288 



PHL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PH<E 



9. Phlox Ovata ; Ovate-leaved Lychnidea. Leaves ovate ; 

 flowers solitary ; stalks two or three, slender, about nine 

 inches high. The flowers come out singly at the top of the 

 stalk, and have very slender tubes, with a border of five round- 

 ish spreading segments ; they are of a light purple colour, and 

 appear in July, but are not followed by seeds in England. 

 Native of Maryland, and other parts of North America. 



10. Phlox Subulata; Awl-leaved Lychnidea. Leaves awl- 

 shaped, hirsute ; flowers opposite. If this plant be left to 

 itself, the stems trail on the ground : the young shoots are of 

 a reddish white, and slightly villose; flowers from one to 

 three or four in an umbel, drooping before they expand; 

 calices villose ; corolla pale purple or flesh-colour, with an 

 eye of dark but brilliant purple, disposed in a star-like form. 

 The flowers appear at the beginning of May, and are 

 extremely pretty, bnt delicate, requiring shelter during the 

 period of their flowering, which is shorter than in most of 

 the other species. It should be frequently renewed by cut- 

 tings, which strike readily, and may be suffered to grow 

 Either jn its natural procumbent way, or be made to appear 

 to more advantage by training it to a stick. Native of Vir- 

 ginia. 



1 1. Phlox Sibirica ; Siberian Lychnidea. Leaves linear, vil- 

 lose; peduncles in threes. Stem from two inches to a hand 

 in height. From the uppermost axils peduncles from two to 

 four, about an inch long, hirsute, each bearing one purple 

 flower, varying to white, with purple streaks. Native of 

 Siberia. 



12. Phlox Setacea; Bristle-leaved Lychnidea. Leaves 

 bristle-shaped, smooth ; flowers solitary. The stalks rise to 

 the height of a foot, when supported; but if left to them- 

 selves, trail on the ground. Corolla of a beautiful light 

 purple, with a dark .eye. The whole of this plant forms a 

 highly ornamental bush of flowers. Native of Carolina; and, 

 like most of the others, is easily raised from cuttings, which 

 should be struck early in the spring, to make them become 

 flowering plants the next season. To obtain this plant in 

 perfection, it is necessary to renew it yearly; old plants be- 

 ing less productive of flowers, and less perfect in their foli- 

 age. In mild winters, like many other plants from Carolina, 

 this will live abroad, but requires the shelter of a frame, 

 rather than more tender treatment, in severe frosts. 



13. Phlox Aristata. Plant feeble, erect, viscidulo-pubes- 

 cent; leaves linear-lanceolate; panicles loose, fastigiated; 

 pedicels subgeminate ; segments of the corolla oboval ; tube 

 curvated, pubescent ; teeth of the calix very long, subulate ; 

 flowers red, or sometimes white. Grows in sandy fields 

 from Pennsylvania to Carolina. 



14. Phlox Stolonifera. Plant creeping-stoloniferous, pu- 

 bescent; radical leaves spathulate-obovate ; little stems oval- 

 lanceolate ; corymb with few flowers, straggling ; segments 

 of the corolla obovate; teeth of the calix linear, reflex; 

 flowers blue, with a purple centre, very handsome. Grows 

 in the high mountains of Virginia and Carolina. 



15. Phlox Pyramidalis. Plant erect, glabrous; stem sca- 

 brous ; leaves cordate-ovate, acute ; segments of the corolla 

 cuneate-truncate; teeth of the calix somewhat erect, lanceo- 

 late, acute; flowers beautiful purple. Grows in mountain 

 meadows from Pennsylvania to Carolina. This plant is 

 named by Walton, Phlox Carolina. 



16. Phloi Latifolia. Plant erect, glabrous; stem smooth; 

 leaves cordate-ovate ; segments of the corolla suborbicu- 

 late ; teeth of the calix lanceolate, slightly acuminated. 

 Pursh is inclined to think this plant merely a variety of 

 Phlox Pyramidalis. 



17. Phlox Speciosa. Plant erect, glabrous, frutescent, 



very branchy; leaves linear, superior, alternate, dilated at 

 the base ; racemes paniculate-corymbose ; segments of the 

 corolla cuneate-oblong, emarginate ; teeth of the calix subu- 

 late, equal to the tube; flowers white, with a red or purple 

 centre, similar to the white variety of Vinca Rosea, the 

 fructifications appearing in such abundance that they cover 

 the whole shrub. Grows on the plains of Columbia. 



Phoenix; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Triandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers. Calix: spathe uni- 

 versal one-valved ; spadix branched ; perianth three-parted, 

 very small, permanent. Corolla: petals three, concave, 

 ovate, somewhat oblong. Stamina: filameiita three, very 

 short; antheree linear, four-cornered, the length of the co- 

 rolla. Female Flowers: on a different plant, or on the same 

 spadix. Calix and Corolla: as in the male. Pistil: germen 

 roundish; style awl-shaped, short; stigma acute. Pericarp: 

 drupe ovate, one-celled. Seed: single, bony, subovate, with 

 a longitudinal groove. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 three-parted. Corolla : three-petalled. Male. Stamina : 

 three. Female. Pistil: one. Drupe : ovate. The plants 

 of this genus may be easily produced from the seeds taken 

 out of the fruit, provided they be fresh, sown in pots filled 

 with light rich earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed 

 of tanner's bark, which should be kept in a moderate tenv 

 perature of heat, and the earth frequently refreshed with 

 water. When the plants come up, they should be each 

 planted into a separate small pot filled with the same light 

 rich earth, and plunged into a hot-bed again, observing to 

 refresh them with water, and also to admit air to them in 

 proportion to the warmth of the season, and of the bed in 

 which they are placed. During the summer they should 

 remain in the same hot-bed, but in the beginning of August 

 let them have a great share of air, to harden them against 

 the approach of winter; for if they be too much forced, they 

 will be so tender as not to be preserved through the winter 

 without much difficulty, especially if you have not the con- 

 veniency of a bark-stove to keep them in. The beginning 

 of October, remove the plants into the stove, placing them 

 where they may have a moderate share of heat, these being 

 somewhat tenderer while young, than after they have acquired 

 some strength ; though indeed they may sometimes be pre- 

 served alive in a cooler situation, yet their progress would 

 be so much retarded as not to recover their vigour in the 

 succeeding summer. Nor is it worth the trouble of raising 

 these plants from seeds, where a person has not the conve- 

 niency of a stove to forward their growth ; for where a stove 

 is wanting, they will not grow to any tolerable size in twenty 

 years. When the plants Ve removed, which should be clone 

 once a year, be very careful not to bruise or injure their 

 large roots, but clear off all the small fibres which are inclin- 

 able to mouldiness ; for if these are left on they will in time 

 decay, and hinder the fresh fibres from coming out, which 

 must greatly retard the growth of the plants. The soil in 

 which they should be placed must be compounded in the 

 following manner : Half of fresh earth taken from a pasture 

 ground, the other half sea-sand and rotten dung or tanner's 

 bark, in equal proportion; these should be carefully mixed, 

 and laid in a heap three or four months at least before it is 

 used, but should be often turned over, to prevent the growth 

 of weeds, and to sweeten the earth. Observe also to allow 

 pots proportioned to the size of the plants ; but never let 

 them be too large, which is more injurious than their "being 

 too small. During summer let them be frequently refreshed 

 with water, but not in large quantities; in winter also they- 

 must be now and then watered, especially if placed in a 

 warm stove, but if not, they will require less water. These 



