360 



PL A 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



PL A 



a brownish, the old ones a gray bark, which is smooth, and 

 falls off annually like that of the first species. The foot- 

 stalks of the leaves are three inches long. The colour of the 

 leaves is a light green on their upper side, and pale on their 

 under. The flowers grow in round balls like the former 

 species, but are smaller : the leaves and flowers of both 

 appear at the same time; and the seeds ripen in autumn. 

 Kalm calls it the Virginian Maple, and says that it grows 

 in plenty on the shores of the Delaware. The Anglo-Ame- 

 ricans call it Button Wood, from its catkins or aments ; 

 though Water Beech is a more common name. It grows 

 mostly in low places, but especially on the edges of rivers 

 and brooks, and is easily transplanted to drier places if the 

 soil be good ; and as the leaves are large, and the foliage 

 thick, it is planted about houses and gardens, to afford shade 

 in the hot season. It grows also in marshes and swampy 

 fields, with the Ash and Red Maple; and is remarkable 

 for its quick growth, being frequently as tall and thick as 

 the best Fir-trees. There are such numbers of them on 

 the low meadows between Philadelphia and the ferry at 

 Gloucester, on both sides of the road, that in summer it is 

 a shady walk all the way : and in Philadelphia itself, near 

 the Swedish church, some large trees of it stand on the 

 shore of the river. In more than a century and half since its 

 importation, it has not become very common, although, as 

 Mr. Marshall observes, it is particularly refreshing to the 

 eye, and truly ornamental ; the bright colour giving variety 

 to groves and masses of wood, and in single trees or groups 

 being singularly elegant. Mr. Gilpin remarks, that its stem 

 is -very picturesque ; it is smooth, and of a light ash-colour ; 

 has the property of throwing off its bark in scales, thus 

 naturally cleansing itself, at least its larger boughs, from 

 moss and other parasitical incumbrances. No tree forms a 

 more pleasing shade : it is full-leafed, and its leaf is large, 

 smooth, of a fine texture, and seldom injured by insects. 

 Its lower branches shooting horizontally, soon take a direc- 

 tion to the ground ; and the sprays, by twisting about in 

 various forms, fill up every little vacuity of shade. At the 

 same time, it must be confessed that the twisting of its 

 branches is a disadvantage, when the tree is stripped of its 

 leaves and reduced to a skeleton. Nor indeed does its foli- 

 age, from the largeness of the leaf, and the mode of its 

 growth, make the most picturesque appearance in summer. 

 The summer leaf, both of this and the preceding species, 

 bear so light a hue as to mix ill with the foliage of the Oak, 

 the Elm, and other trees. On the skirts of a plantation 

 they sometimes form a disagreeable spot during summer ; 

 but' in autumn their leaves receive a mellow tint, which har- 

 monizes well with the waning colour of the wood. One of 

 the finest occidental Planes, adds Mr. Gilpin, stands in my 

 own garden at Vicar's hill, where its boughs feathering to 

 the ground, form a canopy of above fifty feet in diameter. 

 Culture. This tree will grow extremely well from cuttings, if 

 they are planted at the beginning of October upon a moist 

 soil, and if watered in dry weather, will make prodigious pro- 

 gress ; so that in a few years after planting they will afford 

 noble trees for avenues and shady walks. Both this and the 

 preceding species may be easily propagated in March by 

 layers. Every twig will take root, if they be only pegged 

 down, and covered with earth ; and the layers will be well 

 rooted in one year : then they should be cut off from the old 

 trees or stools, and planted in a nursery, where they may 

 remain two or three years to acquire strength, and should then 

 be transplanted where they are to remain ; for the younger 

 they are when finally planted, the better they will thrive. 

 The best time for sowing the seeds is autumn, upon a some- 



what lightish mellow soil. In the winter, screen the seed- 

 bed with pea-straw, or some other light covering, that cart 

 easily be removed -in mild weather. In the spring, before 

 the seeds vegetate, rake the beds gently over with a short- 

 toothed rake, sifting a little fresh rich mould on them, and 

 water them during dry weather in summer. In the following 

 autumn, the beds having been made quite clean, put a little 

 more good mould about the plants ; after which they will 

 require no trouble but keeping them clean till they have had 

 another season's growth ; when they may be removed into the 

 nursery in spring, in rows one yard asunder, and eighteen 

 inches distance in the rows. Observe, in propagating them 

 by seed, though many will come up in the first spring, the 

 general crop must not be expected till the second. Dr. Hun- 

 ter recommends the cuttings to be taken from strong young 

 wood, and planted early in autumn in a moist good mould. 

 They are generally planted thick, and then removed into the 

 nursery ; but if a large piece of moist ground be ready, the 

 cuttings may be placed at such a distance as not to approach 

 too near each other before they are of a sufficient size to plant 

 where they are to remain, which would save the expense 

 and trouble of a removal. Mr. Boutcher recommends the 

 cuttings to be planted at the beginning of March, in shady 

 borders two feet row from row, and eight or ten inches in 

 the rows : if they are torn asunder at the joints, with a knob 

 of the old wood left, they will grow more readily. These 

 cuttings should be a foot or fourteen inches long, and buried 

 about eight inches deep. In two years they may be removed. 

 In short, however these beautiful trees are propagated, after 

 two years they may be planted out, in rows three feet and a 

 half asunder, there to remain, or to be transplanted after 

 three years to another nursery, in rows six feet asunder, and 

 three feet in the rows, where they may stand six or seven 

 years. The season for transplanting them is March, and they 

 delight in a moist ground, particularly the second species ; 

 so that where the land is dry, the two varieties mentioned 

 under the first species are to be preferred. 



Platylobium ; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order 

 Decandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : bell-shaped, 

 five-toothed; the three lower teeth acute and spreading, the 

 two upper very large, obovate, obtuse, close pressed to the 

 standard. Corolla : papilionaceous ; standard heart-shaped, 

 twice as long as the calix, spreading, deeply emarginate; 

 wings shorter than the standard, semi-obovate, with a blunt 

 incurved tooth on the upper side at their base ; keel of two 

 adhering petals, obtuse, as long as the wings, with a tooth 

 on each side of the base, embraced by the incurved teeth of 

 the wings. Stamina: filamenta ten, in one set, separated 

 only on the upper side, and cloven nearly half their length ; 

 divisions equal, and curved upwards ; antherse nearly orbi- 

 cula'r, equal, versatile. Pistil: germen linear, very hairy; 

 style recurved, smooth; stigma simple, sharp. Pericarp: 

 legume pedicelled, clothed with scattered hairs, somewhat 

 cimeter-shaped, perfectly compressed, obtuse, with a small 

 point, one-celled, extending into a flat border along the 

 upper edge, considerably beyond the insertion of the seeds. 

 Seeds: seven or eight, compressed, each on a curved white 

 stalk. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: bell-shaped, five- 

 cleft, the two upper segments very large and obtuse ; legume 

 pedicelled, compressed, winged at the back. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1. Platylobium Formosum ; Orange Flat-pea. Leaves 

 ovate, somewhat heart-shaped; germen all over hairy; stalk 

 of the legume shorter than the calix ; bractes silky. Stem 

 shrubby, four feet high ; branches opposite, round, rough- 

 ish, covered with leaves, and ornamented with numerous 



