HER 



HER 



pericarpium is a roundish capsule, five-sided, 

 five-celled, gaping at the top: the seeds very 

 many, small, (kidney-form). 



The species cultivated are : 1 . H. altkce folia, 

 Marsh Mallow -leaved Hermannia; 2. H. aim- 

 folia, Alder-leaved Hermannia ; 3. H. hyssopi- 

 folia, Hyssop-leaved Hermannia ; 4. H. laven- 

 dulifolia, Lavender-leaved Hermannia; 5. H. 

 grossukzrifolia, Gooseberry-leaved Hermannia. 

 The first seldom rises more than two feet and 

 a half high : the stem is not very woody, and 

 the branches are soft and slender. The flowers 

 are produced in loose panicles at the ends of the 

 branches ; are larger than those of the alder- 

 leaved sort, and have hairy calyxes : they come 

 out in June and July, and frequently again in 

 the autumn. It is a native of the Cape. 



The second species rises with a shrubby stalk 

 six or eight feet high, dividing into many erect 

 irregular branches, covered with a brown bark : 

 the'leaves narrow at their base, but broad and 

 round at the top, about an inch long, and three 

 quarters of an inch broad at the top : the flowers 

 are produced in short spikes on the upper part of 

 the branches; are of a pale yellow colour, and 

 small ; appearing in April and May. 



The third rises with a shrubby upright stalk 

 to the height of seven or eight feet, sending out 

 many woody lateral branches, growing very 

 erect : the leaves are about an inch and half 

 long, and half an inch broad, serrate towards 

 the end : the flowers come out in small bunches 

 from the side of the stalk ; are of a pale straw 

 colour, appearing in May and June, and fre- 

 quently followed by seeds, which ripen about 

 the end of August. 



The fourth species has shrubby branching 

 stalks, which are very bushy, but seldom rise 

 more than a foot and half high ; the branches 

 are very slender, and have hairy, pale-green 

 leaves of different sizes ; some of them two 

 inches long, and an inch broad at their ends, 

 but their common size is seldom more than one 

 inch long, and half an inch broad ; they are en- 

 tire, and sit pretty close to the branches. The 

 flowers come out from the side of the stalk 

 singly, are small and yellow, continuing most 

 part of the summer. 



The fifth is a shrub of lower stature than the 

 alder-leaved sort, but sends out a great number 

 of branches, which spread wide on every side j 

 the leaves are smaller than in that, rough and 

 sessile : the flowers are produced in short close 

 spikes at the end of every shoot, so that the 

 whole shrub seems covered with them ; they are 

 of a bright vellow, and appear towards the end 

 of ApriT, but are not succeeded by seeds in 

 this climate. 



Culture. — These plants are all capable of being 

 increased by planting cuttings of their young 

 shoots in the early spring and summer months, 

 in pots of good rich earth, plunging them in the 

 first case in a moderate hot-bed, and giving 

 them proper shade and water. 



When they have stricken good root they should 

 be removed with balls of earth about them into 

 separate pots, fiJIed with good light fresh earth, 

 placing them in a shaded situation till perfectly 

 re-established; when they should be exposed to 

 the open air during the summer, but in the 

 autumn and winter protected in the green-house, 

 being deposited in an airy situation with myr- 

 tles and other similar plants. 



They may likewise be raised from seed when 

 it is good, here, or procured from abroad, by 

 sowing it in pots of good mould, and plunging 

 them in a hot-bed. The plants should be re- 

 moved when of proper growth. 



They afford, ornament and variety among 

 other potted evergreen plants. 



HERNANDIA, a genus comprising plants 

 of I he evergreen exotic tree kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Monoecia 

 Triandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Tricoccce. 



The characters are: that the male flowers are 

 by pairs, lateral in each umbel : the calyx is a 

 partial involucre, four-leaved, three-flowered : 

 leaflets ovate, obtuse, spreading very much :~ 

 there is no perianthium : the corolla has six pe- 

 tals, subovate, spreading; the three. inner ones 

 narrower: nectary, six glands, round-headed, 

 placed round the filaments : the stamina consist 

 of six filaments (three) shorter than the petals, 

 inserted into the receptacle: anthers upright, 

 oblong, large : female flower intermediate : the 

 calyx is an involucre common with the males : 

 perianthium inferior, one-leafed, bell -shaped, 

 entire, permanent (inflated) : the corolla has 

 eight petals, of which four are interior and nar- 

 rower,allsittingonthegerm(petalssix) : thenec- 

 tary has fourglands,obovate, alternate with the in- 

 terior petals : the pistillum is a roundish germ : 

 style filiform : stigma oblique, somewhat fun- 

 nel-shaped, large : the pericarpium is a dry 

 drupe, ovate, eight-furrowed, one-celled, in- 

 closed in a very large, inflated, roundish, fleshy, 

 coloured perianthium, with the mouth entire : 

 the seed is a globular nut, which is slightly 

 depressed. 



The species cultivated is H. sonora, Whist- 

 ling Hernandia. 



It is in its native situation an upright lofty 



tree, with an elegant head : the flowers are of a 



pale yellow colour, in panicled racemes ; the 



calyxes of the fruit are vellow. It is common 



3M 



