

 ers, and a subquadrangular silicle: the silicle is not emargi- 

 nate in the seventh species. 7s the partition bipartite in 

 all the species? ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: irregu- 

 lar, with the outer petals larger. Silicle: emarginate, many- 

 seeded: (in some^)f the species one seed only in each cell.) 

 -> ' The species are, 



1. Iberis SemperHorens ; Broad-leaved Evergreen Candy- 

 tuft. Frutescent: leaves wedge-shaped, quite entire, blunt. 

 A shrubby plant, seldom rising above a foot high, having 

 many slender branches, which spread on every side, and fall 

 towards the ground if they -are not supported ; they are well 

 furnished towards their extremities with leaves, which con- 

 tinue green all the year; in summer the flowers are produced 

 ;it the end of the shoots; they are white, and grow in an um- 

 bel, continue long in beauty, and being succeeded by others, 

 the plants are rarely destitute of them, from the end of 

 August till the beginning of June, which circumstance makes 

 this a very valuable plant. Native of Persia and Sicily. It 

 is somewhat tender, and generally sheltered during winter in 

 a green-house, where, being placed among other diminutive 

 plants to the front of the house, it makes a pleasing variety, 

 flowering throughout the winter; hut though usually thus 

 treated, in moderate winters it will live in the open air, if 

 it be planted in a warm situation and on a dry soil; and if in 

 very hard frost it be covered either with mats, reeds, straw, 

 or pease-haulm, it may be preserved very well, and these 

 plants which grow in the full ground will thrive better, and 

 produce a greater number of flowers, than those which are 

 kept in pots : but the soil in which these are planted, should 

 not be over-rich nor too wet, for in either of these they 

 will grow too vigorously in summer, which will place them in 

 greater danger of suffering by the frost in winter ; but when 

 they grow on a gravelly soil, or among lime rubbish, their 

 shoots being short, strong, and not so replete with moisture, 

 will better resist the cold. The plant rarely produces seeds 

 in England, and is therefore only propagated by cuttrngs, 

 which, if planted during the summer months, and shaded 

 from the sun, and duly watered, will be rooted in two months, 



and may afterwards be either planted in pots, or into the 

 borders where they are designed to stand. There is a 

 variety with striped leaves; but not being so hardy as this, 

 must oe more tenderly treated in winter, and may also be 

 increased by cuttings. 



2. Iberis Sempervirens ; Narrow-leaved Evergreen Candy- 

 tuft. Frutescent: leaves linear, quite entire, acute. This i> 

 of humbler growth than the first species, seldom rising more 

 than six or eight inches high, nor are the branches woody, but 

 herbaceous. The leaves continue green throughout the year. 

 It flowers from April to June, and is a native of the island 

 of Candia, on rocky ground. As this species rarely produces 

 seeds in England, it is increased by slips, which easily take 

 root in summer: the plant may be treated in the same manner 

 as the first sort, and will thrive in the open air. 



3. Iberis Garexiana. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute ; 

 stems fruticulose, diffused, flexile, warted ; branchlets le.ifv, 

 upright. Foot horizontal, with many fibres; stems many, 

 depressed, brown, round, naked, commonly simple ; corolla 

 white, the two outer petals double the size of the others. 

 It has no smell. The seed-vessel differs no otherwise fr< in 

 a capsule, than in having deciduous valves, and it has only 

 a single seed in each of the two cells. Native of Piedmont, 

 about Strop, above Tende, in the high mountains betwr. n 

 Briga and Carlin, and above Frabrosa. 



4. Iberis Gibraltarica; Gibraltar Candy-tuft. Frutes- 

 cent: leaves toothed at the tip. Stems many, thick, green, 

 striated, ascending, from a foot to eighteen inches in length. 

 divided into several branches; flowers terminating in corymbs, 

 first white, afterwards pale purple, without scent, the two 

 outer petals broader and longer: the flowers bear some 

 resemblance to those of the eighth species, but when they 

 blow in perfection,- they are usually twice as large; hence. 

 they are highly ornamental in the green-house early in the 

 spring, at which time they appear. It is nearly allied to 

 the first species, but is less shrubby and woody ; the leaves 

 are toothed towards the end, and the flowers are in larger 

 corymbs. Native of Spain. It is easi'y raised from cutting?, 

 and may be kept through the winter in a common hot-bed 

 frame; in mild winters it will stand abroad, especially if 

 sheltered among rock-work: moisture often destroys it in 

 the winter season; the moisture ought therefore to be dis- 

 sipated by gentle heat. 



5. Iberis Saxatilis ; Rock Candy-tuft. SufFruteecent : 

 leaves lanceolate-linear, fleshy, acute, quite entire, ciliate. 

 Root woody, hard, twisted, and large; stems diffused, nume- 

 rous, branched at the base, scarred with fallen branches 

 and leaves, three or four inches high ; the stems and 

 branches are almost naked at top, and terminate in a corymb 

 of white or purple flowers: in the progress of the inflores- 

 cence the corymb becomes a raceme. It varies with leave - 

 almost flat, and little, if at all, ciliated. Native of the South 

 of France and Italy. This, and the two following species, 

 are propagated by seeds sown on a shady border in autumn : 

 when the plants are strong enough to remove, transplant 

 them into a shady border, where they are to remain, and 

 they will require no other care but to keep them clean from 

 weeds. The flowers of this plant have a pleasant smell. 



6. Iberis Rotundifolia; Round-leaved Candy-tuft. Her- 

 baceous: leaves ovate; stem-leaves embracing, even, juicy. 

 Stems naked, slender, creeping, branched; flowers in ra- 

 cemes on spreading peduncles; calix reddish; petals pur- 

 ple, with the border entire, blunt, oval; seed smooth. It 

 flowers from May to July. This, and all the preceding 

 sorts, are perennial : the followrng are annual, except the 

 next, which seems to be perennial. Native of Switzerland, 



