G E N 



had a twelvemonth's growth, to the places where 

 they are to remain ; but in the other method re- 

 quire no other culture, but proper thinning out 

 and being kept clean. 



The last sort may be increased by sowing the 

 seeds in pots of good mould in the spring, plun- 

 ging them in a'modenue hot-bed. When the 

 plants have attained a few inches in growth, they 

 should be removed into separate pots, and be 

 rcplunged in the hot-bed. They afterwards re- 

 quire the same sort of management as other less 

 tender green-house plants. 



All the first sorts are well adapted to the fronts 

 and other parts of clumps and borders in orna- 

 mented grounds, by their flowery nature ; and 

 the last affords a line effect in the green-house 

 by its evergreen property. 



GENTIAN. See Gentiana. 



GENTIANA, a genus of plants of the hardy 

 herbaceous perennial flowery kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Petandria 

 Digy nia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Rotarece. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianthium, sharp : divisions oblong, 

 permanent : the corolla has one petal, tubular at 

 bottom, imperforate, at top five-cleft, flat, wi- 

 thering, various in form : the stamina have five 

 filaments, subulate, shorter than the corolla: 

 anther simple : the pistillum is an oblong germ, 

 cylindric, length of the stamens : styles none : 

 stigmas two, ovate : fgerm superior ; style sim- 

 ple, or two sessile stigmas:) the pericarpium is 

 an oblongcapsule, columnar, acuminate, slightly 

 bifid at the tip, one-celled ; two-valved : the 

 seeds numerous, small, fixed all round to the 

 walls of the capsule: receptacles two, each 

 fastened longitudinally to a valve. 



The species cultivated are: 1. G. lutea, Yel- 

 low Gentian ; 2. G. punctata, Spotted-flowered 

 Gentian ; 3. G. asclepiadea, Swallow-wort-leav- 

 ed Gentian ; 4. G. acaulis, Dwarf Gentian, or 

 Gentianella. 



The first has a thick root, of a yellowish 

 brown colour, and very bitter taste : the lower 

 leaves are petioled, oblong-ovate, a little pointed, 

 stiff, yellowish green, having five large veins 

 on the back, and plaited I the stem three or four 

 feet high or more, with a pair of leaves at each 

 joint, sessile or almost embracing, of the same 

 form with the lower ones, but diminishing gra- 

 dually to the top: the flowers are in whorls at 

 the upper joints. It is a native of Switzerland, 

 flowering in June and July. 



The second species has the leaves ovate, elon- 

 gated, and strict: the calyxes shallow, and in 

 form of a basin, the calycinc teeth narrow, 

 sharp, and not very leafy : the corolla is of a 



GEN 



papery substance, extremely thin, of a dull and 

 very pale greenish straw-colour, with very mi- 

 nute dots thickly and irregularly scattered over 

 it : the segments of the border commonly seven, 

 sometimes eight, but very seldom six, always 

 shorter, narrower, contiguous, rounded, blunt, 

 without any auricles at the base ; and finally the 

 bellying of' the corolla is blunter and almost the 

 same over the whole bell. It is a native of 

 Austria. 



The third has the stem upright near a foot 

 high : the leaves smooth, about two inches long, 

 and three quarters of an inch broad at the base, 

 embracing there, and ending in an acute point ; 

 they are of a fine green, have five longitudinal 

 veins, joining at both ends, but diverging in 

 the middle, and diminish in size as they are 

 nearer the top : the flowers are in pairs opposite, 

 on short peduncles; pretty large, bell-shaped, 

 and of a fine blue colour. It is a native of Switz- 

 erland, flowering in July and August. 



The fourth species has a large woody branched 

 root : a set of ovate-lanceolate leaves spreads on 

 the surface : the stem from one to three inches 

 in height, with one or two pairs of leaves on it, 

 and terminated by one very large, upright, hand- 

 some flower (in the garden, when the plants are 

 strong, there are sometimes more,) which is of 

 a deep azure blue, dotted on the inside. It is a 

 native of Austria. 



Cvlture. — The three first sorts are easily raised, 

 by sowing the seed in pots soon after it is ripe, 

 as when kept till the spring it will not succeed: 

 the pots should be placed in a shady situa- 

 tion, and kept clean from weeds. Some ad- 

 vise their being sown where they are to re- 

 main, but the first is probably the best method. 

 In the spring the plants appear, when they must, 

 be duly watered in dry weather, and kept clean 

 from weeds till the following autumn ; then be 

 carefully shaken out of the pots, so as not to 

 break or injure their roots ; and a shady border 

 of loamy earth should be well dug and prepared 

 to receive them, into which they should be put 

 at about six inches distance each way, the tops 

 of the roots being kept a little below the surface 

 of the grour.d, and the earth pressed close to the 

 roots. If the following spring prove drv, 

 they should be duly watered, to forward then- 

 growth. The plants may remain here two years, 

 by which time they will be fit to transplant where 

 they arc designed to grow, removing them in the 

 autumn, as soon as their leaves decay, threat care- 

 being taken in digging them up, not to cut or break 

 their roots, as that greatly weakens them. They 

 require afterwaids no other culture, hut to dig 

 the ground about them earlv in the spring before 

 they begin to shoot, and in the summer to keep 



