218 



OS! 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



O ST 



22. Osmunda Spicaijs ; Rough Spleenwort. Fronds lan- 

 ceolate, pinnatifid ; segments confluent, quite entire, parallel. 

 Botanists are much divided concerning the genus of this 

 plant: Dr. Withering and Hedwig determined it to belong 

 to the genus Acrostichum ; Dr. Smith refers it to the 

 Blechnum ; and Mr. Robson, to the Pteris genus ; but 

 wherever it may finally be fixed, it clearly cannot be an 

 Osmunda. Native of woods, and on moist heaths in several 

 parts of Europe ; and not uncommon in Great Britain. It 

 produces its fructifications from July to September. 



23. Osmunda Crispa; Curled Osmunda, or Stone Fern. 

 Fructifications in lines along the under margin of the leaflets, 

 which is rolled back upon them ; after the discharge of the 

 seeds, increasing in breadth, so as to cover the whole disk 

 except the midrib. The fructifications are ripe in Septem- 

 ber. Native of several parts of Europe, as Switzerland, 

 Denmark, the south of France, Italy, and Britain, where it 

 is found in the county of Rutland ; on Cader Idris in Wales ; 

 at Shap near Kendal ; and is common upon rocks, heaths, 

 and old walls, in the northern counties, and in Scotland. 



24. Osmunda Japonica. Frond bipinnate; pinnas cor- 

 date, lanceolate, serrate; stipe of the frond round, yellow, 

 smooth. Native of Japan, flowering in April and May. 



25. Osmunda Lancea. Frond bipinnate; pinnas lanceolate, 

 serrate. Native of Japan, flowering in April and May. 



26. Osmunda Discolor. Fronds pinnate ; pinnas oblong, 

 sharpish, entire, sessile, alternate, approximating. Native 

 of New Zealand. 



27. Osmunda Procera. Fronds pinnate ; pinnas remote, 

 ovate-oblong, acuminate, serrate, sessile. Native of New 

 Zealand. 



Osteospermum ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order 

 Polygamia Necessaria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : 

 common simple, hemispherical, many-leaved; leaflets awl- 

 shaped, small. Corolla: compound rayed; corollets herma- 

 phrodite, very many in the disk ; females about ten in the 

 ray : proper of the hermaphrodite, tubular, five-toothed, the 

 length of the calix; of the female, ligulate, linear, three-toothed, 

 very long. Stamina: in the hermaphrodites; filamenta five, 

 capillary, very short; anthera cylindrical, tuberous. Pistil: 

 in the hermaphrodites ; germen very small ; style filiform, 

 scarcely the length of the stamina; stigma obsolete: in the 

 females, germen globular; style filiform, the length of the 

 stamina ;. stigma emarginate. Pericarp: none; calix un- 

 changed. Seeds: in the hermaphrodites none : in the females 

 solitary, subglobular, coloured, at length hardened, inclosing 

 a kernel of the same shape; pappus none. Receptacle: 

 naked, flat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER Calix: simple, or 

 in two rows, many-leaved, almost equal. Seeds: globular, 

 coloured, bony: Geertner says, berried, or nucamentaeeous ; 

 down none; receptacle naked. These plants being too 

 tender to live in the open air in England, are placed in the 

 green-house in October, and may be treated in the same 

 manner as Myrtles, and other hardy green-house plants, which 

 require a large share of air in mild weather; and in the begin- 

 ning of May, the plants may be removed into the open air, 

 and placed in a sheltered situation during the summer season. 

 They are propagated by cuttings, which may be planted in 

 any of the summer months, upon a bed of light earth, and 

 should be watered and shaded until they have taken root, 

 which they will in five or six weeks, when they must be 

 taken up and planted in pots ; for if they be suffered to stand 

 long, they will make strong vigorous shoots, and will be 

 difficult to transplant afterwards, especially the second and 

 third sorts; but there it not so much danger of the first, 

 which is not so vigorous, nor so easy in taking root, as the 



other. During the summer season the pots should be fre- 

 quently removed, to prevent the plants from rooting through 

 the holes in the bottom of the pots into the ground, which 

 they are very liable to, after continuing undisturbed. This 

 causes them to shoot very luxuriantly ; and on their being 

 removed, these shoots, and sometimes the whole plants, will 

 decay. As the first and second sorts are very thirsty plants, 

 they should be supplied with plenty of water. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1 . Osteospermum Spinosum ; Prickly Osteospermum. 

 Spines branched. This is a low shrubby plant, which seldom 

 rises above three feet high, and divides into many branches. 

 The flowers are produced singly at the end of the shoots, 

 they are starlike, yellow, have a pleasant smell, and appear 

 in July and August. Native of the Cape. 



2. Osteospermum Pisiferum ; Smooth Osteospermum. 

 Leaves lanceolate, mucronate, subpetioled, smooth, serrate ; 

 branchlets angular, toothletted. Stem four or five feet high, 

 dividing into many branches towards the top, which spread 

 out flat on every side, and have a purplish bark. The flowers 

 are yellow, standing single upon long axillary peduncles, 

 which have a very few small leaves growing alternately their 

 whole length. Native of the Cape. 



3. Osteospermum Moniliferum ; Poplar-leaved Osteosper- 

 mum. Leaves obovate, serrate, petioled, subdecurrent. Stem 

 shrubby, seven or eight feet high, covered with a smooth 

 gray bark, and dividing into several branches, at the ends of 

 which the yellow flowers come forth in clusters. Native of 

 the Cape. 



4. Osteospermum Ilicifolium ; Holm-leaved Osteospermum. 

 Leaves oblong, with angular teeth, rugged, half-embracing 

 the stem ; branches grooved. Native of the Cape. 



5. Osteospermum Ciliatum ; Fringe-leaved Osteospermum. 

 Leaves elliptic, lanceolate, crenate, ciliate. Native of the 

 Cape. 



6- Osteospermum Junceum ; Reedy Osteospermum. Leaves 

 linear, acute, keeled, distant ; panicle terminating. Stem five 

 feet high, upright, stiff and straight, even. Native of the 

 Cape. 



7. Osteospermum Triquetrum. Leaves linear, three-sided ; 

 stem suffruticose. Native of the Cape. 



8. Osteospermum Corymbosum. Leaves lanceolate, and 

 smooth; flowers panicled. Stem upright, determinately 

 branched, even, the thickness of a finger. The flowers yel- 

 low. Native of the Cape. 



9. Osteospermum Imbricatum. Leaves .ovate, blunt, imbri- 

 cate ; stem determinately branched, two feet high, scarred. 

 Native of the Cape. 



10. Osteospermum Herbaceum. Leaves ovate, subsessile 

 spatulate, serrate; stem herbaceous. Native of the Cape.' 



1 1 . Osteospermum Niveum. Leaves ovate, petioled, tooth- 

 ed, woolly. Native of the Cape. 



12. Osteospermum Perfoliatum. Leaves ovate, petioled, 

 angular, toothed, tomentose underneath; petioles perfoliate, 

 embracing. Native of the Cape. 



13. Osteospermum Polygaloides. Leaves lanceolate, scat- 

 tered, decurrent, smooth, quite entire; axils woolly; stalk 

 about four feet high, dividing into many small branches, at 

 the ends of which the flowers come out, standing singly on 

 peduncles about an inch long. Native of the Cape. 



14. Osteospermum Calendulaceum. Leaves lanceolate, 

 sessile, toothed, rugged; stem fleshy, lax. Native of the 

 Cape. 



15. Osteospermum Arctotoides. Leaves lyrate, petioled; 

 petioles eared at the base, half-embracing, tomentose. Na- 

 tive of the Cape. 



