640 



S WI 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



S WI 



five-cleft; peduncles four-cornered, awl-shaped ; stem undi- 

 vided; root-leaves oval; flowers cinereous purple, of a dull 

 colour, and void of scent. This is a handsome plant, with 

 a perennial root, composed of long whitish fibres. Native 

 of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Siberia, in 

 alpine bogs. It flowers in August; and though found in 

 Wales, is a doubtful native of Britain. Like all its congeners, 

 it grows in swamps. They seldom seed in this country, and 

 are propagated by parting the roots ; the best time for doing 

 which is in September, that they may have time to root and 

 acquire strength before the frosts come on. They require a 

 loose moist soil, and shady situation. 



2. Swertia Difformis. Corollas five-cleft, the terminating 

 one six-cleft; peduncles very long; leaves linear. The flow- 

 ers are white. Native of bogs and cedar swamps in North 

 America. 



3. Swertia Decumbens. Corollas five-parted ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate; nectaries ten, bristly. Stem filiform, branched 

 at the top, obscurely angular, very smooth, as is tlie whole 

 plant ; corolla white. Native of Arabia Felix. 



4. Swertia Corniculata. Corollas four-cleft, four-horned. 

 Root annual, short, attenuated, cruciate, with four lateral 

 fibres ; stem erect, round, slightly angular, leafy ; leaves 

 ovate lanceolate. It varies in size from a span long, and 

 almost simple, to two feet, many-stemmed, and more branch- 

 ed. Native of Siberia, where, for its grateful bitterness, it is 

 received among the domestic remedies of the inhabitants : it 

 is common on both sides of the river Jenisca, in sandy moist- 

 ish Pine- woods ; and in some parts occurs of a lower stature, 

 with larger seeds and more turgid flowers. In Kamptschatka, 

 it is hardly above two inches high, with a simple one-flow- 

 ered stem, and only two or three pairs of leaves. It is also 

 found in Canada; and flowers in July. 



5. Swertia Dichotoma. Corollas four-cleft, hornless ; pe- 

 duncles nodding; leaves ellliptic; stem branched. Root sim- 

 ple, drawing to a point, stouter than the preceding species, 

 and apparently biennial : it is slightly bitter. This flowers 

 in May and June; and is a native of eastern Siberia. 



6. Swertia Tetrapetala. Corollas four-cleft, hornless ; 

 peduncles erect; leaves lanceolate; stem simple. It is six 

 inches high; flowers small, blue; root simple, slender, atte- 

 nuated, annual. Native of Kamptschatka. 



7. Swertia Fastigiata. Corollas campanulate-rotate, of the 

 length of the calix; flowers fastigiate-aggregate, axillary, 

 terminal, sky-blue; pedicels two together; leaves spathulate- 

 obovate, nervose ; stem branchy. Grows on the Missouri 

 flats, near the Rocky Mountain. 



8. Swertia Pusilla. Corollas rotated, as long again as the 

 calix; stem very simple, one-flowered; leaves oblong. Grows 

 on the alpine regions of the White hills of New Hampshire. 

 The whole plant, Pursh observes, is scarcely an inch high, 

 with one or two pair of small leaves, and a conside.rably-si/l 

 blue flower. Divisions of the corolla oblong and acuminate, 

 and those of the calix obtuse. In the Banksian Museum are 

 specimens from Labrador, agreeing in every respect with the 

 New Hampshire plant. 



Swietenia; a genus of the class Decandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Caltx: perianth one-leafed, 

 five-cleft, obtuse, very small, deciduous. Corolla: petals 

 five, obovate, obtuse, concave, spreading; nectary one-leafed, 

 cylindric, length of the petals; mouth ten-toothed. Stamina: 

 filamentu ten, very small, inserted below the teeth of the 

 nectary; antherse oblong, erect. Pistil: germen ovate; style 

 awl-shaped, erect, length of the nectary; stigma headed, flat. 

 Pericarp: capsule ovate, large, woody, one-celled, at the 

 top five-celled, five-valved; valves opening at the base. 



Seeds: very many, imbricate, compressed, oblong, obtuse, 

 having a leafy wing. Receptacle: large, five-cornered. Ob- 

 serve. It is allied to Cedrela by the fruit. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: five-cleft. Petals: five. Nectary: cylin- 

 dric, bearing the stamens at the mouth. Capsule: five-celled, 

 woody, opening at the base. Seeds: imbricate, winged. 

 The species are, 



1. Swietenia Mahagoni ; Mahogany Tree. Leaves pin- 

 nate, about four-paired ; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, equal at 

 the base; panicles axillary. This is a lofty and very branch- 

 ing tree, with a wide handsome head ; flowers small and 

 whitish ; capsules large, sometimes the size of a child's 

 head. Linneus remarks, that this tree has a great affinity 

 with the Barbadoes Cedar. It is a native of the warmest 

 parts of America, and grows plentifully in the islands of 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and the Bahamas. Cuba and 

 Jamaica formerly produced trees of a very large size, which 

 could be cut into planks of six feet breadth. Those on the 

 Bahama islands are not so large, but they are often four feet 

 in diameter, and rise to a great height, although they are 

 generally found on the solid road, where there appears to be 

 scarcely any earth for their nourishment. The wood supplied 

 by the Bahamas has generally passed under the name of 

 Madeira Wood. The Spaniards use it for ship-building, for 

 which purpose it is better adapted than most woods yet 

 known, being very durable, resisting gun-shots, which it 

 buries without splintering, and is not so readily attacked by 

 the worm as Oak. Browne informs us, that Mahogany was 

 formerly very common in Jamaica, and while it could be had 

 in the low-lands, and brought to market at an easy rate, 

 furnished a considerable branch of the exports from that 

 island. He observes, that it thrives in moist soils, and varies 

 with different lands both in grain and texture: that which 

 grows upon rocks being smaller, but very hard and weighty, 

 of a close grain, and beautifully shaded; while the produce 

 of the low and richer lands is observed to be more light and 

 porous, of a paler colour, and open grain. The tree, he 

 adds, grows very tall and straight, and generally bears a 

 threat number of capsules with reddish or saffron-coloured 

 flowers, and fruit about the size of a turkey's egg. The wood 

 is a very strong timber, and answers very well in beams, joists, 

 planks, boards, and shingles; for all of which it has been 

 anciently used in Jamaica. In England the excellency of this 

 wood for all domestic purposes has been long well known ; 

 it is universally in use, and forms a principal article of our 

 foreign timber trade. In the Bahamas this valuable true is 

 suffered to propagate in the following manner. When the 

 fruit is ripe, the outer hard shell separates next the footstalk, 

 and thereby exposes the seeds, which being broad and light, 

 are soon dispersed on the surface of the rocks. Such of 

 them as fall into the fissures, very soon send forth roots ; and 

 if these tender fibres meet with resistance from the hardness 

 of the rocks, they creep along the surface, and seek another 

 fissure, into which they pierce, and swell so as to break the 

 rock, and thereby make way for the root to penetrate deeper. 

 In England it is propagated by seeds procured from the 

 Bahama islands; those imported from Jamaica being seldom 

 successful. Sow the seeds in small pots filled with light 

 sandy earth, and plunge them into a hot-bed of tanners' bark, 

 giving them a gentle watering once a week; if the seeds be 

 good, the plants will appear in a month or five weeks; and 

 when they are two inches high, fill a sufficient number of 

 small pots with light earth, and plunge them into the tan-bed 

 a day or two, that the earth may be warmed before the plants 

 are put into the pots ; then shake out the young plants, 

 carefully separating them so as not to tear then- roots, and 



