374 



POL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



POL 



small pot filled with soft loamy earth, and plunged into a 

 very moderate hot-bed, to forward their taking new root, 

 observing to shade them from the sun, and gently refresh 

 them with water as they may require it, but they must not 

 have much wet. When they are rooted, they must be gra- 

 dually inured to the open air ; and in June they may be 

 placed abroad, in a sheltered situation, where they may 

 remain till the middle or latter end of October, according as 

 the season proves favourable ; then they must be removed 

 into the green-house, and treated in the same way as Orange- 

 trees, being careful not to give them too much wet during 

 the winter season. In the summer they must be placed abroad 

 with other green-house plants, where, by their long continu- 

 ance in flower, they will make a fine appearance. 



14. Polygala Venulosa. Flowers crested, racemose ; 

 wings of the calix three-ribbed, copiously veined, shorter 

 than the keel ; stem ascending ; leaves elliptic-lanceolate. 

 Found in Cyprus, &c. flowering in May. 



15. Polygala Glumacea. Flowers crested, racemose ; 

 wings of the calix three-ribbed, slightly veined, twice the 

 length of the keel; leaves taper-pointed. Found in Cyprus, 

 flowering in May. 



16. Polygala Oppositifolia; Opposite-leaved Milkwort . Stem 

 shrubby ; leaves opposite, ovate, acute ; flowers crested ; 

 clusters short, terminal. This is a shrub two feet high, 

 branched at top ; branches alternate, erect, without scars. 

 It flowers in August. Native of the Cape. 



17. Polygala Spinosa ; Prickly Milkwort. Flowers lateral ; 

 stem shrubby; branches spiny; leaves scattered, oval, oblong; 

 fruit drupaceous. This is a stout shrub, with the branches 

 terminated by a strong spine. Native of the Cape. 



18. Polygala Teretifolia. Flowers lateral ; stem shrubby, 

 branched; "leaves filiform, sickle-shaped. Native of the Cape. 



** Beardless : the flowers without any pencil ; heeled, 

 frutescent. 



19. Polygala Theezans. Peduncles one-flowered; stem 

 shrubby; leaves alternate, lanceolate. This, like the Birch- 

 tree, has the stem white at the bottom. Native of Japan 

 and Java. 



20. Polygala Trinervia. Peduncles one-flowered ; stem 

 shrubby, angular; leaves alternate, cordate, cusped, three- 

 nerved ; flowers small ; capsules oblong, two-horned at the 

 tip. Native of the Cape. 



21. Polygala Pensea. Flowers lateral, solitary; stem arbo- 

 reous ; leaves obtuse, petioled. This shrub is a native of 

 South America. 



22. Polygala Diversifolia. Flowers in racemes ; stem arbo- 

 reous ; older leaves oblong, ovate ; younger subovate. This 

 is a small tree, with loose rod-like branches, subdivided, 

 even, round. Browne calls it Bastard Lignum Vitae of the 

 Red Hills, where this shrub grows very plentifully, generally 

 rising to the height of seven or eight feet or more. It receives 

 the above name, because it tastes not unlike the gum of the 

 Lignum Vitae, and is sometimes used for the same purposes. 

 Swartz does not see why Linneus named it Diversifolia, the 

 leaves being all alike ; the reason, however, whether well found- 

 ed or not, is apparent from the specific character. Native of 

 the woods of Jamaica; where, however, it is not common. 



23. Polygala Microphylla ; Small-leaved Milkwort. Flow- 

 ers in racemes; stems shrubby; leaves very minute, elliptic. 

 Native of Spain and Portugal. 



24. Polygala jEstuans. Flowers in racemes; stem shrubby; 

 leaves lanceolate, petioled. Native of New Granada, in South 

 America 



25. Polygala Violacea. Flowers in racemes, lateral and 

 crminating; stem shrubby, hairy ; leaves oblong; peduncles 



toothletted from the fall of the flowers, which are larger than 

 those of the common sort. Found in Cayenne. 



26. Polygala Chinensis. Flowers in spikes, axillary; stem 

 suffruticose ; leaves oval. Native of the East Indies. 



27. Polygala Chamsebuxus ; Box-leaved Milkwort. Flowers 

 scattered; keel rounded at the tip; stem shrubby; leaves 

 lanceolate. It is an elegant little evergreen shrub, of low 

 growth, with leaves like those of the Box, producing flowers 

 from May to October, but most plentifully in June. Each 

 flower stands on a peduncle, proceeding from a kind of tri- 

 phyllous cup formed of floral-leaves ; the true calix is com- 

 posed of three leaves, which are nearly white ; the two outer- 

 most petals, similar to the wings of a papilionaceous flower, 

 are also white, or nearly so ; the third petal, which forms a 

 kind of tube, and contains the stamina and pistillum, is white 

 at the base, but yellow towards the extremity, where it changes 

 by degrees to a bright bay colour. Clusius and Jacquin 

 mention a variety of this plant, with the calix and wings of a 

 beautiful purple. Scopoli lias noticed four varieties : 1. With 

 white wings, and a yellow keel. 2. With white wings, and 

 the keel red at the tip. 3. With red wings, and the tip of 

 the keel yellow. 4. With red wings and keel, but the tip of 

 the latter variegated with red and yellow. Native of Austria, 

 Switzerland, Alsace, Germany, Dauphiny, and Italy. This 

 is a very difficult plant to cultivate in gardens, for it com- 

 monly grows out of the fissures of rocks, hence cannot be 

 easily transplanted, and it is with difficulty that the seeds are 

 obtained from abroad. The seeds will not vegetate till they 

 have been a whole year in the ground, unless they are sown 

 soon after they are ripe, when the plants will come up the 

 spring following. When they first appear, they make very 

 little progress in our climate, and are hard to transplant 

 with safety, so that they are not much known in this country. 

 The best method of cultivating it is by seeds. They should 

 be procured as fresh as possible from the places of natural 

 growth, and sown in pots as soon as they arrive ; the pots 

 should be plunged into the ground, where they may have jonly 

 the morning sun. If sown before Christmas, there will be a 

 chance of their coming up in the following spring. The pots 

 should be plunged into the ground, where they may have but 

 little sun in the following summer, and in trie autumn they 

 may be removed, and plunged into an old tan-bed under a 

 hot-frame, where they may be protected from severe frost ; 

 for although this plant is a native of the Alps, and other cold 

 mountains, yet, as the seeds will not be covered with snow 

 here, as they are in their native soil and situation, they are 

 frequently spoiled by the inconstancy of the weather in Eng- 

 land. When the plants come up, they should be placed in 

 the shade during the summer ; and in autumn they may be 

 turned out of the pots, and planted in a border, where they 

 may have only the morning sun, for they will not thrive long 

 in pots. If the winter prove very severe, it will be proper to 

 cover the surface of the ground about their roots with mulch, 

 to keep out the frost. If the plants take root in the border, 

 they should remain there undisturbed, and be only kept clean 

 from weeds ; for the ground about their roots should not be 

 dug or dunged. They thrive best in a shady border of bog- 

 earth. 



28. Polygala Alopecuroides. Flowers sessile; leaves 

 crowded, ovate, keeled, hairy; stem shrubby, procumbent, 

 branched ; the branches covered with leaves and flowers. 

 Native of the Cape. 



29. Polygala Mixta. Flowers sessile ; stem shrubby ; 

 leaves round, mucronate, crowded. Native of the Cape. 



30. Polygala Squarrosa. Stem shrubby ; leaves aggregate, 

 lanceolate, patulous. Native of the Cape. 



